The night they rocked our world

Nobody rocks your world like NU 107 does, well, at least not in the Philippines. The world, in this case is — the World Trade Center (along Roxas Boulevard corner Gil Puyat Avenue in Pasay). As early as 5:30 p.m., people were milling around the entrance of Hall C (the invite said the lobby opens at 6), as the previous year’s ceremony was being blasted on the vidi-walls of a parked van outside provided by one of the sponsors.

After getting through a mob of screaming fans and the usual line-up of giveaways, the crowd was greeted by the acoustic performances of three bands, the first was the Pin-up Girls, followed by the Dawn and Karl Roy’s new band Kapatid. It was the first time NU had decided to precede the event with live entertainment.

Bouncers clad in black tried their best to contain the crowd as the necessary security checks were made, but in the end, a surge of fans decided to let themselves in.

With the venue packed with an estimated 6,000 people, the show (hosted by NU’s morning DJs Zach and Joey) opened with the performance of Rivermaya, doing their hit Umaaraw, Umuulan. Next came Monsterbot. They didn’t come home with the Best New Artist Award (which went to Boldstar, who also performed that night), but their album won Raimund Marasigan the Producer of the Year Award (Raimund was also awarded for his work on Chicosci’s Method of Breathing).

The Best Album Packaging Award went to the team of Flying House and Agimat Studios for their design on Parokya Ni Edgar’s "Edgar Edgar Musikahan." Director Quark Henares took home the Rock Video of the Year for his work on the Pin-up Girls Down. Wally Gonzales of the legendary Juan dela Cruz Band was inducted to the Rock Awards Hall of Fame. The NU 107 Raw Award (given to an outstanding unsigned band featured on the NU 107 and untv program In The Raw) was given to the group Popular Days.

Other than the performances of Moonstar 88 and Daydream Cycle, the night proved to be one of the loudest, as the rap-metal acts took center stage and brought home most of the trophies. Among those that performed and won were Cheese who received the Album of the Year Award for "Pilipinas" and the Listener’s Choice Award, with front man Ian Tayao, winning the Vocalist of the Year Award.

Chicosci took home the Song of the Year trophy for Paris, which spent a total of 12 weeks on the top of the NU 107 Midnight Countdown (the song is still currently at the top of the chart). Mong Alcaraz and Sonny Baquisal were both hailed as Guitarists of the Year, while Nino Avenido of Greyhoundz came home with the Bassist of the Year Award. Libyano of Badburn won the Drummer of the Year Award.

After dominating the Rock Awards for the last two years, Slapshock won only one award — the highly coveted Artist of the Year, their second in a row. They performed twice, as customary during the NU 107 Rock Awards, the Artist of the Year gets to close the show. Other fantastic performances included those of the come-backing Dong Abay and his new group Pan and Razorback who are soon releasing a new album.

As with the previous ceremonies, notable television personalities were asked to help present the awards including Ryan Agoncillo, Diether Ocampo, Riki Kwek, Michelle Baile, Regine Tolentino, Jenny Miller, Mylene Dizon, Joey Mead, Aubrey Miles and untv’s Angel Rivero, a.k.a. Erning of Strange Brew. Other personalities present were Julia Clarete, Joel Torre, Marc Nelson and power boy Greg Martin.

The 2002 NU 107 Rock Awards was broadcast live over DWNU 107.FM in Metro Manila and beamed via satellite over Dream Broadcasting to the key cities in the South and worldwide on www.nu107.com.