How popular is Filipino pop music outside of the Philippines?
Checking out up and coming bands and catching more intimate shows is always a bonus when it comes to hitting up the smaller stages at non-peak hours. But there's a good chance you'll catch an amazing act that blows up into the mainstream and you'll be able to say you "saw them back when."
Large crowds trigger my anxiety, yet over the years I’ve tried to overcome this by attending events featuring topics I’m really interested in. Covid happened and life returned to square one.
Until about a few days ago - I was offered a chance to work with a group for some cash serving food at a festival. I had in mind to fill a supporting role, non-customer facing stuff. I didn’t know what to expect.
Not only was it a massive music festival, but one of the largest in this country with major headliners and thousands of people.
When the work began, it was slow and steady. I felt a growing sense of control and confidence. Yet when the late afternoon came, the music got louder and the swarms fluttered about seeking food.
Our food truck was hit pretty hard with orders; at times we were overwhelmed. There was a time when I felt the pressure and tension from the team - I stepped up and told myself to ‘just focus on the job’. I was doing well; I felt it and was validated by the business owner. I needed to hear that because the anxiety started to creep up.
Later in the evening we were running out of items and someone needed to make a trek to another site for restocking. I volunteered, having assumed I was secure and ready.
Working behind the counter and facing the crowd was okay - it’s a totally different world walking into a sea of people with hot food. So many eyes.. the random paths people take, weaving and diving around them was nerve wrecking. I knew I needed to get the work done, but I dreaded every moment being among so many people.
Everything came crashing down once I returned to my campsite; the anxiety I thought I managed welled up like boiling water and I broke down. I felt disappointed in myself for feeling that way; weak, frightened, weird…. So much negativity flooded my mind.
I decided I had enough; there was no way I could have survived another two days without a panic attack. I felt accomplished that I did my part, but my boundary was pushed too far in. I’m taking time to cope and learn from this.
Tldr:
I wanted to test myself by working at a major music festival. I worked hard and helped out until my anxiety became too great to manage - lasted a day and went home. I tried.
Music festivals these days just seem to be about taking photos in front of festival landmarks, everyone recording bands on their phones to post on social media to prove they were there and generally just hives of social media activity showing off that they are at a festival.
Looking back at some old videos of festivals where the whole audiences were captivated by the music, singing, dancing, moshing. No phones just pure appreciation. Shame social media has ruined that.
[Can’t find RATs? A Hillsong event is giving out free tests to attendees]
(https://happymag.tv/hillsong-rats/)
Ok. I'm so angry.
Ticketed events have been cancelled because of Omicron. The government banned singing and dancing at music festivals and in pubs and clubs.
But Hillsong? Big three day music event, no social distancing (you should see their Instagram) WITH SINGING AND DANCING. How is this fair to struggling artists? And small music venues? And to make matters more infuriating - THEY ALL GOT FREE RAT TESTS. Free RAT tests, when the rest of the general public are left to fend for themselves.
I'm so sick of these blatant double standards. Screw this government!
EDIT: Here's a link to the ABC article backing up my source. No, I'm not some innocent boomer who's fallen victim to the Betoota Advocate:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/hillsong-church-slammed-over-singing-dancing-summercamp/100747482
And on the RAT tests:
https://hillsong.com/australia/summer/summercamp-covid19-information/
EDIT: This blew up, and I want to clarify some things.
So what if Hillsong got these tests through the private sector. Shouldn't we all be outraged that the private sector is more organised than our government, and that our healthcare workers are going without? When we leave it to the free market, the poor miss out! The government has a responsibility to provide for the people!
Hillsong is a multi million dollar business masquerading as a church. Surely the Christian thing to do would be to cancel the festival and donate those RAT tests to hospitals. Ya know, because Jesus had the whole "let's give to the less fortunate" kinda vibe? They won't cancel, though, because all they care about is profit. This is just an ethical argument.
We've all become hung up on RATS. The local Sydney music scene has been decimated by COVID, and the lack of funding for the arts. So many awesome venues have been forced to close down, and now the government has banned singing and dancing at the venues that are left, whilst turning a blind eye to the Hillsong Summer camp. Millions of dollars have been lost due to cancelled festivals like Grapevine Gathering - the double standards should be the real outrage.
Go buy some merch from ya fave Aussie bands, and support the arts. If you don't want to go to a local gig, buy a ticket any way to support some struggling up and coming bands! Do the Aussie thing and help a mate out!
So this was a very popular annual music festival held in a big city in the south, that featured lots of rock, metal, alternative bands, you get the picture. Lots of dyed hair, piercings, tons and tons of drinking going on. Later on when I got older I explored the ‘doing drugs there’ part which made me even more aware of the danger I was in. My mom was a cool parent who exposed me and my brother to music and shows and let us sing bad words, as long as they were the lyrics, and so on. We go to this music festival with the guy who my mom has been with for about seven years at this time, never married, and unbeknownst to me he was piss drunk and they were fighting. Violently. After we spend most of the day there we are all four sitting in our seats, waiting for the headlining band, and I get so offended by my step dad’s behavior towards my mom and mad that she’s not stopping him, that I got up and left the area. I was around 12, 13 at that time so naturally my mom left my brother with drunk stepdad and tried to go after me. I got enough distance from her to where I couldn’t see her and sat down balled up near a merch booth. After a few minutes, these two young adult aged guys came up to me and asked what was wrong and I told them I had fought with my mom. One of them said “Aww I’m sorry about that. We work with the bands.. Do you maybe want to come and see backstage with us? We can show you how the sound works.” while extending his hand. And I almost agreed since I thought that was cool, but I noticed his friend hit him in the arm softly and say something like ‘dude no, we can’t...’ while sort of stifling chuckles. I instantly got a bad vibe and declined. He pushed one more time “You sure?” And before I could answer him and his friend burst out laughing as they kind of stumbled away. I immediately saw my mom and ran to her, telling her what happened. She was too distracted to care just saying “Well I’m glad you didn’t go with them!” 🤨 I feel like I may have had something happen to me if I let those guys take me “backstage” or wherever they wanted!
