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| The night starts here. The night starts here. |
Wow, I'm back to blogging here after three months and it took a wonderful night with a wonderful band to get me back on my gear. All the two-hour wait in line outside and then another hour inside the venue were totally worth it. I am a relatively new fan of Stars, compared to those who have known them for years and who ended up crying during the performance, but that night was one of the best experiences I've ever had.
Their words simply blow me away, and the melodies are just the right mix of rock and mellow. It was amazing how in less than a year, their songs have managed to touch my life in so many unexpected ways.
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Outerhope |
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| Ciudad |
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| Outerhope + Ciudad |
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| AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH |
It almost feel like a favor from the gods of fate that just when I have become so in love with the band that they decided to have a tour and include Manila in their destinations. IT WAS AWESOME and I knew I have to watch it or I will regret it forever. The whole show had me singing along and enjoying the crowd I was part of. Torq and Amy and the rest of the band were simply glorious. It was really nice when Torq talked about eating mangoes (of course) and being told that Manila is one of the must-play destinations.
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| The amazing Amy Millan |
I just wished the sound system was more aptly designed for such an event. I thought the audio was rather warbled at first, especially during the front acts. My concert-mates and I were grumbling about the event organization (or lack thereof). But then, when Stars came on stage, everything was pushed to the back of my mind and I had the time of my life. Torq and Amy were really top performers and I really hoped they enjoyed playing for us. Being responsive and singing along to all the songs was the least we could do in return for bringing their awesomeness to our shores. They kept telling us that the Manila crowd is one of the most amazing ones they've ever played for. And that the setlist they had for us was definitely one of the longest they played in years.
The Theory of Relativity was such a good opener. (I had it whole on video but I deleted it because, damn it, I had to allocate memory for everything that was to come. It broke my heart.) But I totally lost it with Midnight Coward and Dead Hearts. Dead Hearts was really the first song I've heard from Stars and I was shaking while taking a video of the performance BECAUSE DAMN I CAN SAY IT BUT YOU WON'T BELIEVE ME, YOU SAY YOU DO BUT YOU DON'T DECEIVE ME. DEAD HEARTS ARE EVERYWHERE, DEAD HEARTS ARE EVERYWHERE.
The band also talked about how amazing the Filipinos are, like how we had so much hardships thrown at us but we remain steadfast and all. (UGH, it was really sweet, I wish people recorded it.) And he said that for the 13 years that he had been doing the band, it was the first time that they experienced such a crowd as us. (I hope I'm not embellishing this. Haha.) And they promised to come back! How fantastic was that. I really hope that was true, despite the less-than-ace sound system and the noise from the crowd that they seem to have had a hard time hearing each other. Haha.
And then Take Me To The Riot happened and I swear the band was in such an adrenaline rush Amy and Torq and Chris and Evan and Pat were all jumping on stage (well of course, except Pat haha) and the whole audience were so excited and energetic and the strobe lights were blinding but we didn't care. It was pure madness, we got so lost in the music and the energy of one another. It was indeed a riot albeit such a fun one. The next song was Changes and I didn't recognize it at first (I think most of the crowd didn't) but I was so happy because I thought it won't be played at all!
For the encore, Amy came back with Chris the guitarist and played My Favourite Book. It was a really chill song and a crowd favorite and Amy made us sing parts and WAH IT WAS UBER FUN. And then it was One More Night and asjkfhasd;lkgajhdgkl and then they played On Peak Hill. ON FRIGGIN PEAK HILL. I almost cried because it's really one of my favorite songs ever and I thought it was so obscure I almost gave up hope that they would play it. BUT OHMYGOD I WAS SO HAPPY I NEVER LOVED THEM AS MUCH AS WHEN TORQ BEGAN SINGING IT.
There was a guy behind me who, when there were relative silences during the show, kept shouting Set Yourself on Fire. I was so happy for him, and the rest of us, of course haha, when Torq said, "The next one is Set Yourself on Fire." Like woah. It was not in the setlist that was running around days before the show. AND THEN WE HAD CALENDAR GIRL HOLYSHITTTT. I couldn't contain myself because it was a really beautiful song and wow. I couldn't grasp the idea that I was there, singing it with Stars. *O* The show closed with The 400, a quiet and apt ending to that night.
EVERYTHING THAT LED UP TO ME WATCHING THIS SHOW AND SEEING THEM LIVE WAS SO WORTH IT.
Thank you, Stars, for taking us to the riot.
