Article: Eraserheads Live in Singapore
Magazine: Myx
Year: 2014
Issue: No. 35
Catalog:
Writer: Anne Dizon
Updated: 22-June-2020
LET ME HEAR YOU SING IT
Former MYX writer-producer Anne Dizon shares
her Eraserheads reunion concert experience in Singapore
Text and Photos by Anne Dizon
Confession # 1: I didn’t have money to buy
tickets so I tried asking former bosses at MYX for a way to get in. I didn’t
think it would work but they were able to secure passes to the show for me. In
exchange, I had to cover the concert for them. This would be one of my few
“nagbunga na sa wakas ang pagpunta ko sa Singapore” moments.
Confession # 2: I’ve been wearing my
Eraserheads reunion concert shirt for years although I’ve never actually been
to one. I got it on sale a year after their reunion in Manila and it has served
as a kababayan magnet here in Singapore – sometimes scoring bigger food portions
and free drinks from Pinoy service crew members.
So with my shirt and finally making our way
to an actual E-heads concert, I wasn’t a poser anymore! I arrived 2 hours early
at the Max Pavillion, and twice-looped line of people suggested that I wasn’t the
only one waiting to finally hear my favorite songs live. Overheard in this long
queue: “11 years na yung naghiwalay-hiwalay sila, diba?”, “Yung last reunion
concert nung 2009 pa?”, “Di ba sinunog nila yung piano sa Sticker Happy?”,
“Ganito ba talaga kadami ang mga Pilipino sa Singapore?”
While waiting for the concert to start, I was
a bit disappointed that the stage looked too big for the band and too distant
from the crowd. Plus, the strict bouncers wouldn’t allow taking photos and
videos (although no one really complied) But all that was forgotten once the
Eraserheads started playing. The seemingly endless 10-minute countdown turned
into the most exciting 10 seconds, the band filled the stage with energy and
presence, and the fans were in the moment as we shared this extraordinary
event.
Since I was also there as a special
correspondent for MYX, I was running from one end of the hall to the other to
take videos of the crowd as they sang along. It brought back memories of
personal encounters with the individual band members; watching Buddy perform
with The Dawn in college, squeezing Raimund for a photo the first time I saw
him at a MYX shoot, and Marcus talking to me backstage during MYX Mo! “Markus
Highway. Next na ba kami?” Then, there’s Ely. Well, I’ve never actually met
Ely.
Seriously though, it was amazing to watch
Raimund beating the drums in playful intensity, Buddy swaying along as he
worked the bass, Marcus with his silvery guitar riffs, and Ely being Ely. They
were all here in front of me. Reunited and playing my favorites song.
The song that I grew up with, the song of
reckless youth; the song you sing when you drink, the song you sing when you’re
drunk; the song that you slow danced to; the song for the former love; the song
for the forever love; the song that made you curse aloud; the song you sang in
the car; the song that kept you up all night; the song of first love, of first
heartbreak; the song that reminded you of distance; the song that reminded you
of friends here and away; the song that took you back to moments lived and
longed for.
I’ve listened to Eraserheads songs many times
before but never like this. I raised my arms, I jumped around, and for a
moment, I felt at home in a sea of strangers.
