Sweating Bullets and Bottles That Fly: My First-Ever Pulp Summer Slam, Part 2 of 2
ICYMI, here's Part One.
Yeah, that's what was left of my official PSS ticket, which gave me a tiny pang of guilt.
But six bands and a few hours before that picture, I munched on a Taco Bell taco (which flavor I forgot), hoping that food might somehow make the hangover headache go away. It failed, so I was crouching on the grounds beside M, taking intermittent naps, during Japanese electronicore band Crossfaith's set.
J came back to us, M and I, with additional cups of beer. He actually had a small glass of beer for me. Sadly, I had to refuse it. I should go home sober (Mom!), there seemed to be no mefenamic acid available anywhere in the venue (although there were a medics' tent in the middle of the grounds), and I'm afraid more beer will transform my nagging headache into a full-blown migraine.
Behind me, a guy and a girl who looked like they were in their late-teens were helicopter-headbanging during Crossfaith's set. They even did a tower.
The three of us got up and went closer to the front of the stage just a few minutes before the next band, British power metal band DragonForce, performed. The blasting, pounding drumbeats and bass guitar lines somehow boomed the headache away... except during seconds of silence in between songs.
There was one song in which vocalist Mark Hudson's mic just went off. He hadn't noticed it, even when we were waving our hands in the air, gesturing that somebody please just replace the freaking mic or readjust its signal, until the song came to the bridge part, which was silent except for guitar reverbs. Luckily, his mic was on again after a few seconds.
After DragonForce was a long break. We were only too excited for the next band--none other than the headliner Megadeth. J, M, and I bought some Dairy Queen Blizzard and extra water and rested for a little while.
In the middle of that break was an air-guitar contest, where the contestants will have to air-guitar to the tune of the epic solo of "Tornado of Souls". One of them did a stage-dive. Unluckily, no one on the front row caught him. He seemed to be fine when the host asked him if he was all right. Amid boos--with J jeering, "You wasted ten thousand pesos for that!"--the host was calm yet serious when he said the guy needed medical attention. The paramedics took the poor guy accordingly.
And somebody just returned Crossfaith's Ken(ta Koie, vocalist)'s mic!
We returned to the middle of the grounds, only a few feet from the front end of the stage, and patiently waited for the one and only Megadeth.
And on the chorus of the first song, some guy crowdsurfed just over our heads. I lifted up a hand to help him not to fall. That was how my two new friends were separated from me.
Now I have to watch the four remaining sets alone.
I couldn't exactly remember when, but I think a few minutes after J and M were taken away from me by the crowdsurfing guy and the following circle pit, I felt an empty plastic bottle thud against my head. I didn't pay attention to it at all because you can expect one in music festivals such as this. But it sucks.
Especially when another plastic bottle flew into the stage after Megadeth's second song.
Lights went out. After a few minutes, the lights shone again, and there was Dave, walking to the middle of the stage. What he said broke our hearts: that would be all for the night because somebody threw a bottle onto the stage. I haven't noticed whether the flying bottle hit him or somebody in the band. But we all groaned in dismay.
"There's a fucking cunt that threw a bottle over there,"* he announced calmly, though clearly there were undertones of annoyance. Looking to someone in particular among the audience in the frontmost rows, he asked, "Did you throw the bottle?"*
I could hear people jeering. One guy exclaimed, "Sino ba 'yang putang inang nagbato ng bote?!" Who's that son of a bitch who threw the bottle?!
"Shut up,"* Dave replied to whoever it was who threw the bottle. I don't know if s/he admitted to the crime. But somewhere in crowd, s/he might even have been delighted about Dave's attention--at our expense.
Later, we were all chanting, "Megadeth, Megadeth, Megadeth... sorry, sorry, sorry..."
Luckily, they returned for the rest of their set. Of course, with a final admonition from Dave.
When they dished out "Symphony of Destruction", we were chanting along with the verse riff: "Megadeth, Megadeth, Me-me-me-Megadeth!"
And they actually had a surprise guest in tow!
After that mind-blowing set, almost half of the audience went home. But the grounds as well as the bleachers were still full.
With my headache's staying power just as strong as the people who remained in the venue, I decided to take a seat on the bleachers and wait there for the last band.
Sadly, people started to dwindle bit by bit. I also saw an unconscious lady being carried on a stretcher to the exit. Prior to that, just after Megadeth, another unconscious lady was brought into the medics' tent.
I watched the two following bands, Greyhoundz and Wilabaliw, from afar, taking naps at times, wishing that by the last band's turn, the headache would finally be gone.
I went down the bleachers' stairs to the stage just before Wilabaliw's last song. Thankfully, my headache dissipated to a bearable minimum, just in time for the third of the Three Kings of OPM metal--none other than Slapshock.
