One more time with the Gin Blossoms

MANILA, Philippines – Only a night after their concert at the Araneta Coliseum with their almost-contemporaries Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth, the Gin Blossoms performed a heartfelt acoustic set at a packed Eastwood City.

Situated right in the middle of Eastwood Mall’s open park, the intimate set-up was very welcoming to the huge crowd that flocked the venue for the free concert. The four-song set from the band that came all the way from Tempe, Arizona was a list of their most popular hits, the riffs from Follow You Down drawing in crowds from the distance.

Vocalist Robin Wilson, who walked into the stage while sipping from a can of San Miguel Light, greeted the massing crowd and said it was great to be back in Manila. It wasn’t that long ago when every true nineties kid was present when Gin Blossoms played Manila and Cebu back in November 2010.

One more song

The songs sent the crowd reeling back in time with Jesse Valenzuela’s nostalgic backup vocals. Guitarist Scott Johnson went through his guitar solos seamlessly, and gamely threw the audience fistfuls of guitar picks. By the time they played the massive classic As Long As It Matters, everyone was already singing along, some in tears.

The Empire Records’ featured ‘Til I Hear It From You was meant to be the night’s last song, but the the cheers had the band happily giving in to an encore with Hey Jealousy, arguably their biggest contribution to that decade of music. By then, the singing crowd was already jumping around, giddy from hearing music of their generation performed by their nineties heroes live. 

Listen to ‘Hey Jealousy’ here:

Drummer Scott Hessel had his camera raised on the stage, shooting video of the event, especially whenever Wilson would thrust the mic in the direction at fans singing at the top of their lungs. The band seemed to be having a grand time, with Valenzuela tossing to the crowd his own set of guitar picks as well.

Wilson also said how he wished they had more time to explore, that he would loved to have time to shop and try the pizzas at Mr. Cheffy (while pointing towards the restaurant Uncle Cheffy). All these, of course, elicited shrieks from the almost all-Filipino audience.

The event was for free, with the exception of a cordoned VIP area directly across the stage for fans who bought CDs of Outside Looking In: The Best of Gin Blossoms. Fans who purchased the CD were also invited to meet the band.

As fate would have it, the rain started pouring less than an hour after the meet-and greet. It seemed the nineties gods were all singing along with the cheering crowd. – Rappler.com

Adi Lopez is a freelance video producer who has worked on over a hundred music videos. Her music taste has barely evolved since the nineties.