Wolfgang frontman Basti Artadi addressed a viral video showing him ordering an audience member removed from the band’s reunion concert in Davao.
In a video posted on social media Tuesday, Artadi said the incident occurred while he was paying tribute to the band’s late bassist, Mon Legaspi, who passed away in October 2022.
He explained that some audience members disrupted the moment with political remarks, prompting his response.
“At that moment, I was paying tribute to a very important person in our band who’s no longer with us. I was paying tribute to him, to Mon Legaspi,” Artadi said.
“A couple of people chose that moment to try and separate people, and that was bastos. Simple as that. It was bastos,” he added.
The lead vocalist was referring to the longtime bassist of Wolfgang, Legaspi who died of cardiac arrest in October 2022.
Artadi emphasized that he and his bandmates were in Davao “to make people smile, to bring people together, and for everyone to have a good time.”
“Speaking of Bastos, everybody that's now spreading this and making it into something that it isn't and whatever and it's a political thing now and this and that, you're just separating us some more and you are making Mon Bastos again,” he said.
He warned against politicizing the incident, saying online reactions were “designed to separate us and make us hate each other.”
“The people should love each other. Because at the end of the day, we are the ones who will help ourselves, not the politicos, because the politicos will take care of themselves,” he stressed
The viral clip shows an audience member shouting, 'F*ck you, BBM,' apparently referring to President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., a political rival of the Davao-based Duterte family.
Artadi responded, urging the hecklers to take their political statements elsewhere.
“If you want to do your freedom of speech, go to the fu— hallways and do it there because right here, this is rock n’ roll country,” Artadi told the crowd.
He eventually had the heckler removed, prompting cheers before the band performed their song “Anino.”
Meanwhile, Wolfgang is currently on a reunion tour across the Philippines, with the final concert scheduled in Cebu on April 19.
