If you’'re not able to attend this
year'’s Pulp Summer Slam, here are some great (actually the most vital) things
you missed.
1. Cradle
of Filth.
2. Slapshock.
3. Greyhoundz.
4. Quezo.
Self-explanatory so it would be
totally redundant to try and give an explanation. Basta kung hindi ka
nakapunta, kawawa ka naman. HAHAHAHA.
Apri 25, 2015, people who had a
mute agreement to wear black for the event are marching one by one though
together towards a specific direction: Amoranto Stadium.
For us, meaning my two brothers and I, the craze started since
2007: Pulp Summer Slam 7 Deadly Sins, although the event has been running since
2001. The event proudly carries the banner of being the longest running and
largest metal festival in Southeast Asia.
To have an idea of how large really
the crowd of Pulp Summer Slam is, check this photo out:
This was taken during The World
Alive’s set at a little past 6pm. Note that this isn'’t even a quarter of the
crowd. And yes, I'm blaming my short limbs for this. One of the hosts announced
that the crowd actually numbered to roughly 25,000 people. In.Sane!
For 9 years, (8 for me since I
bailed out on last year’'s event because of laziness) my two brothers and I kept
on coming, enjoying, and jamming with this great crowd of people sharing one
great thing in common: love for live music.
I noticed a lot of changes with
the whole event during those 9 years of attendance. Before, there’'d be more
people wearing costumes and expressing their selves in such entertaining and
uniquely-Pulp Summer Slam way.
Last night though, I only got to
take a photo of this one:
I saw three more people wearing
costumes. 2 are wearing masks while the other wore Strawhat Luffy'’s infamous
strawhat.
Not just the crowd but the setup
has also changed. We used to watch over 30 bands in one night, from 12nn until
4am the next day, or was it 3? The transition of the bands is remarkable which
made me wonder why Pulp couldn'’t do the same anymore for the last 4 years.
For this year, the bands that
played are Godzilla vs Tokyo, Wilabaliw, Kjwan, Razorback, Nobela, the awesome
awesome Chthonic, The World Alive, Escape the fucking Fate, sobrang astig na
trio – Greyhoundz, Quezo, and Slapshock; Carcass, napakalupet na Cradle of
Filth, Killswitch Engage, and Suffocation.
15 bands. Less than half the
number of bands that used to play for Pulp years back and yet it was already
2am and 2 more bands are yet to play. What happened? Is it because when the
massive collection of band lineup went, they took efficient transition along with
it too? I don’t like it, obviously. Although I don'’t really miss that many
bands playing where most of them I don'’t really like, I would love it if the
efficiency I admired before could be experienced by the newer generation of
Pulp goers today. I want them to experience that and not suffer from waiting
for almost an hour for a band to set up. Uh-huh. An hour.
Enough with my rants, I wanna say
next that I find it amusing to find young blood join the wild crowd of Pulp. I
feel like a proud mother. Heh.
I like that Pulp released a
“schedule” for each band and print it with the ticket. Thanks to that, I saved
myself from the brutal Philippine summer heat that most of my fellow Pulp goers
(my brothers included) had to endure. Since I was only after the trio:
SlapQuezoHoundz and Cradle of Filth, I opted to leave the house at past 3pm,
expecting to arrive at the venue by as late as 5:30pm. That'’s still early for
the trio'’s stage but I was also thinking about the supply of freebies going dry
if I delay my arrival further. And so, I got inside the venue, got my free Red
Horse beer, got my free Pulp Magazine, settled in between the huge crowd, and
contacted my brothers.
Man, my alcohol tolerance really
did drop after deciding to quit some 6 years ago. I already got tipsy even
before I could finish that cup. (Obviously, I didn’'t entirely quit since I
still drink at special occasions).
If you’'re looking for a blog that
would give fair critic on the musicality of each band that played, then I think
you already know by now that this is not the blog you’'re looking for.
Without considering whether you’'re
on the right blog or not, I’'m gonna jump straight to my point of interest.
Greyhoundz.
When the band got on stage and
started playing their songs every fans know by heart, it was chaos! The crowd
started jumping up and down, screaming their throats out, and singing along
with the band. I couldn’'t stop the smile from spreading across my face.
Pulp committed a huge HUGE mistake
by signing Colt 45 and taking out Slapshock, Greyhoundz, and Quezo from the
list of performers along with it. But at least they got to correct that mistake
now.
We all enjoyed Pig Face, Shoot to
Kill, Doble Kara, and Apoy. Oh man, oh man, was it awesome!
Quezo.
Don'’t kill me if I say that I
don'’t know much of Quezo'’s songs except for Insekta and Mottaka. (As if I’'d let
you do it. Hah!)
