A concert to remember with SCRUBB!

Thai indie pop duo SCRUBB had their debut concert in Manila on February 10 at 123 Block, Mandaluyong. The band, composed of lead vocalist Thawatpon Wongboonsiri a.k.a. Muey, and guitarist Torpong Chantabubpha a.k.a. Ball, has been an active part of the Thai indie music scene for more than 20 years now, releasing six full studio albums plus three compilation albums.

Currently, their newfound international popularity was spurred on by the 2020 romcom BL series 2Gether with lead actors Vachirawit Chivaaree and Metawin Opas-iamkajorn, more popularly known as Bright and Win. In the story, the two protagonists first meet each other while attending a SCRUBB concert. SCRUBB’s music also played a pivotal role in the show as their songs became the main soundtrack. The show’s apparent success propped up the band to do shows in neighboring Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and of course, the Philippines.

The show had 2 opening acts. First up was Elijah Canlas who is known as an actor who also dabbles in singing and rapping. He treated the crowd to a bunch of his unreleased tracks, including one titled “Loved Song” plus his debut single “kilala kita”. The 2nd opening act for the evening was indie rocker Toneejay who performed “Parang Magic”, “Aurora”, “Bawat Piyesa” and the crowd favorite “711”.

When SCRUBB took the stage, the Filipino crowd gave them the warmest welcome, cheering as loud as possible. The fans’ immense love for the series also translated to their love for the music as they sang along to the majority of the songs word-for-word. The setlist included a great number of songs from the OST of 2Gether including “Together”, “Deep”, “You Revolve Around Me, I Revolve Around You”, “Answer” and “Click”– all these they knew by heart.

Another striking thing about the concert was the audience’s pleasant reception. When Muey gestured to wave their hands in the air and danced, they mirrored his movements. Made up of mostly younger people (high school to college students), the crowd went along with the melodies, singing and jumping along as they pleased.

“Thank you for coming! I feel excited to be here today,” Ball told the crowd. As the more vocal one in the duo, he said that he was amazed that people sang along to their songs even though the lyrics were mostly in Thai. Muey also thanked the crowd repeatedly at the end of each song by putting his hands together and saying “khob khun ka” which means “thank you”. He also expressed his desire to come back here in the future.

Special thanks to Gabi Na Naman Productions!

by Sandra Mae Laureano