A decade into a career built on dreamy synths, intimate songwriting and quietly devastating love songs, British electronic soul duo HONNE is returning to one of the places that embraced them most: the Philippines.
The duo will bring its 10 Year Anniversary Tour to the PICC Plenary Hall for three consecutive nights on Aug. 10, 11 and 12. The first two shows have already sold out, leaving Aug. 12 as the final opportunity for fans to catch the anniversary performances.
For many international artists, Manila is simply another stop on an Asian tour. For HONNE, it has become something more—a city that has consistently welcomed the duo with sold-out crowds and singalongs that rival those anywhere in the world.
That enduring relationship has earned HONNE an unofficial distinction among Filipino fans: one of the country’s “honorary OPM bands.” Like LANY before them, the British act has built an unusually loyal local following through years of return visits and an emotional connection that extends well beyond chart success.
It is easy to understand why.
HONNE’s music has always thrived on intimacy rather than spectacle. Songs like “Day 1,” “Location Unknown,” “Warm on a Cold Night,” and “Crying Over You” have become staples of Filipino playlists, offering soundtracks for long commutes, late-night conversations and quiet heartbreaks.
Even the band’s name reflects that emotional honesty. Borrowed from the Japanese word honne, meaning a person’s true feelings, the duo has spent the past decade writing songs that blur the line between electronic pop and deeply personal confession.
Rather than mounting a traditional greatest-hits tour, HONNE is celebrating its first decade by revisiting the music that defined its early years.
The accompanying album, “HONNE – 10,” features newly recorded stripped-back versions of songs from Warm on a Cold Night and Love Me / Love Me Not, allowing the duo to reinterpret the music that first introduced them to audiences around the world.
Singer-songwriter BEKA will also join the Manila shows, adding another familiar voice to the anniversary celebration.
There is something fitting about marking this milestone in the Philippines.
Over the years, HONNE has developed a relationship with Filipino listeners that feels unusually reciprocal. The duo has often spoken about the warmth of local audiences, while fans have embraced the band with a level of devotion typically reserved for homegrown artists.
That connection has only deepened as both the band and its audience have grown older together.
Many fans who first discovered HONNE as students will return to the PICC this August with careers, families and new life experiences. The songs remain the same, but the people listening to them have changed.
Perhaps that is what anniversary tours are really about.
They are less a celebration of longevity than of shared memories—of music that has quietly accompanied people through different chapters of their lives.
After ten years, HONNE is not simply returning to Manila to perform familiar songs.
It is returning to one of the cities that helped turn those songs into lasting memories.