Sponge Cola’s ‘Maximum Capacity’
We celebrated Sponge Cola's 13th year as a band in the historic music museum with our first major concert called Maximum Capacity. Why 13 years and why just now? Well.
Bands normally do gigs, they don't do shows. normally bands play straight up and let the music speak. You don't normally hear about concerts with lights, videos, entrances and exits, you hear them playing gigs all over. Not to belittle these gigs but that's just how it works for bands. I guess making things seem a tad more guerrilla and unassuming adds credibility for bands. With Maximum Capacity, we wanted to shake things up and do something different. After all, with so many of these gigs all over, we technically forgot to celebrate our tenth year, so why not explode with a SHOW on the 13th year with a bit of lady luck's pixie dust?
With that, we worked with Paolo Valenciano, a good friend and a creative genius to put together a show. With him directing, I knew things would be more out of the box since he had storm troopers from Star Wars usher him and his wife Sam (hi sam!) into his wedding reception. Then, with meetings, rehearsals, blood, sweat, tears and ingenuity, we did the show.
We started with cheerleaders, as we wanted to set the tone early. While lining up outside the venue, fans were greeted by Sponge Cola cheerleaders. We wanted people to know early on that Maximum Capacity wasn't going to be your standard show. We wanted to challenge things and break the fourth wall.
Mico, opened the show with an intense acoustic performance. There's something overwhelmingly powerful about watching one person sing his heart out with nothing but a guitar on a big stage. It's dramatic, the closest you'll get to watching David take on that giant Goliath.
We started playing. Armo entered the stage playing the intro of track one of our debut album Palabas entitled 22. With black lights and a neon swirl of color, everything was glowing. I took a can of neon spray paint and sprayed a massive X on the stage. I jumped. I yelled. I heard people screaming. And I blacked out.
Everything was a blur, song after song. Our friend Inky de Dios (Kjwan, Out of Body Special, Brigada... He has a lot of bands...) played keys in a couple of songs. I said hi to our exceptionally long star-studded guest list. I was focusing on not peeing my pants. I guess when you're not winging it in the comfort zone of a standard issue gig you're always on your toes. It was scary, but the good kind. I swear I didn't pee.
Eventually Zia Quizon joined us on stage. That was a relief and a treat. She's a superb singer and she's really funny. She even gave the cheerleaders a little pep talk before they went out to do their thing.
Our old drummer turned solo artist Chris Cantada entered frame. I played drums for him as he sang and played guitar. It was really a blur, I didn't want to mess it up, playing a concert with queues and acrobatics and all and I'm not even playing the instrument I've "come to tame," so to speak.
Blue and Green, Green and Blue
We faked a power failure to reveal Gary V sitting in the audience playing percussions and kicking off our song Ayt. I dance along with Gary V and our cheerleaders and they were great. Keyword THEY. We went on to do Puso with the blue babble battalion. Everything was blue and green, or green and blue. Doesn't matter, the songs about school pride and at the end of the day, having Gary V in this number was just fitting. It's all about passion and belonging and being proud of your roots.
With school spirit in the forefront, we decided to reveal our roots. We reenacted a scene from high school where we started. Before concerts, before music museum before countless gigs, there were dreams and aspirations shared by friends who sat on school benches performing. We played our old songs, raw, acoustic in front of friends, just like old times. Little did they know that one friend on stage was actually a comedic genius.
Ryan bang requested for XGF. Los Magno of The Out of Body Special joined in on the fun. It was awesome. Ryan requested for Bitiw after. We did it. It was awesome. I danced again. Sorry guys, haha! He went on to do some kind of unplanned standup routine. He thanked us for doing a great job as his opening act. I swear, this guy with a microphone and your stomach will hurt. You're gonna laugh and laugh.
He calls me on stage and asks for two pieces of chicken. Not one, two. Guy is just hilarious. Man. We played three more songs to cap the spectacle off. We even hung out in the bar area to sign CDs and pose for pictures. Man, some people flew in from far away to watch. We had people from Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Baguio, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Cavite even Taiwan.
We had so much fun. It was a new feeling for us, planning out numbers and having queues and finding light, like you're really doing something new after 13 years of existence. It was a successful concert as I'm sure that we'll start doing more of these. Brace yourselves, we have a whole lot of crazy and random in store. I love lamp. What? Exactly.
