MANILA, Philippines — A drone show, a full orchestra, a special appearance by the “fifth Ehead” and nothing less than “110-percent rock ‘n roll” are what audiences can expect from Ang Huling El Bimbo, billed as the last reunion concert of OPM icons Eraserheads.
The four-piece band — made up of Ely Buendia, Buddy Zabala, Marcus Adoro and Raymund Marasigan — is set to perform at the SMDC Festival Grounds in Parañaque City. This is 13 years after they had their reunion concert in 2009 and 20 years since they went on their separate ways to form their respective bands and pursue other projects.
“On Dec. 22, we are going to attempt to make some historical achievements that no other local concert has ever done,” said Francis Lumen, one of the producers behind the concert named after one of Eraserheads’ greatest hits.
“I’ve done a lot of foreign concerts… but I tell you, this one I really wanted to do, and to me, is one of the most spectacular productions I’ll be involved with.”
The spectacle includes a drone and laser show and 18-piece orchestra to be conducted by Mel Villena, who has had worked on most of the band’s albums as arranger.
Lumen further revealed that the “fifth Eraserhead,” the late Master Rapper Francis M, who was supposed to perform with the band at the last reunion concert, but passed away three days before the show, will carry on with the duet. “On Dec. 22, you will see him perform with the Eheads through the technology of hologram. That alone is something that will give you goosebumps… That will be the first number so please don’t be late,” Lumen said.
The show also enjoys the support of Jazz Nicholas of The Itchyworms, Mikey Amistoso of Ciudad and Audrey Dioniso of General Luna who will serve as sessionists.
Eraserheads started out as a college band at UP Diliman in 1989 before BMG Records took a chance on them and gave them a three-year record deal 30 years ago.
Asked to comment on their journey so far, Ely said, “I thought I would be sick of the journey right now, but still it’s full of surprises…”
Buddy reflected, “The past 30 years has been full of many, many detours, for each of us, individually, with our side gigs. But I think the stuff that we’ve learned the past 30 years on our own, we’re going to bring it on Dec. 22. Meaning to say, the stuff we’ve learned, we are going to apply it (in the concert).
“I think we’ve grown as musicians, I think we matured as performers… We hope to keep it fun and light,” he added.
Raymund, nevertheless, admitted that rehearsals have been “weird” because they haven’t played together in a long time. “But we’re getting the hang of it,” he said.
“It’s different because when we started, we rehearsed in a small studio beside our dorm, Molave, in Diliman. It was a little studio where we probably paid 80 pesos per hour. It was just the four of us and now we’re playing with real sound system, real crew, real amps…”
“And real wonderful theater,” Buddy added.
“Yes, a real cool theater, nice equipment, nice guitars, it sounds great and we’re working with really professional people,” Raymund quipped.
For Ely, coming together again as a group didn’t spell any major adjustment. “Personally, I didn’t find it that difficult naman. My only problem was what to do with all the toys, the new toys,” he said, referring to the new gear they bought for the show. “But as far as playing again, I think it comes naturally.”
Buddy also said, “Playing together is like riding a bicycle. You just get on the bike and pedal and if you get enough momentum, you’re OK until you fall down and then you cry, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’ and then you ask for help and get back on the bike. Right now, we’re finding our momentum, we got on the bike and removed the training wheels. We’re going fast and we have to go faster. We have to go in one direction, all the way to Dec. 22, 2022.”
The setlist is one of the things they’ve been working hard on the most.
Raymund admitted, “We worked a lot on the set that it changes every week… It gets better, at least for us, so I hope it’s great for everyone. I won’t be surprised if next week it’s gonna be a slightly different set, but we’re always working on the set every day.”
He added that the songs they’re playing may not be their best songs but they’re the best songs for this show. “It’s going to be sick,” Raymund said.
Meanwhile, a journalist asked about how their performance on stage would have changed after all these years. Would they still have the energy to jump around and all, someone asked to that effect.
Raymund quipped, “Have you seen the Eraserheads jump on stage?”
“We get excited with the music, ‘di nakakapagod but napapagod kami physically,” he mused, “because we’re not as young as we want to be.”
“But you can’t help it. When you play rock ‘n roll, you can’t just play 20 percent. It always has to be a 110 percent or you won’t rock ‘n roll. The crowd gives us something, the band gives us something, the music gives us something, it has a lot of good energy.”
During the presscon, concert director Paolo Valenciano was asked by the members themselves about what it’s like so far directing them. He said he was surprised by the band.
“Working with the Eraserheads, I wasn’t sure what that could be like. I’ve worked with divas in the past and a lot of them have given me headaches — I won’t name names hahaha! — I thought I would be working with a bunch of rock stars who would be giving me a hard time, wanting this and that, but surprisingly it has been easy working with the band, and they know what has to be done and they’re willing to do what has to be done to make this a great show,” Paolo said.
“Usually, some of the best shows that I’ve done is because the artist is willing to do what it takes to give the audience a good show. And these guys are willing to do it and I personally believe that’s why this show is gonna work. I mean we’re just the icing on the cake, and they are a good cake.”
Meanwhile, Lumen teased some of the plans they have with the Ang Huling El Bimbo concert. These includes merchandise, livestreaming on iWantTFC, a documentary on the making of the concert, as well as a planned world tour.
“A world tour is one thing that can happen after this, maybe next year and it’s something we’re so proud of and of course we want to showcase Filipino talents and Eheads is a legendary band. I think a lot of Filipinos abroad can relate to it and it will be nostalgic for them to see them and it would be a way to show Filipino pride,” he said.
“We are also going to have a docu on the making of Ang Huling El Bimbo to be shown in Philippine cinemas and streaming platforms,” he added.
“There’s a lot of byproducts for this event.”
Concert organizers are also thankful that SMDC decided to expand the area capacity to allow more people to attend the concert which is poised to be the biggest OPM concert the country has ever seen in years.
Another journo likened the anticipation and magnitude of the reunion concert to the Friends reunion.
Asked what could have happened if they carried on with the band, Ely said, “Feeling ko magkakatuluyan si Buddy and si Marcus, honest take yun.”
“Gusto ko yung sagot ni Marcus,” offered Buddy.
“Kung nagtuloy-tuloy kami eh di walang reunion,” Marcus quipped before Raymund broke into the Friends theme song, “So no one told you life was gonna be this way.”
(The Huling El Bimbo - Eraserheads Reunion Concert 2022 is a production by WEU Event Management Services, Ant Savvy Creatives and Entertainment, Inc., DVent Productions and Myriad Entertainment Corporation. The event is presented by SMART, Coke Studio, PLDT, Angkas and Maya. This concert is co-presented by SM Supermalls, and in participation with San Miguel Corporation and Okada Manila. Tickets are available at SM Tickets outlets and online.)