The Scene Around: Tunog at Letra Music Festival

12/19/2022 07:26:59 PM

It was a Saturday full of festivities around the metro. The same date of November 26 featured a lot of music events – both big and small – that instantly captivates the listening public. There was a single launch of Agaw Agimat, a Blaster bar tour, an Autotelic anniversary show, and a concert that featured six notable women in the OPM rock industry. 

But there's also one that showcased most of the independent acts in the music scene today. NewVibe PH took a gamble and staged the Tunog at Letra Music Festival at the Marikina Sports Center. The event featured almost 40 acts – with a handful of them being today's hottest names in the industry such as Blaster, Tanya Markova, CHNDTR, and Agaw Agimat, to name a few. Is it worth the gamble? I suppose, but let's dabble on that as here are some of my few takeaways:

I have to give credit to this event for letting me discover some new names to her around like Nadj Zablan, Orange District, Glottis V, Angel Sengco, Soleil Misalucha, and more. To sum it up, it broadened my taste in music even if it didn't make it in my Spotify Wrapped. Hey, if some of you are damn curious enough, check out their pages on profile and their discography on whatever listening platforms you guys have.

It's already a risky move that New Vibe came up with mostly indie acts in a music festival and with just around 10 names from much emerging and already-popular bunches like Off To Neverland, Dan Martel, Suyen, and Butterfly Den, to name a few.

However, of course Tunog At Letra was New Vibe's first major event, and with all that said, growth pains were quite imminent. That said, here are some things they may need to learn should they mount another extravaganza next time around.

Consider having a two-band stage setup since it is a music festival. Frankly, with that magnitude of lineup, they could hold the show in two days. And given how the turnover of the performers would be needed to be in bare minimum time possible? It's realistically close to impossible to switch bands in a very shortest time, which means more logistical nightmares are unfortunately expected.

Perhaps, a more aggressive marketing strategy can help, too, since it's quite saddening that there are only hundreds of attendants during the entirety of the show. Could it be approaching more potential media partnerships? Perhaps. I mean, this event could draw around four digits if they played their cards right.

But in all fairness, I lauded the organizers' social media team for their efforts on hyping up the event by coming up with a series of posters and promotional video clips from the artists themselves. It may be small to no favor on their part, but all for the love and help of this beneficial concert, they still did. Although of course, how to improve from there would be another story (although slightly discussed above).

Timeliness will always be an issue to any event, be it music or anywhere else; although punctuality and delays are more evidently shown in music shows, whether it is a small bar gig or a huge concert. I think the organizers would really adhere to whatever they have made commitments to their performers regardless of if it's an indie act or a notable mainstream group; but when crisis is about to approach them big-time, everyone needs to make a compromise like cutting set times and having the shortest turnover as much as possible. Because the last thing you want to see is having some external factors such as authorities, technical mishaps, or other erring people screw the program flow, not having others performed as scheduled, and thus, making an abrupt end to what has been a fundamental night in music.

All in all, Tunog at Letra showcased its potential. I will not say it went to waste, because I personally enjoyed the show. Hell, do you even see people sitting within the grass and have a good time while they watch live bands in a music festival? Goddamn, that Woodstock-feel's a rare shit, man, because it only happens if you placed the show at an open space where grasslands are present. 

But of course, they'll get there, be better, and probably learn a thing or two from whatever they had this music festival. Nevertheless, I'm thankful to NewVibe PH for staging this music festival and having The SlickMaster's Files as one of their media partners. 

Author: slickmaster | © 2022 The SlickMaster's Files