Bamboo at Fort Canning Park, Singapore

Rating:
Rock D'Fort wasn't quite the Woodstock I had imagined it to be. Although the bands were rocking, it was hard to get into the 'mood' with all the people seated on the grass and clapping politely after each song.

It was a lazy Sunday night so what better way to spend it than to listen to some rock? And so I took the MRT to City Hall and walked to Fort Canning Park during the last day of Rock D'Fort's three-day music festival as part of Singapore Arts Fest's Pop Agenda.

I got there just in time to catch Zero Sequence and Ezal Sani's wicked synth stylings. He plays with his keyboard tilted towards the audience and it was pretty cool to watch his fingers move across. The crowd was a bit dead though and the band got the loudest applause when vocalist Ming surprised us with Eraserhead's Para Sa Masa! It turns out that bassist Reuel Ramos is Pinoy and a majority of the people that were at Fort Canning were Pinoys waiting for Bamboo! Great move by Zero Sequence as it was a warm up for this night's main event.

The moment Bamboo (the Band) stepped on stage, the Pinoys (who comprised most of the audience) stood up, trooped towards the stage and cameras started flashing. Screams of "Will you marry me Bamboo!", fists in the air, the collective jumping up-and-down, shouting "Hoy! Pinoy Ako!", shouts of "More!"... Fort Canning began to look like a real rock concert. There was still hope after all! Nathan Azarcon even stepped off the stage and started playing the bass right on the grass! Yeah!

I've seen Bamboo perform before and this time was no different-- the power, energy and presence on stage is so infectious that he had the Fort dancing and grooving in no time. They played standards FU, Noypi, Hallelujah and my favorite Much Has Been Said. I couldn't quite figure out how they did some of the songs because I could definitely hear an electric piano but I couldn't see anyone on stage playing it! Must be magic. They capped the set with the classic Hinahanap Kita.

Four pawikan points for Bamboo! A great set on a cool night under the stars. Pop Agenda could learn a few lessons from Fete de la Musique which would draw some pretty wild crowds back in the Philippines but that's another story altogether.