Ultracombo

Photos grabbed from Roxanne Nebres

Jan. 19, 2019, still my birthday. Just saw an Instagram post about the Ultracombo gig in the morning. Since it’s my birthday and I have nothing planned out in the evening, I decided to celebrate it by watching 3 out of 4 heads at Eton Centris.

I’ve never seen Eraserheads live, so it’s the closest thing to the original thing. I’ve seen Ely Buendia’s solo concerts. But even though he was the vocalist of the heads, it still not the heads. Well Ultracombo, is still not the Eraserheads, but still, there is something unique, there is something about the chemistry of the three that will just make you want to watch and listen them to play.

It gives me such joy when I see Buddy looking at Rayms, or Buddy smiling when Marcus fucked up the lyrics. I like seeing Rayms playing drums. I think it’s hard to sing while playing the drums. Every time he hits the cymbals, he just give his full energy. Marcus is well, Marcus. He is not the best vocalist in town, but damn the guitar riffs. The concert was nostalgic. I realized that I know the lyrics to all of the songs they performed. Yep, even the rap part of Superproxy. That’s how an eheads fan I am.

They started the event with Overdrive. With the first note of the song, I just got goosebumps. The event was like a big karaoke 🎤 event where the 3 heads were playing their hit songs. Raymund Marasigan and Marcus Adoro were switching as the vocalist while Buddy Zabala was the back up vocalist.

Their setlist are composed of songs that are really easy to sing like Sembreak, Minsan, Pare Ko, Ligaya and Magasin. Also, most of the songs are upbeat so the crowd can jump and dance with it.

Of course there were some mistakes, like missing cues or wrong lyrics but that’s forgivable, because well they are legends. The mistakes are funny. Like when Marcus forgets the lyrics to Harana. Or when he said “ilang tansan pa ba ang kakain oh giliw ko? Ilang isaw pa ba ang iipunin oh giliw ko”. I can’t help but jump, raise my hands, and sing along with them. At some point, Rayms said “Put your fucking cellphones down. Walang ganyan nung 90s”. Yes, I videod some parts of it, but not all because I just want to feel the drums of Rayms, the bass of Buddy and the guitar riffs of Marcus. When they sang “Ang Huling El Bimbo”, I just closed my eyes, sang along and raised my hands and said “damn it’s my birthday. I’m glad to be alive. I made right decision of going in the Ultracombo gig”.

It’s a fucking gig to remember. I can list it as Top 5 best gig I’ve been to. The crowd is fun too. I still hope that there will be a reunion con cert any time soon. It’s a 90s kid’s dream. Because I’m still a baby when they are still together. But well, this mini reunion of some sorts still works fine to me. Hoping they continue to create music even if it’s not Eraserheads, because damn! They are so good. They are legendary. They are one in a million. They are Ultra Combo.