ULTRAMAGNETIC POPPED! / AUG.30,2008 =D

We woke up on this particular Saturday fully-charged. With the E-heads concert and a habol for friend Nikolodeon’s belated birthday party at Biltmore after, we woke up earlier than we usually do and trooped to House Better with Buster J in tow. We arrived in time for breakfast with Buster immediately running to Lola (haha), the entire time jumping around like a jackrabbit. I suspect that like my nieces, Patita and Ray*-B, he also sees House Better as his comfy-land, having free reign to roam the garden and bug Madonna (Mother’s talking bird) until he gets bored and sleepy. Just as well. He’d at least have company while Hubby Sweet and I partied. Haha! =D

Hubby Sweet and I stayed until lunch, after which I had to go to the office (yes =() for last minute meetings with The Boss in time for the Monday presentation of the CY09 Operating Targets to our President. Hubby Sweet dropped me off (the office was one block away from the concert grounds, yey!). At 1:00 p.m., Fort Bonifacio was beginning to buzz. There were more cars than usual. There were more people milling about. This was no ordinary Saturday and several simple, plain, black signs on white tarpaulin said it all. ERASERHEAD REUNION CONCERT ->. The lack of "S" notwithstanding, I still say, WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Hahaha! 'D (Thanks to BJ, BTW, for the pic of the sign. I got it from his multiply site. Hehe. *Sheepish grin* =))

After dropping me off, Hubby Sweet set out to run several errands. I told him to be back by 5:00 p.m. though, in anticipation of the heavy traffic and the full restaurants. (I had previously dealt with Christina and Beyonce, and I suspected that the E-Heads reunion concert would be much, much, MUCH (!) bigger than both—COMBINED.) Thankfully, we did not have to deal with the parking nightmare that everyone else had to go through. We used my office parking slot. Yey! =D

I finally finished my meeting at 6:30 p.m. The Hubby Sweet passed time milling about Boni High. By the time I got down, every single restaurant within the vicinity was packed. Pancake House, Friday’s, Texas Roadhouse, etc., etc.! All were practically bursting at the seams with people eating and with people waiting for their turn to eat. I was just telling the Hubby that maybe we should just do take-out and eat in my office (how sad!) when I had a eureka moment. I whispered to Hubby Sweet and asked him to follow me to Landes & Hobbes. (Futile, I know, because no one else was really listening to me. Haha!) He looked at me curiously. It was a fact not too many people know. Right there in the middle of all those overpriced toys, Landes & Hobbes actually serve more-than-decent, and reasonably-priced pasta, turnover pies and sandwiches. There used to be caramel apples for dessert. Now, there’s only Haagen Daaz. Despite the busy-ness inside the store, we found a free table! YEY!!! ,D

Our E-heads Reunion Concert dinner? A gigantic Hungarian Sausage sandwich and potato chips for me; a chicken spinach lasagna and pepperoni roll for Hubby Sweet. Yum! ^_^ No pictures though. I was too excited, I forgot to take pics. Haha! Still, I do remember drowning my Hungarian Sausage under tons of mayo, tomato ketchup AND mustard. Diets be damned! This night was a night for celebration. OK, so maybe it ought to count that I gulped everything down with a can of Coke Light. Haha. =D

We decided to head to the concert grounds a little after seven. The walk only heightened our excitement. There was undeniable electricity in the air. The air was so charged, there could’ve been lightning and thunder, except that on this particular night—this night of all nights—there was, thankfully, no rain. After an entire week of afternoon showers, even the heavens seemed to have bestowed its special blessing and ordered the clouds not to release a single drop. On this night of all nights, Fort Bonifacio was A.L.I.V.E. WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

The traffic jam was mad. Vacant lots were converted to temporary parking lots. People were walking to and fro. A good number were sitting on the sidewalks. Hubby Sweet and I suspected they were the die-hard E-heads fans who were inevitably “left out” when the organizers decided to sell the tickets for P1,300 and P800 a pop. May mga jologs. May mga sosyal. May mga naka-shorts. May mga naka-miniskirt at heels (My personal thought balloon: BAKET???!!!). May bata. May matanda. May mga pawis na pawis. May mga mukhang "amoy cologne". Hahah! May isang grupo pa ng mga trentang tao yata na naka-customized black Eraserheads t-shirt complete with Ely Buendia prints. Nakatambay sa harap ng Honda Fort. Nagtatawanan. Nagyayayaan. Kala ko nagbebenta ng t-shirt, di pala. Muntik pa naman ako bumili. Haha! =D

