By now, majority of Death Cab for Cutie fans in Manila have secured their tickets for the band's Singapore run in August. They, of course, have already booked flight tickets, hotels, and are pooling the pocket money to spend on chicken rice and pepper crab.
Filipinos love music and I would argue that the audience is getting more sophisticated than previously imagined. Credit our local musicians for that: the OPM scene is dynamic and intelligent and more importantly, is creating a gig-going culture.
However, what's quite strange is that we don't have an exciting roster of foreign acts coming in. This is a source of frustration for people and income for other countries. Why do we have to go to Singapore to watch our fave bands and spend our money there? Wouldn't it better to draw the music-loving public to our home and gain from that?
While institutions such as Glastonbury in the UK and Oxegen in Ireland still pull in the crowds, more and more people are looking for exotic destinations to tie in their love for music and travelling. Countries like Lithuania and others in the Eastern bloc are profiting from this demand.
So then, why can't we replicate this in the Philippines? This can increase tourism and also exposure of our local artists plus lessen the cost for Filipino fans as well. What a win-win-win situation. Just a thought.
2 Comments
Add Commentbooyaka
super sold out daw! sana the postal service din--ill really fly out and spend for that
July 3, 2008 at 10:04 amcweesy
even aia of imago got to jam with broken social scene during a music festival...in singapore nga lang, ngek! although a number of our asian neighbors flew in here in the phils, too, when big acts like beyoncé, christina aguilera, etc performed here. hopefully the rumored madonna, justin timberlake, and u2 concerts push through. i'm sure people would fly in for those, too. usually it's those acts that we know would never perform here (because they don't exactly have m*ss appeal to fill an entire araneta coliseum) are those we'd fly out for. acts whose music we don't even hear as much on the airwaves compared to, say, those composed by lito camo haha. and people with "that" kind of taste (those who listen to their iPod playlists more than the radio) are those who have the money for such an endeavor. kinda sad, though.
July 3, 2008 at 2:41 pm