Finally, I get to somewhat write about Death Cab for Cutie. Being generally unemployed as we are, Sarie and I lined up at around 1:30 p.m. for an 8 o’clock show, and we thought that might have been too much. But when we got there, there were two other groups of people who had already been waiting there since 10 and 11 a.m. Call it crazy, but we’ve been waiting for this show for ten or so years.

A few hours into waiting, we caught part of the sound check. It was spine-tingling hearing Ben Gibbard’s voice float towards us across the room, through the glass. (A melody softly soaring through the atmosphere, hehe.) I felt my heart rise up to my throat, and it was a nice preamble to the show we were about to see. Some of the songs they played weren’t part of their set list but we didn’t know it at the time, so it was like an extra show. These were the songs they played:

• “Different Names for the Same Thing”
• “Meet Me on the Equinox”
• “Death of an Interior Decorator” — this was particularly fun. Everyone we were there with sang, Can you tell me why you have been so-oh-oh-oh sa-ah-aaaaahd?
• what we think might have been a portion of Big Star’s “Thirteen”

In the end, I wasn’t allowed to bring in my SLR—hey, a girl’s gotta try!—so it’s been a painful wait for these photos to be processed, since I took with the only other camera I had with me, an LC-A+. With only one range, four focus points, and a dark room, I’m pretty happy with the results.

Sarie, Belle & Helga. We were front and center. It was glorious.

Thinny Ben! He ran all over the stage like a little critter.

It was a great, great show. Tops a lot I’ve seen, and I’ve seen quite a few amazing ones. They opened with “A Lack of Color,” starting it with a really great soft mood. I had expected a more energetic song, but for an audience deprived of seeing them live, it was perfect. After a few minutes, I looked over to Sarie, and she was already crying. Death Cab for Cutie has always known how to find ways for us to say the little pains and hurts we can’t verbalize or seem to make sense of.

The next song, “I Will Possess Your Heart” with a shortened intro, was incredible to hear live. To follow were “Crooked Teeth,” “We Laugh Indoors,” and “Photobooth,” something we had hoped they would play. My brother caught it on video:

It was followed by a bunch of songs that I like but had little emotional ties to: “Doors Unlocked and Open,” “Long Division” (sooooo good), “Grapevine Fires,” and “Codes and Keys.” I was casually enjoying the show, good musicians that they are, when I hear a familiar trickle of piano notes. They were beginning to play “What Sarah Said,” and I lost it completely. I love this song; I had been hoping I would get to see them play this, and I did. Amazing.

As if that weren’t enough of bruising for my heart, they launched into “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” another song that is just so damn good and so sad. Following this was “Title and Registration” (another favorite), “You are a Tourist” and “The New Year,” which is everyone’s New Year song and is super duper fun to sing to.

Ben and Chris Walla. I love how they switched some of the songs up with instruments and arrangements. I can’t grasp how much talent was up there on that stage. I mean—Chris Walla—come on.

Then, we got “Company Calls,” “Company Calls Epilogue,” “Soul Meets Body,” and another personal favorite, “Cath…” Then, we really got to hear their musicality through a really long version of “We Looked Like Giants,” during which Ben played on another drum set along with Jason McGerr. I don’t particularly like that song, but it was so intense, I just watched in awe. A lot of people came to love Death Cab for Cutie because of their emotional hold around us, but I saw then how amazing they are, even beyond creating emotions.

They “finished off” their set with “The Sound of Settling,” which is something they seem to rarely play. Everyone knows there’s going to be an encore, and we tried to think of songs we would love for them to play. They came back out and launched into “Home is a Fire” and, weirdly enough, “Meet Me on the Equinox.” Apparently, there is a huge-ass Twilight following in the Philippines, so I guess I am blaming them for this song choice. I mean, it’s good, but why do we get the Twilight song, when according to Setlist.fm, they haven’t played since July 2011.

But I can’t complain, because they sang “A Moviescript Ending,” the first Death Cab for Cutie song I remember truly, completely loving. And then, of course, they finished off with “Transatlanticism,” reducing us all to a big, living pool of tears.

