Nostalgia Is a Powerful Drug: Notes on the Eraserheads Reunion Show

The first song was “Superproxy,” the funky rap-rock mash-up that featured the incomparable Francis Magalona, who died in 2009. But thanks to the marvels of modern technology, Francis M was “resurrected” onstage and performed his parts, alongside two of his children, Ely Buendia’s son, and of course, the Eraserheads themselves. 

I can imagine how difficult it must have been for organizers to dream up a whizzbanger of an opener for Huling El Bimbo, purportedly and absolutely the last time the foursome of Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Marcus Adoro, and Buddy Zabala will ever play onstage together as the Eraserheads here in the Philippines, but I’d venture they succeeded. As far as huge concert numbers go, it had everything: a fast, loud, energetic song familiar to most Eheads fans, even those who only know the so-called hits; an eye-popping “holographic” stunt that brought back a beloved icon, and, of course, the nostalgia factor.

ALSO READ

The Eraserheads, As They Were

An Abrupt End: Looking Back at the First Eraserheads Reunion Show

And as if it wasn’t already obvious, Huling El Bimbo was all about nostalgia. It was a time machine that brought us back to simpler days when a song so perfectly captured our deepest desires, allowed us to express heart-wrenching sorrow, or let us channel our pent-up rage. We can relate to a new song when we hear it today, but nothing compares to the power of a piece of music that came to us in the past, when it has had time to simmer and actually burrow deep into our lives.

The fact that the songs themselves are honest, relatable, and just honest-to-goodness fun only add to their staying power. And that translates to people developing deep-seated loyalty, and yes, love to the artists behind the music.

How else can you explain the nearly 75,000 (by organizers’ estimates) warm bodies that trooped to the SMDC concert grounds on a Thursday night, three days before Christmas? Few local acts can command ticket prices of up to P17,000-plus-plus, and sell them out like it was nothing. An Eraserheads show is an event, and one that brings multiple generations of music fans together.

That’s what was so great at the EHeads show last night. It wasn’t just about the chance to see the four guys together again playing the music familiar to many of us with fancy lighting and state-of-the-art effects. It was about sharing the experience with a cross-section of Philippine society who were all there for the exact same reason. From pre-pubescent teens to senior citizens, middle-aged couples and LGBT partners, entire groups of barkadas and solo fliers, sossy-looking kolehiyalas decked out in their Saturday-night best side-by-side with simple folk giving off tambay-sa-kanto vibes—Eheads fans are the opposite of homogenous and come in all shapes and sizes. They all came out to celebrate and it was a beautiful thing to watch.

Photo by PJ Cana.

Organizers and the band members themselves promised a show to end all Eheads shows, and they delivered, for the most part. Playing nearly all the tracks from the Cutterpillow album in sequence allowed the band to resurface gems like “Paru-Parong Ningning,” “Yoko,” and “Fill Her,” that diehard fans have been waiting to scream-sing out loud. Gary Valenciano’s appearance in “Christmas Party,” was stellar, and more than a little apt, given the season. Maestro Mel Villena’s contributions to the band were acknowledged, and the orchestra he conducted added a rich layer to songs like “Lightyears,” and “Saturn Return,” where Magalona’s son Arkin and Buendia’s son Eon joined in and made their fathers proud.

Even in a monster 31-song set, there were quite a few songs that didn’t make the cut—like “Julie Tearjerky,” “Hey, Jay,” “Huwag Kang Matakot,” “Kailan,” “Toyang,” and, a personal favorite, “Shake Yer Head,” and so you had grumblings from a few people in the crowd. But for a three-and-a-half-hour show that had all the hits—“Alapaap,” “With a Smile,” “Magasin,” “Minsan,” and “Ang Huling El Bimbo,” there was little to complain about. Nobody can claim that they didn’t get their money’s worth.

I’m old enough to have caught the Eraserheads at their peak in the 1990s. I argued with classmates in high school about specific song lyrics (back when there wasn’t Google to settle petty fights); I remember singing their songs during lazy weekend afternoons with classmates and friends at the neighborhood sari-sari stores; and I got to watch them play during freshmen orientation in U.P. I’m exactly the generation the EHeads spoke to when they first started doing their thing.

I was at the first reunion show, Ultraelectromagnetic Night, at the Fort Open Field back in 2008, and then again for that second once-in-a-lifetime at The Final Set at the SM MOA concert grounds in 2009. Both times, I was with the same group of friends, sharing the love for a band whose music powered the soundtrack of countless road trips and videoke sessions. I was with them again last night, and this time, I was witness to how much the fandom has grown instead of diminished over the years. Kids half our age have discovered the magic of the band and came out with their parents or cool titos and titas. They sang along to every word, to each other and sometimes to the strangers beside them. I can’t think of any other local artist who has that much allure and magnetism. The boys of the Eraserheads are in a class of their own, and if this is truly the last time we’ll ever get to see them all together performing onstage, they gave us a show that truly was one for the ages.