Zark’s Fest made a fantastic comeback for 2023 after a three-year absence due to the pandemic, offering OPM music from today’s new music to the veteran and iconic performers we love.

The sizzling hot summer in the Metro is welcomed by one of the Philippines’ most popular burger chains, Zark’s Burger, who sizzled their famed jawbreaker patties in the Circuit Event Grounds Makati including the Philippines’ most popular performers today last May 13, 2023. Zark’s Fest is the second installment of the festival and would have been the 5th music event if it wasn’t for the pandemic that stopped the world.

All in different genres, the music line-up started at noon that day, with the music fans, or the “Zarkadas” enjoying the games and prices plus all the good food and booze around the event grounds.

The novenary Filipino pride group Ben&Ben headlined the carefully curated line-up and performed hits like “Araw-Araw,” “Kathang Isip,“ “Di Ka Sayang,” and “Pagtingin.”

Among the artists are OPM legends like Sandwich and Urbandub who schooled the crowd on what real rock and roll music are, The Itchyworms, who sang their famous karaoke/barkada tunes like “Ang Beer na To’”, and Ebe Dancel who sang his most famous solo tracks and songs from his Sugarfree days like “Hari ng Sablay”, all of these artists showing young generations of music why they are dubbed as icons.

Zack Tabudlorepresented the Gen Z crowd and their hugots who sang their hearts out and even serenaded a fan on stage with songs like “Nangagamba,” “Binibini,” “Paano”, and “Yakap” Among the line-up BINI, who is currently called the “Nation’s Girl Group” and stood for the rising P-Pop music, as well as a multitude of brilliant performers such as artists like Autotelic, Kiyo, Hey June, Eli, and Six The North Star, Lola Amour, and Any Name’s Okay also electrified the stage.

It wouldn’t be a complete burger music fest if we didn’t have Guinness World Book of Record holder, Kevin “Zarkman” Medina who easily demonstrated to the crowd how to finish, not just a jawbreaker burger but a WHOLE jawbreaker large meal in under 5 minutes. The record holder even shared how he centers and prepares himself whenever he’s up to take on the 5-minute food wipe-out challenge and shared the stage with the hungry music crowd, ready to take on the challenge with him.

It was a smooth and eventful Zark’s Fest comeback with the Filipino music fans showing that despite the West and K-Pop dominating the music scene today, we are still here as ever loyal to our own, standing and chillin’ in a dedicated OPM music line-up, enduring the hot summer noon until midnight, all the while enjoying good music, good company and some burgers on the side– a typical bayanihan/family event of the world’s dubbed best concert crowd.

Words and Photos by Arielle Elep