Filipino
Beatle tribute band REO Brothers lived up to its expectation and captivated d its Sydney fans including many Baby Boomers who trooped to the band’s performance at the Burwood RSL Club in Burwood, NSW.
Billed as TY OZ or Thank You Australia, the show was a “charity concert for Help-after-Haiyan and community projects “ as organised by the Filipino Community Cooperative, Inc, convenor of the Hiyas Ng Bayan Daycare Centre in Mt Pritchard, NSW.
The show was produced and presented by Filipino Communty Cooperative with Cebu Pacific. Named as collaborating groups were Banag Banag, Inc; Bicol Inc, CFC Ancop Australia, Flagcom,and Ilocano Association of Australia.
Already well known among Filipino communities outside the Philippines, the REO brothers captured the admiration of Filipino Baby Boomer fans of Beatles music , attracting many to dance to the beat of old Beatle favourites such as “Help”, “Hey Jude”, “All You Need Is Love” , “With a Little Help from My Friends” and other sound-alike pieces from Beach Boys, Dave Clark 5, and Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
A group of Baby Boomer women who drove all the way from Caberra for the night out gave a separate special donation for the Typhoon Haiyan victims, at the show.
The REO Brothers are Reno, 24, RJ 22, Rayart, 20 and Ralph 18 years old. The group’s rose from proverbial poverty after the devastation brought by the super typhoon to their city of Tacloban had become inspirational ever since the band’ relocation to Manila to build up their career as a band
Says Raymart in a promotional youtube clip: “There was nothing for us, no clubs and other venues, in Tacloban City after Haiyan.”
REO Brothers were fortunate enough to have performed as support acts for such international stars as Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Sanchez, Charice and Filipino Amerian Bobby Lopez.
Officers and staff of Filipino Community Cooperative who acted as the core of volunteers made the REO Brothers’ stay in Sydney memorable facilitating the band’s two shows in Sydney and showing Sydney’s favourite tourist sites.
Filipino Community Cooperative also hosted in June last year the back-to-back performance of X Factor 2013 series Sydney winner Dami Im and Israel 2013 X Factor series winner Ros Fostanes
REO Brothers were accompanied by their manager Mr Tom Bangis.