By RAMPADOR ALINDOG
These days, touring for Gary Valenciano is never just about stacking dates. It’s about something far more personal.
At this stage in his life and career, and after openly dealing with health challenges that have tested his stamina and changed the way he moves onstage, Gary admits the real question isn’t why he still performs, but how. And more importantly, for whom.
“Despite everything that has been happening at home in the Philippines and around the world, I grab every opportunity to bring hope to a world that desperately needs a little inspiration in the best way that I can,” he says.
That mindset fuels “Inspired,” his North American concert tour, which plays less like a nostalgia act and more like a travelling reminder that music can still heal, still lift, still connect.
The tour opens June 14 at Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland, California, followed by June 19 at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln. It then heads to Taylor, Michigan on June 21 at the Heinz C. Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center, before wrapping June 27 at the Durham Convention Center in North Carolina.
The pace is different now. The preparation is stricter. The body doesn’t always keep up the way it once did. But stepping away, he says, has never really been an option.
Instead, it’s about purpose.
“I don’t think of it as me going out there to perform at my age,” he has shared. “I think of it as me still being able to serve through music.”
And this time, he’s not doing it alone.
His son, Gabriel Valenciano, joins him across all four stops, adding choreography, direction, and a visual punch that pushes the show beyond a standard concert.
In California, his daughter Kiana Valenciano also steps onstage, bringing her own R&B sound and presence into the mix, turning parts of the run into a full-fledged family affair.
Behind the scenes, musical director Ramon “Mon” Faustino leads the band, with guest vocalists Alyssa Quijano and Elke Saison Ortiz, and drummer Jonathan Regalado holding down the rhythm night after night.
But for Gary, all of that fades into the background.
The real story isn’t the tour.
It’s why he still insists on doing it.
