Set Your Goals, This Century and We Are The In Crowd Live in Manila Concert Review

With howling rains all day all over Metro Manila, most people would prefer to sleep the day off, lazing and dozing the day away. The 2nd of June, however, spelled a different story for the fans of Set Your Goals, This Century and We Are The In Crowd. As presented by Pulp Live World and Karpos Multimedia, the three bands rocked the Smart Araneta Coliseum out that night. It was clear that no rain or storm would keep them away from a night of their much worshipped bands.

While waiting for the bands to step on stage, the evening started with a documentation of the Vans Warped Tour which had the audience glued and hopeful. Some even went as far as screaming “Bring Warped Tour in Manila!”.

Set Your Goals psyched up the crowd with a lively set of punk to hardcore rock music, inciting a definitive mood of youthful and revolutionary angst. One thing worth noting was the band’s quirk of having clips of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back clips projected at the background. Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Darth Vader and the rest of the gang were meekly telling their own stories as the band took the stage. The moshpit, on the other hand, went wild, pushing, shoving and running their souls out as the band gladly dished out a concoction of heavy guitar riffs and piercing beats, all wrapped in lyrics that were empowering as they were powerful. As a certain part of Mutiny! goes: “This is us growing up, still young, but no longer impressionable. We have come to pillage! We have come to burn! We have come to incite the riot! We have come to take it over!”

Next on stage was This Century, the band whose very name inspired girls on the audience to starting raving. The band’s entrance showed the vocalist, Joel Kanitz, donning a sleeveless shirt inlaid with the red, blue and the three stars of the Philippine flag. With softly melodic tunes mixed with half-romantic and half-blissful lyrics, This Century whipped through the crowd with songs such as the groovy “Hopeful Romantic”, the angsty “Young and Useless”, the solemn “Money Honey”, the new single “Beach Blonde” and “The Sound of Fire” wherein the band took in a member of the audience to sing along with them on stage. United, fans sang and screamed along to every song, with every word etched in their memory.

The last but definitely not the least for the night was the female-fronted band, We Are The In Crowd, fondly called as WATIC by hardcore fans who wildly chanted their name before they finally took the stage. The band’s presence was strong as it was intimate. Overwhelmed by the crowd’s fanatical response, Taylor, Jordan, Cameron, Mike and Rob owned the stage like rightfully. Their lively setlist of mildly heart-thumping and earsplitting songs about teenage angst and young love had the audience head-banging and singing along passionately. The band’s dynamics was impressive as their energy poured out excessively during their performance. Some of the songs they performed were “Exits and Entrances”, “Kiss Me Again”, “On Your Own”, “You’ve Got It Made” and “The Worst Thing About Me”.

And so the evening ended, with the fanatical audience burned out from the screaming, jumping and raving, yet each one of them went home smiling, carrying the night’s events as memories they would fondly remember for years.

Special Thanks to Pulp Live World and Karpos Multimedia

Catch the following concerts by Pulp Live World
July 29 – Megadeth Live in Manila
September 30 – Bazooka Rocks Festival
November 6 – Portnoy, Sheehan, Sherinian, MacAlpine Live in Manila

Photos by Sandra Mae Laureano
Written by Sandra Mae Laureano