Wednesday, August 23, 2006

What's Your Fantasy?: Pinoy ROCK! Edition

Last night's concert was an absolute blast, if it wasn't for the fact that it ended too abruptly - a fact that was not lost on my friend Evie, whom I had to talk out of making certain threats against The Powers That Be who didn't count on the fans wanting so much more for so little time. (Memo to aforementioned TPTB: Next time, if the tickets say that the show's at 8 pm, START AT 8 PM - okay, give or take half an hour, but no more than that. It's ESPECIALLY important if you KNOW that the venue is supposed to close at a certain hour. And if you know there's no room for an encore, it's a VERY BAD IDEA to have a cutesy celebrity VJ on stage saying stupid things like, "It's over! I'm serious! Do you want me to sing?" Because, people, the one thing less savory than a theater full of fans threatening to riot is the sight of Meimei and Evie inciting said riot by delivering a righteous bitch-slapping to a celebrity... and, believe me, you so totally don't want that. That's all.)

While I was trying to talk Evie off her ledge - so to speak - over a couple of beers, we got around to talking about how things have changed in the last ten years since I moved away. Sure, the Pinoy rock scene has produced a lot of awesome bands in the past (hello, Eraserheads and Parokya ni Edgar) but there have only been a countless few of them who we could say were, well, hot. But this year... sigh.

Take, for example, Sandwich. Okay, so I can't find a better photo online (or at least one where the guys are not hairdo-challenged) but trust me on this one: These guys are good, on top of being good-looking. Their lead singer, Raimund Marasigan, is a cutie in his own right - and plenty mesmerizing onstage, too - but my money's on Diego Castillo, the band's original guitarist (he's the tall, skinny guy in the video linked above), who - I swear - has only gotten hotter since he finally cut off his 'fro. When I saw them last night, D. was wearing a long-sleeved striped dress shirt and black pants, and wielding a wicked ax (as always), and I was so close to him on the front row that I had to stop myself from asking him to marry me right there on stage. Me? Groupie material? Hell no. But I'll totally have his bouncy-haired babies if he wanted me to.

Unless, that is, I got an offer to spend way too much time with Sponge Cola, which I would not mind at all. The best way for me to describe their lead singer Yael Yuzon (and the wicked new haircut he was sporting last night) is that he is the Pinoy version of Gael Garcia Bernal - look, their names rhyme too! - but with the raw, wrenching, emotional vocal talent that can make a romantic out of just about anyone. Then again, I'll probably end up fighting an entire army of girls to get to him, so I'll just leave him here for the eye candy.

And then there's Hale, another band known for both romantic moping and cute cuteness. They were not there at the concert, which was a pity in itself, but their frontman, Champ Lui Pio, is the kind of guy you want to take home so you could snuggle (ahem) with him all night long while drinking hot ginger tea. Then again, based on the scuttlebutt I've heard about Hale's hellish touring schedule, I bet Champ could totally use more of that kind of TLC. You know, what with ginger tea being good for the throat and all...

I could go on and on, but I'll end up sounding like a hipster anyway - which doesn't sound good for somebody like me, who's coming back into the swing of things ten years too late. (Not to mention that some of the other bands we saw last night count as friends-of-friends, which I consider a conflict of interest for this blog.) So I'll close out this entry with a mini-linkfest for one Francisco Manalac, whom we all know and love as Bamboo. Again, at the risk of getting trampled by every other Filipino female on the planet, let me say that this guy is insanely talented on top of being better-looking than ever... so of course he's got a life-long membership on my Pinoy Celebrity Boyfriend List. And that's the truth.

Check back later tonight for my review of Rock Star: Season 2, Week 8. After watching Sandwich and Sponge Cola - not to mention Parokya ni Edgar and Kamikazee, among others - live on the same night, staying home to catch Suave Porn continue their long-running audition for singers seems quite anticlimactic.

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