2nd Night at Local Ground: Sinulog Series

It was two nights of old school rock, 90s alternative music, reggae, and new wave!

The Local Ground: Sinulog Series ran for two nights (January 13, and January 14) at Rica’s Café, Maria Luisa Road, Banilad, Cebu City. I heard that the first night of Local Ground was full of old school rock and roll presented by acts like Johnnie, UK Lily, and Cuarenta. I heard that some band did a rousing performance of Heart’s 1987 rock ballad Alone, and some bands on the first night covered some Metallica and Guns n Roses.

On the second night, however, I was present to see what the fuzz was all about. The first band to play at Saturday’s event was Squall who performed a lot of alternative 90’s and early 2000’s rock music; Incubus, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the kind. When they had almost three songs left from their setlist, they brought in MOBBSTARR rapper Garvie Enage to help them “rap” up. The band played 311’s All Mixed Up with Garvie helping Squall with the rap verses.

The second to perform was Cebuano reggae legends Raw Belief, setting a new mood for the night as they replaced Squall’s heavy rock sound with their brand of chill irie vibes. Raw Belief opened with a cover of Hall & OatesManeater, and later the band performed two of their best original songs, Circles and Baso, two songs that have always been long time crowd favorites. Bidick and the rest of Raw Belief also performed songs from The Police and Bob Marley.

The third act of the night was very much anticipated as well. When Cebu’s legendary new wave group 40 the Band came on stage, mostly everyone in the crowd went nuts as they dance around holding their drinks up. It was one of the most interactive crowd around. Led by frontman Troy Degamo, 40 the Band performed beloved new wave covers and music people always loved to hear them play for years. The group opened with Naked Eyes synthpop cover of Always Something There to Remind Me, then continued with David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.

The second night at Local Ground: Sinulog Series 2017 managed to pull off a diverse set of sound with only just three bands. It opened up with heavy, then chill, then ended euphoric. It was a great way to showcase the diverse influences of our Cebuano talents.

#rhythmofthecity #y101fm #alwaysfirst #y101sinulog