The day before the Eheads concert

It's been a week and still, everyone is reeling from the Eraserheads concert, already a historic event in itself, but which was made more historic by lead singer Ely Buendia's collapse backstage and subsequent trip to the hospital. Because of some miscommunication, I was one of the few pathetic people who did not get to see the concert. I did, however, make it to the sound check the night before. It all started with a text message. Luis and I were at another event when he got a message from Star columnist Erwin Romulo about how the Eheads were having their sound check right that very minute. So we did what any sane Ehead fan would have done -- hightailed it to The Fort Open Field. Security was tight. Good thing we found Sputnik's (the melting comic book store in Cubao Ex) Ramon de Veyra, who was returning to the sound check with some grub. So we got in, where we met up with Neva Talladen (who makes Leyende, my favorite skincare line), Quark Henares, Marie Jamora (who did the videos flashed behind the Eheads), Kelvin Yu and Jugs Jugeta of the Itchyworms, Miguel Naciancino (who I met in a past life), the always cute Nina Sandejas, The Dawn's Francis Brew, and assorted other people who had come to watch the historical rehearsal to one of local music's most historical events. I could see photographer Mari Arquiza snapping away near the stage. We stood in what was going to be the SVIP section, pretty much having the whole place to ourselves. I'm not going to lie, it was great. It was wonderful. It was pure awesomeness. So what was it like watching the country's most influential band? To misquote Po from Kung Fu Panda, awesomely awesome. They didn't play everything that they were going to play the next day, and most of the sound check was exactly that -- a sound check, which is basically, to my untrained ears, a lot of random noise made to make sure that all the equipment was functioning properly. It was wonderful to see the fab four on the same stage again. Raymund was sporting green hair, his trademark in the 90's, Ely was wearing this cute sweater-polo getup that made him look like a schoolboy. Buddy was cool and steady, like he always is, and even Marcus seemed enthusiastic onstage. The did, however, play a couple of songs, and it sounded like they had never broken up at all. We were all talking, milling about when we heard the first strains of a familiar song, followed by Ely's voice singing "Ziggy played guitar..." It was "Ziggy Stardust." The Eheads were covering David Bowie. We could not believe it. It wasn't a concert-caliber, must-impress performance. It was just a bunch of guys having fun, which made it even more poignant. I, having been jaded by time and experience, didn't think that I would be very affected but I found shivers running down my spine. The excitement only increased when they did play one of their songs -- "Alapaap," to be exact. Everybody rushed to the stage. People were cheering, some were singing along. It was like it was 1992 again, and everyone was getting into this fairly new band made up of scruffy looking guys who wrote songs with incredibly catchy pop hooks (even though they don't look scruffy now). Funny how that also describes The Beatles. Also interesting is how everyone refers to the Eheads as "the fab four." I like to ask people what their most vivid Eraserheads memory is. Mine was that they played in our school's variety show -- a real feat for the student council since a lot of parents (my dad included) didn't like that they sang about drinking and other things that could potentially corrupt the minds of innocent young girls. I had almost every Ehead tape (hard to remember a time before MP3s) and I swore that if I ever left the country, I would take every one of them with me. And while I have gotten the chance to meet some of the members in real life (and they are all very nice), inside, I will always be the high school girl yelling "O Diyos ko, paano ba naman ito" in her schol variety show. They also played "Magasin," which I hear they didn't get the chance to play at the concert. It was hard not to cry. I know that the song is about a young sweetheart who goes and poses in a men's magazine but you'd think that Ely was singing it about the band itself, and everything it went through. "Iba na ang 'yong ngiti, iba na ang 'yong tingin, nagbago na ang lahat sa 'yo-o-o-o..." The only difference is that unlike the guy in the song, we were glad to have seen the band again. It was like water after years in the desert. Colored TV after decades of black and white. An ice cream sundae after not having an ice cream sundae for a really really long time of wanting to have one. I was sad that I wasn't going to make it to the next day's concert, but I was glad that I got to at least see the sound check. Ramon told me later that he had caught up with Buddy after the concert. Buddy said that it was a shame they didn't get to do the second set because they had something special planned for the fans. He did say that the rest of the band would be interested in staging a new concert, depending on how well Ely recovered. If that happens, I'm going to try my best not to miss it this time. What I'd like to know is what's your most vivid Eheads memory?