Nag-concert nang sabay-sabay: Toni G. vs Otin G. concert showdown
In a country where social media influencers are celebrities in their own right, it’s almost fitting that content creator AC gave actress-host-vlogger Toni Gonzaga a serious run for her money during last night’s “concert showdown” between the two personalities.
While Toni’s “I Am…Toni” was a concert in the conventional sense, AC’s “I Am…Otin” was, in Internet parlance, an online “dogshow.” A dogshow is Pinoy Internet slang for the act of satirically mocking a celebrity or any other famous person through memes or jokes. AC’s impersonation of Toni is named Otin, a cheeky anagram.
Held simultaneously on Friday, January 20, at different venues, Toni’s concert at the Big Dome and Otin’s “dogshow”on TikTok live both drew sizeable audiences to their shows.
Celebrating her 20th year in show business and 39th birthday, Gonzaga held sway at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, where a purportedly “sold out” crowd was treated to a night of singing and dancing, courtesy of Toni and her two celebrity guests, her controversial sister Alex Gonzaga and rapper Andrew E.
Not to be outdone was Otin, who shone and slayed in a TikTok live concert that aired at about the same time Toni’s concert was starting. Featuring performance collaborations with fellow content creators Sassa Gurl, Toniyuh, Junjun Salarzon, NiΓ±o, and back-up dancers called Charlie’s Angels, Otin’s dogshow drew more than 27,000 simultaneous viewers.
During her concert, Toni sang her memorable hits, as well as songs by other artists that have been associated with her, one way or another, such as Katy Perry’s “Roar” and David Guetta and SIA’s “Titanium.” A video recorded birthday greeting from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. thanking Toni for her support during the presidential campaign was aired during the concert.
For her part, Otin did hilarious imitations of Toni’s singing style, such as shouting “Sabay sabay! (All together now!)” ostensibly to avoid having to hit a song’s high notes, as well as mocked Toni for being a staunch supporter of President Bongbong, whose family was exiled in 1986 during a people’s revolution against the elder Marcos’ despotic martial rule. Junjun (playing as Alex) and NiΓ±o (as the put upon waiter) did a hilarious “spoof” of the icing-smearing incident involving Alex.
Before her concert started, there was much speculation about Toni’s ability to fill The Big Dome’s 16,000 capacity. Photos and videos taken before the concert showed rows of empty seats, but the crowds eventually came to fill them in time for Toni’s opening number. Rumors even had it that organizers had given away free tickets to random people in order to make the concert appear as a sellout.
But if Toni’s concert was indeed a sellout, we expected a deluge of live tweets from the show’s purported 16,000 attendees, but there were only a handful of those circulating on Twitter last night. It does seem a mystery that Otin’s dogshow trended more on social media and generated overwhelmingly more organic engagements online than Toni’s concert did. #IamOtin and Otin G trended for more than 21 hours in the Philippines, along with #PaalamToniGonzaga which was rather unflattering for Toni.
Otin’s show raised USD207.60 in gift revenue from Tiktok viewers. She has promised to match that amount and donate all the money to the old age home for senior gays. Now that’s truly a class act!
