The Radio Dept. Manila Tour

When I look at you, heaven's on fire. I wish I didn't know you better, but its pointless. One look at you, and heaven's on fire. - Heavens On Fire, The Radio Dept.

After several months of waiting The Radio Dept dropped by to Manila as part of their Asian tour. I was so excited about this specially when I heard that Moscow Olympics will be opening for them. 

I discovered the The Radio Dept. music somewhere in 2005; this is the time when I was really hooked to indiepop, shoegaze and other genres associated with this type of music. Lesser Matters became a usual tracks on my morning playlist, there are so many good songs on this album like, Where damage isn't already done, Why won't you talked about it, 1995, Against the tide and Strange thing will happen became my instant favorites. So when I heard that they are coming to Manila I didn't even think twice to see them live, I instantly filed a vacation leave for since it was a rare chance to see them play live.

The opening act Moscow Olympics was superb during their set, they have several mistakes though. And I was even warned by my friend that they're not that good during live performances. It is understandable since they don't play much live shows nor should I say they don't really play live. I've been told some stories and I guess theres no need to share it. Nevertheless, as soon as they walk up to the stage the crowd started screaming with enthusiasm and excitement since this is the first time for most of the crowd to see this band play live. I was able to make a move and go upfront to have a better sight. From their opening up to their last song seeing and hearing them live was a total bliss to my ears. I wasn't able to list down what songs they played since I was really enjoying the music and quite busy taking some decent photos. Good thing camera is allowed at the venue.

        

After the Moscow's set I moved a little closer to the stage, with some people from the local indie scene. The Radio Dept walked to the stage and opened their set with the song Domestic Scene from their latest critically acclaimed album Clinging To A Scheme. After this, I was expecting that they will play Heaven's On Fire since they're playing this usually in second order, but they played This Time Around instead.  They also played some crowd favorites like Keen On Boys, Ewan, 1995, The Worst Taste In Music. While The Radio Dept. is playing Heaven's On Fire I noticed that I was standing beside this really cool girl who have an Unknown Pleasure tats on her right arm. I was able to say hi and compliment her for that piece of her art given that I'm a big JD fan. I checked their setlist and I think they also played some songs that are not included on their list like Token of Gratitude and Why Won't You Talked About It.   

 

It was great night of good quality music, thanks to Mr. Joff Cruz and his crew for bringing this kind of foreign acts to our shores. Thinking this is exceptional for the local indie scene and hopefully more bands tour here in the Philippines. I saw the Manila Indie Survey page in Facebook the other day and they're cooking a St. Etienne tour here, so lets increase the demand for this kind of shows. And let us not forget that we have so many good indie bands that need our support as well. So please support our local indie scene.

Took some photos that night using a Nikon D90 and a 50mm 1.8 Nikkor lens. Contact me at lorenzoreyesphotography@gmail.com