‘Phl ripe for its own int’l music fest’

MANILA, Philippines - When rumors of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ upcoming show in Manila circulated on the Internet sometime in November last year, fans were initially incredulous. After all, the legendary rock group has been, in the past, reported to perform in the Philippines, only for it to turn out as a hoax or worse, be cancelled at the last minute.

The seven-time Grammy awardee has performed in other parts of Asia like Hong Kong and Singapore, but never in Manila.

That is why a lot of fans were skeptical on the news of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ impending visit to Manila, thinking it was just another hoax.

But when the group’s two members, Flea and Anthony Kiedis confirmed on YouTube in December that they were indeed coming to Manila, fans became truly ecstatic.

Questions abound such as where is the group’s concert going to be held? Will it be in Araneta or in SM MOA? How many songs are they going to sing? How many days will they stay here, etc.

Everyone was surprised that Red Hot Chili Pepper will not hold a solo concert here. Instead, the group agreed to headline the first-ever 7107 International Music Festival in the Philippines.

The question on many a fan’s mind is how did the organizers do it?

The Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of the most sought-after bands in the world today. The group recently performed during the half-time for the Super Bowl, the most watched TV broadcast in America, viewed by 14 million people.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, formed in 1983 and responsible for the hits Californication, Under the Bridge, Give it Away, The Zephyr Song and Scar Tissue, is credited for helping shaped American pop music in the late ’80s to the early ’90s.

In a career spanning 31 years and hundreds of world tours, it was surprising how they’ve never performed for the Manila crowd.

So, how did the organizers of the event dubbed 7107 Music Festival able to convince the Red Hot Chili Peppers to come to Manila?

“Well, we just asked them if they could participate in our event and they said they have nothing planned on that day, so they said yes. It’s a blessing. We feel fortunate to have the legendary group believe in our cause and have an interest in coming to the Philippines. It’s a dream come true,” said Mike Pio Roda, one of the movers behind the music festival.

“The Red Hot Chili Peppers is a huge milestone for us,” Pio Roda added.

The 7107 Music Festival will be held at the 100-hectare Global Gateway Logistics City in Clark, Pampanga on Feb. 22 and 23.

They named the festival 7107 because it represents the number of islands in the Philippines.

Tina Herrera, the festival’s executive producer, said they went through a strict process in asking Red Hot Chili Peppers to grace the festival.

“It wasn’t easy to get them. Seven months ago, we talked to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ road manager, a tough guy who processes all requests for the band in Los Angeles. He’s been in the business for 35 years, and he spoke to us and our security team. The band’s team was very strict and we appreciate that, and we told them we have an international music festival, which will attract a global audience and after everything’s been laid out they’ve agreed,” Herrera said.

Aside from rock and alternative stages, there will be hip-hop and dance music sets.

But one thing that the organizers want to emphasize is that as much as they want coverage for the international artists, their main goal is to promote the local talents and have them share the stage with the international artists.

“We really want the festival to serve as a unique platform for local artists to shine side by side with international performers. Through this music festival, we’ll be able to push our local talent to the world stage and open up avenues for local artists to collaborate with foreign acts,” Herrera said.

“We are hoping this festival will give our local artists the inspiration, confidence and the push they need to perform in other countries and in other festivals around the world. With new opportunities, insight, new audience we are sure this will result in bigger recording contracts. They deserve to shine,” she added.

Aside from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, DJ Kaskade, Empire of the Sun and rapper Kendrick Lamar who received seven nominations in the recent Grammys, will also topbill the music festival.

The other international artists include Asteroid Galaxy, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Natives, Kid Ink, Alvaro, Luciano and Reid Stefan.

Local artists leading the festival are Up Dharma Down, Radio Active Sago Project, Taken by Cars, Sponge Cola and Itchyworms.

Also performing are She’s Only Sixteen, Yolanda Moon, Runmanila, Pulso, Jensen and the Flips, Maude, Abra and Loonie, DJ B-Cal, Nix Dam P, Encounters with Yeti, Runway Crimes, Rocksteddy, Cheats, Musical O, Sleepwalk Circus, Hidden Nikki, SkyMarines, Child/Ren of the Pilgrimage, The Charmes, Popular Days, The Sleepyheads, Not Another Boy Band, Wilderness, Techy Romantics, Keith Bryan Haw, Marc Marasigan, Aryan, Travis Monsod, Katsy Le, Carlo Atendido, PatrickPo, Jessica Milner, Motherbasss and Skratchmark.

Both Pio Roda and Herrera believe that the country is ripe for its own music festival, their own Lollapalooza and Coachella, since there are a lot of talented musicians in the country.            

They said mounting a music festival is not a walk in the park. They’ve prepared for two years for the festival. Curating the musical programming for each stage was one of the grandest parts of this project.

“It’s easy to create a wish list but to execute and convince certain artists to come from oceans away and work around their schedules was tough,” Herrera said.

They’ve talked to a lot of experts for the project and collaborated with a thousand people.

Both Pio Roda and Herrera are bringing their expertise to the festival.

Pio Roda himself has over 13 years of experience in the music and events field, having handled Canadian concerts for artists like Brian McKnight, lloyd, TYGA, SVW, Ginuwine, SWV and Tony Toni Tone. In the Philippines, Pio Roda has worked with Maroon 5, Lifehous and Far East Movement.

Herrera, on the other hand, has an 18-year experience in fashion events and television. She is currently the executive producer of Philippine Fashion Week, a bi-annual fashion event that’s been running for 17 years.

They’ve also commissioned a festival management team from Los Angeles California led by Chris Schuman to support, guide and execute respective programs. Schuman has delivered production services for thousands of projects, including corporate events, special events, auto sows, fashion shows etc.. His projects include Coachella, The Winter 2010 Olympics, Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, Superbowl XLV, TomorrowWorld and more.

Luckily, they also got Smart and SPINNR to support their event. SPINNR, powered by Smart Music, is the country’s biggest online music portal with more than three million songs from a wide range of local and international artists available for download.

Charles Lim, EVP and head of the Wireless Consumer Division at Smart, said they support the 7107 music festival and hope to give Filipinos the total music experience at the festival.

Smart will have a headquarters at the event where subscribers can lounge and hang out for the duration of the entire event. Lucky Smart subscribers will also get the chance to meet and greet the artists backstage, take home exclusive merchandise and get exclusive perks on the festival grounds.

Lucky Smart subscribers will also have a chance to snag free tickets (VIP P20,000 and General Admission P8,000). They will also provide free WiFi at the music festival. To get updates on the 7107 festival, visit smart.com.ph/7107 or follow @SMARTPromos on Twitter and like Smart Communications on Facebook.

Aside from Smart, the Department of Tourism, MTV Asia, VH1 India and Buzznet.com also lent their support. The good news is tickets are selling like hotcakes not only here but abroad, Herrera said.

“Since we have opened up ticket sales last Dec. 12, we have sold tickets from Pakistan, Norway, Indonesia, Germany, China, Canada, Australia, United States, Thaland, Taiwan, Singapore, Spain, Qatar, India, United Kingdom, Korea and Hong Kong,” Herrera added.

“The festival has booked out all the rooms of seven hotels in Clark already so we are thrilled to be boosting local tourism,” she happily noted.

“We are very optimistic about the event, we hope to make this an annual thing,” Herrera and Pio Roda concluded.