(Youtube Video of the Eraserheads Reunion Concert Grand Entrance by Karla Redor)

I don’t know why but I wasn’t surprised that the Erasehead Reunion was Cut short because Ely Buendia was rushed to the Hospital. Not that I wished the concert would turn out badly, but I was thinking of Ely’s physical and emotional state as the concert went along.

At around 8:00 PM, my husband and I passed by Two Serendra to check on the progress of the condo renovations. I wasn’t aware that the concert was right beside Two Serendra until tonight. Listening from the 5th floor of our condo, I could hear the countdown then much later, the Alapaap song being played. From that distance, the sounds didn’t seem too blasting. I felt relief not having to hear the thud-thud of the drums and the blaring amps. Loud music causes my heartbeat to race like crazy. The last concert I went to caused my heartbeat to go thump-thump for more than an hour.

I turned to my husband and thought out loud “How can Ely survive those blaring sounds?” “And how can he sing just days after his mom died?”

Now Ely Buendia is in the hospital.


The concert’s sudden end was announced by Buendia’s sister Lally who went onstage with Ely’s band mates Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, Marcus Adoro and concert organizers stating that the band’s lead vocalist and songwriter was in poor health. The band members apologized to the audience for cutting short their performance.

“We regret to inform you that we have to cut the concert short. My brother had to be rushed to hospital because of emotional and physical stress he is experiencing,” said Buendia’s sister Lali to concert-goers.

““He had a slight attack because of stress due to the recent passing of his mother, and their sound check which lasted till 3 a.m. today (Saturday),” said officials from MTV Philippines, who added that Buendia is now in stable condition. MTV Philippines is the concert’s organizer.

and this is just in, Ely’s condition is stable

“We have gotten word that he is now stable,” said MTV Philippines director for marketing Ronald Esguerra in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

Fans were just so engrossed with Eraserhead reunion concert and I wonder if they even thought about his emotional state. All I have read the past two days is that the concert will push through, will push through and push through. His mom passed away two days ago due to cardiac arrest. Ely is still very much in grief and cannot just snap out of it. Shock is the first stage in grief. There is a feeling of disbelief. During those first days there is a feeling of being-out-of-touch. Singing some of those songs may have triggered memories of his mom. The awareness of just how dreadful the loss is accompanied by intense pangs of grief. At this stage, a grieving person is in emotional turmoil.

I pray Ely Buendia recovers soon. He needs rest. I am sure Eraserheads’ fans wish the best for him.

Related Blog Posts on Eraserhead Concert

Karla Redor’s Post on Eraserheads Reunion Concert: 08.30.2008

Aileen Apolo on Eraserheads Reunion Concert

Jayvee Fernandez on Eraserheads Reunion Opens with Alapaap

Azrael on Eraserheads reunion concert 2008 – concert live recording

About Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

You may contact Noemi (noemidado @ gmail.com) for speaking and consultancy services in the following areas: Parenting in the Digital Age (includes pro-active parenting on cyber-bullying and bullying) ; Social Business ; Reinventing One’s Life; and social media engagement. Our parenting workshop is called "Prep to Prime (P2P): Parenting in the Digital Age (An Un­Workshop)" P2P Un­Workshops are conducted by two golden women in their prime, Noemi and Jane, who have a century’s worth of experience between them. They are both accomplished professionals who chose to become homemakers. This 180­degree turn also put them on a different life course which includes blogging, social media engagement and citizen advocacy. They call their un­workshops Prep to Prime or P2P, for short, to emphasize the breadth of their parenting experience. They tackle different aspects and issues of parenting ­­ from managing pregnancies, prepping for the school years of children, dealing with househelp, managing the household budget, to maximizing one’s prime life and staying healthy through the senior years.

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