Paramore takes a picture of themselves onstage with the Manila crowd in the background. (Credits to Hayley Williams' Tumblr.)

The Mall of Asia Concert Grounds was like a large electromagnetic field the night of March 9 when American pop-rock band Paramore held their “Brand New Eyes” show here in Manila.

It appeared as if the Filipino fans were charging themselves for the last five years, since the band released their debut, “All We Know Is Falling,” for the one-night-only show. According to an estimate, the show pulled in 20,000 people.

Hosts Sam YG, Slick Rick, and Tony Toni of “Boys Night Out” provided some comic relief at the beginning of the show by jokingly claiming they are the front act. They then introduced homegrown rock band Callalily to an impatient crowd ecstatic for the Tennessee quintet to perform. Others can actually be heard screaming, “Paramore na!!!” during the band's set.

The moment the lights went on and the headliners got on stage, the crowd diffused their energy by jumping, clapping, screaming, putting their hands (and cameras) in the air, and singing along to Paramore’s entire set list, whether the songs were released as singles or not.

But no one could’ve out-hyped Hayley, who was like a race car in constant Nitro speed, singing a total of 12 songs continuously. She was just oozing with unswerving energy and youthful exuberance as she jumped, ran around, head-banged with her dirty blonde hair, answered someone’s plea to be his date on the ball, and declared her love for Manila, McDonald’s, and its cheeseburgers.

Her spunk is reminiscent of No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, a delightful blending of edginess and bubbly-ness. Adding to her coolness was her wearing the much-talked about “Para-Thrilla in Manila” white shirt and wrote “Kumusta kayo” on her left arm, a question she asked before performing “Crushcrushcrush.”

Clocking only at one hour and ten minutes, Paramore’s electrifying concert included performances of “Ignorance” (their opening number), “That’s What You Get,” and “Twilight” anthem “Decode.”

The group dedicated their performance of “The Only Exception”—the first love song they wrote, Hayley said—to a group called “Love 146,” an organization that aims to fight human slavery and exploitation, especially among children.

They also performed less popular yet still very well-received tunes such as “Let The Flames Begin,” “Pressure,” and “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic,” as well as some more tracks from their “Brand New Eyes” album, namely “Careful,” “Looking Up,” and “Where the Lines Overlap.”

Paramore also rewound five years back and sang “Never Let This Go” from their first album. “Misery Business” and “Brick By Boring Brick” served as encore numbers.

During the show, Hayley gave a big shout out to their assistant tour manager, Will Barrett, who will be leaving them to pursue what she termed "his bigger dreams.”

He, together with Hayley and the rest of the band composed of Taylor York (rhythm guitar), Jeremy Davis (bass), Zac Farro (drums), and Justin York (who filled in for lead guitarist Josh Farro, who is busy preparing for his upcoming wedding), group-hugged then took a picture right on the stage, right at that moment, with the screaming Manila crowd as their background. A sweet way to end a successful tour, indeed.

While the concert was regrettably short, Paramore’s fire will never burn to ashes, but will only add to the charging battery of desire of Filipino fans as Hayley promised before they bid Manila goodbye, “There’s no way we can wait five years before we’ll come back here.”

That's great. After all, “We want more! Paramore!”