I was there around 9 pm and of course it wouldn’t start at once since it’s too early so while waiting for the crowd to fill up, DJ Ralph Roy of Circa provided the house music for everyone to chill out. Moving on, the first band started to play and didn’t even mention their name during their set. The band’s name is Hiway 69 which played great music. It set the mood for the audience. I was just able to get to know their name at the middle of the show.  . The hosts (Sib Lucero and a girl who I didn’t hear the name) of the show appeared after the first band. The girl host was onstage with topless men while Sib was on the side stage with the Hooter girls. I recognized one of the topless men with tie on the neck: he was one of the bouncers in the Eraserheads Reunion Concert last August 2008. Next band that performed was KO Jones which played classic rock.  Great set as well.

Corporate Lo-Fi was next and was actually excited to finally see them perform. I have heard great reviews about this band and I wasn’t wrong in believing those. Corporate Lo-Fi is a 9-member band (wow that’s a lot) composed of Kelvin Yu (bass), Rye Armamento (vocals), Kakoy Legaspi (guitars), Kaka Quisumbing (Drums), Marcus Nada (vocals), Richie Gonzaga (trumpet), Roxy Modesto (baritone saxophone), Justin Sunico (guitars) and Leo (keyboards). They’re no newbie in the local scene they came from bands like Itchyworms, Sugarfree, Bagetsafonik, Indio I, Ciudad, Peryodiko, and a lot lot more. The band’s sound is a mixture of hip hop and funk. They have just released their album last March and is available through their gigs, itunes and Amazon. Watch the video below of Corporate Lo-Fi performing their first song:

Taken by Cars was next. It has been a long time since I’ve seen this band though I see Sarah in non-music situations . Carlos Tañada of Up Dharma Down sessioned for TBC that night. Here’s a video of their performance:

After Taken by Cars, the hosts took a lot of air time just to keep the audience interested. We could already see Cynthia Alexander, Nyco Macca and Playground setting up onstage. So while they were setting up, hosts were asked to interview some of the popular figures in the local music scene such as Jugs Jugueta of Itchyworms, Sarah Marco of Taken By Cars, Kakoy Legaspi of Peryodiko and Corporate Lo-fi and Kevin Roy of of Razorback.

(apologies, i’m just using my camera phone here , Sarah Marco and Jugs Jugueta at the middle of the hosts)

(Kevin Roy and Kakoy Legaspi with the hosts)

Everybody was looking forward to the killer collaboration of Nyco Maca and Cynthia Alexander.  I was completely amazed with their set. The jazzy-hiphop and soulful sounds of Nyco Maca with Playground combined with Cynthia Alexander and her band’s acoustic and ethnic sound. It was truly a magical experience seeing these two great artists together. You will be truly proud to be a Filipino with these two acts joined together. Watch the video below to see how great they are:

After that breath-taking performance,  the hosts need to stretch the time so the production staff wrote this message:

(Karla and I were literally infront of the hosts so when the left, I took a picture of this as it was just lying on top of the DJ machine thingies (apologies, don’t know what it’s called ; ) . )

So there, pirates were actually there.

The last two acts, Urbandub and Razorback of course rocked the whole NBC tent. My body ached for days because I was jumping then. It was weird because this isn’t the first time I stood up for more than 4 hours. Oh well. It was really a great musical fusion. I just realized that the bands that performed that night were from different genres that would make you realize how diversified Filipino music is.

Yehey! organized a chat event for Urbandub fans last April 4 (Thursday) from 2:00-4:00 pm. Special thanks to Yehey! for inviting me to chat beside Urbandub! I was late but it was fine because I got to talk to one of my favorite bands. It’s really a yehey moment. Hehe.

The band was incomplete, it was only Gabby, Lalay and John there. Janjan (the drummer) wasn’t around. Urbandub fans got the chance to talk to their favorite band; Urbandub didn’t hesitate in answering the questions whether it’s serious or silly. Franco Reyes (one of the band’s good friends) was there also but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch him. Dang!

After chatting, we were able to talk to them offline. According to them they will be going back to Cebu to write songs for their new album which will be released under a new label which is MCA. Their contract with EMI was already done. They decided to stay in Cebu longer because they can’t really write songs here in Manila because of the busy schedule and of course, it’s more laid back in Cebu. Hopefully their new album will be released at the end of this year.

I asked them if they are planning for any collaborations with other bands, Gabby mentioned that if given a chance he would like to collaborate with artists such as Kadangyan, Noel Cabangon, chilitees, etc…

Urbandub merchandise will be available at the following music stores:  Music One Greenbelt, Music One Glorietta, Odyssey MegaMall, O Music & Video Rockwell, Odyssey Gateway Mall and Astroplus Podium Mall. They won’t be selling their shirts during their gigs anymore. So do buy them on the stores mentioned above.  

Of course, it wouldn’t be complete if I don’t have a photo op with them. Cool!! Awesome!

Sonic Boom celebrated their 3rd Christmas Party at Club Dredd Eastwood last night. I was with Karla, Lili and Ronald and it wasn’t really planned at all to go to Eastwood. We thought that Urbandub’s gig was in Saguijo. Oh well, it was just misinformation . We weren’t able to catch the bands who performed early such as Hilera and Nyctinasty. The place was filled with people and Typecast was about to finish their set. Other bands who performed after Typecast were Faspitch, Kjwan and Urbandub.

(Jorel- left)

It’s sad to know that Jorel Corpus, Kjwan’s guitarist will be leaving the band. I am not sure if he will be studying overseas, according to Marc Abaya who announced it on the mic ( I really couldn’t hear it well due to the noise). Nevertheless, the band will still continue playing. In fact they will be releasing their album entitled “13 Seconds to Love” early next year .The carrier single of the album “Lifeline” is already being played at NU 107.

Urbandub rocked the house down. They were really awesome. I believe they sang more than 5 songs, most of them were requested by the audience. They even played Wham’s “Last Christmas” which I thought to be just a joke at the beginning but they actually finished the whole song.

Here are some of the performances of Kjwan’s Lifeline, One Look and Urbandub’s First of Summer. Enjoy!

Kjwan performing of “Lifeline”

Kjwan performing “One Look”

Urbandub performing “First of Summer”