Thousands of music fans from all walks of life trooped to the Mall of Asia concert grounds in Pasay City last Saturday night to witness the great gig that was the Eraserheads, touted as the country's version of the Beatles for their numerous hits and influence in local music.

The concert, dubbed "The Final Set," again proved how popular and respected the band is, with about 35,000 people attending the show, most of whom didn't leave until the very end of more than two hours of popular alternative rock music and rare stage camaraderie.

"We are the Eraserheads! Thank you," frontman Ely Buendia reiterated a couple of times.

The show started around 8:30 pm with one of their beloved tracks, "Magasin," followed by a string of other hits their fans couldn't resist singing along with. It needed two sets for the boys to run a repertoire of about 30 songs off their rich catalogue.

Some of the most-applauded numbers were "Pare Ko," "Maling Akala," "Overdrive," "Minsan," and the much-awaited "Ang Huling El Bimbo," the huge single that gave the band the best video award from MTV Asia back in the 90s.

The crowd was obviously egging the band to interact with each other more, with chants of the famed "group hug," to which the four responded with some friendly acts like Buendia and drummer Raymund Marasigan posing side by side while performing.

Before the concert, bassist Buddy Zabala said, "We can’t wait to do the show because we did the concert last year and we never got to finish it. This is our way of wrapping things up and saying thank you."

They did just that, plus more surprises.

For a while, Marasigan took center stage by singing three non-single Eraserheads gems in "Slo Mo", "Alkohol" and "Insomya." Lead guitarist Marcus Adoro got amiable reaction from the audience for singing and tune-twisting another Eraserheads hit in "Huwag Mo Nang Itanong". These were not usual scenarios in terms of the group's live set-up.

Other album tracks done live and well were "Walang Nagbago", "Poor Man's Grave", "Waiting For The Bus", "Fine Time", Combeback To Me" and "Wishing Wells", one of the better tracks they performed via an acoustic set-up with Buendia seated on a couch.

Perhaps the most touching moment came when they paid tribute to the late Francis Magalona who died of leukemia just last Friday noon. The master rapper was scheduled to perform as guest, being a close friend of the band. Francis M. did rapping chores near the end of "Superproxy", the opening cut of the band’s most successful album "Cutterpillow."

Eraserheads broke the streak of purely 'Eheads songs' by delivering the chorus of Magalona’s "Kaleidoscope World" as people sang along. Ely shouted from the top of his lungs. "Sumigaw tayo para kay Francis! I want you to dance for Francis!"

Other notable tracks performed were "Julie Tearjerky", "Maskara", "Spoliarium" and "Tikman."

The concert was the result of the cut-short reunion show held at the Fort on August 30 last year, six years after their break-up. The group did not include most of the songs they performed the last time. Those that made it still were arranged differently like "Alapaap" and "Huwag Mo Nang Itanong."

By the time "...El Bimbo" was performed, fireworks illuminated the sky and Ely did a bang of a stunt by setting the top of a piano on fire. The long awaited group hug came through as the four, along with "fifth Eraserhead" and Itchyworms drummer Jazz Nicolas (who played back-up musician all throughout the show) bowed their heads with arms on each other's shoulders.

The show could have ended from there. But the Eraserheads seemed serious in stating they won't perform together for the next ten years at least. They went back on stage for one more hurrah and sang three more: "Ligaya", "Sembreak" and "Toyang."

In the early 90s, Eraserheads released their debut album "Ulatraelectromagneticpop!" and successfully brought local alternative rock into mainstream recognition. Their other notable albums are "Circus", "Sticker Happy", the Christmas special "Fruitcake" and "Aloha Milky Way" which was released in neighboring Asian countries.