Bazooka Rocks II

2013
Early 2013, I got hook to this certain Massachusetts-based band. My heart broke when I learned that they were just in Manila last Februrary 2012 for the Liv5 mall show series. The fact that they announced their break-up a few months after I learned that didn't help at all. But they just loved the Philippines so much that they had to specifically ask the promoter to include them in the line up (since a lot of fans petitioned for it on Twitter). It was late May when they announced that ARTTM was included- I instantly knew that I have to go even if I didn't had someone willing to go with me at that time. Luckily, my friends Cheska and Martin were super game! I was kinda butt hurt that I didn't learn of the Fast Pass and Pulp Royalty packages which guarantees Meet & Greet with your band of choice, though. I would have cried in front of Halvo (ARTTM's Bassist) for sure.

 
If you're living under a rock (Heh sorry just had to use that pun) and doesn't have any clue about what Bazooka Rocks is... well, it is an indoor rock festival which promised to give 14 hours of live music from 12 different bands. Not to mention, there was only 1 massive pit- which means, no sections!!!!!! And the tickets only costed Php 3,140. The festival started at 10 am and ended at almost 1 am, though, so that was a total of 15 hours of live music. Every peso we spent was definitely worth it!!!!!! 

TONIGHT ALIVE
I went because of A Rocket To The Moon and my friends were there for All Time Low so the first few bands didn't quite mattered to us (sorry I know this notion is wrong). We had to travel from Laguna pa and getting there before 10am isn't very possible as I was going with 2 sleepyheads. Haha We arrived there at almost 2 pm just in time for Uchusentai Noiz. Sadly, we missed all the local acts and RadioDriveBy :(The picture above is of Tonight Alive. We were at the merch line at the side of the stage. The line was insanely long that we couldn't get out to watch at the pit, so we had to settle watching them from afar instead.
WE CAME AS ROMANS
I'm not a fan of metal so witnessing how good We Came As Romans is live really came to me as a surprise!

Luckily, when we were almost in front of the line, All Time Low came in front for the merch visit. We were literally just a few feet away from them so the 4 hours that we spent waiting was kinda worth it! Everyone in front of us panicked that's why we were able to cut a few people out =)) Sorry, we were really just in a hurry. As soon as we bought our choice of band merch (I got an ARTTM, of courseeee), we took a cab to our hotel for check-in. And because of this, we missed Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' whole set!!! We should have really went to the venue earlier. Oh well, next time...


When we came back to SMX, RJA just finished and Anberlin was next. I've never heard of them before but I really liked their song Adelaide. I heard they're doing their final tour this year so there's a high chance they're coming back to Manila to play one last time--- just like what Rocket did :'( Ah, you guys.


When Anberlin was done with their set, everyone from the back kept pushing in so the tendency for us people inside the pit was to be pushed to the front (which was only possible to some extent since the pit can obviously only hold so much people). We were initially at the back but due to the immense amount of people pushing from our backs and sides, we found ourselves almost in front (approximately 10th row) when the crowd semi-calmed down. I honestly felt I was going to die! Sure, it was in airconditioned room but when there's just so many people shouting "All Time Low!" "Stop pushing!" and a lot of curse at the same time, feeling the cool air was next to impossible.


Usually, there's a timer showing the amount of time left before the next band comes in, but it disappeared and got replaced with this white cloth when it was ATL's turn. Needless to say, everyone went berserk when this cloth appeared. I've seen a lot of girls and guys, even, who passed out and were carried out from the pit by the bouncers. I was so close to passing out, as well, because I was so dehydrated since we all forgot to bring water with us.



But it went away as soon as I heard Lost In Stereo's first note!

There was a bra drop which explains the bra in Jack's hand. I think, he was trying to catch another bra from the audience in the picture below. Typical Jack Barakat.


My favorite part is when Alex sang Remembering Sunday alone. He then played Therapy which was then joined by the other members (plus Matt Flyzik, their ex-tour manager). 


One of my favorite songs, no matter how painful it is to hear them play it last, was Dear Maria!


And then it was A Rocket To The Moon's turn! I've cried over them already and I will probably still cry because of them, but I'm pretty sure they'll be back in no time. FOB came back rockin', right?



I'll save you the cheesiness in this post, just read about all the drama here. But needless to say, seeing my absolute favorite band play one last time in Manila was definitely one moment I will treasure forever! Shhh I know what you're thinking; they're not just some band, okay?!


Halvo, my obvious biased from the band, was being his goofy self taking lots of selfies with his band and the crowd. 



