Last Saturday, January 16, 2016, must have been one of my favorite nights as a musician.
We were booked to play 2 gigs, both of which were scheduled during the week itself. The first was to pay tribute to David Bowie, by doing 12 straight Bowie numbers at Alchemy, a bar that was once our home, but also a bar that has let us go after having been booked there at least once a week for over 6ix months. The next, was to play the Philippines' biggest music festival, Rakrakan.
I got to Alchemy at about 9:30pm, half an hour late from call time, but an hour before we hit the stage. The place was packed with people I had never seen before, many of them Westerners, and so much so, that even the table I had reserved for the Oknards had been given away to some other folks.
The original plan was to play 2wo sets of 6ix songs each, but right before starting, Nino had spoken to Gordon (the owner of Alchemy) and had agreed that we play one long set instead. A man I hadn't yet met, came up to me while I was having a cigarette before playing, and asked if I was in the band. I said yes, and he said that we better do a good job because a lot of people were counting on us to pay the proper respect to the man we were all gathered there for. Prior to this, I had even received a Facebook message from a friend I hadn't seen or spoken to in years, and had pretty much said the same thing. The pressure was on, and I was nervous.
But more than the nerves, I was excited. We were playing to a full crowd, and we were to play nothing but Bowie. This gave us direction and we were not winging songs like we often do. We started our first 333hree numbers and had gained plenty of confidence. The cheers between the songs were loud and the applause was more than we are used to. This helped us run through the rest of our songs and as an added push to do well, we saw some friends in the audience by this point, all of whom were smiling at us, dancing to our music, sorry, Bowie's music, and singing along too! Not to mention all the strangers who were doing the same. By the end of it, an encore was requested and we went into our final number, Space Oddity.
When we left the stage, I myself met maybe a dozen people who were applauding us for a job well done. One friend I spoke to, even told me that he was a fan of ours after what we had just done. There were compliments on my bass lines during Let's Dance, and we even got booked right then and there to play a gig for a friends birthday party. Other people said we had done so well that they got drunk so fast, while others simply said they wished that there was more since they had enjoyed so much!
I'm sure many bands hear this on a regular basis, but not us. So to be regarded in that much bright light felt really good and heart warming. And just as the night had started so abruptly, we had to split. Our call time at the Globe Circuit for the Rakrakan Festival was coming fast.
The car ride alone was loads of fun already! Renee, Maite, and Al Louise joined us in Niko's car. Tim and Anna were in Nuts' car, and we were a traveling party on our way to a music festival with 70 bands on 333hree stages.
When we got there, as somewhat expected, there were still 4 bands before it would be our turn. So, beer was on everyone's minds and we got to that in almost no time. Naturally, we spent a little time roaming the grounds and saying hi to a few friends, but it didn't take long before we found our spot near our stage and settled in, very comfortably I might add.
We smoked some pot, drank our beers, and took some photos while telling jokes and talking about other Bowie songs to learn. When the beer stubs had run out, I managed to get Keith (of Rakista) to open a bar for us so that we could buy more beer by telling him that we had nearly an hour of waiting before it would be our turn and we needed the fuel to keep us alive, otherwise our batteries would die out and we wouldn't be able to play very well. You know how it is.
So Renee, Niko and I went to one of the main beer booths in the center of the venue and bought 11 beers and brought them back to our little outdoor tent. Again we drank, smoked, and laughed. We were in really great spirits and it seemed like nothing would put us down. Then the band before us was done and it was our turn. At this point, we were drunk, but not to the point of passing out. As a matter of fact, we had so much energy running through our veins!
The stage wasn't as big as the other stages, but it was still pretty big compared to the bar gigs we normally play. I can't remember what songs we played but I know we played our originals. It must have been during our first song that I saw Tim stumble and fall to the ground in front of the stage, taking down the barrier that divides the crowd from the stage. People in the audience had been asleep but had woken up from our noise, and i'm guessing the madness that ensued once that barrier was down. Dudes in black stormed the front and with the bouncers gone, (we were the last band to play,) there was nothing stopping them from coming right up to us!
And so what do I do? I jumped off the stage and joined them! I had never done that, nor had I ever imagined that I would do something like that. But it felt so good and seeing their reaction was priceless. These guys really appreciated being so close to us and you could feel their happiness through the air that separated us. I loved it!
I had lost my guitar tuner as a result, and I know that I littered at least one cigarette onto the lawn, but my mind was somewhere else and I couldn't even think of anything other than to play my hardest and damnedest. If im not mistaken, I probably joined the audience on that monitor twice throughout our set. By the end of it, some of them took pictures and the clear sky hovered over us as the Globe Circuit cleared to emptiness.
When it was all said and done, I had received a few messages from friends that I didn't even know were there to congratulate us for playing an awesome set, as well as a few comments about how I was a rockstar now. Bullshit! But the term helps because it does help you feel as if you are getting closer to where we want to go, which is towards some element of success as a band.
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| Dancing with a fan! |
I was so tired by the end of the night, that when Nuts dropped me off at the corner of EDSA and Pasong Tamo, I thought my legs were gonna collapse under me. Then my internet died and I lost my Uber booking, forcing me to walk under the bridge to Pasong Tamo Extension to wait for a cab. I'm lucky I didn't pass out in the cab and was able to get home safely.
These were great gigs for the band. We all got to bond and since we had done well, were all really happy and pleased with ourselves as well as each other. Now, onto our next adventure!
If any of you readers were there that night, please do share your experiences with me. I would love to know what it was like for the people in the audience!
