Eraserheads’ ‘Huling El Bimbo’ reunion: Pinoy rock vets play up punk spirit and wistful aches in epic set

Written by on 27/12/2022

Eraserheads

“O, Anong next?” (“What’s next?”) frontman Ely Buendia quizzed the nostalgic crowd who had been screaming their lungs out forty minutes into the set of Eraserheads’ reunion concert, ‘Huling El Bimbo’.

Some 75,000 fans had trooped to Parañaque City’s SMDC Festival Grounds on December 22 just to see the gang – Buendia, lead guitarist Marcus Adoro, bassist Buddy Zabala and drummer Raimund Marasigan – reunite for their third and (according to promoters) very last show in the Philippines.

Eraserheads
Credit: WEU Event Management Service

Their final setlist turned out to be a nearly four-hour long, 31-track proceeding of deep cuts and fan favourites that cast a wistful gaze on the collective good old days. The setlist covered eras when you desperately wanted to own a car even if you didn’t know how to drive one (‘Overdrive’), griped about power outages and missing a crush when school’s out (‘Sembreak’), or were utterly terrified of college girls that you can’t even speak to them (‘Torpedo’).

It showcased how far the once scrappy college kids with a punky DIY approach to making rock music have come. And it strangely affirmed how the seasoned musicians who are now in their early 50s, may be widely regarded as Pinoy rock royalty – but they’re still pretty much the same old Eheads. Buendia is still deadpan and collected; Marasigan still plays with a grin plastered to his face, just happy to be behind the drums; Zabala is as always characteristically steady and reliable; and Adoro occasionally breaks his silence to crack the odd joke.

Eraserheads
Credit: WEU Event Management Service

But this doesn’t mean that the four-piece didn’t strive for a great arena show – it was quite the opposite. To meet the promise of a bigger, better reunion concert , the band went old school, forgoing programmed backing tracks. Instead, they were joined onstage with the familiar and dependable help of Itchyworm’s Jazz Nicolas, Ciudad’s Mikey Amistoso, General Luna’s Audry Dionisio – playing guitars, synths, keys and everything else. Backup vocals and an 18-piece orchestra led by conductor Mel Villena gave Eraserheads’ songs different textures and heightened drama.

Guest performers included a bongo-banging Gary V, Francis M’s brood Elmo and Arkin Magalona filling in for the late rapper’s parts in electrifying opener ‘Superproxy,’ and Ely’s own kid Eon spitting raps with the pair, and again with Arkin in ‘Saturn Return’.

Eraserheads
Credit: WEU Event Management Service

A dynamic stage production heavily involved the use of smoke machines, a giant inverted E and holographic tech. A prolonged run of colorful fireworks punctuated closing song ‘Huling El Bimbo’ at the end of the night – making for a multi-sensory live music experience that Filipino concertgoers have been sorely missing since the pandemic first hit.

But in the end, it’s not about the flashy showmanship or the dazzling pyrotechnics. It’s about how much the Eraserheads’ music mattered to fans who moshed, danced, and feverishly howled their lyrics back at the band, lapping up every second they had with the quartet.

Eraserheads
Credit: WEU Event Management Service

So back in the first hour of their set, when Buendia asked which song they were playing next, the fans who had paid attention to the 12 straight tracks that played off the ‘93 record ‘Cutterpillow’, already knew the answer. Track 13 off Eraserheads’ third album is ‘Yoko’ – a grumbling, rip-roaring protest track that proved the boys can still stick it to the man.

Eraserheads stopped short of playing ‘Huling Bimbo’ in the first portion of their set – relegating it until the very end of the show. And there wasn’t a better song to set off a sky with fireworks to as fans swooned, sang, and swayed their outstretched hands to this last dance.

Eraserheads played:

‘Superproxy’ feat. Arkin and Elmo Magalona, Eon Buendia
‘Back2Me’
‘Waiting for the Bus’
‘Fine Time’
‘Kamasupra’
‘Overdrive’
‘Slo Mo’
‘Torpedo’
‘Huwag Mo Ng Itanong’
‘Paruparung ningning’
‘Walang Nagbago’
‘Poor man’s Grave’
‘Yoko’
‘Fill Her’

– End of first set –

‘Pop Machine’
‘Sembreak’
‘Sabado’
‘Ligaya’
‘Lightyears’
‘Saturn Return’ feat. Arkin Magalona and Eon Buendia
‘Maling Akala’
‘Tama Ka Na’
‘With A Smile’
‘Insomiya’
‘Christmas Party’ feat. Gary Valenciano
‘Spoliarium’
‘Magasin’

– Encore –

‘Pare Ko’
‘Minsan’
‘Alapaap’
‘Ang Huling El Bimbo’

The post Eraserheads’ ‘Huling El Bimbo’ reunion: Pinoy rock vets play up punk spirit and wistful aches in epic set appeared first on NME.


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