i can’t even think of an appropriate title…

It’s been a mad few weeks, the whole affair has been bizarre from beginning to end. The silence that met the announcement that the concert was being cut short was definitely bizarre. No jeers, no gasps, no oh no’s, no murmurs. Just silence, as everyone just stood there and reeled from the shock of suddenly being dropped from a very high place and landing thud! on the ground (though I sort of wanted to strangle the few who promptly whipped out cameras and documented the moment).

The first set was great, it was definitely the nostalgia trip of the year, and the songs for the second set were goosebumps material. Some were screaming “group hug!” every once in a while – wishful thinking, for a moment we would never see that night. What we saw was the bizarre period of total silence during the biggest concert of the year, as the three band members, Ely’s sister, and the producers stood onstage and asked for prayers for Ely. “We’re still in shock,” Raimund said. After all this, when Ely gets better, pwede na kaya ang group hug? 🙂

The problem with nostalgia trips is that at some point they’d also make you realize, some things you will never be able to get back. But they’re still fun, and still worth it.

Get well soon, Ely.

ely on the spotlight

eraserheads reunion concert update (or lack thereof)

So apparently, as has been widely discussed (or theorized, or leaked, or whatever), you have to be a smoker to get invites to the Eraserheads reunion concert, you have to be of legal age, you have to sign up at the cigarette company’s site, tell them what brand of cigarette you smoke, give them your contact info, and send them a copy of your valid ID. The invite is not for sale, and (ito ang matindi) not transferable.

While the age thing is definitely not a problem (hah), I’m not a smoker. Where does that leave me?

Somewhere in the CCP area, I guess, having coffee or eating somewhere, with the sounds from the concert serving as background music. I’m going to be in the area anyway, volunteering at a conference. Unless somebody gives me special passes, ha ha.

By the way, note that all the info on how to get invites written above are under the umbrella of “apparently,” as no official concert announcement has been made, and the closest to an official statement we have seen from the reported sponsor is from a letter quoted in Howie Severino’s site.

I’ve said in my first blog post about this that I love the viral buzz – I recognize that it’s viral marketing at work (and they have a story that basically spins itself after you’ve done the initial seeding), and I liked the strategy, but of course, it can only go so far.  Eventually, you’re going to have to provide real, transparent information. And, well, you should not be doing anything illegal.

Kung hindi ka madaling ma-agit (at marami kang oras), head over to Caloy Conde’s blog and scan through the hundred or so comments there debating the various points surrounding the concert. Hilarious. A lot of noteworthy, valid points raised, of course, but still hilarious.

Ngayon kung tarantahin ka, at die-hard eheads fan o anti-smoking proponent, wag na lang. Baka sumama ka pang makipag-patulan lumaki lang lalo ang gulo 🙂

Would be really interesting to see how this would play out. And would I be able to see the concert? Abangan 🙂

oo, gusto kong sumama!

I love all this buzz surrounding the Eraserheads reunion concert. I first heard of it only yesterday from Don, who saw it in a blog post referring to a short Phil. Star article confirming the event.

Apparently there have been murmurs on blogs, forum threads and mailing lists about this concert for a week or so now, with confirmations coming in over the weekend. So now if you do a Google search of “eraserheads concert CCP,” you’ll find a lot of people going “Yes, it’s confirmed!” “Tama na ang blind item,” “I’m so excited!” complete with references to the band’s hits (You can bet your pwet I’ll do it again sometime for the money, It’s fine time, Tikman ang langit, Gusto mo bang sumama?).

Beyond the date and venue (August 30 at the CCP grounds), details are still sketchy right now. The concert is supposedly for free, tickets can be obtained by signing up on a website that will be announced in early August, a still-unidentified big company is sponsoring the event- and they have to be big, to be able to pull something like this off, especially if it’s indeed true that the band members are getting millions to appear in the one-night (45-minute?) event.

The marketing is so viral it’s brilliant.

People’s anticipation were stirred and built up, first in the blogosphere then transitioning to mainstream media; full information withheld to heighten anticipation; major sponsor is unidentified so now people are wondering who it is (San Miguel? Marlboro? umm, Chippy? ha ha); it’s going to be a MAD dash to get to those tickets.