Eternal Dreams: Memoirs of a falling dreamer

The UP FebFair has just concluded, and I spent three nights in the grassland of the UP Sunken Garden. I was able to attend the Tuesday’s Rockultura, Wednesday’s Amplified, and Friday’s Loverage 3. My musical thirst just had to be quenched last week and each night gave me very interesting experiences. So let’s start discussing them.

I signed up to become part of the Volunteer Corps for Rockultura. The perks of being one are a free shirt from Lee, food and drinks, entrance, and backstage pass. At first, the task that was assigned to us was just to patrol in and out of the venue and check for security problems. We all thought that it would be just an easy task, and that we can actually enjoy fully the show. However, it turned out that it was necessary for many of us to become bouncers, runners, and escorts to some of the bands playing. It was very tiring, I tell you. The advantages however were the fact that we were able to take pictures and talk with some of our rock idols, and get to see them play at a very, very close distance. Urbandub’s Gabby Alipe’s kindness left an impression on me when I escorted Urbandub to their vehicle and he allowed all the people unable to go inside to get his autograph and pictures. It was the first time for me to see Paraluman live, and their vocalist Madz is really, really cute. The VolCorp were also gaga over Mona, a band vocalist/Theater Arts student that we met backstage.

My attendance to Amplified was an impromptu decision, having first thought that I would be unable to attend two consecutive concerts with a severe lack of sleep. But, Laurence, Kevin, and Chev planned to attend, and a good friend from Los Baños, Mike, suddenly showed up and paid for my entrance. Amplified’s band line-up boasted of a Parokya ni Edgar/Kamikazee exclusive, and the two bands really gave the crowd entertainment. Chev and I also tried the wall climbing set-up by UP Grip, and I found it quite easy to accomplish.

The attendance to Loverage 3 was pre-determined months before, and I was most excited for this one. What a disappointment it was when the event actually happened. Aside from a ruined plan and late meet-ups with the troop, the concert was eventually stopped due to the extreme violence the orcs, “jumping jologs”, boloks, or whatever you would like to call them are showing. They were throwing things, fighting the security, and eventually breaking the walls of the venue. It was a very frightful experience seeing the chaos and feeling the tension at such a close range. Good thing not one of my friends got hurt. Laurence, Ely, and I stayed at Pornz’ place after the concert, fleeing the venue before all the chaos started, and waited until daybreak. For the most part of the night, I was with Kevin, as we waited until one-by-one Pornz, Ely, Laurence, Dino, Alan, Vinzon, and Robert showed up. It was really disappointing hearing Bamboo forced to play their songs at an unusually slow pace due to the chaos outside. It was even more irritating that I was unable to see Racel, or get Erika inside the venue. Damn it!

Being able to be at the backstage for these kinds of concerts are a dream for some people, but the luster it had on me once had already faded. During the last years of being backstage at some of the fair concerts, I have grown disappointed and turned off with some of the personalities I once admired. One can hardly breathe with all the smoke coming from the cigarettes used by almost everybody. Even some of the seemingly untarnished, beautiful women of rock that we see and hear smoke heavily. Some bands are hard to please and deal with, while some seem really irritated by the flashes of the camera and the fans that try to take their pictures with. But there are those that are really nice and wouldn’t mind smiling with you and even engage you in a few conversations.

I would say that I enjoyed last year’s performances better. But, there were some experiences to note for this year, and I wouldn’t regret going to them. Well, the future of the fair is uncertain for me now, with the entire ruckus that those frigging JJs, orcs, boloks, or whatever had been constantly doing all these years. I don’t wish to sound discriminating, but what happened last Friday was enough to warrant them a no entry to any of the upcoming fairs, in my opinion. Damn, I sincerely can’t fathom how these people think and act. I had my share of wild concerts attended, slamming joined, and rock wear used. Heck, I was able to do a mosh-pit back then. But, the behavior of these people nowadays is so unimaginable, chaotic, and hard to understand. I was really irritated when we heard from passing people of their kind that they were really proud of their accomplished tearing down the walls last Friday. The nerve of this people to cause this chaos without thinking about the overall safety of the people inside the venue who are there to enjoy a clean, musical performance! Damn these people for ruining our nights last Friday!