The XX Live in Manila

Yesterday (July 30, 2013), I attended The XX's first ever concert in Manila with my friends. I'm still not a hundred percent over it, so do forgive me if I'm unable to give a detailed recount of my experience. It was insanely amazing, and I have so many people to thank (I'll get to that in a bit). I'll probably end up freaking out in excitement as I go on, but I'll try my best to word my thoughts as properly as possible for you guys!
I had slept around 8 AM on that same day and woke up in the afternoon, with an hour's worth of travel ahead of me. As soon as we arrived to the hotel we were staying in, I finally received a call from Dr. Martens Philippines regarding the best job in the world. I start and will receive my first free pair tomorrow (August 1, 2013), which is another thing to look forward to for the month of August! I actually jumped up and down in excitement after the phone call ended, but I'll talk more about my new ~*job*~ in another post. :) I went with Luigi, Jam, Ozni, Martin, Dea, and Keith (who then went on to hang with his other friends haha). I honestly could not have asked to have gone with better people. They definitely made the experience a billion times better!

For those of you who are unaware, Luigi is actually a musician and will be having an event this August 3, 2013 at SM Mall of Asia. I will be there to support him, along with my other friends, so if you guys can, please do attend!

As for Martin and Dea, they're both student/radio jocks for RX 93.1 :) I met Martin through Nikita (also a student/radio jock) at one of their photoshoots, and invited him to the concert (despite the fact that we were only acquaintances). It was a spur of the moment thing, really. We had spare tickets and he just so happened to be the first one I saw on my twitter timeline! Dea was also present at the shoot, but I met her for the first time yesterday. It couldn't have been a more perfect timing. They told me they really wanted to go but - if my memory serves me right - they were unable to score tickets. Funny the way the world works, yeah? The concert itself was amazing. Taken by Cars and Up Dharma Down (MY FAVORITE FILIPINO BAND EVER WOOOOO) opened for them, successfully getting everyone hyped up before The XX got on stage. It was my second time seeing Up Dharma Down live, the first time at the Wanderland Festival 2013. They are so good, but even better live. They're amazing in their own right, but they do remind me of a jazzier, more Filipino version of The XX, so they were perfect as one of the opening acts. Luigi and I were really close to the stage during the beginning of The XX's set (after having squeezed our way through a couple of snooty/rude people LOL), but it was waaaay too hot and crowded for me. I ended up allowing people to shove me back to where the others were, and we proceeded to just head to the very back of the Gold section where it was less crowded and much cooler. Their entire set was amazing. From the beats to the lights, everything was absolutely superb. I couldn't have been more delighted over the fact that their last two songs were my favorite - Intro and Angels. On my way out, I spotted Camie's head of pink hair, and I was unsure if it was actually her, but who else could it have been, right? Hahahaha.

Oh, and I've finally had a photo taken with Ellie, after failing to do so during the Wanderland fest. With our feet hurting, backs aching, and ears ringing, my friends and I all headed out to grab a quick meal before all heading home. A million thanks to my friends for sharing this experience with me, and a billion more to Sir David and my mom for this opportunity. Watch the video diary below if you want more! :)


Everything was shot on my iPhone, because I stupidly assumed bringing a dSLR was prohibited and couldn't have been bothered to carry the heavy thing around.