5 PM: I drive from Valencia after my badminton training to Boni where L is waiting. He takes over the driving; we snake our way through Edsa.
6 PM: We are still in Edsa, wondering if everyone is going to the Eraserheads concert as traffic is terrible, bumper to bumper from Guadalupe to Ayala. L tells me the minute he learned the E-heads concert was going to be at the Mall of Asia that he decided he's not going. We changed our minds Friday when we learned that Francis M passed away. It seemed people I grew up listening to, the youth of my generation-- they are dying or slipping away into oblivion. Something is calling out to me.
6:30 PM.We reach the Mall of Asia. As expected MOA’s traffic is chaotic and parking is impossible. We get into an argument as I recite to L instructions on where to park, as texted to me by a friend who knows we never go here because of this precisely. We concede- he tells me to go down and claim our Ereaserheads concert tickets so he can calmly find a spot.
I go down to get my Gold tickets dropped off at our store and was surprised to see the long lines. Outside the store was even more people. I see hotdogs and a lot of drinks being taken off the shelf.
7 PM: I was lined up at McDo for grabbing a quick bite, but wanted to eat somewhere else. L was right. McDo would be best for after the concert. Everyone around us was watching the E-heads concert and it seemed the entire barkada is going- didn’t matter if their ticket was bronze, they were there to catch the E-Heads final performance.
7:10 PM We were having dinner -a relaxed one after the trauma from traffic. DEP was texting me that they made it to MOA, parked at Dampa seaside and took a cab to the mall.They were going to grab some food before the concert. We see each other at the entrance gates by quarter to 8 PM. A scalper approached us asking for extra tickets. A lot of punks and wannabes are outside the gates. Could be the reason Kamille, my brother’s girlfriend wasn’t allowed to go.
8 PM: The gold sponsor area is packed and throbbing. We can see the stage but I reckoned Ely Buendia and the gang would be the size of my hand from my view. It helped that giant LCD screens were to our right and left. The stage‘s lighting and colors were of course more vivid and so we would look to the stage more often. Almost all in the crowd have their digicams and videocams. Christine and Nino were at the VIP area. Marco would be too as SMART is sponsoring this event.
8:15 PM: E-heads AVP is shown, a collection of MTV clips from the 90s. They are smart guys, these college dropouts, as they answer interviews from KC Montero and Sarah Meier. These guys are, after all, from UP. The 1997 MTV International Viewers’ Choice Award for Asia shows Eraserheads winning. Where was I in 1997? 'Twas two years after graduation, and I've been to Japan and Vietnam, but boy I was naive to the curbs in the road of life! You know, the unexpected twists and turns that make life exciting!
8:27 PM: The Countdown starts from Z to E,except people didn’t realize it was the countdown -- they were just reading the letters flashed onscreen. Then, fireworks! It jars me from this blast-from-the- past reverie. Wow, I am so excited! So is everyone else, as people around me scream, shout, shriek and clap.
8:29 PM: The stage is lit and the Eraserheads are now onstage! Each one of them is featured on a screen above the stage- one screen for each band member. LCD problem on the 4th screen, Buddy is shown belatedly, and then they are all there! More shrieks from the crowd. They open with “Magasin” and I tell you the crowd sings along by heart!
8:36 PM: Eraserheads are now singing their second song, “Walang Nagbago”. Next song is “Maling Akala”. The twenty-something girl in front of me knows the title of each song and whips out her Nokia phone each time she recognizes the title to document it. (I wished I copied it).
8:43 PM: The lights are turned dim after this number- Ely Buendia takes off his black jacket and throws it to the crowd, while Markus takes off his and is retrieved by an assistant. “Maskara” is played next.
8:52 PM: They are now singing “Poor Man’s Grave.”
8:56 PM: There are a lot of couples on this crowd, I joke for L to carry me around his shoulders. Somebody does this, but only for a second. L attempts to lift me one time, because I kept tilting my legs. I acquiesce. We are holding hands, but so were many couples around us, nuzzling, smiling, joking, while shouting out the lyrics of the songs. They too, remember their youth, their Kalayaan dorm, probably their torpe days, the school days, all the joyful and woeful past.
8:57 PM: They take off their jackets except for Marcus. Ely shouts: “TY, ang bait nyo! Kayo muna!," asking the audience to sing on his behalf. The audience goes wild.
8:59 PM: Marcus takes the mic and the crowd goes wild. Raimund takes a break from playing the drums and introduces Jazz Nicholas from Itchyworms, who takes over the drums. Marcus continues to modify the lyrics of “Huwag mo nang Itanong” while the crowd sings along, swaying. They change the beat to reggae. “Huwag mo nang Itanong…di ko sasabihin sa yo.” The crowd laughs. Ang galeng!
