Basti Artadi, Mon Legaspi, Manuel Legarda and Wolfgang’s de facto drummer Francis Aquino took the stage to deliver what was promised to be a very long set. They started things slow with the easy-going verses of “Mata Ng Diyos” that sent people singing their lungs out. The fairly easy opening lines then soon give way to the gut-busting phrasing of the chorus – but heck, people were still singing! It was a curious case for a first song – Alive 2007 started off with “Center Of The Sun” while the Black Christmas project of 2008 featured the first track off the Wurm album “Sanctified”. It was great to have the guys draw the crowd in for an early sing-along session though.
After that, there was definitely no stopping Wolfgang from cranking the volume up to earbleed levels. Keeping true to playing songs that true blue would know by heart, the band played the very hard-hitting “I…” from the Semenelin album. I honestly think that this could have been a big radio hit had it been released as a single. They then segued in to a reworked version of “Atomica” from Serve In Silence and as a tribute to the most loyal fan “New Mother Nature” – again from the Semenelin album. Only a few people were singing, but they (*ehem* we) were singing ever so proudly.
The first set was finished through the intense and in-your-face sonic assault that is “Hell Looks”, Basti’s love song to his girlfriend “Cathedral Of Space” and the hit from the new Villains album, “RP Death Squad”. It was great to hear the audience singing to RP Death Squad already! This marks that fourth time that the song has been played live (twice during Alive 2007 and once during Black Christmas). Chants of R! P! Death! Squad! filled the air
And then… They went acoustic!
Tirso Rippoll went out again to help Wolfgang for a set of acoustic ditties. The rock scene was shook to its foundations when the band took many risks towards the end of the century – they had an unplugged concert (at the same venue) called Wolfgang… Silenced that was later released as a CD/VCD (Acoustica) while Basti Artadi tried his luck doing theater.
They kicked off the toned down but still high energy set with tunes off their eponymous debut album from 1995. Basti Artadi dedicated the first song “Cast Of Clowns” to his father but it could’ve been dedicated to everybody else’s father as the crowd sang with the vocalist the entire way. For the second song, Basti didn’t even try singing over the booming voice of the audience – he gave them the privilege (heck, the duty) of singing the one word chorus to “Left Alone”.
They then went to play the only track in Filipino from Villains “Gusto Mo Pa Ba?”. I guess Carl (the guy seated next to me) is a lot more die-hard that I am. I don’t have the lyrics to most songs in Villains down pat yet but he sang the ditty like he’s been singing it for years. Fortunately, I had my field day with the next song. Wolfgang played my favorite song from the Serve In Silence album “Anino”. The song is the perfect introspective woe-is-me existentialist-depression song that still manages to be dignified without being sounding manic, angst-filled without sounding like a sociopath.
Four of the songs played were also played during the epic Acoustica concert so it was a great treat for everyone who missed that one-night-only event almost a decade ago. The band then took a really short break before rocking out harder than ever.
It was the first time I heard “Semenelin” live! My friend Steph would’ve loved to hear that song. And yes, despite the relative obscurity of the track (ironi c since it’s the album title), people WERE still singing.
The band ended the show with a tour-de-force line-up of “Arise”, “Natutulog Kong Mundo” (where Manuel Legarda actually sang!) , “Matter of Time” and “Halik Ni Hudas”. By this time, Basti was no longer just a vocalist – he was now a conductor! He basked in the lights and coaxed the crowd to sing even louder for him – the people in the audience didn’t really need much encouragement. We were indeed in hallowed ground.
Wolfgang obliged the crowd with two songs as encore as they slayed hits like “Darkness Fell” (definitely a hit with the ladies, not too sure about the guys. haha) and “Center Of The Sun” (where Kevin Roy gamely joined in).
It was truly an exhilirating experience. I am in debted to Wolfgang once again.
Photos by Carlo Roderos
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