Looking at the ratio of songs, the Manila set was filled with old favorites and just a handful of new songs. My brother thinks that it’s because they have only been here to play once. At the beginning of the show, Ben apologized to Manila for never having played here before. I think the crowd’s energy just stunned him. It stunned me, too. Everyone was singing along and knew all the words. It was an incredible place to be in; it was thrilling to have seen it all unfold up close.

Ben tweeted the best compliment a group of fans could ever hope for, and I don’t know, I guess I forgive them for having taken this long to get here. Just as long as it means that they’ll be back.

There are a handful of local musicians that I respect and love with all my heart, so it’s always a joy for me to see them get opportunities to be heard in other places of the world. Outerhope (which, if I’m not mistaken, I got to hear at a high school fair I went to… when I was in college*) was invited to be part of this year’s NYC Popfest, but they needed help with funds, since it’s such a long way to travel.

Attraction! Reaction! organized this event to help raise funds. Aside from wanting to help out people whose music I believed in, I noticed that EGGBOY WAS PLAYING. I love Eggboy, Diego Mapa’s solo project pre-Tarsius, and so you can imagine how excited I am.

They sold merch such as Number Line totes, Outerhope’s CDs, and posters of the show. I don’t even have any more walls left, but I got 2 posters. Thankfully, they set up a project on ArtisteConnect, if you find it in your heart to help them with funding.

———
* I don’t even know what I had been doing there, so don’t ask me.

The first act of the night: idkids! Aka, Nice and Owel. Funnily enough, I don’t think they gig much, but this is the second time I’ve seen them live.

Eggboy! I really love Eggboy. I don’t know why I never got into Tarsius, but I’m super into Eggboy. In college, I got one of his EPs, which is basically a homemade creation, but I love it to pieces. I’m guessing it’s been about five or so years since I’ve seen him play as Eggboy.

Outerhope played two sets! This is the first one, and I think most of the songs they played were the earlier ones.

And then Mount Analogue played, but I have no pictures of their performance. I don’t know if this means that I’m officially an old cat lady but their music was too loud for me.

Outerhope’s second set! I liked this set better. I think it was also nice to watch them play with people strewn all over the floor, too.

Bea.

Erwin, Mayee, Nan, stranger, Don.

Mara and Stick.

Don’s sando and Mike.

Again, you can help them out by going to this page. It’s not a handout (lol) because you get really cool stuff in return for your help, especially if you’re already an Outerhope fan.

We watched The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a few days after Laneway. I had second thoughts, but I’m glad I let their performance sway me into seeing them again. They were just really so fun to see live, and what more with a lot of other Filipinos.

Funny, right after they performed “Young Adult Friction,” Kurt mouthed to Alex and Connor that they should have played it last. The crowd really went nuts, it was really something else. I wish I got it on camera.

Most of the performance was super energetic, but for the first song of the encore, Kip performed a quiet, solo version of “Contender,” which Sarie thankfully got to film. Here it is, it’s quite beautiful:

Set list. Shinji managed to get Kurt’s.

Peggy Wang!

Kurt.

The Drums’ Connor Hanwick.

Alex! Gap tooth! <3

Kip.

During “Contender.”

I took fan photos, because duh. Sarie took these, and I’m posting them even though I look like crap. Because duh.

I was going to make a post on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s Manila show (finally!) but I had some shots of Bee Eyes, and I decided I didn’t want the both of them to be in one post.

Anyway, this was a really good set by them. I’m not the biggest fan of their live gigs (the little that I’ve seen), but this set was a really, really good one. I got a free EP, too! I think I might be a convert.

Film photographs I took at Laneway. Mostly multiple exposures of The Drums, honestly. Agh, I want to go back. My brain does not want to accept that I should no longer be in Music Festival Mode.

For a personal recap of the bands and the festival, click here. Film used: Fuji Supreria 400 (redder tones) & Ferrania Solaris 400.

Yuck.

The Drums.

Setting up.

Twin Shadow.

Evee.

Zaxx, Karen, Sarie.

The line was so long! Doesn’t look it, but it snaked around so many patches of grass.

Yuck.

The Drums

Twin Shadow.

