The XXperience

I woke up feeling so excited for the day. I will be watching The XX! OH MY GOD. I have been watching local bands since college, but most of thetime at the malls where it is free. I can count in my fingers the times I watched a concert that I bought tickets. 

This is also the first time I’ll be watching an international artist. Maybe not  actually first, I think I’ve seen some international artist in Glorietta or somewhere. But it wasn’t something I really like. Then last 2013, The XX came here. I was really planning to go, it was near my office. But it’s Tuesday, and it’s payroll so I can’t go.

Fast forward to 2018, I bought tickets Patron C at World trade, near at my
home. So everything is falling into place, it’s Wednesday, it’s not my
payroll day. So I went alone, and didn’t eat or brought a drink. I
though they will sell food at the event. But no, only beers were
available. So I was standing near the bleacher.  It should start at
8:00 pm, but due to some reasons, they started 40 minutes late. 

They started with “Dangerous”. Though I am not familiar with it, it’s upbeat, loud and a great way to start the show. Then next is "Islands". At last I know the song. And I really had goosebumps. It’s quite different from their new sound. It was so simple but with unique arrangements. It is about fully committing oneself to that person.  “Say Something Loving”, a song about feeling an infatuation over someone but not really sure if their feeling is something real.   

Then “Crystalised”. This is the first song I learned from them. I was sooooo happy and grooving with them.  The crowd was moving too. Oliver did some short spiels. His voice was so unique. Before playing “Reunion”, he said that “I can tell really this is going to be a very good one. Thank you so much for being here, it means the world to us, so we’ve done something special. This next song, this is the first time we’ve played it in five years.” 

Then “A violent Noise”. A song about a situation where everything seems too much and you can’t help but “silence the noise”.  Then “I Dare you”. It’s one of their single. Milly Bobby Brown was there at their music video. Another catchy and upbeat song. You will just groove with it. Romy said before playing “Performance” , “thank you for singing along with us, that was really beautiful, this next song means a lot to me and I’m gonna be playing it on my own,” It’s a song that’s very special to her, so she sang it by herself. No special effects. Just her enchanting voice and guitar. 

“Replica”, a powerful duet about resisting or repeating their parents mistakes. Then Oliver said “Can you keep a secret Manila? You’ve been my favorite this tour!”. I know he might say it with any country they toured.  But for some reasons, I think he is saying the truth. No BS.  Then “VCR”, it  starts with simple xylophone like sound. It’s one of my favorite songs they performed from their set.

Oliver also said that “This is a place where you can leave anything that is causing you pain at home and just enjoy yourself here.”. I can’t help but let out my emotions for a bit there. I’ve been going through some stuff, and by saying that meant a lot to me. 

Jamie wasn’t left behind, he had his own moment by playing “Loud Places” and “Intro”. “On Hold” is no doubt a crowd favorite. I don’t like dance music that much but with this song, and with how the crowd is grooving with it, I c an’t help but move along with them.

Before playing their last song, “Angels”,  Romy ended it with a lovely speech, “We are very far away from home, but you’ve made us feel welcome and it means a lot to us. I don’t want to repeat myself but thank you so much.” “We always wanted you to know, that every time you see us play, is that we appreciate each and every single one of you for being here.” 

I can see them, but can’t really see their faces. I love the light
effects they were doing. It matches every beat of the songs.
Romy’s voice is so soft but seems so pure. At the end when she is
about to speak, people were just cheering for her.

After the concert, I was blown away and was so hang over with them
that I kept on watching their videos, interviews and anything about
them.

I was able to learn why I gravitated towards them. They are tagged as
the shyest band in UK. They are introvert like me. They are not
that great playing their instruments that is why their sound is simple.

There is no doubt that friendship really matters when being in a band. I can see it when Oliver looks at Romy and vice-versa.  When they sing it also seems they are singing to each other. 

