Last August 30 and 31, rock band aficionados gathered for the indoor rockin' experience during the Bazooka Rocks 3. It was held at SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia.
My co-founder, Ian checked out Day 1 of the said spectacular music fest. He told me that he liked the first day because of The Used, and he met the guys during the Meet and Greet sesh. Lucky guy it is.
My co-founder, Ian checked out Day 1 of the said spectacular music fest. He told me that he liked the first day because of The Used, and he met the guys during the Meet and Greet sesh. Lucky guy it is.
We're gonna share with you, Caren Gudiaga's (our new contributor) Bazooka Rocks 3 experience. She rocked out for the two slammin' days that Pulp Live World put up for the rockers alike.
Hmmm....what is your unforgettable Bazooka Rocks 3 experience?
 |
| Bazooka Rocks 3-Day 1: The Used (photo credit //Instagram//: Kristian Berl Marfori) |
BAZOOKA
ROCKS is the most awaited rock music festival every year in the Philippines
 |
| (photo credits: Phil Concerts) |
This
year’s Bazooka Rocks – Bazooka Rocks 3, had its first ever “2-days of rock
music”. This music festival brought some of the greatest bands in the world
already – from “The Maine” who headlined the Bazooka Rocks-1 in 2012; “All Time
Low” and one last night with “A Rocket
To The Moon” in Bazooka Rocks-2 in 2013, and this year, “The Used”, “Taking
Back Sunday” and “You Me At Six” in Bazooka Rocks-3. We’re all very lucky to
see those bands in flesh.
BAZOOKA
ROCKS-3 had as zombified and their Alice in Wonderland theme was really
bangin’.
 |
| BRF-3 schedule |
Day
1: (August 30, 2014)
I was expecting a long line at the entrance because last year’s Bazooka Rocks-2
took us two hours before we finally get inside the SMX Convention Center. But
this year was shocking; you don’t have to fall in line for like hours – once
you came to the venue, you just have to be pretty and present your ticket and
TADAAAHH you’re already inside! Don’t forget their bad ass entrance, though.
The dark tunnel will welcome you with zombies walking around; THAT WAS REALLY
AWESOME I LOVED THAT. Once you already at the end of the tunnel, The Alice In
Wonderland theme will welcome you next. I bet everyone had their own
photo-shoot with Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts.
Everything
was already inside the venue – the Food stalls are everywhere, Free San Miguel
beers (for 18 y/o and above only), Happee Zoo, Face Painting, charging station,
giant slide, freebies from Lee Jeans PH and many more.
Our
local bands was already playing once I made it inside the venue – Brick City,
Runway Crimes, Tiger Pussy and Ria Bautista killed the stage before the foreign
bands turn to play.
 |
| Ria Bautista |
The
crowd became bigger when Senses Fail hit the stage. Buddy Nielsen of Senses
Fail had me smile all throughout the set because he was performing barefooted.
I was really stoked to see them perform since I really liked their song “Can’t
Be Saved” and “Calling All Cars”. OH
GOD, that performance was really incredible.
 |
| Buddy Nielsen of Senses Fail |
Next
band to perform was Saves The Day. Everyone’s nostalgic when STD played “At
Your Funeral” as they opened-up their show. Chris Conley never gets aged,
though. I lost count how many songs they played, cause seriously, THEY PLAYED A
LOT OF SONGS! They also performed my favourites like “Anywhere with You” and
“Jukebox Breakdown”. I really loved the
part when they played “Freakish” because that song made me “emo” sometimes.
LOL. Everyone’s waving their hands in the air. I wish there was a bubble effect during their
set. FEELS!!!
 |
| Saves The Day |
Out
of nowhere, my high school days came to my mind. TAKING BACK SUNDAY was next!
OMG! I grew up listening to them; thanks to my little brother who introduced the
music to me. They played old songs and of course new songs as well from their
latest album “Happiness Is”. I was on the right side of the stage and Adam
Lazarra always goes to that side and stayed there for a little long time. I’m
very lucky to see him that close. Dreams do come true hit me. I loved the part
when he insisted of giving us free beers (only 18y/o and above, sorry to the
minors) and he always cracked random jokes. It’s beyond amazing to hear your
favourite songs from your favourite band live.
From their old tracks like “Make
Damn Sure”, “Cute Without The E”, “Number Five with a Bullet”, “You’re so Last
Summer” up to their latest tracks like
“Flicker, Fade” “Beat Up Car” and “Stood A Chance” and many more from their
“Happiness Is” album.
 |
| Adam Lazzara; Taking Back Sunday |
The
most awaited band of BRF’s Day-1 – THE USED!
The
room was dark – my friends and I just talking here and there, when suddenly “Cry”
started to play. Everyone’s shouting and jumping simultaneously with the songs
they’re playing. Everyone’s starting squeezing in there selves close to the
stage as possible. But hell yeah, I
don’t care all the pushing and sweating I felt – I’m here and we’re all here!
Listening to our favourite band! The Used really killed the BRF stage! I never
felt the pain on my knees and back during their set. All I wanted is to watch them
perform and sing along. Bert Mccracken was really a funny person. He never
failed to make us laugh. I got giddy when they sang “All That I’ve Got” cause
that’s one of my favourite songs from their album “In Love and Death” (happy 10
years to the album, btw) together with “I Caught Fire”, “Take it Away” and
“Listening”. Bert requested a circle pit; of course Filipino fans were all
grateful to do that little request from their idol. The crowd made a really BIG
CIRCLE at the middle and did a “wall of death” during “The Taste of Ink”. The
experience was surreal. The band had a great time, and so the crowd as well!