I’m working on my intense (!) backlog for Nothing Spaces—updating which I know shouldn’t feel like an obligation, but they’re things I’ve intended on posting about anyway—but here’s one of the little sprinkled joys I’ve had the last month.

I went to the Vincent Moon screening in Big Bag Wolf. Apparently, it was held on the very same day as he landed in Manila. In between shuffling in the airport and the screening, he found himself on a jeepney to Intramuros. Without reading the signs.

Anyway, I’ll save the rest for later. For now, let me gush a little bit about this wonderful man. He made a name for himself shooting Take-Away Shows for a French music blog (his friend’s) and I suppose that’s what he’s primarily known for. Now, he’s reaching a little bit deeper, in pursuit of a more spiritual side to music. That’s why he’s here, anyway.

I gave him my copy of The National’s A Skin, A Night to sign, because humans have this weird quest to collect people’s signatures (a habit brought to my attention by my brother while we were driving after a show). He looked totally bewildered that I had it, muttered something along the lines of “This is my passion,” and signed it. (Later, I will learn that he hated this film and had not seen it in quite some time.)

On the back, he wrote something in French, which stirred that part of me that wanted to learn the language so badly:

How beautiful is that?

The rest of the night was illuminating. At the risk of sounding ridiculously obvious, I was completely over the moon.

We saw Toro y Moi play again, and this time I got to take pictures for Restless Cities. Not the best ones, obviously, but I briefly thought about being a photographer in late high school up to early college because of gig photography. Then, I accepted that that was probably not a smart direction for me. Still, though, I had a lot of fun.

In preparation for Death Cab for Cutie on March 5 (woohoo!), Attraction! Reaction! put together another Death Cab for Cutie night. I went to my first one as a college sophomore, and I think this has been the only other one after that. Amazing. Coverage for this up on Restless Cities. I can’t wait for next week (!!!) which is when Sarie and I have planned to camp out in line five hours before show time. Probably not joking.

I’m glad I’m spending my extra leap year day doing non-waste-y things. I finished up a bit of work stuff earlier today. Tonight, I’m seeing The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and I don’t know, from this vantage point, the rest of 2012 looks absolutely stellar. If all goes according to plan, that is.

I guess February is music-filled; I miss going to art shows and getting to read. I’m in the middle of my third book for February, which is kind of sad because I set out to read 7 (heh) this month. It’s okay, though, I think I’m kind of in love with it. (These are the books I’ve read so far.)

On another note, I’ve been sad about this blog. I don’t know what to do with it. I think I just miss writing, and things pile up, and then I sort of forget how to without sounding unlike myself. It’s nice to look back on the things that have happened the last month, though, because despite feeling sad or unsure about certain things, at least I have proof of all the good things that have been happening to me.

While nursing my post-Laneway depression, I started listening to The Drums a lot and came face to face with the animosity that surrounds what I understand to be The Drums’ first single off of Portamento. “Money” is, in my opinion, an infectious, dangerously catchy song. I like singing it a lot, much to the annoyance of some of the people I live with.

Having been met generally with disdain and mad faces, I decided to sing the lyric: I want to buy you something / But I don’t have any money to every immediate family member within reach (i.e. my dad, my mom, my siblings) and record their responses.

Luis, brother, 26: I only like that song up until it hits the chorus (aka, the part I just sang) and then I don’t like it anymore.
Isabel, sister, 21: I hate that song! You keep singing that to me! (I have apparently subjected her multiple times to the song, even pre-Laneway.)
Mona, mom, undisclosed: That’s a real song? That’s what you went to Singapore for?
Soler, dad, undisclosed: What [are you going to buy me]?

Tough crowd! As for me, I love it a lot. I don’t get why people hate it so much. It is, in my opinion, one of the catchiest songs I’ve ever heard in recent years, and it’s actually really good musically. Is it the sudden spike up of the falsetto? The repetition of the cutesy sentiment? Sarie said it got a lot of airplay, but I don’t listen to the radio so I have no idea whether or not it got overplayed.

And even if it did, no complaints over here.

