MANILA, Philippines—Stripped of both mush and magic, the second Eraserheads reunion concert dubbed “The Final Set” held Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia open-air grounds was a technically superior version of its predecessor last year. And this time, the band managed to dig through the residue of an old friendship to make the whole event look more casual, less constrained.

The opener, ticked off by the alphabet in reverse until it stopped at “E,” established one thing: There was no magical lift to carry the band up the stage. No attempt whatsoever to recapture the spine-tingling emotion of the first reunion gig.

Immediately the band plunged into “Magasin” and right away, you knew that this concert was going to be better. For one, the sound system held its own despite fears that the unyielding winds from Manila Bay would wreak some kind of havoc on the acoustics of an already open venue.

The next number, “Walang Nagbago,” had metaphor-hunters reading into lines Ely Buendia belted out: “Kung ano tayo noon/Ay ganun pa rin ngayon.” This was followed by an unfamiliar intro that prompted Buendia to joke with the crowd: “Name that tune.” It turned out to be “Maling Akala.” And indeed, not a few in the audience thought the song wrong.

Buendia was actually having fun with the crowd. The first reunion last year was dissed a lot for the rigidity by which the E-Heads went about with their routine, prompting apologist remarks from the band members.

“We’re not really the type of band that talks a lot,” drummer Raimund Marasigan said during a pre-event press briefing. Buendia, on the other hand, reminded people during that same press con that the E-Heads were “never really a good live band.”

Saturday night, though, they were really good.

Buendia was animated, prompting a few members of the audience to remark, “dahan-dahan lang Ely, baka ’di mo na naman matapos ito,” a reference to his heart problem that prompted the first gig to be stopped midway.

As he jumped around and tossed his jacket to the crowd, the band proceeded with “Maskara,” “Poor Man’s Grave” and “Waiting for the Bus.” The crowd began chanting the now famous “group hug” request, to which Buendia replied, “Kayo muna!”

The first surprise came when Jazz Nicolas, the now acknowledged fifth E-Head also known as Itchyworms’ do-everything guy, took over as drummer from Marasigan and guitarist Marcus Adoro introduced the next song. Turned out that Buendia would take a break from singing chores as Marcus launched a reggae version of “‘Wag Mo Nang Itanong sa Akin.”

It could win an award for most refreshing performance, if there was one.

Buendia then introduced Marasigan as the next vocal pinch-hitter. The Sandwich front man performed “Slow Mo” and “Alkohol.” A few beats into the intro, Marasigan asked the band to stop.

“Dapat tumalon kayo,” he urged the crowd. And when the audience obliged, the earth literally shook. A mild tremor rippled across the venue as the audience, hyped by promoters as having breached the 100,000-barrier, went bouncing along throughout the song.

After a 26-minute break, the band was literally lifted from under the stage in a cozy, acoustic setup.

“How’d you like our new house?” Buendia quipped, as he and the band sat comfortably on a leather couch.

They then performed “Tikman” (after which, Buendia joked, “if you have any requests, write them on a one-fourth sheet of paper, lengthwise”), “Wishing Wells” and “Fine Time.”

In “Pare Ko,” Buendia—as he did all night—let the crowd fill in for him some of the song’s parts. The rest of the band cleared the stage and Nicolas, on keyboards, ushered Buendia into “Kailan.”

The whole band then got back for “Back2Me,” “Trip to Jerusalem” and “Spoliarium,” before tweaking the intro on another mainstream hit that left the audience guessing—until Buendia sang “Overdrive.”

A stream of fireworks cascaded from the stage roof as the final strains played out, after which, Buendia clasped his hands above his head and yelled: “We are the Eraserheads, thank you and good night!”

But everybody knew that it wasn’t over yet.

Dedicated to Francis

The day before, FrancisM, a close friend of the band who collaborated on “Superproxy,” died of complications from leukemia. He was supposed to jam on the song, and the E-Heads promised to dedicate the gig to a dear departed friend.

And so, seven minutes after leaving the stage, they were back again and opened their encore with the familiar intro to “Superproxy.”

The band then performed another crowd-favorite, “Minsan,” then tweaked around again with “Alapaap,” before driving the audience into a frenzy by playing the familiar strains of a tune the crowd could not put a finger on. A few notes later, it became recognizable: FrancisM’s very own “Kaleidoscope World.”

If the intro to that track was familiar, it was because the E-Heads used the same key that led to the next song, the ultra-popular “Ang Huling El Bimbo.”

The crowd then thought it was all over, but Marasigan came out from backstage to say there was more to come.

“Okay, three more for the road,” Buendia said. Unrehearsed versions of “Ligaya,” “Sembreak” and “Toyang” delighted the crowd, which didn’t seem to mind a few missed notes and forgotten lyrics.

Past 11 p.m., a little over three hours after taking the stage, the four Eraserheads formally dissolved into their respective career paths again.

It would probably take a whole new album to mount a third reunion concert—otherwise anything after the “Final Set” would sound like one big racket.