A Skylit Drive Live In Manila
Hello music Lovers! It's me @saydie, with some music content I like to share.
Earlier this May, many of the bands that I am listening to came to the Philippines, after they performed in the Hammersonic Fest in Indonesia for a series of concerts, one of which was the current A Skylit Drive. I say current because, aside from the vocalist, Michael Jagmin, all the other members were no longer part of the OG band. Long story short, OG members leave one by one, the band goes into hiatus, the band returns with the OG members except for Jagmin, Jagmin files a trademark lawsuit and wins, so now we have the current A Skylit Drive. This heavily divided the fanbase, with some calling the current A Skylit Drive a cover band. But when it comes to bands like this, it is usually the vocalist who serves as the face of the band, especially with Jagmin's distinct high-pitched vocal style and high tenor voice type with a wide vocal range spanning over three octaves.
As much as I love the OG members and want to see them perform as a group once again, I do not know if that will ever happen, and if that happens, will they ever come back to the Philippines for another show? So, to not overcomplicate things, I bought a ticket to watch them live, and thankfully, it did not disappoint.
The concert took place on the top floor of Aster Events Place. Was not a big venue. Probably will hold 500-800 people. Since I do not know how many people will go to the concert, I decided to go to the venue early. I arrived at the venue at 2:00 P.M., even though the door will open at 7:00 P.M.
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It was evident that I arrived early at the event, since the crew was still setting up the stage, so with nothing else to do, I went back to the event's lobby on the first floor. There, I met two other concertgoers and spent the time chatting with them. Around 4:00 P.M., the band has finally arrived at the venue. Seeing us in the lobby, they immediately greeted us, so we also responded with a loud "Hi!". We wanted to take a picture with them, but we refrained from it, given that they are carrying a lot of stuff. As they enter the elevator, a cat has sneakily walked close to the band, and the drummer has reached for it, which is kind of wholesome.
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Actually, I did not go solo to this concert. I am with a friend whom I met when I watched Alesana concert back in November. Ever since then, chat from time to time whenever there was a concert around the corner, so we could go together. She arrived at the venue at around 5:00 P.M., which is understandable after flying more than 900 miles from Davao, where she's from, to Manila. After she arrived, we moved to the top floor to wait until the door opened, since it was starting to have more people in the venue.
On the top floor, there was a terrace, where we stayed to pass our time. While waiting, we had an interesting conversation with Jeff Keenan, the person who runs Numinous Philippines, which is the concert's organizer. He talks about the logistics of what it takes to bring Western bands such as A Skylit Drive to the country, how concert venues were chosen, and the next band that they will be bringing to the Philippines for a concert. Apparently, they were bringing the band Aurorawave next, which recently got into popularity for mixing Reggae and Metal.
Eventually, the time for the doors to open has come. Since we got so absorbed by all the stuff that Jeff has been sharing with us, we got a little behind the line, but not too far to secure a good watching spot. After scanning our tickets, we were able to immediately able to enter the concert hall. A few minutes have passed before the concert starts, but it seems that my friend is losing the strength in her knees, probably due to fatigue from the long flight and because we're no longer that young.
We are this close at the stage.
After some time, the concert finally started, with the band Aiyana as the front act. Before this concert, I did not really know anything about them, even though they were a local band, but I came to like them after listening to them. They play different song genres, from Emo to Punk Rock, and they even play Post Hardcore, with their female vocalist doing some heavy screams. Here is a clip of the first song they sing Out Alive. I believe they played 5 songs in total, which I think were all good. If I had a complaint, maybe the mike is a little weak.
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After the front act, the stage had become empty again, so that A Skylit Drive could set up their equipment. But as soon as they got to the stage, there was a loud scream from the audience, all filled with great excitement.
Once all the band members had entered the stage, they immediately started by singing their first song All It Takes For Your Dreams To Come True, to which everyone in the audience sang along. With that, you will really know that everyone is an avid listener of their songs. But what really stood out was Jagmin's high-pitched voice, telling us he's the real deal. And despite the small venue, they still performed energetically. For me, even though it's not the original members, they still do a really good job and have connected pretty well with the audience. Whenever there was an opportunity, all the members moved within the stage, except for the drummer, for obvious reasons.
Not sure if I messed up the orientation or 3speak auto rotate it. Been a while since I used the DApp.
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Overall, they played a total of 15 songs. 12 songs across all their albums (except the first album cause copyright belongs to the OG members), and 3 cover songs. Two of which are the cover for Eminem & Rihanna's Love The Way You Lie, by which Jagmin has taken over the guitar, while Louie Caycoya gets his hands free, so he went ahead to the audience and the song Golden from the film KPop Demon Hunters. For the last cover song, they sang a cover of the 1980's Journey song, Separate Ways, which they saved for the Encore.
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At the end of the day, I really enjoyed the concert, and I think that also goes for my friend and the new people that I met at the concert. It's just that we made a little blunder because after the concert, we immediately left the venue. Had we stayed a little longer, we might have been able to take a picture together with the band.
There were two other concerts that I had attended during that week, which I also want to write a post about, but for now, that was all for this post.
Thank you, and see you at the next one!