So when the band was pleasing
their legion of fans, ang mga Daga, I was simply bopping my head and enjoying
the positive energy from the crowd. No other feeling like it when you'’re inside
that huge crowd of people sharing that same passion and love for live OPM.
Wonderful.
Slapshock.
I love Jamir. I love Chi, and the
rest of the band (noticed any bias here?). Of the three, my favorite is Slapshock.
My older brother prefers Quezo and the younger one, Greyhoundz.
It'’s Jamir’'s voice that sold the
band to me. It’'s that voice that can swiftly, cleanly, and beautifully switch
from clean tone to scream, growl, then clean tone again. I just love it!
They played Ngayon Na, Wake Up (to
which I really went crazy at), Langit (where he made me fall in love all over
again with his beautiful beautiful voice), and the song that would make every
fans bad if they didn'’t jump off their feet, Cariño Brutal.
Before leaving the stage after
their set, Jamir thanked everyone:– Pulp management for having them back since
2009, and the crowd for being as awesome as they are. He also gave the jersey
shirt he was wearing to a specific fan. Lucky.
Carcass came next and I will
honestly admit that I’'m no fan of heavy metal. Despite that, I would still take
my hat off and put my hands down for this band. They are simply uh.ma.zing!
From the vocalist to the rest of the band, it’'s so easy to see that those
people breathe and eat Metal!
After them came Cradle of Filth.
I’'m not happy to say that it took almost an hour to set the stage for this band.
This is what I’'ve been ranting earlier about the lost efficiency when it comes
to transition. I may not know what'’s happening back and onstage but should it
really take that long? It'’s frustrating.
Oh no, actually, it only takes
long with foreign bands. I remembered, I think it was 2009 when the crowd
started throwing empty Pepsi bottles (in some cases not so empty) towards the
stage after waiting for over an hour with nothing but a huge lit screen to
stare at. What’'s up with that?
With Cradle that night though, I
think it'’s the electric fans that took the longest to set up. I mean, come on,
where do you get two electric fans with matching red color nowadays, right?
That’'s so freakin'’ rare to find!
But I gotta give it to the band.
After making us wait for almost an hour (although I know this isn’'t really
entirely their fault), they also left us all amazed and in great awe after
playing for us for an hour!
Cradle of Filth playing for a
straight hour is simply awesome because Philippine summer heat and leather
outfit would make anyone suffer especially if they come from a cold country.
Well I’'m sure they have their fair share of hot summer times too but I don’'t
think they regularly have summer times c/o a tropical country, no?
Kudos to the band for keeping the
appearance. Last 2012 when Arch Enemy was here, vocalist Angela Gosow went out
with a leather jacket on but decided to take it off after a few songs -– the heat
is just that great.
But for Cradle, especially Mr.
Filth, real metal heads don'’t feel uncomfortable with the heat nor their makeup
washing off.
His voice.. Oh my.. It’'s like
listening to a record. It'’s just that awesome!
I know I stated earlier that I'’m
no fan of heavy metal but Cradle of Filth is one of the exceptions. I learned
about this band through my older brother. Actually, it’'s my two brothers that
really influenced me with this type of music genre. I think I owe something big
from them, huh? Heh.
Nymphetamine was the only song I
know from the band so when they played it that night, I was truly ecstatic. And
again, it was just like a record. I urge you to search for fan videos of this
event. And trust me, there would be A LOT! This same reason got my older
brother pissed. He was trying to get near the stage to enjoy the music better
but was totally annoyed after seeing that apparently, almost everyone near the
pit have their arms stretched up (not to cheer for the band but to take
videos/photos). *Shaking my head* What happened to you, Philippine concert
scene? *Crying blood now* (if that’'s possible for a non-saint/miraculous being
like me).
Another reason why Cradle is
awesome: Their guitarist’'s hair! No matter how much he bop his head, twirl his
hair, with just one flip, it'’s all okay. What’s your shampoo, dude? Mehehe.
Do you want me to tell you why
it'’s sad for you if you weren'’t able to attend this year'’s Summer Slam? It'’s
because after 5 long years, Slapshock, Greyhoundz and Quezo came back to Pulp.
This is also the most viable reason for the thickness of the crowd this year.
Through years of attending the event, that was the thickest I’'ve seen. I love
it!
And do you also wanna know why you
should feel bad if you weren'’t able to attend Pulp Summer Slam last 2007? It'’s
because those three great bands I mentioned right above this paragraph shared
the same stage AT THE SAME TIME! *insert evil laughter with hands clawing up
here*
Oh, and here are my Summer Slam buddies - my two brothers. :)
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