The Traveling Music Bug bit me in 2010, when my brother and I decided to go to Singapore for the Vampire Weekend concert. We went again in 2011 for The National. It’s not the first time we’ve flown to satiate the needs of our inner fans. Once, my dad flew our whole family over to Singapore because he wanted to meet Julian Schnabel. I’m tempted to say that this need to flock towards an idol runs in the family, but I think it has more to do with piso-fares and other people’s hospitality than bloodlines.

Anyway, Laneway 2012 was, if anything, such an experience. It’s my first full-on festival, having opted out of full participation in local music festivals like Muziklaban, Fete de la Musique, Fete de la WSK, Summer Slam and so on. The closest I’ve probably been to going to a music festival were high school fairs—which is such a stupid comparison, I know.

I loved it so much, though. The journey going to–a pilgrimage!—the high highs, low lows, the heat, the drizzling, the decided sweatiness of the people who shared this experience with me, the tiny moments and the secrets. All of it was memorable and still quite stark in my brain.

Anyway, as much as I would like to offer a full recounting of the events that transpired a week ago (exactly), I can’t do that, as we arrived late and missed Cults. From the back of the very long entrance line that snaked around Fort Canning, we heard the rumble of instruments and the roar of the crowd, and from that distance, I’d like to think that I liked what I heard. I’m sad I missed them, but all I honestly could think about was:

“Will we make it in time for Yuck?”

(We did.)

On Yuck: The band that I really, really wanted to see. We found a pretty good spot that was near enough for me to both a) appreciate the music, and b) feel like a super fan, which is validated by the nearness of the person (me) to the object of admiration (Yuck). It was good. I loved the lilt of Daniel Blumberg’s voice, his denim-on-denim cropped ensemble, the way he tilts his head when he sings. By the way, someone looked into the philosophy behind “The Wall.” Anyway, it was a great set, and I’m glad we made it on time because I would have been really bummed out for the rest of the day.

When “Shook Down” came on, we all went wild. And then Bijan asked them to play “Shook Down” again, which of course they did not do.

Major stars-in-eyes moment for Mariko Doi. I only wish I could have played the bass as coolly as she does.

We skipped Chairlift and took a water break, cutting through the National Museum of Singapore, and settled in a Wendy’s near Bencoolen St. No way were we going to pay $4 for a bottle of water we were just going to pee out in a Porta-Potty.

Ran into the Cosons, Leloy, and Delfina. And made it back in time for a good part of the set of Austra. I honestly do not care that much for them, but it was really fun to watch people dancing to them. They sounded pretty good from a muffled distance, though.

On Girls: Aside from a flower-infested stage, Girls’ Christopher Owens opened with a lone, heartfelt cover of the late Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” in memory of her passing. They launched into a frenetic performance of their songs, all of which the audience danced to. Then came the shower of flowers, and “Yuck by Girls,” in which Christopher Owens sang “The Wall” as a voice-caricature of Daniel B.

On The Drums: Faaavorite set, as is evidenced by these photographs. I love them; I haven’t been listening much to any other music, post-Laneway. I can’t get tired of their songs (but I know I will have to stop soon or else I will). The moment Jonny Pierce came out singing “What You Were,” I lost it. I like them fine, but I don’t know that many of their songs. I’m glad we were watching so close to them. The energy was infectious.

I was being depressive and looking at The Drums’ videos on YouTube and someone said “Morrissey and Ian Curtis had a baby” and that is by far the most accurate description of Jonny P. I’ve ever read. Of course, we were also super smitten by Connor Hanwick. There’s just something about him.

Rested a little bit during Ana Calvi. We watched from a distance, and while she was really, really good, I don’t know if I’ve been converted into a fan. We secured our spot near the front of Stage 2, in preparation for Feist, who was going to come on four or five acts later. We bumped into Karen and Zaxx again! Serindipitous? Coincidence? Magnetism?

The day began to end as Twin Shadow came on.

On Twin Shadow: So, I was going to do an “On the Road to Laneway” type of thing, where I frantically listened to every act set to play the festival, but I never got around to doing that. I’ll say this, though—Twin Shadow’s voice is like caramel. It is so smooth and full and lovely. We stood behind a bunch of (super tall!) super fans, and it was contagious, their excitement for this incredibly talented bunch of people. It was super cool to be (somewhat) a part of.

