Music review: Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider electrify the crowd at first Manila concert

"Unbelievably young" describes both YouTube pair Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider and their fans, who filled up all the seats in the SMX Convention Center Wednesday but didn't quite reach a standing hall capacity.

Only a fragment of the duo's combined 5,719,801 followers showed up at the cavernous Function Hall 3 of SMX, which would normally bode ill for an act. However, some of those in attendance already had tickets for the pair's second concert the following night, which would serve well to fluff up the attendance rate.

But even without a venue bulging with people, their dedicated fanbase filled the venue with energy and enthusiasm which encouraged even those who'd only heard of the pair the other day to join in the musical pep rally of sorts.

If "unbelievably young" describes the crowd and the performers, "musical pep rally" sums up Sam and Kurt's performance. Not only are their songs incredibly peppy, with a few notable exceptions, but the performers themselves encourage their fans to become as animated as them.

There was never a moment that Sam stood still: from the start with "Break It Up" to their pseudo-encore "Wherever You Are," both from his 2013 album "Make It Up," he raced around the stage with moves honed from his and Kurt's musical theater days.

While one would expect his constant movement would affect his voice, all his training from theater and Yale's a capella group helped in maintaining its consistency.

Kurt, while mostly confined to the piano, more than fulfilled his role in the quicker or melodic songs, especially while playing their pop medleys.

But whenever he was playing the acoustic guitar, his sound got drowned out by guitarist Jason Pitts and drummer Joel Manduke, who definitely provided a fuller sound for songs. Especially commendable are their performances in "Start Again" and "Love And Us," both originals from "Make It Up" and "Wildfire", respectively.

"Love And Us", a song off the EP released just this Tuesday, showed just how well Tsui and Schneider know music and adaptation. Originally an effects-heavy song, their live spin on it was reminiscent of their covers in the way they've distinguished it from the original.

By merit of catchy hooks, they could've just played original songs. But their respect for their fans—whom Sam said they "owed" in an interview—had them play an equal number of original composition and covers, for which they became famous for.

And while their mash-ups, medleys, and tense performance of "Cups" garnered quite the reaction from fans, the pair themselves were delighted when the fans sang the words to their original compositions.

Their awe of their fans, who in turn are in awe of them, I think comes through for online-grown talent more than artists who get known through record labels. I'm well aware I may be spouting nonsense at this point, but perhaps it's the combination of a quaint stage set-up and a lot of singing folks that made it seem like a jam session than a stop in a tour around Asia.

It's the duo's rapport with the fans that inspired their performance, wherein they revisit four of the hits—the Michael Jackson medley, their Firework & Grenade mashup, Britney Spears' Hold It Against Me, and Nelly's Just a Dream—that made their name known throughout the world.

As Sam said during the banter before the song, it was a "journey through the history of Sam and Kurt on YouTube," a testament to how far they've come since they first started to post videos on the video-sharing site.

Maybe it's due to this rapport that I couldn't fully appreciate the concert. While they're certainly talented musicians, and suffused with gratefulness in mid-song banters, I could only really see it as a performance than feel it as an experience.

Personal opinions aside,  when Sam asked, "Nag-enjoy ba kayo?" in between songs, fans screamed a resounding yes, and several parents and reluctant friends even nodded in agreement.

At the end of their stay here in Manila, fans who've watched either show (or both shows) definitely walked away satisfied, while parents or reluctant friends may have something new to watch on the sly.

But for fans who missed the show, those who did show up managed to impress Kurt and Sam enough that they've promised to return for another show, and may even head south of the country for some of them.

Kurt, Sam, and the rest of the band are bound for four more countries on their 2014 Asian tour, including Hong Kong, where Sam's father hails from. — BM, GMA News