"Tunay Na Kalayaan?" Gig Review

The event felt more like a celebration of the community around Team Manila's Suez and Zapote store. Customers were coming in and out of the store to buy their shirts and no necessarily staying for the performers. For those who stayed, they were treated with a heavy dose of performers you'd expect for the store - a lot of hiphop and RnB - with a dose of emo and hardcore to mix things up.

First up was The Mind Is A terrible Thing with their version of midwest emo - which you should definitely listen to for the instrumentation and storytelling. The rap sets were up next initiated by rap group Not Them with an energetic and hard-hitting set - even mixing it up with the crowd toward the end of their set. Pure Mind Quiet Heart was next with his food-trap hits and he even included a few tagalog-translated emo covers that I enjoyed very much. Very on brand and very entertaining. Bulacan-based melodic hardcore band TNG took the stage next and drenched the venue with sweat and screams and reminded me why I missed them so much. They got the crowd surfing and yelling along though I wished that there were more bands in the line up because there were only two acts that made use of the amps and drums. Calix was up next and it was a shame that technical difficulties made short work of the 1st half of his set. Things turned around for the 2nd half and he was able to deliver until the end. Dione, who was hosting the event, played a quick song which acted like an intermission and intro to ASTRO's set. This set started a string of short sets that captured the spirit of the event - a place for like-minded people to vibe with artists' music. ASTRO and Paul Cassimir delivered great sets with singable lines while JRLDM serenaded the crowd with his RnB tunes.

Having cheap drinks and grilled hotdogs added to the cozy vibes of the event and that Chocnut Turon was heavenly! Great music and great food are the icing on the cake of a great community even if you still question your own freedom.

Check out the performances below!