Beta Epsilon's Rockestra

Last night was our Friday Fair night, the Rockestra 2007: Fake Sound of Progress. I would say our event was a HUGE success in terms of ticket sales. Imagine, tickets were sold out by 11pm! This is really a record breaker for all fair nights. :D I'm not sure how many had attended the night, but it was announced onstage that the approximate was 15 thousand.

It was in 2001 (or 2000?) that Beta Epsilon had hosted a fair night. I remember 3 years ago, I was among the bidders for the fair '04; we won the bids from monday to thursday but lost for friday. That time, EMC+CE gave a very high bid which was unexpected even by the USC. Eventually we backed out on the other nights since we are Friday or nothing. Ever since, the bid for Friday night had been that high.

Hosting a night in the UP Fair is not one of the fraternity's annual projects. We actually already have so many projects that we don't even need to aim for a fair night. It just so happened that the brods became interested in hosting this year's friday night.

Ironically, it is only this year that I was able to attend the UP Fair. My first was the LoveRage concert. My roommate who is a CE (Circle of Entrepreneurs) member, hosts of the last 2 years' Schizofairnia, told me that their previous friday nights sold about 12 thousand tickets. Basing from what I heard, LoveRage seemed to have gained friday night sales since they were able to reach about 11 thousand. This year's Schizofairnia (wednesday) suffered from LoveRage's pre-Valentines lineup.

I did not expect that Beta Epsilon's Rockestra would have overflowing audiences. I was at the ticket booth the whole time, and man, there really were too many people! After tickets were sold out, we still tried accepting people by issuing them stamps and invisible inks. Eventually, the fair grounds could no longer accommodate all the people who want to come in. We had no choice but to close the gates and no longer accept new entries.

There have been ticket scalpers who bought bulk tickets from us, and eventually sold it at a higher price. We only realized this when someone asked us if the tickets being sold by those scalpers are valid. It turned out that they were being sold at a price between Php100-300!

The fair grounds was like a movie theater having standing room only. Even at about 4am, there were still too many people inside. As usual, the so-called Urukhai/orcs had been a headache in terms of security. Since we already denied entry, these orcs even tried to destroy the fences. I feel sorry for the others who did not make it during the cut-off. For sure, I prefer them over the orcs to be allowed inside.

The main act for the night was Parokya ni Edgar and Kamikazee, which was accompanied by an orchestra from the college of music. I know, some people were a bit dismayed because it seemed that the orchestra became overshadowed. Maybe others also wondered why the orchestra got to play just 2(?) songs. As far as I know, the orchestra practiced with the artists for a specific number of songs (not just 2); however, PnE and Kamikazee became deviant with what we had planned.

We did not plan the merging of PnE and Kamikazee, aka Parokya ni Kazee. Their performance with the orchestra should be separate from each other. PnE and Kazee seemed to be in a jamming mood as they no longer followed the real program flow. Both bands performed as one and jammed to their hearts delight. I'd still say the crowd enjoyed it, since they were able to play about 8 songs together. It was just that, the main point of having the orchestra was defeated.

Still, I think the night was an enjoyable one as proven from the crowd presence even at 4am. Only those who rooted for the orchestra gig could have been disappointed. I could not blame them since our event highlighted it. However, the show was already in the artists' hands (PnE and Kamikazee) once on stage. In fairness, Parokya ni Kazee did entertain the audience well with their wild antics and gimmicks. So generally, the show was still a success.

I am happy for the fraternity since we were able to pull it off. We were initially worried that we might only get a break-even. It wouldn't be worth the sweat if we even couldn't earn from such event.

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Another happy moment for me that day was that I was finally able to get hold of my passport. :D However, for now I don't have my passport with me since I handed it over to Ms. Arleene of Toshiba for my Japan Visa application. Tomorrow's going to be our predeparture orientation; hopefully I would know our itinerary by then.