It is almost end part of January when promoter of the
concert Smash Poject 2012 announces through print media the upcoming smashing
hits of The Cab, Cobra Starship, Dashboard Confessional and The Used. The crowd
was going crazy when they hear the good news about the concert of said four
great bands.
As the days goes by, it is almost
February when they announces the concert through online and broadcast media in
partnership with ABS-CBN. The public easily get in touch with the prices of
tickets which are affordable for the price of four.
When March 8 smacked, it was first
time experience for me to attend concert at Araneta Coliseum and with my
favorite band. The gate opened at exactly 6:23pm and before 7 strikes, general
admission was sold out. At first, it is frustrating at my part that the concert
did not collect enough mass to full Araneta but before the show started at 8,
upper box A accommodate almost half of Araneta while standing patron collects
almost half near the center stage.
The show started with orig pinoy band
starting at Type Cast. The crowd roars when they hear the popular song of the
band, the Boston Drama. They sing along with the band who sung two popular
songs. After hits of the first front actor, the crowd also screams when they saw,
the vocalist of Urbandub who also sing along with the audience. I am not that
familiar with the songs that they sung but it made me stamp my feet and clap my
hands. They sung two songs that made the crowd energetic. After Urbandub,
Araneta was surrounded with silence when the organizers change some instrument
for the next band. The guy besides me screams “fvck vp miggy” for he knows that
next band strumming will be Chicosci. Chiosci sung 3 songs that made the swarm
electrify but another reason why the crowd do crazy is when Miggy, vocalist of
Chicosci do raise his hands forming a triangle.
Unfamiliar band strike the left side
of the stage. They are, I think, come from Indonesia
It is, I think, almost 30 minutes
preparation for the real band. The crowd roars as the audio-visual presentation
make a count down for The Cab. I can still remember the pianist of The Cab that
makes the crowd go crazy. His name is Alex who reminds me of Zack Efron. They
sung almost 8 songs. The vocalist has a good voice and all the member of the
band was great. I am not familiar with their songs but the girls in front of me
are almost terrified to the singers. The crowd was almost thrilled to death
when they sung Living Liar.
The next band is from the unknown band
and genre, the Cobra Starship, for they are disco singers. Because I am
unfamiliar with the band, they still move me as the vocalist said these verses
“we should live like
it is our last, our last day, our last night and this song is called One Night”
And those people who know the song are
delight. The most memorable part in that Cobra something band is when the
vocalist pants was ripped because of many times he split in the air. The crowd howled
to its funny vocalist and pretty pianist.
After just a few minutes, it was when
I decided to buy food outside, the crowd scream when they saw Kris of Dashboard
Confessional holding his acoustic guitar and waving at the audience. He is
really cute in his polo shirt and simple appearance. The boy besides me stands
and almost chilled to the bones as Kris sung his first song. As the time goes
by, it is 11:30 pm when Kris sung Screaming Infidelities and other popular
songs. It is obvious that he is overwhelmed to what the Filipino was acting
that time. The audience knows almost all the songs Kris has sung. At the end,
it is still his Stolen, Vindicated and Hands Down, as the last song, made us
feel contented for that night. Kris was gone and the crowd almost occupied
outside the Araneta to buy foods. It is already 12 but the band was not
starting yet. I remember I make it down my notes; it is 12:12 am when The Used,
my favorite band, was started.
Bert Mccraken, the vocalist of The
Used is quite different in real than in pictures from internet. His hair is
blonde and he has a lot of mustache which are also blonde. But one thing I
assure, he is handsome in his black shirt and black short with black shoes.
He talks and his voice was quite
tampered. According to their fan page at Facebook, the band was come from Australia before going to Manila
The crowd was really stunned to the
band’s presence especially to The Used drummer who’s wearing ‘The Used’ shirt.
ASTIG!
The first song was Take it away, which
is favorite of almost of my family members. The crowd intones along with them
while standing and waving their hands. The songs that they sung are The Bird
and the worm, listening, I Caught Fire, Maybe Memories and Paralyzed. I know
all of these songs so I sing along with them while screaming and look so dump
while jumping and head banging. The next song was Blue and Yellow, wherein the
horde almost kills each other for it is the best song ever! Because of the
excitement from listening to their songs, I forgot the list some of their songs
but I remember Taste of Ink and A box of full sharp object as the last song.
Bert do some funny stuff like
commanding the audience to form a circle and to be wild inside that circle. As
a general admission member, you will feel envy for they are slamming together
by just one command. Bert also controls the spectators to be silent then he
will raise his hand to hear their yell. It is really a great time with them.
It I 1am when the concert was almost
done. The Used was off the stage but the crowd snarls “MORE!”and they all
clapping.
“More! More! More!”
Then after just a
minute, the band appears again at the stage with Kris of Dashboard and he sing
along with The Used. The Araneta was almost demolished by the collective feet
jumping. Araneta was not full but the creaming inside makes me think that I am
in a crowded room. I don’t know the title of the song they sung, I just don’t
remember but I saw Kris was looking at Bert for he doesn’t know some of the
lyrics.
The show was ended at 1:15 am and even
the crowd says “more”, there will be no more The Used or Dashboard that will up
on the stage. That was the most memorable experience for me this year and I
will never forget that scenes for my entire life.
Behind the Scenes
We are overwhelmed in the concert; we
forgot to take pictures in The Used banner. We only got videos but only 5
because the camera’s memory was almost full. We only have 4 pictures together
and all of them are not clear and annoying. But the most memorable part was
when my voice was gone right after the concert and I saw my college mate,
actually my crush, who also attended the concert.