Gigging around

Well, sorta.

I looove going to gigs, but I hardly can. So the next best thing to attending a gig is organizing one! :D

Yup yup, another Battle of the Bands and Fair Gig gone by. The lineup was great, the gig itself was fun, and the preparations...they were hell as usual. Year in, year out, I stress myself (and my SAMAPI folks) over the Fair Concert. But seeing the kids enjoy themselves so much on gig night itself makes it all worthwhile, especially when I hear of their close encounters of the rockstar kind :)

As usual, wasn't able to take decent pics as I was out and about for most of the night. Will try to post whatever I have soon.

As for the stress-free gigs that I've been to lately, photos have been uploaded to my other Multiply: Julia Fordham at the ATC, UP Fair (Tuesday Night), Maroon 5 at the Araneta

• I'm not really a Julia Fordham fan, but the curious music fan in me always wins. Besides, any gig is a great photo op :D I was late though, so I wasn't able to secure a nice spot to take pics. Was really glad when she sang "Someone to Watch Over Me"; it's one of my favorite songs of all time, especially her version. PICS, VID
  
  
  
  
• The UP Fair was an event I always looked forward to in the later years of my college life. I still like attending the fair now, but it's really a hassle since I have to go home all the way to Paranaque, aside from the fact that I'm tired from work by then. Tuesday was great, though, even if I wasn't able to wait for the main events: Urbandub's 45-minute set with an orchestra, and Sandwich's 10th anniv gig. This year, I went with Sam and her director's chair and her sister Baba and friends. Yup, Sam brought a chair into the fair grounds and actually sat through some performances while most everyone around was on their feet :D Was able to watch some bands I've been wanting to see for a long time: Camerawalls (Clem OnL's new band), Duster (all-girl band: Katwo of Narda, Kris of Cambio/Fatal Posporos, Myrene of Sandwich/Imago, Ristalle), and Peryodiko (Vin Halo's new band). PICS
  
  
  
  
• And of course, there's Maroon 5. Drew and I planned to watch this, but we ran out of tickets (at least in the price range we were willing to spend for). Luckily, my cousin texted the night before the gig that she had tickets, so off we went to watch (Thanks Kai, and Aimee and Jon!) :D All I wanted was to watch an international band, but it turned out that I enjoyed the gig very much.
  Adam Levine was HOT (though Andrew thinks he's gayish). Adam was cute, and he played awesome guitar (I didn't even know he could solo!). And I loved when he counted in Filipino as a segue to "The Sun" :D
  There were moments when he was really basking in the crowd's adoration; "She Will Be Loved" had around a minute of just the crowd screaming at Adam, with the screams intensifying as Adam smiled as a response to the crowd's love.
  I also loved when the band stopped playing "Won't Go Home Without You" and just let the crowd sing the chorus over and over again. The crowd was great, and props, too, to Maroon 5 for being great live performers, not only in terms of musicianship but also in their rapport with the audience. PICS, VID1, VID2
  
  

The UP Fair and the Maroon 5 gigs made me me love Tomi even more. I was situated far from the stage, but the zoom was powerful enough to allow me to take OK pics, and the sound quality in the vidclips was cool, too :)

So there. Til the next gig, I guess...