A night of rock 'n change

MANILA, Philippines - Nine days before the first automated elections in the country, the Filipino youth, together with today’s rock icons gathered for Rock for Change at the SM Mall of Asia Penthouse. It was last May 1 when hundreds of young Filipinos screamed, head banged and shouted for their right to vote, as they rocked the night away with performances from Sandwich, Imago, The Dawn, Urbandub and Rico Blanco.

Spearheaded by Roam Philippines and Crush Communications, the event aimed to awaken the Filipino youth’s sense of patriotism and mobilize them to participate in this year’s elections.

But normal talks and forums were not enough to catch the attention and interest of today’s youth. A different approach had to be done. Roam Philippines and Crush Communications staged a rock concert that had everybody’s head banging. They invited MYX VJ Monica and Jamie Wilson of RockEd, an organization which aims to alleviate poverty in the country, to host the concert.

Also in for the cause were the rock bands and performers that had the audience screaming for more. Imago and Sandwich got the crowd jumping and screaming with their back-to-back performances of their hits. The Dawn, had the audience swaying with hands held high to Jett Pangan’s smooth, soothing voice. Urbandub rocked the ground and had the crowd jumping and screaming along. Rico caused a lot of deafening screams from the crowd. Markus Highway, Paraluman, Jov Kalinga Project, Lampara, Tonight We Sleep, Shuriken, Kastigo and Kadangyan also rocked the night away. Red Horse Extra Strong Beer and Frenzy Condoms set up their booths and held a Pimp My Shirt Contest.