2022 has been a big year for Ben&Ben. After headlining a successful North American tour and landing the #1 spot on Spotify Wrapped’s most streamed local group in the Philippines list for the 3rd year in a row, the nine-piece band was recently announced as part of Clockenflap: Hong Kong's Music & Arts Festival—solid evidence of their soaring popularity on a global scale.

To commemorate a 2022 filled with record-breaking achievements and monumental milestones, the multi-awarded and critically-acclaimed group is ready to make headlines once again with their Homecoming Concert happening tonight December 18, 2022 (Sunday) at the SMDC Festival Grounds.  

Marking their Manila comeback with their biggest concert yet, Ben&Ben promises to show gratitude to the followers and diehards who have supported their musical journey since day one.  

“To match that sense of gratitude, we wanted to mount our largest show yet, with our longest set, most ambitious performance ideas, and simply the best of what we’ve made through the years,” the chart-topping Filipino group shares in a statement promoting the concert. “We are most excited about bringing this show, finally, to our Liwanag, because it had definitely been a long journey with a lot of hard work to get here.” 

Conceptually, Ben&Ben’s Homecoming Concert 2022 is focused around the feeling of home: as a place, idea, or person of comfort, or as a reassuring gesture of security and intimacy. As the "Paninindigan Kita" hitmakers say, the outdoor music event is also about coming home to each other and being home to each other.  

 

“We’ve always likened how each piece of music we make is a little gift that our listeners have allowed into their lives, and how they have likewise felt the comfort of home through our songs, so it’s in that give and take and sharing of the feeling of home that we ultimately want to highlight for this show.” 

As far as their set list strategy goes, the much-praised nine-piece is proud of figuring out the perfect equilibrium of impact, energy, emotion, and storytelling. “To do this, we imagined ourselves as audience members and tried to approximate what might feel best after a certain song or what might be the most sensible in terms of managing energy for both them and us throughout the lengthy set,” says the band. “We feel the set we eventually came up with is the perfect rollercoaster — one that keeps you hooked and engaged the whole time without lingering too long on the highs or the lows.” 

The Homecoming Concert will also have guest performances from artists who shared their unparallelled talent for their phenomenal second full-length album, Pebble House. Vol.1: Kuwaderno, an incredible piece of music history: from Filipina neo-soul artist KZ Tandingan to young alt-rock visionaries Zild and Juan Karlos.  

Limited tickets to the Ben&Ben Homecoming Concert 2022 can be purchased via the ovationtickets.com and ticketnet.com.ph. This event is presented by Ovation Productions, Ben&Ben Music Productions, Sony Music Philippines, and Tap Go; brought to you by SMART Telecommunications Inc., and Angkas, in cooperation with Pru Life UK. 

Update: December 19

The show was a smashing success with a reported 65,000 attendees according to a social media post by director Paolo Valenciano.

Here are Ben&Ben's highlights in 2022:

"Paninindigan Kita"

The song is arguably Ben&Ben's biggest hit song of 2022. It worked in more ways than one: as a defiant song of love (illustrated in the music video starring real-life couple keyboardist Pat Lasaten and bassist Agnes Reoma) and as a new, unique way of saying "I love you".

Ben&Ben and Pamungkas

Ben&Ben joined forces with Indonesia's leading singer-songwriter Pamungkas to release a performance video of "Stand By You". The infectious pop-rock original, which is an English translation of “Paninindigan Kita,” was recorded at SoundCheck Studio in Pasig City last August.

A month before the live studio session, both regional superstars were introduced to each other and got the chance to brainstorm on how to approach the song with a collaborative mindset. “We sent over a rough translation of the song,” shares Ben&Ben in a statement. “He came up with brilliant lyrical ideas, and we ended up co-writing the English lyrics for this song with him.”

Ahead of their sold-out show at 123 Block in Mandaluyong City, Philippines, Ben&Ben and Pamungkas recently recorded a live performance of “Stand By You” complete with a fuller, more intricate arrangement and reassigned verses. The chart-topping Filipino band was more than happy about the result of the session, and how it brought the best of both worlds in one project.

“There was a natural chemistry between both artists,” says Ben&Ben. “This came out in the way the instruments were arranged and the different parts were worked into the final version of the performance.”

Ben&Ben also praised Pamungkas on how he managed to add a totally new vibe to the song, while injecting his own flair into the instrumentation. “This made the collaborative version very distinct in a way that represents both styles blended into one performance, instead of it being a straightforward cover version of the song.”

Pamungkas headlined his own Southeast Asian tour to promote his fourth studio album, Birdy. His hit single “To The Bone” was a huge regional success, topping Spotify Indonesia Top 50 charts for several weeks and peaking at No. 5 on Spotify Philippines Top 50 charts last year. The song also performed well commercially in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Ben&Ben also got to conquer the international stage with their first North American tour, performing in iconic and key venues across nine cities in the US and Canada.

Ben&Ben offers unique perspective on forgiveness with international single “The Ones We Once Loved”.

Having garnered more than a billion streams and over 3.5 million listeners on Spotify, Ben&Ben continues to make generation-defining statements with heartfelt tunes that resonate on a universal level. Considered as one of the most commercially-successful acts in the Southeast Asian region, the nine-piece outfit won the Best Asian Band award at the 2022 BandLab NME Awards, and sowed a large number of critical acclaim for their groundbreaking work on the sophomore album, Pebble House, Vol. 1: Kuwaderno. 

Released under Sony Music, their recent single “The Ones We Once Loved” is a quietly startling confessional that sounds emotionally impactful even in its apparent weightlessness.