Dear Sugarfree

Dear Sugarfree: "Ito ang unang araw na wala ka na." - From the song "Unang Araw" by Sugarfree The warm weather tells us it will be summer soon. Surprisingly, last night it rained, really rained, for hours. Strange, but oddly enough, it was the perfect backdrop for a farewell. Sugarfree band, you took the stage one last time, singing the songs that became the soundtrack of a generation. Your fans stood in the rain, singing along. At times they sang so loud that if Ebe Dancel stopped singing none of the lyrics would be lost. "'Di mo lang alam, inaasam ang panahong makapiling ka sa una't huling pagkakataon..." - From the song "Mariposa" by Sugarfree Never mind that it was a Tuesday night. Never mind that there would be work the next day. Never mind, even, that there was work that night. My friend who works the night shift in an office in Eastwood, where your final concert was, kept saying he would leave "after this song," but five songs later he was still there, and more than an hour late for work. But it was worth it. "Kasi huling concert na nila 'to, hindi ko na sila mapapanood ulit. Simula nung MOrg Love 'di ko na sila makalimutan," says Oliver, who attended a prom you played for. Another friend was on the road, listening to the concert live on the radio, when he decided nothing could compare to the real thing. "I didn't really think about it until now. Galing pa nga akong Taft eh. I was going to go home but then I heard them on the radio," says freelance filmmaker Maui Mauricio, who worked on several of Sugarfree's music videos. "Ito na ang gabing di malilimutan..." - From the song "Prom" by Sugarfree We used to beg you to play Prom, a song you liked to save for last. But last night, it was the first song you played. As you sang "Ito na ang gabing hindi malilimutan... parang atin ang gabi, para bang wala tayong katabi, at tayo'y sumayaw na parang di na tayo bibitaw" - we knew exactly what you meant. You were going to play one last time. You were going to play your hearts out and we were going to savor every moment of it — every word, every note, every pause. We were going to give in completely to the moment, holding on in an attempt to make it last longer. "Umiiyak ang langit," your fans told you, as if the sympathetic sky could change your mind.

Yet the decision was made late last year, with Ebe Dancel set to embark on a solo career, leaving Sugarfree to continue its own musical journey. Our hearts broke a little bit when Mitch Singson left, but Kaka Quisumbing stepped in and so, the beat goes on. This time, we are imagining Sugarfree without Ebe, and the prospect is surreal at this point. As Quark Henares said when he introduced the band, it will never be the same. "'Di na tayo katulad ng dati, kay bilis ng sandali..." - From the song "Burnout" by Sugarfree Since you announced you were about to part ways, we'd been going out of our way to catch your gigs. Weeknights, weekends, schools, bars, it didn't matter. We had to hear you play our favorite songs one last time. It was like being back in high school, staying up way past our bedtime to catch a gig, coming to work the next day bleary-eyed and maybe a bit hungover, regretting nothing. "Sugarfree's 'Sa Wakas' was the soundtrack of my undergraduate days. Watching Sugarfree, especially now that I'm older and working, allows me to relive my college days when wallowing in broken-heartedness and self-pity was actually acceptable for my age group," says Chris Herrera, a doctor who's rejected clinical practice to pursue a lifestyle of skating, beer, and the search for the big whoop. It doesn't matter who we were, or who we became. You were the band we grew up with. There was a Sugarfree song for everything universal in a teenager's angst-ridden life. Secret crushes. Unrequited love. The first kiss. The last dance. "Alam naman nating may taning..." From the song "Burnout" by Sugarfree It's not like we didn't know you were leaving, but that didn't make it any easier. "Sugarfree was the soundtrack to that time in my life when I thought love was all that matters, and that people stay and even if they don't and they leave you for someone else, that's all right because it happens to everyone," shares Jonah Perez, who is almost 30 and now knows love isn't the only thing that matters. We remember catching your gigs accidentally at first. "I found out that their first album was named "Sa Wakas." This is when I saw the impact of the album launch to its band. Apparently they had been waiting so long to get an album out, and you could see the passion in those who were watching at that time and it was just in Freedom Bar with probably around a hundred people, and it's great to see how they've expanded. I'm so happy for them," says Creative Associate Anj Pessumal, who accidentally attended the band's first album launch when she was interviewing some other bands who played. She has seen the band perform countless times. "It's always so passionate," she says. "O kay tagal kitang minahal..." - From the song "Burnout" by Sugarfree We all have our own Sugarfree stories — the first time we heard you... the song that made us fall in love with you... For filmmaker Jamie Dumancas, it was Hintay. "I became a fan instantly... it reminds me of the past. I was on a date the first time I heard it. The songs usually hit the right spot," he says. For English teacher AJ Villar, it was Mariposa. "Sapul," she says, describing in a word what it is about Sugarfree songs that make people love them. "It just captures the moment perfectly," she says of her favorite song, Tulog Na. Then we started watching on purpose, and Sugarfree, at an intimate venue like Big Sky Mind or Freedom Bar, became a hard habit to break. Then we grew older, your crowds got larger, and we lost track of your songs. From time to time nostalgia would get the best of us and we would watch at Saguijo or Route 196, hoping you'd play some old songs, hearing your new songs and finding that after all these years, Sugarfree is still the sweetest band around. "Kay bilis kasi ng buhay, pati tayo natangay..." - From the song "Burnout" by Sugarfree Last night we watched you again, one last time. For some, years had passed since they last saw you. For others, last night was the first and last time. The place was packed hours before you went onstage. It gave us goosebumps to think we used to watch you perform for intimate crowds. "Ang ganda lang panoorin na this is their last gig. It's nice to know that in your own way, nakatulong ka sa pagiging famous nila, and you're happy for them," says publicist Monina Eugenio, who used to get the band to play for their production. "O kay tagal kitang mamahalin..." - From the song "Burnout" by Sugarfree Last night we realized how long it's been. We've grown up, moved on, and maybe you have to do the same. From time to time we will crave your songs. We will play your albums from start to finish, then again after the last track, pretending for a while that we're back in college, tragically in love. They say it's better to burn out than to fade away, but neither will happen in your case. Whenever we reminisce about the people we loved, the ones we left, the ones we wished had stayed, your songs will be there, the soundtrack to our love stories, both sad and sweet. – VVP/YA, GMA News