As the sun started to set in the distance, the drums began to play.
The drumline had become a beacon as people began to slowly fill up the grounds. People from all walks of life came in to have a good time and to celebrate Filipino art, music, and dance. Identities were blurred because, on that day, everybody was there to have a good time and to party.
JackTV’s MADFest continues its legacy of going all out with the maddest music, arts, and dance playground to hit Manila this 2018. Taking over Globe Circuit Events Grounds in Makati last October 27 for 12 hours of non-stop madness.
From the get-go, MADFest was a celebration of the arts. This year, each booth in the vicinity was designed to contribute to the idea of spreading the wonder and beauty of uniquely Filipino art, music, and dance. The event sought to support even more local flavours from the three branches. They wanted to be able to properly represent all three sectors by inviting popular artists as well as more independent acts.
On their main stage, aptly named MAD Stage, the more featured bands played to a crowd of all ages, races, and backgrounds. People sang as legendary bands performed the quintessential OPM classics such as Betamax, Akin Ka Nalang, and Tadhana.
One of the Philippines’ legendary bands, Mayonnaise with band members Monty Macalino, Nikki Tirona, Shan Regalado, and Carlo Servano were able to share about the importance of collaboration within the Filipino Music scene, MADFest’s continuous support of local flavours, and popularity and growth of younger bands.
So, how do you like the energy that JackTV brings to their events?
“Every time that we get to play for MADFest, I mean every performance is always memorable regardless of the time slot whether we play a late set or an early set; afternoon or evening set. We’re just happy that we’re part of it and we do this in return for the support given to us by JackTV.”
Do you prefer the bigger gigs like this or the more intimate events?
“Personally, it doesn’t matter to us, because we do not base our performance on our audience. It’s more of, if there’s an audience we’re obligated to perform for them since we’re entertainers and that’s our job. With the intimate gigs on the other hand, also heartwarming since we get to sing or perform the audience’s requests. We can also interact with them easily, since they’re literally just there.”
Regardless of the audience, is it more about the music?
“Yes. Actually, it’s just a bonus if we perform for a big crowd because we simply just play for fun. It’s a different state when you play in front of a hundred crowd, or a thousand or ten thousand. If there’s one thing about our band; we feed off the energy of the crowd. So if that one hundred people are enjoying our performance, we enjoy as well.”
JackTV is continually trying to make it more open to more independent bands and smaller scale bands to be able to play in big scale events like this. So how do you feel about that?
“It’s always good for the culture and the community and for the industry. I remember playing MADFest a couple of years ago and almost all of the bands are already established. And these supporting acts they were already there before, so it’s nice to see that they’re headlining this year’s MADFest. It’s a necessity in the industry to have new bands coming in because both the new artists and the old ones benefit from it. Of course new artists, new fans. That’s why we’re thankful for MADFest that previously featured small acts that eventually gained following.”
Do you think the arrival of these new acts affects OPM as a whole?
“It has a massive, massive effect because as musicians it’s always nice to hear new music from new artists as it brings us a different challenge. A new challenge for us older generation of bands because each band has their own goal but hopefully you get to be as relevant as you want to be. We pay tribute to the newer bands as their contribution to the scene. For instance, we have fans that do not know these bands, we play their songs or promote them for our fans to also be fans of these bands.”
As the night slowly came to a close, the event had inadvertently became a showcase of the thriving and flourishing Filipino music scene. Jugs Jugeta, frontman of the band Itchyworms, himself shouted about the sheer number of appreciation and support OPM has. He said that it’s not dead and the number of people who came out to enjoy the night, was a stark reminder of just how much support OPM has.
The crowd had come together beautifully to celebrate the wonder and distinct brand that Filipino art, music and dance has to offer. There were no distinctions between the audience, just a need to express themselves, and to share each other’s company and experiences. JackTV’s MADFest created an avenue for people of all walks of life to be able to celebrate and to appreciate the art that Filipino artists have to offer.
For more JackTV events like MADFest, check out JackTV online on their Facebook Page facebook.com/solar.jacktv, their Twitter via @jackTV, and Instagram via @jacktvnetwork.
