THE THREE-HANKY READ* ] 10 heartbreaking blog posts on The Final Set

Photographs by Idris Miraflor

1
"With Ely healthy again, take two of the concert was scheduled. The day before the show the band’s friend and guest star Francis Magalona died of leukemia. Farewells piled on farewells; if the reunion were a work of fiction it would be rejected for lack of plausibility. But this isn’t just their story anymore. The Eheads have written themselves into our story, and really, who cares about plausibility at a time like this? The gates are open. It’s time for your last goodbye.--The End, jessicarulestheuniverse.com

2
"The crowd was sometimes silent because everyone was listening as if it was a dream hearing the 4 boys play their songs live again. Although we were watching in the big screen most of the time, it was worth it because just the feeling of being in that concert was phenomenal, it was stellar and dream-like.—The Final Set?, Extreme Symphony, flipbizkit

3
"So, whenever the guys played at Club Dredd or Mayric’s or some school fair, they did not need to put on a show. Their songs did it for them. These tunes played themselves in your head and you were drawn back into your life. Their songs became your songs. The boys conveniently snuck themselves in the background, amidst the din of the rock joint and your own drunken stupor.

"The following Sunday, Buddy sent out this text message to some of us:
'The experience was overwhelmingly magical for us too. Wishing everyone a safe weekend. And thanks for making it happen!'

"I told him: 'It was an awesome show. Beyond words…We hope that sometime, somehow, you guys get to play again. And we get to scream our hearts out once more.'
We will never be over them.-–The Eheads and Why We Can’t Get enough of Them, The Dark Side Jake Yrastorza




4
"It probably was meant to be just that… a momentary glimpse into the legend, like the ghost of a loved one flashing by from time to time. It’s not enough yet it’s enough."--The Eraserheads Reunion, The Ricelander’s Blog

5
"Ely threw his Levi’s Denim jacket towards our direction and guess what? The 6 of us were literally holding on to the jacket. This is how we literally fought over Ely’s jacket. I wasn’t on the picture because I was dragged on the ground. Haha. The bouncer (without the cap) was already saying that the jacket should be given to the girls (i.e. MINE and the other girl!). Of course, the men wouldn’t allow it because their hands grabbed it also. And so this bouncer (with the cap) confiscated the jacket. The 6 of us were worried that he might not give it back to us. He came back to us after the first set and was asking for a bribe (pang-merienda lang daw). WOW. Of course we didn’t give in to his demands (ano ito, ransom???) and so the 6 of us decided to just divide the jacket among us just to compromise. We might be reprimanded with unruly behavior (and the concert might be stopped because of us) that’s why just to get over it, we decided to cut the jacket into parts after the concert since scissors were not allowed in the venue. The jacket became a ’sacred object’, you know in the religious sense? It was so immature of me but what the hell, this would be the last time that i’ll be doing this. Haha.

"They were finally able to sing the final song “Ang Huling El Bimbo”. To tell you honestly, I cried in the middle of the song. I didn’t anticipate the tears but it just fell down my cheeks. I think Buddy saw me crying. It’s really unexplainable. I know that I have already moved on. Maybe I cried because I finally saw that Ely is back. All throughout the show, he was enjoying himself and didn’t seem to be forced on doing something that he didn’t like. This was the Eraserheads that I saw way back when they were still together: joking around, didn’t care if they made a mistake on a certain part, etc. If i will be comparing it to the first, I like this one better because I know they were all enjoying."—-This is The Last El Bimbo-My Eraserheads Final Set Experience, Slip Inside the Eye of My Mind, Sharlyne Ang

6
"I GOT RAIMUND MARASIGAN's drumstick!!!!!!, when he threw it on the last encore songs, he threw it on my far left and i ddnt have hope of getting it, and for some reason, it bounced and fell on my foot. YAHOOO!! i grabbed it and held it infront of me, and paused for a good 5 seconds. thanking the gods of rock. amen."-–Eraserheads Final Set Experience: 03.07.2009, Chasing Lights, zarathrustralf



7
"Presently, the car parks in a special area. It is easy to find my slot. It’s got my name in front of it. Some lady herds my crew and me to my own tent. There’s food. And booze. And it’s got A/C too. Damn, we never had it this good before.
And this gets me thinking. Were we ever this big? Were we even close to it when we released Circus? Or Cutterpillow? Or Sticker Happy? Or right after our Asian and U.S. tours?

"Hell no. We’re way bigger now that the band’s dead than it ever was when it was still alive.

"To this day, I am asked why we ended all this. A fan once said how she felt orphaned, that she wished her “parents” would get back in each other’s arms. I don’t know. I think we were a group with an expiration date. I guess we weren’t meant to live our lives gigging together forever. Did we write songs designed to stay longer than we did? Of course not. But we’re all glad, maybe even lucky, it’s turning out that way.

"And then Ely sets his piano in flames. What the…I somehow had a sense that he’d do that but to actually witness it on stage is a totally different story. I mean, this is THE Sticker Happy piano. Sure, it no longer works but it’s always been pretty symbolic for the band. Soon after, Ely kicks it over and stomps on it. Now, that’s a symbol.

"If memory serves me right, that’s probably the most theatrical thing Ely ever did at a gig. I mean, this is one guy who knows he is a rock god but refuses to acknowledge it. Have you ever seen him at interviews? He’s got the “Let’s-get-this-over-with” and “I-don’t-give-a-damn” look. And it’s not put on. It’s because he just doesn’t give a damn. He just wants to make music. I think. And how. There’s the deft turn of phrase, the word play, and an ear for simply what sounds right. Most of the songs he wrote are autobiographical but when you hear them, you believe that he really wrote about you and your world. Yet you never knew a girl who answered to the name, “Julie Tearjerky.”--If I Were an Eraserhead, The Dark Side, Jake Yrastorza

8
"Closure can't get sweeter than this."—Another One of Those Eraserheads: The Final Set Blog Entries, Multiply Mo Mukha Mo!, iampugeda

9
"it was bittersweet. to hear your youth played like that and to share it with 100,000people. i'm guessing a lot of us are in our thirties by now and are COMPLETELY different from the people we were when we heard those songs for the first time, and also in a way exactly the same...

fuck people, we're ancient.

it's 3pm in the afternoon on a sunday and all i want right now is a vodka double on the rocks.

not that any of you will ever read my blog, but right now i am compelled to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. for overcoming whatever shit you guys have between you for one night. for playing for more or less 3 hours. for looking like, at least for a few minutes, you actually enjoyed playing together. for making it through the night without ely needing another open heart surgery. for dressing up for the part. for playing even the stupid songs. for giving a shout out to francis m. for saying a proper goodbye. for writing all of that kick ass music.

"because my life as a movie is better with your songs in the soundtrack."--Ito Na Ang Huling El Bimbo, anonymous



10
“guys, pag lettermen na ang eraserheads at maisipan nilang ituloy ang concert, manunuod pa rin tayong magkakasama ha…”-Some kind of fairytale, cecille


*If you're an Eraserheads fan. Compiled by Cristina Gomez-Verano who missed the show because she was seven months pregnant. Her story on the first set here. 211 more photos from The Final Set here.