Eraserheads Are Coming To Honolulu! -

by Renelaine Bontol Pfister

Filipino alternative rock band Eraserheads is coming to Honolulu to kick off their Huling El Bimbo 2024 World Tour!

The first leg of the band’s world tour will be held at the Hawaii Convention Center on July 6. Part of the concert proceeds will go to Tahanang Carmela D’Amore Orphanage in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.

Musicians Ely Buendia, Buddy Zabala, Marcus Adoro, and Raimund Marasigan met at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and named the band after David Lynch’s film Erasherhead.

The band’s first album, Ultraelectromagneticpop! was released in 1993, followed by Circus, Cutterpillow, Fruitcake, Sticker Happy, Natin99, Carbon Stereoxide, as well as anthologies.

They achieved massive success in the Philippines and in 1997, they received MTV Asia’s International Viewer’s Choice award and walked away with the Moon Man trophy.

As a huge fan of Eraserheads, I can attest that every Filipino child of the 90s has a favorite song (or songs!) by the band. We’re middle-aged now and still wholly devoted to Eraserheads.

Eraserheads, also called E-heads, broke up more than twenty years ago in 2002 but still released anthology albums and held mini-reunion concerts throughout the years in honor of their loyal fanbase.

I could barely contain my excitement when one of my best friends told me E-heads were coming to Honolulu. No questions asked, my friends and I are definitely going to their Honolulu concert.

Please indulge me in sharing with you my E-heads story. I grew up in Iligan City, Northern Mindanao, Philippines and that’s where I first saw Eraserheads in concert in the early 90’s.

It was held in Mindanao State University, Iligan Institute of Technology’s (MSU-IIT) gymnasium. I remember the plastic yellow chairs destroyed by the end of the evening when adoring fans started standing and jumping on them in a frenzy, losing their minds and unable to stay seated.

I must’ve been thirteen or fourteen years old, and I was grateful to be there with my brother and his friends, who were two years older than me. They were “protecting” their little sister from the mob.

The next time I saw them in concert was at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco in 2012. I was living in Northern California then and I had to see my favorite Pinoy band. It was standing room only and turned into a giant karaoke party.

I owned cassette tapes of Ultraelectromagneticpop!, Circus, and Cutterpillow. I remember playing them over and over and memorizing the lyrics by heart.

I still remember the lyrics to their songs thirty years later: Ligaya, With a Smile, Minsan, Kailan, Ang Huling El Bimbo, Alapaap, Pare Ko, Maling Akala, Kaliwete, Magasin, Overdrive, and more.

Why do we love them so much, even decades after they disbanded? For me, their songs speak of everyday Filipino experiences: our young dreams, yearnings, friendships, disappointments, and heartaches.

Their lyrics articulated our own youthful existence. Despite being older now, our devotion as E-heads fans endures. Our love for the E-heads is timeless.

To see Eraserheads perform live in Honolulu, visit www.filtix.com/event/eraserheads-reunion-usa-tour-live-in-hawaii/. Tickets are also available at authorized resellers at Seafood City Waipahu.

Other Eraserheads tour dates include The Warfield in San Francisco, California on July 12, the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California on July 13, and the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto, Canada on July 21.

Eraserheads’ Honolulu concert is presented by Life is Music Entertainment Production, LLC with Head Producer Leilanie “Lehua Blossom” Tanaka, with co-sponsors Sono Grata Productions LLC, L & A Production LLC, Beaute Aims Production, Pinoy Power Media, and Encore Productions LLC and in cooperation with Tiana Entertainment, Live Nation and WEU.