I wanna hear another fast song
I don’t think you ever completely stop loving the music you grew up with. It just tends to become a part of you. I know a good number of people who, in spite of their indie cred, impeccable hipster taste, and ability to name-drop 20 bands you’ve never heard of in 10 seconds flat, can and will sing along to every ‘90s pop song ever written. Shamelessly. You might grow out of the music of your youth, but you will always love it, even if you pretend not to.
Which is why when people made comments like “Wow, that’s so high school!” when I expressed my excitement over Saosin’s show in Manila, I just gave a shrug of the shoulders and said, “Yeah, so?”
They wrote the music I needed to hear when I was a teenager in the first half of the previous decade. They wrote the lyrics that I found meaning in. And it was really good music. I still listen to them when the mood strikes and I like them as much as I did when I first heard them at 17.
Most bands don’t come to Manila. Maybe the market’s not as big here, maybe the artists are worried about their safety, maybe producers don’t want to take the risk of bringing in an act that isn’t a big name, but whatever the reason, we don’t get a lot of shows. So when Vernon Go of Pulp Live Productions (my uncle) called me to ask what I thought of Saosin, I told him he had to bring them in for the kids. He’s always been one to do it for the love of music. And boy, did he put on a great show.
A-Venue in Makati was packed. There were no seats, no barricades, and no VIP section; just the stage, a security barrier, and a sea of people waiting to see a band they loved. The ticket read “7 p.m.”; most concertgoers know that the show usually starts an hour later. Still, kids started lining up as early as four in the afternoon. Black-clad emo kids with arguably prettier hair than me, little 13-year-olds without their parents, and even a teenage girl with two uniformed bodyguards, among countless others; all of them waiting for five guys from California to blow them away. Rock and roll.
After a great set by local band Typecast, Saosin finally took the stage. They opened strong with I Keep My Secrets Safe and then launched into Sleepers and Voices off their first album, and everyone in the house was singing along at the top of their lungs. The folks in the crowd weren’t there to see and be seen like so many are at bigger shows in Manila; they were there because they really loved the music, and it showed. You couldn’t ask for a better audience.
The entire night was pure sonic pleasure. The band (Justin Shekoski and Beau Burchell on guitar, Chris Sorenson on bass, and Alex Rodriguez on drums) played a tight, powerful set. Their energy didn’t flag for a second, building through each of their 15 songs. They closed on a high note with old favorites like Seven Years and They Perched On Their Stilts, Pointing And Daring Me To Break Custom to the delight of longtime fans.
Vocalist Cove Reber was spot on song after song and absolutely charming in between, working his crowd into a frenzy even when they played newer songs that the crowd wasn’t as familiar with. He proved that night that you should never believe what you read on the Internet. People who commented negatively about his ability to sing or made unfair comparisons between him and the band’s singer from 2003 to 2004, Anthony Green, must be eating their words now because Cove was amazing. Perhaps not as theatric a showman as Green, but clearly all heart, and the crowd could feel it.
Finally getting to hear them play live was like being 17 again, just losing myself in the music and living gloriously in the moment. The band expressed a lot of interest in coming back to Manila soon. We can only hope.
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Dear Saosin, please come back to Manila, I need to hear “3rd Measurement In C”!
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E-mail me at vivat.regina@yahoo.com.
