EXCITING MUSIC STILL HAPPENS in unlikeliest places. At the Food Village of Tiendesitas in Pasig on a hot Wednesday night, the Juan De La Cruz band brazenly dusted the moss off its fading musical legacy, even as another performer, a 10-year old guitar whiz, kicked the jams with dizzying riffs and runs.

JOEY “Pepe” Smith took the stage with original band mates Mike Hanopol and Wally Gonzalez amid shrieks and whoops.

These days, a food court is hardly the proper venue to unveil a sort of comeback. Around the time when JDC’s Pepe Smith, Wally Gonzalez and Mike Hanopol were certified rock stars, restos were the preserve of struggling cover bands. Shakey’s Pizza parlor, the Harrison Food Plaza and beerhouses along Recto reverberated with unpolished versions of Top 40 hits by unsigned wannabes.

On this night, JDC seemed bent on revisiting its salad days. It’s a free gig, so it’s a wild guess on what kind of revitalizing spirit a crowd of hungry as well as sated diners, and a motley section of noisy, non-paying onlookers, would invoke.

When the clock struck half past 10 p.m., the figures of Smith, Hanopol and Gonzalez appeared unannounced onstage. Expat session man Chris Messer sat behind the drums. The band stood in repose against a dim backdrop bathed in a white, smoky haze.

Shrieks and whistles

As Smith crooned the opening lines to “Maskara,” the Food Village erupted in a din of shrieks, whistles and whoops. Then the drums kicked in and Gonzalez’s guitar wailed behind a thin curtain of smoke. No question about it, Pinoy rock’s juggernaut had arrived.

By the second verse of “Maskara,” Smith whirled once, guitar held high in the air, and then the band shifted the song effortlessly from a slow-moving burner into a rocking rave- up. Imagine today’s Rico Blanco transitioning his quiet ballads seamlessly into the sizzling rock of Hilera.

With no more than a name check on the song titles, the band lobbed a trio of charging rockers with “Pinoy Blues,” “Nadapa sa Arina” and “Beep Beep.”

“Balong Malalim” and “Kagatan” kept up the blistering pace before the band settled into the goose-bumping caress of “Wally’s Blues.”

SESSION drummer Chris Messer

Then it was “Blues Train” to some backwoods terrain, but the more astounding feat had to be the group’s weirdly Goth rock spin on “Langit.” Starting with lyrics that pictured the heavens in Golgotha, Hanopol sang in pasyon-like mode while the rest of the band cooked up a sonic brew that married hard rock with dream pop.

With Texan import Messer happily hammering away on drums, the band lifted the impending gloom with “Titser’s Enemy No. 1” and “(Laki Sa Layaw) Jeproks”. A raucous jam around “Himig Natin” ended the main show before JDC called it a night, with a roaring “Rak en Rol sa Ulan.”

Smith let loose a few cuss words for the troublemakers among the audience, before flashing the peace sign and turning towards the backstage.

Show promoter Monette Pura claimed the band didn’t have time to rehearse. But it seemed an under-rehearsed Juan De La Cruz plays deadlier and meaner — the kind of inspired performance that should earn accolades overseas when the band tours the United States once more starting this month.

The second act on the three-way concert bill proved to be a fitting opener to the ageless godfathers of Pinoy rock. A trio who called itself Luis and the Uods featured a 10-year old wunderkind on electric guitar.

Advance word had it that the kid, Luis Galang, is an excellent blues master; but his performance at Tiendesitaas showcased a penchant for slick jazz-blues fusion.

The Uods opened its set with a cover of Steve Vai’s “Tender Surrender,” apparently to connect at once with the crowd. It allowed Galang to present his finger-picking dexterity on his axe.

The band moved on to two Eric Johnson numbers, cementing the wonder boy’s reputation as a gifted guitar-slinger. The group’s last piece, Paul Gilbert’s “Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar,” swung from quiet blues runs to a storm-tossed wall of classical sounds. All the while, Galang maintained his focus on the fretboard, his face half-hidden in a mass of long hair.

GUITARIST Wally Gonzalez, bassist Mike Hanopol (hidden) and vocalist Pepe Smith

He definitely has the technique down pat, and time and experience will hopefully add emotional weight to his performance.

His father, Jun Galang, said his boy started messing with Guns ’N Roses songs at age 7. The kid discovered his present heroes, the fast-playing Vai, Gilbert and company, on YouTube. The boy has his own YouTube channel, luismetalkid, where he displays more of his electric shredding skills.

The first performer, the Crosspath band, regaled the early patrons with covers of hits from Journey, Evanescence and Air Supply.