That made the night really wonderful; going home with a smile on our faces.
Satisfied it is.
 |
| Bert Mccracken, The Used |
DAY-2
(August 31, 2014)
I’m
not shocked that the crowd became bigger this time. I noticed since Bazooka
Rocks-2 that most of the BRF goers were all minors. Everyone’s excited to see
“Coldrain”, “Echosmith”, “The Summer Set”, “We are the in Crowd” and the day-2
headliner “You Me at Six”.
I
came earlier this time. The line was already long and everyone’s talking about
the bands their looking forward to see – their hus-BANDS. LOL!
Once
we came inside, “Paranoid City” was set to perform. Followed by “Nycti Nasty”,
“Gracenote” and my favourite local band on Day-2’s BRF, “Chicosci”. I don’t
know how many times I saw Chicosci live, but the “feels” was always there. I
still like Miggy Chavez and he still look young; from his “A Promise” look up
to the present, still the same! That’s why sometimes I doubt him if he’s really
a human or a vampire. :P
 |
| Paranoid City |
 |
| Gracenote |
 |
| Chicosci |
It’s
COLDRAIN’s turn to kill the stage! Everyone’s like “WHO THE F*** IS COLDRAIN?”
I actually don’t know them during BRF. I only got little information from a
friend that they are post-hardcore/ metal band from Japan. I wasn’t really
expecting that much but my curiosity strikes me. They opened-up their
performance with “Die Tomorrow” followed by one of their most requested song
“The Revelation”. I think I forgot my mouth just hanging in there. THEY REALLY
AMAZED ME! Masato’s voice was very powerful that everyone’s head turned and
looked where that voice came from. The crowd became bigger and had the fans do
a circle pit and bounced their selves to the song. They ended up their set with
the song called “No Escape”. That’s one of my favourite songs of the band now.
(PS: I’m listening to Coldrain’s “The Revelation” album while writing this
blog). YAY!
 |
| Masato David Hayakawa; Coldrain. |
The
next band was Echosmith! The “Sierota” siblings!
They
played most of the songs from their album “Talking Dreams”. Everyone’s just
chillin’ listening to their dancy songs. I loved the part when they sang
“Talking Dreams” and Sydney had this parasol with a Philippine flag painted on
it while performing. According to my research *lol* that the parasol came from
a Filipino fan during Echosmith’s performance at Mckinley Hill the night before
BRF-3. Great! The band also performed the most awaited track “Cool Kids” and
everybody sings their heart out while Sydney filming the moment. Cutest thing
ever! They also performed “I Melt With You”, their song rendition from “Modern
English”. I also loved the part when
they played my favourite songs like “Bright”, “Come Together”, “Tell Her You
Love Her” “Let’s Love” and their last song “Nothing’s Wrong” where the confetti
suddenly burst and Sydney’s reaction was priceless enough to see. I wish I
captured that moment where she’s teary-eyed and overwhelmed by the love of the
Filipino fans showing to the band.
 |
| Sydney Sierota; Echosmith. |
Chill.
Hearts in the air, ladies. The next band was The Summer Set!
I
started listening to the band just last year and wished they’ll be at BRF-3 –
and wow, Pulp just made my wish came true! The band never failed to make the
crowd dance, though. I never expect to saw the half-Filipina – “Jess Bowen”,
that hot! Yes, she’s really hot, and she’s hotter when she’s playing drums.
OMG. The band played their old songs like “Someone Like You”, “The Boys You Do”
and “Chelsea” and of course, the songs also from my favourite TSS album the
“Legendary” – everything in the album are worth listening – they performed
“Maybe Tonight”, “Jukebox”, “Boomerang”, “Lightning in a Bottle”, “F*** U
Over”, “Rescue” and my most favourite song the “Legendary” and they performed
it in acoustic. I loved John Gomez even more behind his acoustic guitar.
My
most unforgettable part was when Stephen Gomez threw a bunch of TSS picks in
front of us! We got nine picks all in all! The band promised to come back again
here in MNL as soon as possible.
 |
| Brian Logan Dales; The Summer Set |
 |
| The picks we got! |
 |
| WE ARE THE IN CROWD |
REALLY? Last band already? You Me At Six headlined
the Day-2 of Bazooka Rocks-3. They performed “Stay With Me” as their first
song. I only knew few songs from YMAS but they really had me entertained. The
band, especially Josh Franceschi, had this charisma on stage. The crowd made a
“mini circle pit” at the back and my friends joined the moshpit. Though I only
knew few songs from the band, they did perform everything I knew like;
“Underdog”, “Cold Night” and the most unforgettable part because of the
confetti and fireworks during their last song “Lived a Lie”.
 |
| Josh Franceschi; You Me At Six |
This
was only a one-sided story of the Bazooka Rocks-3 experience. Everyone had
different experiences during the event. But I’m sure everybody had an amazing
time at the end of the day. Thank you Pulp Live World! We’re blessed to have
you! See you at Bazooka Rocks 4!