Photos by Bernard P. Testa
“We’re all fans here.”
That’s how Rico Blanco pretty much sums up the all-star jam of classic songs by the Irish rock band U2 that took place last Monday at 12 Monkeys music hall and pub.
The event, dubbed by Smart Music Live as Prelude to U2: The Gig, materialized following a tweet by Rico wondering if any of his musician friends would be interested in jamming U2 songs with him. The modern day Fab Four is currently headlining The Joshua Tree world tour that includes a scheduled performance on 11 December at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Heeding Rico’s call are some of the country’s reputable rock musicians namely Barbie Almaibis, The Dawn’s Francis Reyes, former Rivermaya bassist Japs Sergio as well as former Eraserheads members Raymund Marasigan (now with Sandwich) and Buddy Zabala (now with Moonstar88).
During the concert, the band who did not go by any name but just the same was referred to by event host Cara Eriguel (from O Shopping) as The Joshua 6 (which none of them looked really comfortable with) performed 12 of U2’s greatest hits.
Highlights include Raymund’s thundering rat-tat-tat thumping that opened “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and his inventive drum fills on “Bad” and “With or Without You.” There’s Barbie’s jaw-dropping guitar solo on “Angel in Harlem” and her lone, sweet turn on lead vocals in “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
There’s also the 1-2-3 punch of guitarists Francis, Barbie and Rico happily shredding on numbers like “I Will Follow,” “Where The Streets Have No Name” and “New Year’s Day” that would make The Edge proud and to a certain extent Keith Richards, who along with Ron Wood have mastered what they call, “the fine art of weaving.”
Japs, whose bass stylings particularly stood out in “New Year’s Day” and Buddy who manned the keyboards and provided what Rico described as “all the amazing sounds the rest of us could not play” were pretty steady as they kept everything chugging along and complemented the rest of the band.
And then there’s Rico, who somehow made all these songs his own. No one could do Bono like Bono but Rico’s voice, with its rough edges and occasional strains managed to perfectly serve the U2 songs that made the set list that night. His loud wail at the tailend of “One” was quite astonishing as were his well-timed falsettos in “All I Want Is You” and “Stay” which closed the well-received show.
Rico even managed to add some Pinoy flavors to “Bad” with some excerpts from Juan dela Cruz band’s “Himig Natin” and “All I Want Is You” which began with him singing some lines from Yano’s “Senti.”
And his spiels in between songs that are often witty (“No politics tonight, let’s leave that to Bono”) and even sometimes revelatory (“This is the first time I played two guitars in one show, this is all new to me”) kept the proceedings very entertaining to behold.
At one point, Rico said that while it’s true that all of them are much better performing their own original songs, it was also undeniable that they were having the time of their lives covering the music of the iconic band that helped shaped their respective careers.
“If you’re enjoying this, we’re enjoying this 10 times more,” he quipped at one point.
While Prelude to U2: The Gig was obviously intended as a promotional activity for the upcoming Manila leg of U2’s The Joshua Tree Tour presented by Smart and produced by Live Nation and MMI Live, it became so much more for both the performers onstage and for the lucky fans who witnessed the strictly invitational event.
Given how much fun everyone had that night, this may not be the last time we would see a supergroup jam, even one as hastily put together as the so-called Joshua 6.