It’s an early Tuesday evening, Joey Ayala gets off the stage after doing a sound check with his band, he goes to each media present and gives a firm and hearty handshake. He has a big and bright smile and his eyes have a bit of twinkle in them, as he looks straight into yours.
“Thank you for coming.” he says, and you just know that he means it.
We are at the iconic 70’s Bistro bar in Anonas, the bar has seen its fair share of performances from some of the country’s leading and up and coming musical acts. I’ve had some pretty amazing memories at 70s Bistro, some of which are rocking out to Mayonnaise and laughing at Jay Contreras of Kamikazee’s antics as he jumps from one table to the next keeping the audience entertained. But my favorite fact about the bar, which is celebrating its 32 years (and that’s a feat, considering the fickle state of the live local music scene) is that it was the setting for when Angel Locsin beat the living daylights out of Mocha Uson in the film ‘Four Sisters and a Wedding’.
And the bar will continue being the home of many memorable and historic moments in our local pop culture history as Joey Ayala will be holding a two day (July 20 and August 15) show which will be recorded onto vinyl! What does that mean? The shows will not just be any ordinary show as it will be recorded live, think of those iconic live albums from your favorite artists: Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged immediately comes to mind, the live album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was the highest first-week sales of Nirvana’s career. Of course my favorite band Paramore also has there own live recording (in VCD and DVD) which was their Final Riot! Live in Chicago concert back in 2008. There has been a recent trend of live shows being available to stream on Netflix, as a fan of Japanese music Hikaru Utada’s Live Sessions from Air Studios is a much-watch.
Now why am I mentioning this? Just wanted to give you guys an idea of what a big deal a live recording is for an artist, and for someone like Joey Ayala who has had an impressive and extensive career, to him, this live recording is like leaving a legacy.
The 67 year old who was nominated to be National Artist, will be performing his greatest hits during these two nights. During his time with the press, Ayala, who is also a Palanca-award-winning writer shared how a live recording is different from recording in a studio, he compared it to water, a studio recording is like bottled water, manufactured, sterile, in a bottle, you basically know what you are going to get, but a live recording is like flowing water, free, it goes anywhere it wants to, anything can happen. When you’re performing live in front of an audience you also draw your energy from them. The audience plays more of a role in a live recording that they actually think, and the audience from the ‘Joey Ayala Live at the 70s Bistro’ show will definitely be in for a treat! Not only will they get to enjoy a night of Joey Ayala’s timeless music but their photos may be taken and they just might make it on the sleeves of the vinyl! How exciting is that! And since the show is recorded, you may actually hear yourselves, and for anyone who has been in a live Joey Ayala performance, you know he loves to have his audience sing along.
Every clink of the glass, every hearty applause, all the hoots and shouts will be heard on the record, you can be heard on the record and that is just one of the few exciting things of being part of a live audience.
So what are you waiting for? Be part of local music history by securing your tickets to ‘Joey Ayala Live at the 70’s Bistro’ only for P600.00! Click here to get your tickets!