Nick promised to be back in Manila with the band- they're not just sure how soon or how far it will take, but they will definitely come back. You see, I'm really holding on to this. He went back last January 8, 2014 for The 8123 Tour (blog post about this soon) with The Maine and This Century, sadly without the other ARTTM members, but in time, in time, you'll see.

They took one last picture with the crowd and then it was time to say good bye, for real. They played their very last show in Boston on August 30 and 31, 2013. If I had known of this sooner and had millions to spare, I would have went, but the world is not a wish-granting factory, so I'd just have to resort to the fact that I've seen them at Bazooka Rocks. Thank you for making this happen, PULP Live World!


Pictures at the hotel...

Merch!!!

I supported live music and took home a hell of a memory!

Until we meet again, ARTTM.

xx, Quennie


You Need To Get Lost Before You Get Found (One Last Night with A Rocket To The Moon)

2013
I wrote this on August 27, 2013, 2 days after the best concert of my liiiife, and posted it on Facebook. I figured I don't want this to be piled under loads of crossed-instagram posts on my timeline because they've been (and still are) a very big part of my life. Well, for some of you this is just a long and boring post crying over a band breaking up (but really, they're not just some band!!). Read at your own risk.







It was early January this year, my playlist was on shuffle mode when A Rocket To The Moon's Like We Used To came up. It was one of those times when you discover a band, singer or anything that hits you right smack in the heart. I got hooked and basically downloaded their whole discography. My heart broke when I learned that they already went to the Philippines for Liv5 on Feb 2012. Two months later this year they released their sophomore album, Wild & Free. I was really hoping for them to come back here to promote their album but roughly 2 months after the success of their album, they announced that they're breaking up (http://on.fb.me/YIFne5). I didn't know what and how to react to that but a part of me was glad that they "want everyone who wants to see them to get the chance" (http://bit.ly/14Xt3Er) to see them play one last time. I checked their tour sched and of course Manila wasn't included since it's only a US Tour. But awesome people from the awesome ARTTM fanbase in our country did a twitition. To cut the story short, ARTTM specifically asked Sir Vernon (Pres. of PULP Live World) to be part of the Bazooka Rocks Festival line up!!! Who does that even?! 

 
After months of waiting, the day finally came. My energy was at the lowest before their set due to All Time Low's crazy, intense and insert-all-other-hyper-adjectives-here mosh pit, to the point that you felt like dying since all the people around you were pushing you to all sorts of direction. But yeah, I survived and when it was ARTTM's set, we managed to be in front, like at the 5th row. I've waited for this for months and I was so prepared to cry to any of their songs but, surprisingly, I didn't. I was on the verge of crying when the crowd was shouting "DON'T DISBAND" and when Nick Santino cried, though ahhhhh~ But Nick was like "Tell you what, Manila. We're gonna come back someday and we're gonna play more songs for you, is that alright?". I was jumping, singing and shouting all throughout their set and, honestly, I really don't know where I got all my energy from. I just know that they deserved all the love and support they got from the fans that night. Dakota and Mr. Right was the craziest!!! But my favorite was when Nick messed up the lyrics of Annabelle, since they haven't played it in awhile, and he just laughed it off. Halvo was being the usual Halvo- cute and talkative and was taking lots of selfies with the crowd. Had the set ended with Like We Used To, Somebody Out There or any of their emotional love songs, I would have cried buckets. They played Mr. Right, though, and wanted the crowd to just jump and enjoy throughout the song. Ahhh, I just love them!!!


With only 4 hours of sleep, I woke up at 6:30 am the day after BRF and that was when all the feeeeels started to sink in. I witnessed the last show of A Rocket To The Moon in Manila and I thought that was it, there will be no more ARTTM in a few days after their show in Boston. I went home and told my sister all the details about BRF and when it came to the highlight (which was ARTTM's set, for me), my tears started to fall and I broke down. It was bound to happen, anyway. I never cried over a band until ARTTM, and that's saying a lot since I cry really easily.

I want to stop writing already since my tears won't stop falling. I'm sorry if this is just one long, boring post for you. I just really needed to write down all my feelings one last time so I can finally move on with my life. Give them 2-3 years to "step away and clear their heads" (http://bit.ly/14Xt3Er) and they'll be back in Manila in no time. I'm sure of it. They're looking forward to "a couple thousand kids in the Philippines" (http://bit.ly/1aGQW5I) who would be there, remember?

Here's to the future of staying Wild & Free! Now, where to find a boyfriend as perfect as them? HAHA