Hubby Sweet and I walked to the entrance nearest Boni High, but were told to line up at the entrance on the other side instead because the lines near Boni High were getting ridiculously long. No biggie. The long walk to the other side allowed us to take in the entire scene. I was practically skipping and hopping the entire time. So were a few other people who walked alongside us. Hubby Sweet--who was just released from hospital confinement after popping his lung--was not allowed to. I suspect though that, deep inside, he was skipping and hopping along with me. Haha. =D

Right outside the entrance, a huge vacant lot (next to the newly-built South of Market condo) has already been converted into a huge picnic ground of sorts. Blankets were strewn everywhere; jackets were converted into makeshift picnic mats. As with the folks who contentedly sat down on the sidewalks on the Boni High side, I suspect, these folks were just happy to hear the Eraserheads play one more time without having to pay for the admittedly steep ticket price (for the average masa). Nonetheless, the same level of excitement that was stamped on the faces of the ticket-buyers were also quite evident in theirs. Considering that the organizers only had two days to release changes in concert details and two days to sell tickets, Fort Bonifacio (yes, beyond the actual concert venue) was SOLD-OUT. =D Official reports placed the crowd within the concert venue at 60,000. Those who partied outside were estimated to be at 10,000. 70,000 people trooped to Fort Bonifacio for the one thing they never thought would happen again. For one night only, the Eraserheads would once again take centerstage and rock.

Inside the concert venue, people patiently waited for 8:00 p.m. Some sat on solid ground. This was no time for kaartehan. Hubby Sweet and I stood the entire time. I took in the scene. I suppose it was perfect that the sole major sponsor pulled out at the last minute. Being in brand management, I found the experience quite surreal, and yet, admittedly, I also found it extremely refreshing. Despite the short notice, I refuse to believe that no other sponsor was willing to step in. Maybe things were really the way they were because the E-heads wanted it to be so. After all, the Eraserheads Reunion Concert was the biggest event of the year, and yet the entire place was practically a blank canvass. The signs that directed folks to the concert venue were unbranded and printed using simple Arial Bold Black letters on white tarpaulin. Inside the concert venue, there were no gigantic streamers. No gigantic Globe (or Smart) tarpaulins hanging from the stage and the scaffoldings. No perimeter walls painted with advertising. No gigantic Coke (or Pepsi), Pizza Hut (or Shakeys or KFC) booths! No personal care company giving samples of shampoo / soap / moisturizer / etc., etc. at the entrance. No merchandising whatsoever. Even the sole McDonald's booth did not have a gigantic sign with the familiar Golden Arches. It was more of a tent with set-up tables and a mound of burgers and rows of paper cups being filled with ice and softdrinks. (Think Sunday picnic set-up as opposed to the usual high-tech mobile booths that they usually send to events like these). The only other food booth was a burger place whose name escapes me now (I have not heard of it before). The only drinks being sold in the venue aside from bottled water was Sunkist Iced Tea and some neon-colored vitamin water. (Yes, drinks that no one has probably even heard of nor tried until then.) It was the early/mid-1990s again--before the telecom giants and below-the-line brand activations took over our lives.

Everyone was betting that the concert will start at 9:00 p.m. as most concerts in Manila are wont to do. (They start one hour after the declared time; 'am not too sure if it was to make room for the concept of Filipino time.) Everyone was wrong.

A little after 8:00 p.m., the gigantic video-wall flashed 10:00.00. The 10-minute countdown has begun. The crowd went wild at the 10-minute, 5-minute, 3-minute, and 1-minute marks. Eyes stayed glued to the screen, until finally, the real countdown began. As the numbers flashed on screen, the crowd screamed along like some weird extra New Year's Eve in August.

TEN!!!!!!

NINE!!!!!!!

EIGHT!!!!!!!

SEVEN!!!!!!!!

SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crowd went wild. The screen blacked out only to come back alive with two simple words, printed in simple fonts, white against a totally black screen. Those two words said it all for the 60,000 people within the venue and the 10,000 more outside.

SA WAKAS.

The Eraserheads were back, and I couldn't stop screaming.

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More in the next post. Time to work now. =)