MANILA Pilippines - The Dawn?s Jett Pangan and Francis Reyes were in a celebratory mood Wednesday night at Mugen in Metrowalk, Pasig. Both were taking swigs of beer and liquor as Jett announced, ?This year is our 22nd anniversary as a band??

Actually he?s a bit off the mark, considering that The Dawn broke up in 1995 and Jett pursued a solo career, until the group reunited in 2000. But counting the years didn?t really matter that night.

Jett was a vision of youthful intensity, his full-bodied vocals leading the fresh, starting-over attitude of ?Tulad ng Dati??title track of the award-winning Cinemalaya indie film which also starred The Dawn. The lyrics, about putting fire back into a romance gone cold, achieved more warmth as Francis let loose a short burst of metal licks from his Flying V Gibson.

A cover of U2?s ?All I Want is You? followed, Jett?s singing having so much presence, we almost failed to notice that he was also playing rhythm guitar. As he expressed another shade of desire during the song?s bridge, wailing and yet not overdoing it, the wonderful fruits of his dalliance with the theater became apparent.

?Love Will Set Us Free,? from 1988?s ?I Stand With You? album, was memorable for JB Leonor?s staccato drumming. Hearing it live was like listening to the record, too, but this time Francis played around the guitar solo with wah-wah effects.

Masterful strokes

?Dreams,? from the band?s 1987 self-titled debut, had JB doing a free-wheeling solo spot and Francis keeping up his adventurous mood. The guitarist, a portrait of Zen self-contentment because he barely moved onstage, countered this stoic stance with masterful strokes on the fretboard?letting out riffs that seemed like vintage ?70s stuff but which never sounded old.

After a brief lull, Jett asked the crowd, ?Ayos pa ba tayo diyan?? In Pinoy hippie-speak, it used to be a coded message for getting high. That night, the subtext was to drink up and have fun.

Spirit of the times

The liquor that was being passed around, Jagermeister, was said to have lots of herbs from barks of trees, hence it didn?t pose much of a health risk. The truth was, we felt no need for alcohol to enjoy the music.

?It was only a kiss,? Jett sang, the teasing lyrics from The Killers? ?Mr. Brightside.? Here the band ably filled the song?s punk tempo, recalling the spirit of the times that gave birth to The Dawn.

That was the mid-?80s, when New Wave was all the rage in Manila, and a young Teddy Diaz was itching to form a band. He did, and it had just started to take off when he met an untimely death on the way to visit his girlfriend. As things turned out, The Dawn took on a life of its own, spurred on by Teddy?s unfinished business.

At Mugen, ?Enveloped Ideas? served as the band?s tribute to Teddy, its version diverting with spontaneity as Francis took off with cosmic guitar lines, before yielding to a surprising reggae break.

The next number put the spotlight on the low-key Buddy Zabala, the band?s new bassist, who offered another surprise by way of improvised vocals.

Classic rock anthems

Then it was back to more U2 covers??Pride (In the Name of Love)? indicating how much The Dawn was influenced by classic rock anthems. At this point, we expected Francis to step out of his calm disposition because the music was flying all over. But he never even lifted his head, as if to say, ?Can you just listen to my fingers??

Cheers to that.