A Night with Ely

Ches and I had business to do at Trinoma, that is to fetch Jewel who is very maarte to take bus or taxi but it was heaven becos i learned that Ely will be there in few minutes...   Ches bought us drinks so we could get into Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at the third level. I'm telling you, this is The Perfect Spot to watch the concerts at the activity center. A staff told us there were no more seats available, all the tables were taken. Duh? Who needs to sit when Ely is singing?

The concert started right on time. At 7 PM, Ely appeared on stage in a coat and tie, looking more Pupil than Eheads. As in the August 2008 concert in the Fort, he started off with Alapaap. Omigosh, the crowd went wild! Nico says Ely was quoted in an interview as saying he considers this one of his five best songs. Rightly so.

He followed it up with another song that I have to admit I'm not familiar with bcoz it's not Eheads. The only Pupil song I know is Bus Stop, and it turns out that's not even an original, it's a cover of a 60s song. It's funny bcoz I found out when we were in Cape Cod, while having early dinner at this ribs place, and the song came on. And I was like, that can't be Pupil playing all the way here! Hahaha. He did five or so non-Eheads songs that night. All good, with his standard senti lyrics and sad melody, but it was clearly the Eheads songs the crowd came to hear. 

The playlist that night included:

1. Alapaap
2. Ligaya
3. Wag Mo Nang Itanong
4. Maling Akala
5. Lightyears
6. Wag Kang Matakot
7. Magasin
8. Maselang Bahaghari
9. Pare Ko
10. Lift Your Head
11. Tikman
12. Ang Huling El Bimbo

It was such great fun to listen to Ely sing live again. He did Magasin in slow mo, giving it a sad love song take. Hilarious. He brought out his guitar and did an acoustic version of Pare Ko, before segueing to Lift Your Head. Owww. You can just imagine the crowd reaction getting fever pitch at this point. 

I especially love Tikman bcoz it's not often played. If you listen to the lyrics closely, it's pure genius. Original Filipino love ditty at its best. Lightyears is another one of my favorites. It's too desperate and heartbreaking, but the melody is angry rather than hopeless. It gives me a pang whenever I hear it, tho, bcoz it was the last song Ely sang before the fateful intermission in the August 2008 concert when he had a heart attack.

He was so, so good in this concert. He came down the stage and shook hands with his admiring throng. It wasn't the usual perfunctory showbiz gesture, too, that takes only several seconds. He went in several directions, all the way to the people on the far side outside the railings. Coolness. A few girls were even able to steal kisses from him. Dang. I should've been one of them. Haha. 

The last song was Ang Huling El Bimbo, of course. It's still as perfect and rocking as ever, but I think this is yet another reason why the Eheads should re-unite, and soon: it's time to create more great songs to finish off more equally fantastic concerts. 

I wish Ely and the rest of the Eheads could see from the sheer number and euphoria of the crowd that night: this is how much we still love you, after all these years.