so horribly short

lack of sleep and tiredness notwithstanding, i shouted along with the 20,000 other people in the crowd the moment the countdown ended and it was, after more than five years, all four of them on stage again. i sang along (probably much to the consternation of the people around me) to the songs i knew, was amazed at the songs i didn't know (so much for being a fan), and forgot how hot, smelly, sweaty, and tired i was and just basked in the atmosphere. it was everything i envisioned and more. i could barely see the band but once in a while, the tall people in front of me would part and i'd get a glimpse of one, or two, or, at best, three of them, performing like they've never stopped being a band.

they sounded so good, no scratch that, so great that i had to check the giant screen every so often to make sure ely wasn't just mouthing the words.

somewhere in the middle of sembreak and they were showing pictures of up that it dawned upon me that i had not taken part in any UP centennial celebration but i found a way to be in an eraserheads concert. and, while no isko or iska can stake any proprietary claim over the band, i felt that me being there was a tribute to my UP heritage and that if i never get to attend any of the festivities at all, it would still be all right. i was at the eheads reunion and somehow, that's more UP for me than any celebration i would've attended, given the chance.

anyway, i wish i could be generous enough to say i wasn't disappointed or that i could pretend that fifteen songs was enough for me. but a measly hour basking in the band's presence is not enough to satiate me. i wanted more. i wanted them to sing my favorite song, pare ko, or the song i've dedicated to my brother, magasin. i wanted them to sing even the songs i didn't like - julie tearjerky, for one. i wanted the night to never end. i could've stood until the following day, foregone sleep, eating, and the bathroon if it would mean them singing every single song they've ever written.

way back in high school, i remember paolo and some other boys singing "ligaya" in one school program. it was sort of everyone's favorite probably cause our accounting teacher's name was ligaya. i also remember my mom teasing me how my favorite song should be overdrive since i wanted to drive so bad and i didn't have a car anyway. i watched pare ko the movie, claudine and mark anthony notwithstanding, simply because the theme song was, well, pare ko.

now they're talking about a reunion concert part 2. would i still want to be there just to hear them play pare ko? i'm not sure. i want to, but there's the feeling that it isn't going to be like last saturday's reunion concert.

at the end of the day, there's nothing to day except the concert was so horribly short, so much like eheads, the band. they've got so much more to give except that their hearts aren't able to do so anymore.