MY WAVE!!!: Barbie in Esplanade

I left Manila for Singapore in 1998 and never saw how this girl with her band bloomed into the limelight during those times. My brother Mark since had been updating me about Manila's band scene and this band named "Barbie's Cradle" was always mentioned. I didn't bothered until i sessioned with another Pinoy band here in SG and Barbie's song was covered.

Yesterday I got to meet her face to face, finally. Stefi was excited too, she's already a fan as evident in this video. We arrived early at the Nokia Musicstation stage so we got seats at the third row. Managed to take a few pics before the gig started. However, as soon as the band started to play my camera's battery went dead. (I realized wifey took one of the charged 2700's and replaced it with an uncharged 1800.) Ivan is seated in front with a videocam borrowed my tripod (he got his own share of glitch as his tripod's tilt lock malfunctioned). Here are the shots from the Musicstation stage:

(above: getting ready for the 1st song)

(above: a rich man's bass guitar. owned by a kid named Honasan, a good bassplayer!)

(above: emcees Patricia Tan and ?)

(above: Yamaha Stage Custom model, when do I get my hands on that kit and perform on that stage?)

She's very sweet, very charismatic in her expressions and even in her songs. I like how she communicated well with the audience. She would establish eye contacts and give a smile that keeps you hooked up and mesmerized. Too bad I didn't managed a nice shot of her, I'll make up for the next set at the other stage.

After the set there was a Nokia goodie to be given away. I knew the question is gonna be easy (i actually watched a jazz gig last saturday so this time i knew what to do). So when the emcees asked for volunteers I did not hesitate, and I caught their attention first, I was chosen. That was my first experience of stepping on one of Esplanade's stages but not as a performer, but as a contestant. The question was very easy, so I got the goodie (a Coldplay X&Y South East Asia Tour Edition CDs) and a Nokia leather picture frame.

The next set was at the Nokia PowerHouse stage. There was a two-hour gap so I had the time to buy batteries, fill-up our tummies, even got a last-minute opportunity for an authograph and a pose with Barbie.

Rivermaya was here last year for the same event, the Mosaic Music Festival. Barbie was given the same format--1st set at the smaller stage, 2nd set at the larger stage. The 2nd set was a bit longer (1hr) and Barbie did the same song lineup from the 1st set and added a few more songs, just like Rivermaya's. Next time therefore will probably just watch the 2nd set.

The heat was too much near the PowerHouse stage as the crowd has build up so we decided to position ourselves far behind the crowd. Ivan's nowhere in sight (i needed my tripod this time) so likewise, I didn't have a decent shot of the band again. Here are some lousy takes and hope you don't mind my shaky hands.

Most of their songs were new to us except for Overdrive (Eheads revival), High (TheSpeaks cover, which Stefi and I enjoyed specially the part "yeyey!", Ayoko ng Torpe. There were a few songs sounding like lullabies Stefi enjoyed and sang with familiar lyrics like "twinkle twinkle little star, abcdefg..xyz, Jesus loves me..."

They end both of their sets with flashy solo exhibition of each members. Barbie showig up her lead guitar skills (Titan, lead guitarist of Launchbox jokingly said, "damn she's better than me!," keyboardist playing a SuperMarioBrothers tune, bassist rendering another arcade game tune and drummer doing his solo (damn he's good in his solo) for a bang.