On Laura Marling: The sea of people thickened like soup so we stayed put in our Stage Two positions as Laura Marling played. I sat down most of the time, since I don’t really know much of her songs. I did stand up and sing along to “Ghosts,” though which is my favorite song. The day after, when I was in our car going home, I was replaying this song in my head and can’t seem to get rid of all these feelings. I very nearly cried.

On The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: There were a lot of technical difficulties during their set. It was such a joy to watch. The lights were so good, and Kip played with so much feeling, and Peggy Wang was being Peggy Wang (Connor was playing with them! Hee!), and the energy was just so great. This is where I realized that we were all just feeding energy off of each other, because if I stopped and thought about anything else other than their music and how full it makes me feel, I would probably just die. I was so thirsty and my feet felt like they were on fire.

But—and I am not kidding—the music seemed to take all of that away. Whenever someone launches into a song that’s dear to my heart, the pain is erased, and I sing with everything that I have, and it’s just so marvelous and exciting. It makes every feeling feel even more incandescent.

Additionally, I seem to be the only person I know who actually likes their name.

On Toro y Moi: No photos of Toro y Moi because we were situated in an unfortunate spot (and I didn’t bother because I knew I would be seeing him in, like, 2 days back in Manila). What to say about this set? What I realized foremost is that I love Causers of This Toro, and I only like Underneath the Pine Toro, which is where he was at. Of course, I lost it completely, when he played “Talamak” and “Low Shoulder,” but I felt a huge disconnect from a lot of his dancier songs. I still love him, though.

On Feist: Agh, this lady is amazing. Most of her Laneway setlist is from Metals, which I quite enjoyed. Like what I said in a review of it that I wrote, Feist seems to ignore the pop-oriented songs that led to her super-fame, and stuck to her sound at the moment in that particular time in her life. Complete props to her. It was still grossly enthralling to watch her perform. She was just really something else.

I need to rewatch Look at What the Light Did Now, because she is just an amazing lady and I need to take tips so I can be more like her. Creatively, and everything-else-ly.

We left the crowd because we were dead tired (standing on an inclined hill for five hours!) and didn’t have to be super close to The Horrors or M83.

Sarie, napping on Doc Martens ponchos we got for free. I woke her up because we saw Peggy Wang (!) standing off to the side with Connor. We took photos but Sarie has them, and also I probably won’t post because I was a sunburnt sweaty mess.

On The Horrors: Meh. Didn’t care for them very much. I don’t know if it’s just their style, but it felt dispassionate and uninspired. Perhaps that’s also due to the fact that I hadn’t been standing and participative during this set, perhaps not. What I do remember from this time was that Sarie and I saw an Erlend Øye doppelgänger, at whom she shouted “Hi Erlend!” He waved back and that is how we knew that he was not a doppelgänger, but instead Pedestrian Erlend Øye.

That paragraph was not about The Horrors.

On M83: AGH. Best people to close a show with. There’s something about their performance that I think brought together the people who lasted until the night. If you’re a fan of M83, you would know how thick and layered and just complex their music is, and what amazes me so much is that they were able to replicate these sounds live. Maybe it’s the combination of the lights, and the people who’re still together and not sick of each other after twelve hours together, and being able to spend this special thing with people that I loved that made it feel so extraordinary.

This is the National Museum of Singapore at night. We cut through a garden to get to Kopi Tiam, which was open 24 hours. We ate duck at 2 a.m. and talked about our favorite parts of the day over dinner. I don’t know, but if I were to call some things magical, I think Laneway would undoubtedly be one of those things.

If you remember, I blogged about The Grim Repat a few months ago (read over here), and I still mean it when I say that a lot of thought goes into Mara’s videos. Tomorrow, it’s a full production for the New Year’s episode, and having seen just a peek of the entire process has left me pretty speechless.

(It’s way funner to watch the video, but—) Come over and wear a one-color shirt (that is not red or white) and be on time (11 am)! Stripes, small patterns, and rain are not welcome. Jackstones, pogs, and games are. More details over here, which you should read.

I am so excited for this.