Soon after the last bow of the “Eraserheads: The Final Set” concert, packs of people started to clog the exits of the SM Mall of Asia Open Grounds last Saturday.



The weather was humid, as lines and lines of sweaty (but smiling) E-heads fans talked excitedly, sifting through the pictures they took on their camera phones. The Eraserheads, comprised of the original members Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Marcus Adoro (guitars), Buddy Zabala (bass), and assisted by Jazz Nicolas (keyboards) of the Itchyworms, delivered one of the most amazing performances of their illustrious careers, performing a collection of hits, choice album cuts, and cult favorites to a crowd of almost 100,000.





Popular B-sides like “Alkohol”, “Insomnya” and “Slow-mo” were sung by Raimund, whose energy was intoxifying. At one point during “Alkohol”, Raimund landed arm-in-arm with Ely, one of many tender moments the two shared, much to the crowd’s delight. The big discovery of the show was Marcus’ brilliant reggae rendition of “Huwag Mo Nang Itanong.” The La Union native charmed the crowd further with his unique brand of humor. “Hindi ko talaga sasabihin sa ’yo,” he sung to the delight of his bandmates. Each band member’s giant video screen allowed us to see their close-up shots, making it easier to catch usually-stoic bass icon Buddy’s face crack when the crowd started chanting for him to sing. Yes, there were some miscues, but the band brought a fire that was somewhat lacking during the first concert, whose set design of having individual pillars hindered their chemistry.



There was a visible change on the band’s demeanor. The way they interacted with the audience and with each other was warmer, and music was thriving. Crowd pleasers like the show opener “Magasin”, “Pare Ko”, “Torpedo”, and “Minsan” turned into the loudest call-and-response exchanges between crowd and band many of us have ever seen. “Sing,” Ely would ask the crowd from time to time, and they would. “Jump,” he said. And thousands of people would in command, the concrete ground literally shook from all the weight.



Then they did a short acoustic set. The band sat in a circle on dark sofa set, lit with blue mood lights, unplugged. Power pop tracks like “Julie Tearjerky”, “Tikman,” “Wishing Wells,” and “Fine Time” were played in this acoustic set, the band’s intensity never wavered even without distortion. A different kind of minimalist set-up in “Kailan” almost stole the show with Ely on vocals and Jazz on keyboards, the former allowed himself to be both vulnerable and powerful, while the latter served both as contrast and as musical anchor.

The memory of a true anchor to Pinoy rock Francis M, a good friend of the Eraserheads, was felt. It was reported that he was supposed to guest on “Superproxy,” and while Ely sang the godfather of Pinoy Hip-hop’s part, we couldn’t help but feel like he absence was made even more apparent.



The E-heads later played a couple of bars of “Kaleidoscope World” during the encores, one Pinoy Rock icon paying tribute to the other. An intriguing, rearranged, slower version of Alapaap made its debut, and elicited a deafening applause.

The show’s star was definitely the Eraserheads epic “Huling El Bimbo”, which was performed masterfully. “El Bimbo’s” end was poetic: a dazzling array of fireworks, a beautiful rain of confetti, and Ely’s shocking but electrifying burning of the old Stickerhappy keyboard. The keyboard’s flames rising over his head, Ely jumps on it, and looks to the crowd, etching his legacy deeper into our memories.

Only the concert didn’t end there. A few minutes after the lights were dimmed, Raimund, Ely, Buddy, and Marcus were on-stage again for a real encore. The crowds of people, most of whom were on the foot of the exits, started running back to the floor. “3 for the road!” they said. “Ligaya”, “Toyang,” and “Sembreak”.



And while the Eraserheads performance eventually ended in glorious fashion, we learned that the songs never really did end.

Hey Ely, we’re now all Eraserheads too.


Images by Ian Ong.