I decided undoing my ponytail (since the air's cooler anyway) because I know I was set for some intense headbanging later.
And when Slapshock started with "Cariño Brutal", I headbanged for all the world cared...
...only to feel that pain nudging in my head again.
But every time the pain subsided, I still headbanged to the rest of Slapshock's set, and at some points even tried to "scream". My attempt at "screaming" sounded like a stifled cry of someone who choked on something. So I stopped that and just sang.
I tried to capture photos of each member (except for Chi, who obviously cannot walk to and fro onstage), and this was the best I have (cue: sigh).
After a few more failed shots, I quit taking pictures and decided to just enjoy the music. I was there for it anyway.
Slapshock's set was finished after five songs, which made me feel bitin and a bit sad, to be honest. But hey, didn't they just play at the Earthday Jam just yesterday, and at their gig in little Revamp in Fairview just last week (nope, I wasn't able to attend both)?
I was still glad AF to see Slapshock perform live for the first time. (The first time I met them, they weren't performing, and Jamir and Jerry were not around.)
Days later, I would remember M and her wish that Marc Abaya would take his shirt off. Well, somebody did take his shirt off, which means half of M's wish was fulfilled.
Because it was Jamir who took his shirt off 😂😂😂
Looking back now, because all Slapshock members are already married and are all dads, I wished it was Devin, who I was the same age with and is reported to be single, who did 😂😂😂
Kidding aside, I could not believe I just ticked off one item from my bucket list.
Not to mention that I gained a starry-eyed cyberstalker after the event. Of course, that's another story.
See you at the next Slam, then? (Hopefully my friends won't cancel on me this time, so I won't risk being stalked.)
* not verbatim; just got it from an FB friend. It's pretty precise, though.
Unattributed photos are mine.
 |
| Happy endings start somewhere. |
Yeah, that's what was left of my official PSS ticket, which gave me a tiny pang of guilt.
But six bands and a few hours before that picture, I munched on a Taco Bell taco (which flavor I forgot), hoping that food might somehow make the hangover headache go away. It failed, so I was crouching on the grounds beside M, taking intermittent naps, during Japanese electronicore band Crossfaith's set.
 |
| Vocalist Kenta Koie: Mag-ingay! Crossfaith killing it onstage (while I was trying to kill my headache). From the band's official FB page. |
J came back to us, M and I, with additional cups of beer. He actually had a small glass of beer for me. Sadly, I had to refuse it. I should go home sober (Mom!), there seemed to be no mefenamic acid available anywhere in the venue (although there were a medics' tent in the middle of the grounds), and I'm afraid more beer will transform my nagging headache into a full-blown migraine.
Behind me, a guy and a girl who looked like they were in their late-teens were helicopter-headbanging during Crossfaith's set. They even did a tower.
The three of us got up and went closer to the front of the stage just a few minutes before the next band, British power metal band DragonForce, performed. The blasting, pounding drumbeats and bass guitar lines somehow boomed the headache away... except during seconds of silence in between songs.
 |
| The clearest pic I could take of DragonForce's Frederic Leclercq and Sam Totman. |
There was one song in which vocalist Mark Hudson's mic just went off. He hadn't noticed it, even when we were waving our hands in the air, gesturing that somebody please just replace the freaking mic or readjust its signal, until the song came to the bridge part, which was silent except for guitar reverbs. Luckily, his mic was on again after a few seconds.
 |
| I feel like flying on the wings of dragons every time DragonForce plays. Photo from the Pulp Summer Slam FB page. |
After DragonForce was a long break. We were only too excited for the next band--none other than the headliner Megadeth. J, M, and I bought some Dairy Queen Blizzard and extra water and rested for a little while.
In the middle of that break was an air-guitar contest, where the contestants will have to air-guitar to the tune of the epic solo of "Tornado of Souls". One of them did a stage-dive. Unluckily, no one on the front row caught him. He seemed to be fine when the host asked him if he was all right. Amid boos--with J jeering, "You wasted ten thousand pesos for that!"--the host was calm yet serious when he said the guy needed medical attention. The paramedics took the poor guy accordingly.
And somebody just returned Crossfaith's Ken(ta Koie, vocalist)'s mic!
We returned to the middle of the grounds, only a few feet from the front end of the stage, and patiently waited for the one and only Megadeth.
And on the chorus of the first song, some guy crowdsurfed just over our heads. I lifted up a hand to help him not to fall. That was how my two new friends were separated from me.
Now I have to watch the four remaining sets alone.
 |
| Dave Mustaine mid-headbang. Photo from the Pulp Summer Slam FB page. |
I couldn't exactly remember when, but I think a few minutes after J and M were taken away from me by the crowdsurfing guy and the following circle pit, I felt an empty plastic bottle thud against my head. I didn't pay attention to it at all because you can expect one in music festivals such as this. But it sucks.