This is no doubt, the best concert I’ve been to. Nice crowd, great venue, awesome light effects and a powerful performance by Oliver Sim, Romy Croft and Jamie XX.

Photos grabbed from When In Manila site.

Old and New Favorites

This post is still related to H&M close the loop event. 

So I was with my brother when we went to Megamall to watch the H & M Close the loop event. We went to see Up Dharma Down. The last time went to Megamall was to see who else, but still UDD. But we were late. We arrived around 5 pm and they were to perform around 4 pm. Buti na lang naabutan namin ang “Oo”. 

Anyway, we left earlier this time, afraid that we might be late again. We left around 3 pm for a 4 pm gig. Lo and be hold, when we were already inside MRT, there was no signal or whatever so we have to wait for some time until they will resume the operation. Of course we can’t wait. Damn you MRT! Why now? So we decided to take refund of my stored value cards and walk for how many meters to ride the bus. We ride on a non-air conditioned bus because, well we have no choice.

So to make our travel story short, we arrived around 4 30 and I think they were just performing their 2nd song. Our goal is to be in front, but of course we were late, so we can’t do that. 

Up Dharma Down never fails to amaze me. The sound was very clear, not “wasak” or “basag” sound like an ordinary band sound like. I think that’s because they have a personal sound engineer at the side maneuvering technical stuff. Other bands didn’t have this kind of sound control so their sound was not as crystal clear as UDD.

They sang “Oo”, “Tadhana”, “Indak”, “All the Good things” and “Sana”. Armi was funny in between songs. She was making jokes.

I will never ever get tired of watching UDD. I just can’t. 

Maybe the biggest surprise of the night, well, one of… is The Cheats. Prior with this event, I never heard their music. Because, well as I mentioned before I’m old and stuck with the 2004-2010 bands and has no energy to listen to new bands. Thanks to H & M I was able to see and know the Cheats. As of this writing their debut album is played repeatedly on my Ipod and Spotify. 

The bad thing was unlike UDD whose sound was so clear, the guitars and other instruments  of The Cheats were overpowering the sweet voices of Candy and Saab and Jim’s rocking voice. I can’t understand the lyrics. But what’s good was their energy. They were so engaging and I know that the songs seems good.Well Ely Buendia is the producer of their album, nonetheless so they must be really good. They kept moving and moving around the stage, head banging, and just well, rocking it out for a lack of better term on what they are actually doing.

As you can see in the pictures, they are moving around or closing their eyes like they really feel the song they were singing.

In between songs thy were doing their spiels in a coño way but it was quite cute and funny. Even though I never understood the lyrics during their live gig, I downloaded their songs (legally!) and they are actually good. I am loving “Summer” and “Newspaper Girl”. I am just hoping that next time when I will see them again live, the sound is better because their songs are worth the time to listen to.

So if you have time, please listen to The Cheats. They are worth your memory space on your Ipod and unleash your head banging skills.

Up Dharma Down Experience 2.0

The first time I saw UDD performed was in my school's event. That time Armi, the vocalist has this pang commercial long hair.

I got the chance to see them for the 2nd time in a Galleria event. Now, Armi has shorter hair that really suits her. Enough of the hair talk... They released their 3rd Album "Capacities". It is much different from their first two albums, "Fragmented" and "Bipolar". Their sound now is more upbeat and even danceable.

What's great about that event was eventhough it is only a mall gig, I felt like they transformed the small concert place to an awsome high end bar. I don't really dance but when they performed their songs I can't help it but dance like no one is looking.

They also perform my favorite song of all time "Oo". I never expected that since they are promoting their new album, but I guess they know that people are expecting it from them. I know that Armi might be tired singing that song, I read or heard that she really is, but when she sang that song, you will never see the irritation that she might actually feeling.

That event was just magical that eventhough I already downloaded their album illegally, I bought their album for 500 bucks which is quite expensive for a local album. But I just think that the band is just awesome I need to buy it so they will have the urge to continue making good music.


photos grabbed from tumblr.