Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Rakrakan Fest 2008




The sad side story

I didn’t condemn Led Zeppelin Tuyay, the guitarist of rock band, Kamikazee, who was arrested at Dubai International Airport after the group arrived on Thursday for the Rakrakan Fest. Dubai Police charged him for illegal possession of marijuana. He missed the show but his band members played on without him along with other Filipino bands. A hearing is being scheduled this Monday. This is not a serious matter. Most bands, as known to everybody, for sure, engaged in using not just a leaf of Marijuana.

The happy side story

Thousands of fans gathered together to the Dubai Festival City on Friday to watch four of the Philippines’ biggest names in rock performed in what they called Rakrakan Fest 2008.

To my mental calculation, an estimated crowd of 16,000—double last year’s figure—gathering for a nostalgia-fest of sorts with Pupil, Kamikazee, The Dawn and Bamboo.

Ely Buendia, the front man of the Pupil opened the show at 6:30 pm. The audience demanded him to be more engaging but he refrained from addressing the audience in between the performance leaving his band mates to do the talking. Maybe he has not yet recovered for everything that happened to him in the past including the death of his mother.

Jay Contreras, the lead singer of Kamikazee came next with his usual animated self; talking to the crowd about his personal experiences in between performances.

The crowd roared with approval as the band sang hit songs Narda, Seksi! Seksi! (Sexy), Ambisyoso (Ambitious) and Chinelas (Slippers) among others.

Next came The Dawn, the longest surviving Filipino rock band and dubbed by many as the Rolling Stones of the Philippines. Of course there is no comparison as The Dawn, which rose to fame in the late 1980s, hasan entirely unique sound of its own.

Front man Jett Pangan thanked the crowd for the warm welcome, saying it was their first time to perform in Dubai.

Last but not the least came Bamboo. As expected, lead singer Bamboo Mañalac and the band sang their hit songs Noypi (street word for Pinoy, which is slang for Filipino), Tatsulok (Triangle) among others.

Mañalac did not disappoint with impressive vocals and some extra dance moves on stage. Fans also got more than what they paid for with Mañalac going off stage to mingle with the crowd up close and personal.

Congratulations to the bands. The show was indeed a hit.

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