That afternoon, I was actually with my SunDownMuse bandmates at Tago Bar for a band photoshoot. That band really didn't have any decent band photos. So we took that opportunity to take a few courtesy of our drummer Andrew. Of course he needed help since he has to be in the photos with the rest of the band.
After taking composed pictures around Tago Bar, Andrew had one final shot in mind before calling it a day. It needed to be a night shot which actually made me nervous. My call time with J.O.E. at Heckel and Jeckel, Makati was actually pretty early (around 7:00PM). So waiting for the sun to set so we can take the photo would get really close to my call time. Tago Bar isn't near Makati at all. But for the sake of the band, I stayed and just hoped that I wouldn't be late for my set at Fête. Briggs and Gigo told me that they'll drive me all the way to Makati just to ease my anxiety. It was nice of them to offer me a ride considering I brought all my percs gear. They said they would stay and watch my set as well. Once the sun set and we took a few snaps, below is one of the resulting shots that Andrew envisioned.
As soon as we were done, we finished off the remaining food we ordered from Tago and sped off to Makati. It was well past 7:00PM. So I was a bit worried. Upon arriving at Heckel and Jeckel, my needless concern was a waste of energy. I had forgotten that these music festival are never on time. So much to that fact that my J.O.E. bandmates were all not even at the venue yet. Two of my bandmates actually had sets at other stages and would just be following after.
(Pictures for the rest of this post are courtesy of Nicole Lacierda and Erwin Rentutar)
Heckel and Jeckel was bustling with people. I was surprised to run into a number of acquaintances that night. My good friend Joseph popped in to show his usual support for my gigs. An officemate brought his wife and a friend from the States to watch my gig as well. My SunDownMuse bandmates have never seen me play for my other bands. So the fact that some of them came along to watch made the night that much more fun.
The only remote disappointment I had at the gig was the fact that J.O.E. didn't have a roadie to help us with our gear. In a crowded bar it was just a little difficult to keep my gear in one place without getting in people's way.
Below is a video of our last song for the set.
Englishman in New York/Come Together (Cover Mashup)
The crowd's energy prior to our set was waning for some reason. I suppose it was the tone of the soul grooves of the two bands prior to us. We seemed to have breathed life back into the crowd during our short 3 song set. Cheers, screams, and shouts filled the venue. As always, my bandmate JR just loves embarrassing me onstage by calling me whatever nickname his mind can conjure. That night, he came up with the nickname "The Flash" for some odd reason. That just came out of the blue and had no relevance with anything whatsoever. LOL!
After we played our set and was busy hauling our gear off the stage, I was surprised that even I got a lot of high fives and hugs from random people. By the time I walked back to my SunDownMuse bandmates, I was greeted with the same praises.
We stayed for a while and I had to speed off with my J.O.E. bandmates to TheBar@1951 in Malate because we had to play set there that night as well. By the time we got there Butch, the bar owner, already had the 2nd band for the night start playing. We were supposed to be the 1st band. So it was too late for us to play a set. Most of us agreed to head back to the festivities at Fete. But Joseph and I ended up just heading back to my place to hang out.
Multiple band activities, good friends, music, fun times... Looking forward to next year's Fête de la Musique!
END OF LINE...
No comments:
Post a Comment