INTO THE BINIVERSE: ‘HERSTORIC’ BINI CONQUERS PHL ARENA

On a lit Saturday evening in February, the Philippine Arena wasn’t the world’s largest indoor venue. Filled with an array of lights from every walk of life, it turned to a magical universe – for once and forever.

BINI – in one great leap that no OPM and P-POP group ever dared to do in the past – embraced herstory by conquering the 55,000-seater arena in Bocaue, Bulacan for an electrifying kickoff of its highly-anticipated BINIVERSE World Tour.

And the Nation’s Girl Group did it in flying colors as Blooms – their official fandom – illuminated the enormous venue with an ocean of ‘Bloombilya’ lightsticks, a plane bearing “Here With You BINI” from USA Blooms hovering above, buses and motorcycles with BINI members’ faces roaming around.

Performing their biggest hits ignited by a re-arranged Salamin, Salamin with a new dance break, BINI rocked and wowed in the three-hour concert spiced by the brilliance of OPM band Six Part Invention and the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth behind.

Like a crescendo, BINI turned it up with hits one after another before ending it with Pantropiko, the group’s biggest hit across all platforms to date.

One moment, BINI even scaled the giant arena with speed and toughness by climbing to the Upper Box and General Section just to be with the Blooms for the ever-emotional ballad Huwag Muna Tayong Umuwi, as if one really wanted to go home in that enchanting, unforgettable, never-ending night.

For the octet that only manifested to perform at what considered as the pinnacle venue in the Philippines with a short stint at the nearby stadium three years ago, it felt like a daydream.

“Noong nag-perform kami, maraming pumapalakpak. Pero, hindi nila alam ‘yung mga kanta natin, hindi nila alam kung sino tayo. Pero ngayon, ‘di ba, lahat to, Blooms, napuno natin ng Philippine Arena. Grabe.”

BINI’s main dancer Sheena, in fact, posted an edited picture of BINI behind a large crowd back in 2020 when a cloud of uncertainties was all over the group’s present and future.

“After that pictorial, in-edit kami with that background. We have always dreamt that one day, maging totoo ang picture na yan. And today is that day, right?”, smiled Mikha, BINI’s main rapper, lead dancer and visual.

“That's the power of believing in your dreams and in God's perfect time,” added Stacey, BINI’s main rapper and lead dancer.

BINI started the BINIVerse World Tour Philippine kickoff by coming out of the petal-themed prop. It bowed out for the finale with those petals closing to somehow symbolize a crown.

It was a poetry in emotion, pretty much summing up BINI’s journey from its humble roots.

From training amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the ABS-CBN shutdown with uncertainties ahead, handing out flyers in Binondo – the world’s largest Chinatown – for mere introduction, busking in Luneta and Baguio with little to no fanfare – to here.

From one to 65 Blooms then to 55,000 at the Philippine Arena. From tens, then hundreds of online viewers on KUMU to millions on livestream around the world, BINI did it. BINI finally did it.

Maraiah Queen Arceta, Ma. Nicolette Vergara, Mary Loi Yves Ricalde, Gweneth Apuli, Lindtsey Stacey Aubrey Sevilla, Mikhaela Janna Jimenea Lim, Jhoanna Christine Robles and Sheena Mae Catacutan – inside a colossus venue that seemed a distant, unreachable moon – catapulted into the pinnacle like it was a fate designed for them from the get-go.

It was their BINIVerse – with thousands of Blooms there and millions around the Islang Pantropiko lighting the Philippine Arena filled up to the rafters like stars in the night sky.

But conquering the summit at home wasn’t the culmination of BINI’s journey. Climbing and scaling Philippine mountaintop wasn’t the final stop.

It was just the beginning.

And the world is next.