Especially when another plastic bottle flew into the stage after Megadeth's second song.
Lights went out. After a few minutes, the lights shone again, and there was Dave, walking to the middle of the stage. What he said broke our hearts: that would be all for the night because somebody threw a bottle onto the stage. I haven't noticed whether the flying bottle hit him or somebody in the band. But we all groaned in dismay.
"There's a fucking cunt that threw a bottle over there,"* he announced calmly, though clearly there were undertones of annoyance. Looking to someone in particular among the audience in the frontmost rows, he asked, "Did you throw the bottle?"*
I could hear people jeering. One guy exclaimed, "Sino ba 'yang putang inang nagbato ng bote?!" Who's that son of a bitch who threw the bottle?!
"Shut up,"* Dave replied to whoever it was who threw the bottle. I don't know if s/he admitted to the crime. But somewhere in crowd, s/he might even have been delighted about Dave's attention--at our expense.
Later, we were all chanting, "Megadeth, Megadeth, Megadeth... sorry, sorry, sorry..."
Luckily, they returned for the rest of their set. Of course, with a final admonition from Dave.
When they dished out "Symphony of Destruction", we were chanting along with the verse riff: "Megadeth, Megadeth, Me-me-me-Megadeth!"
 |
| The closest Megadeth shot I could take from where I stood. |
And they actually had a surprise guest in tow!
 |
| The one and only Vic Rattlehead! Photo from the Pulp Summer Slam FB page. |
After that mind-blowing set, almost half of the audience went home. But the grounds as well as the bleachers were still full.
With my headache's staying power just as strong as the people who remained in the venue, I decided to take a seat on the bleachers and wait there for the last band.
Sadly, people started to dwindle bit by bit. I also saw an unconscious lady being carried on a stretcher to the exit. Prior to that, just after Megadeth, another unconscious lady was brought into the medics' tent.
I watched the two following bands, Greyhoundz and Wilabaliw, from afar, taking naps at times, wishing that by the last band's turn, the headache would finally be gone.
 |
| Greyhoundz's Reg Rubio lords it onstage. |
 |
| Reg on guitarist Audie Avenido: He could hold a mic while playing the guitar! Both Greyhoundz photos from the Pulp Summer Slam FB page. |
 |
| Wilabaliw driving the crowd baliw (crazy) AF. Photo from the Pulp Summer Slam FB page. |
I went down the bleachers' stairs to the stage just before Wilabaliw's last song. Thankfully, my headache dissipated to a bearable minimum, just in time for the third of the Three Kings of OPM metal--none other than Slapshock.
I decided undoing my ponytail (since the air's cooler anyway) because I know I was set for some intense headbanging later.
And when Slapshock started with "Cariño Brutal", I headbanged for all the world cared...
...only to feel that pain nudging in my head again.
 |
| A glimpse of Slapshock from where I stood. |
But every time the pain subsided, I still headbanged to the rest of Slapshock's set, and at some points even tried to "scream". My attempt at "screaming" sounded like a stifled cry of someone who choked on something. So I stopped that and just sang.
I tried to capture photos of each member (except for Chi, who obviously cannot walk to and fro onstage), and this was the best I have (cue: sigh).
 |
| Si Chi na lang ang kulang, tsk. Anyway, L-R: Lee, Jerry (mid-headbang), Lean, Jamir (whose pictures I took were, sadly, all blurred *asks God why*). |
After a few more failed shots, I quit taking pictures and decided to just enjoy the music. I was there for it anyway.
Slapshock's set was finished after five songs, which made me feel bitin and a bit sad, to be honest. But hey, didn't they just play at the Earthday Jam just yesterday, and at their gig in little Revamp in Fairview just last week (nope, I wasn't able to attend both)?
I was still glad AF to see Slapshock perform live for the first time. (The first time I met them, they weren't performing, and Jamir and Jerry were not around.)
Days later, I would remember M and her wish that Marc Abaya would take his shirt off. Well, somebody did take his shirt off, which means half of M's wish was fulfilled.
Because it was Jamir who took his shirt off 😂😂😂
Looking back now, because all Slapshock members are already married and are all dads, I wished it was Devin, who I was the same age with and is reported to be single, who did 😂😂😂
Kidding aside, I could not believe I just ticked off one item from my bucket list.
 |
| Hours after this, I'd have short, red hair. |
Not to mention that I gained a starry-eyed cyberstalker after the event. Of course, that's another story.
See you at the next Slam, then? (Hopefully my friends won't cancel on me this time, so I won't risk being stalked.)
* not verbatim; just got it from an FB friend. It's pretty precise, though.
Unattributed photos are mine.
Comments
Post a Comment