Was this the best UAAP opening ceremony of all time? You can’t get any bigger than the Eraserheads, so it’s probably a ‘yes.’
The biggest piece of news that came out of the Eraserheads’ mini-concert that rocked (in the musical sense) the opening ceremony of UAAP Season 87 was Ely Buendia’s shocking admission that this was the first time for the legendary band to perform at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Think about that for a moment: the most popular and most successful Filipino band of all time, who have performed before sold-out venues both here and abroad, had never, until Sept. 7, performed at the most iconic concert venue in the country.
Why it took them 30 years after their debut album Ultraelectromagneticpop! first took the country by storm and forever redefined OPM might never be answered. At the same time, it doesn’t really matter at this point, because they chose the perfect occasion for their Big Dome debut.
Getting the Eraserheads to perform at a UAAP opening, particularly one hosted by their alma mater the University of the Philippines, had always seemed like such an obvious move. Yet somehow, it took UP three hosting duties before finally nailing it.
The E-Heads have always worn their UP roots on their sleeves – whether it was singing about Shirley and her boyfriend holding hands while walking to CASAA in Shirley or recalling their early days at Kalayaan Residence Hall in what Ely called ‘ode to our school’ Minsan – and UAAP opening ceremonies have always been about the host school puffing its chest and offering what was best about them.
And there are very few UP products who have had a more profound effect on Philippine culture than the Eraserheads.
Such is the magnitude of their accomplishments that the university recently bestowed upon them the Gawad Oblation, even though none of them finished their degrees. And such is the breadth of their appeal that they brought everyone in the Big Dome to their feet during their seven-song set.
There were the Generation X members of the UAAP’s Board of Trustees, most of whom attended college at the same time as the ‘Heads, discarding protocol and bearing to sing along to tunes they first heard 30 years ago.
On the opposite end of the generation spectrum, there was the current batch of Generation Z UAAP students and athletes who weren’t even born yet when the band split up in 2002. Yet here they were, singing along to Ligaya and Sembreak and Magasin like it was 1996 and they were all in Club Dredd (look that up, Gen. Z’ers.)
Best opening ever?
As opening ceremonies go, the consensus was this one belongs in the discussion of best of all time. Set to the theme “Stronger. Better. Together.”, the hosts assembled an impressive lineup of musical artists.
Songwriter Johnoy Danao got things going, before the UP Symphony Orchestra joined forces with Kontra Gapi and the Ethnic Music and Dance Ensemble of the UP College of Arts and Letters under the stewardship of composer Chino Toledo.
Then Lean Ansing of Slapshock, Dave Delfin of Franco, and Bon Sundiang and Maysh Baay of Moonstar 88 – all UP alumni – banded together for their rendition of The Beatles classic Come Together. P-Pop group Kaia and hip-hop dance crew UPeepz added a pop element to the festivities.
All this set the stage for a dramatic finale, with a drone entering the coliseum and circling the audience before training its sights to a makeshift stage perched above in the upper box area. Before anyone knew what was going on, the Eraserheads had already begun belting out Alapaap.
The band, of course, paid homage to their school, with Ely, guitarist Marcus Adoro and bassist Buddy Zabala sporting maroon jackets and drummer Raymund Marasigan rocking a UP Women’s Basketball Team shirt. (It should be noted at this point that Raymund was featured on the jumbotron of the Mall of Asia Arena during UP’s Season 81 Final Four run.)
By the time the Eraserheads were wrapping up their set with their megahit Ang Huling El Bimbo, they had the crowd eating out of their hands. And it wasn’t just the live crowd that lapped it up. Social media was abuzz, with some UAAP fans wondering how any other host school could top this.
One fan suggested that only one artist would do.
Next year’s host will have a full year to prepare, but for now, let’s savor this opening ceremony. Whether it will ever be topped or matched, only time will tell.
The best we can do for now is to find the appropriate words that can capture what we just witnessed. But really, we only need three: nakakaindak, nakakaaliw, nakakatindig-balahibo.
Banner Image from Kieran Punay.