MANILA, Philippines - Pupil, the local hitmakers fronted by Ely Buendia, was recently chosen as the opening act by the international rock band Nine Inch Nails (photo) during their concert at the Araneta Coliseum in Aug. 5. Out of a possible ten local bands suggested by Splintr.com, the honor ultimately went to Pupil.
Pupil members have this to say: ‘NIN playing in Manila is beyond awesome, we are excited as hell to open for them.’
Pupil is a relative newcomer to the local music scene, having been formed in 2005. But already, Pupil has made big waves by winning various awards including ‘Artist of the Year’ at the NU107 Rock Awards 2008 and Best Rock Video at the MTV Music Awards 2006.
Nine Inch Nails (NIN) personally chose Pupil among the shortlist provided by Splintr.com. Manila represents the first stop on the Asian leg of the NIN world tour, entitled Wave Goodbye. It represents what may be the farewell tour, maybe the last. Frontman and driving force behind NIN, Trent Reznor, indicated that after this tour the band would take an indefinite hiatus to focus on other projects. Taken from their official website, Reznor himself broke the news to his legions of fans: ‘The NIN World Tour 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases,’ Reznor wrote. ‘I’ve been thinking for some time now. That it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year.’
(Note: For ticket inquiries, log on to www.ticketnet.com.ph or call 911-5555. Or visit www.splintr.com for more details.)