Third-generation Nievera in Martin’s 42nd anniversary concert

MANILA, Philippines — There were undoubtedly thrilling, exciting, funny, surprising and memorable moments when Concert King Martin Nievera staged his major concert, “The King 4Ever,” Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

But nothing beats the emotional part when Martin introduced the third generation Nievera, Phineas or fondly called Baby Finn, perhaps the youngest member of the audience that night.

Only nine months old and carried by his mom, Mian Acoba, Baby Finn witnessed how his Lilo, as Martin wants his first grandchild to fondly call him, filled the Big Dome anew to the rafters, years after he set foot again in the venue.

A tearful Martin told Robin being a father is the “best feeling ever.” To which Robin replied, “Absolutely.”

“He’s going to be a much better father than me,” Martin told the audience. “I can feel it. I can see it that he dedicated his early… remember this feeling and bring it with you to every year that he (Finn) gets older. I want you to sing this song I wrote for you. I want you to sing this song to your son.”

To which Robin assured, “Don’t worry about anything that you think you didn’t know. Because I learned everything from you.”

Father and son rendered a touching duet of I’ll Be There (For You), a Martin Nievera original that he penned after Robin was born (1986).

Earlier that night, Robin joined his dad in only the second song, On the Right Track, one of Martin’s early hits.

There was probably no one more nervous and at the same time excited being onstage that Friday night than the Martin Nievera, who mounted the Araneta Coliseum stage anew after a long while.

That was his biggest challenge in his 42 years in the entertainment scene. But Martin, being the concert trooper that he is, always gives his best for his audience, big or small.

The fans were undoubtedly always assured of getting the best performance from him. Not too long ago, he got sick with dengue. He was supposed to be in the hospital bed with IV (intravenous), but his self-medicated cure was to still perform onstage.

Martin earlier admitted he was curious to witness who the audience was going to see that night in his “The King 4Ever” concert. Yet, he was obviously in his happiest of places — the concert stage.

“The artistry of an artist is to make a big venue small and a small venue big,” Martin said. “Then you do your job right.”

He opened the show to a full house crowd and the venue undoubtedly rumbled when he emerged onstage. He was not seen at the Araneta Coliseum in a long while and the crowd embraced him anew.

“I’m so happy the most experienced concertgoers are here even before cellphones were invented,” Martin told the huge crowd, whom he managed to hold at the palm of his hand.

He sang one memorable hit after another — Each Day With You, No Way To Treat a Heart, How Can I, You’re My Everything, Please Don’t Throw My Love Away, Pain, You Are My Song, Be My Lady and Chasing Time.

He also dished out a staple of popular ballads — Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin, Kahit Isang Saglit and Ikaw — and even attempted to dance the now popular TikTok revival ditty, Maybe This Time.

Martin went down onstage and scoured notables from the audience to sing with him. Former ABS-CBN executive Charo Santos-Concio gamely stood up and render Ikaw ang Lahat sa Akin.

Not too far from them were Jed Madela and even broadcast journalist Rico Hizon, who also sang with Martin. Darren Espanto was somewhere in the crowd, but readily stood up to sing Say That You Love Me with the Concert King.

Last June, Martin did the front act in the 10th anniversary of Darren Espanto in showbiz (also at the Araneta Coliseum), a promise he made to Darren when the latter previously opened Martin’s show a decade ago.

The Company — Moy Ortiz, Sweet Plantado, Annie Quintos and OJ Mariano — joined Martin onstage and they rendered What’s On the Other Side, a song the latter wrote at the “lowest point of my life.”

Love was in the air when Martin sang the chart-toping Palagi, a song earlier recorded by couple KZ Tandingan and TJ Monterde, who performed with him.

“In the mood for some Broadway?,” Martin asked his audience. Then he rendered the expected Broadway medley, a staple in all his concerts — Maria and Somewhere from “West Side Story,” Music of the Night and All I Ask of You, from “Phantom of the Opera,” Memory from “Cats” and This Is the Moment from “Jekyll and Hyde.”

Concert director for the first time of “The King 4Ever” was Martin’s godson, Paolo Valenciano, while Frank Lloyd Mamaril was the TV director.

It’s not easy to stage a major, solo concert in a big venue. But Martin at 62 — turning 63 in February — still successfully pulled it off before a crowd filled to the rafters.

Martin also performed with Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid and they rendered beautiful duets of Forever and On the Wings of Love.

OMG — Ogie, Martin and Gary — delighted the crowd with their number that unbelievably witnessed Martin dancing to N’Sync’s Bye, Bye Love — “I will not do that again,” the Concert King smilingly said after his choreographed moves.

That segued to a medley of We Built This City, Don’t Stop Believing, Uptown Girl, Hip To Be Square, The Heat Is On and Footloose. We will not be surprised if OMG will be translated to a concert with the three of them one day soon.

And what is a Martin concert without his perennial partner, Pops Fernandez? The concert queen emerged onstage and congratulated her former husband for a highly successful concert in a major venue.