9:03 PM: Raimund takes the mic for a series of songs, ("Alkohol", "Insomnia", "Slo Mo"), jumping and prancing on stage with his dark-eyelined eyes. Rockstar! But this guy is really nice, from the few instances L and I bump into him. After Marcus and Raimund, chanting is heard, " Buddy! Buddy!"
9:15 PM Was it during “Torpedo” that Marcus was playing his Hello Kitty guitar? Astig! Ely is back on the mic.
The first set ends and by 9:50 PM the next set is on, styled acoustic. A couch for Ely who sits at the center with his guitar, Jazz and Raimund to his right, Buddy and Marcus to his left, forming a semi-circle. It looked intimate, like an unplugged version of MTV, except there are over a hundred thousand of us there. A string of songs from their early albums are played." Julie Tearjerky", "Wishing Wells", and " Fine Time".
10:02 Ely says he'd like to do a number from the 70s. Intro to Pare Ko is on, and the audience howls. Everyone can relate to this song, the youth of my years, and today's youth. In fact the Eheads are geniuses because they staked their claim to this common feeling, as evoked in the lyrics of the song. No one can say it better now, they owned it-the cursing, the troubles that upsets the youth, we sang about it then, but it is as relevant then as it is now.
10:20 They dish out songs “Back 2 Me,” Trip to Jerusalem,” “Spoliarium".
10:30 PM OVERDRIVE.
"Magda-drive ako hanggang Baguio..Gusto kong matutong magdrive (kahit walang kotse)". Again, geniuses, no one can claim to those lyrics anymore because it has been stamped and delivered. What young man wouldn't want to learn how to drive for a thousand pogi points for the girls and his friends, a license to freedom, to unspoiled memories, to adventure, to infinity and beyond!
10:32 PM:Ely says goodnight and the stage turns dark, but that can't be. We know the drill, and we start chanting, "We want more! We want more!"
10:35 PM The cameras start focusing on the crowd, Anne Curtis, Joanne Quintas, to Aisa, Jericho Rosales, and to Francis, the lead guitarist of The Dawn who is beside a blonde lady who gives him a kiss.
10:37 The group goes back on stage and open up with this line “Sumigaw tayo para ke Francis!”Then they start playing “Superproxy.”
10:42 PM “Mabuhay si Francis!” Ely declares, after singing Minsan. It's been two hours, and we were on our feet all these time. We are tired, but we want more. Ely then leads the crowd into a modified version of “Alapaap.” The stage design, the lighting, the AVP is excellent, and is comparable to an international stage design. The effect of Alapaap with Ely onscreen and with a montage of other images around him make it look like he is in an alapaap.
10:50 PM The band explodes into the “Kaleidescope” as a tribute to Francis M who died Friday after long bout with leukemia. All 4 screens show Francis M while the songs Alapaap and Minsan are played- a tribute to the man we will all miss. According to one friend who is friends with Pia, Francis continued to live his life the way he wanted it- he finished recording an album with Ely two weeks before, and even submitted his monthly entry to the Camera Club of the Philippines last Tuesday, before he checked in at The Medical City. He died last Friday.
11:00 PM In a dreamlike sequence, intro to the song Ang Huling El Bimbo is played and a huge stream of confettis ferret out into the open sky. The wind carried the confettis all the way to the bronze section. At the back of the crowd, fireworks lit the sky and the magical feeling sets in. Our hands reach out to the confettis, feeling the magic, as if by touching it we were a part of this great band. This was my favorite moment. It felt like saying goodbye to something great, I felt it, I held it... it was slipping away, but I am ready to let go.
11:10 Ely stands up, douses the sticker-happy piano with lighter fluid and sets it on fire. That's the real E-heads piano they used to play music on in an apartment in Kalayaan in the 90s. El Bimbo signals the end of the Final Set.
11:10 PM: The band members get in front of the stage and even though they did not do a group hug, they stand next to each other and bow. That's it, there is closure.
11:20PM: Thousands of fans walk out of the concert grounds,Ely is shown walking off the stage escorted by guards and medics. We head out to 7-Eleven to buy bottled water and went to the parking lot.
11:30 PM: Oops.I learned from Cha that they just did an encore.Three more songs. We were out already but from afar,we could hear “Ligaya,” then “Sembreak” then finally “Toyang.”
It is a bittersweet memory, this saying goodbye. We loved the Eraserheads, but they are now on their separate ways. I felt it is just fitting to say goodbye to them this way, with me leaving to their songs. I may have grown up, but I refuse to say goodbye to my youth.
