The Yearly tradition: UP Fair

That stage has improved a lot.

This is almost a month late but still.

I had a phase in my life especially during my college years when I was so into local bands. I used to spend a significant amount of my allowance buying records from Odyssey(!) and scouting the Sarabia Optical Shop in UP Shopping Center for any hidden gems from indie bands. It was only natural then that I'd have this long-term February love affair with the UP Fair. Match made in Sunken.

This year, I decided to watch on a Wednesday. The event for the night was called "Roots" and historically the event has been really good in terms of band line-up and how organized the program is. Understandable since the organizers are musically inclined student orgs from UP Diliman - guys who are knowledgeable and passionate about their craft. Anyway, I saw the lineup for the night weeks prior, found it cool, bought tickets, and patiently waited in line to get inside the fair grounds.

Aside from a few new concessionaires (Cold Stone Creamery? Dairy Queen? Really?), the atmosphere and scenery inside were fairly (no pun intended) the same as the previous years: street food vendors, henna tatoo artists, life-threatening rides, playful booths, wall-climbing, ziplining, and tons of food establishments basically selling the same stuff. These are just several reasons why the UP Fair experience is a damn fine one.

The main event of course though are the bands. That's what most, if not all, of the people came to see. On that particularly chill Wednesday night, I found it a bit odd that at around 9pm, the major bands started performing already. That's a bit early based on my experience but no one's complaining especially when you have a blast watching these bands you grew up with and you do certain collegiate-like things like: wailing along to that whiny Steve Badiola voice in Typecast's Will You Ever Learn; grooving to Kamikazee's rendition of Do Bi Doo (didn't like their set for that night by the way *shrugs*); emotionally tearing my heart out to Ebe Dancel's Tulog Na; dancing along to the funky beats of Itchyworms (Jazz Nicolas was even late to the party, haha!); and screaming my lungs out to every word and lyric from the Urbandub set (they freaking played Soul Searching for what it's worth). Other prominent acts included Pupil (Ely Buendia sang Superproxy, meh), Bullet Dumas (encountered tons of problems with his guitar but still brought out a HELL of a perfomance), and Franco (they sound really really great but I still don't get their music. Bummer.)

Yet, even with such a grand lineup, there was one act that I was really excited to watch that night ever since I got a hold of their first album, Themesongs, and later on, streamed their second album, Tama Na Ang Drama (via Youtube!). Ladies and gentlemen, Ang Bandang Shirley.

Pap pa rap pap pap!

In what turned out to be the surprise of the night, Ang Bandang Shirley had the longest set! Probably ran to around 30-40 minutes as they played their hits like Patintero/Habulan/Larong Kalye, Themesong, Sa Madaling Salita, Iyong, and Nakauwi Na. Needless to say, I was one very happy fan that night. I even ended up buying one of the band's shirt (to hell with the shirt size!). So if you're into witty lyricism, catchy pop-infused beats, and fun music layered with themes of heartbreaks (ha!), I implore you to listen to this band.

Overall, it was yet another exhilarating and amazing UP Fair experience. The only ones complaining were my legs and knees. Signs of aging. Ugh. Next year, I'll make sure to have rest periods inserted in strategic intervals. Yeah, that could work.