A Farewell to Remember

Bittersweet moments are made of these.

Fittingly, for a band whose songs’ lyrics make it open season for armchair metaphor-hunters, the Eraserheads: The Final Set was one big irony crammed into a three-hour celebration.

Take the four members of the band. Individually, they may turn heads or draw here-and-then shrieks of recognition. Put them together—Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and surfer dude Marcus Adoro—and all they have to do is say jump and the SM Mall of Asia’s reclaimed foundations receive a severe test from a hundred thousand pairs of stomping feet.

And then the ultimate irony. The four, who had previously taken separate career paths after a sudden and suddenly messy divorce several years ago, took the stage one last time to say goodbye.

That was what the Final Set was, after all. A chance for the Eraserheads to give its loyal following a formal and final farewell.

“Ito na talaga ang huling El Bimbo,” frontman Buendia yelled during what was supposed to be the final song in encore.

I had already written a review about the Final Set and I don’t know what else to say about it. Besides, high school pal Gerry had already blogged poignantly about it too.

The best thing to do is to be thankful that this time, we had the chance to finally say goodbye to en era. The Eraserheads was a voice for a generation. That generation has grown up and must now learn to speak for itself.

Three hours and close to 30 songs after they got together one last time, the Eraserheads dispersed into four different roads again; four different career paths. And as the crowd filed out of the Mall of Asia open air concert grounds for good, there was an air of finality that flavored the evening sea breeze that swept the coastal venue.


Near a beverage booth, a fan sang lines from Fine Time: “I hope we can spend much more time together/A few hours is better than never/If we could only make it longer/A whole day would be fine.”

But see, this was it. This was the few hours that was better than never. And when the Heads, including honorary member Jazz Nicolas, gathered at centerstage for their version of the group hug, fans realized this was, in every sense of the word, the final set.

Goodbye, Eraserheads.

And while we’re at farewells, allow me to say goodbye to Francis Magalona. It’s sad how people had to say goodbye to two musical icons in the span of two days.

--Posted by Francis T.J. Ochoa