Do I get a better reason to skip college????
My "God of Music" played the city that evening. More than 150 minutes in the line at the venue paid off well. Was just 10 feet from BA; probably the happiest moment of my life till then. And until now too. What is it like, to stand this close to someone who you follow so religiously, to someone who's given you your musical identity, your passion for music - I found out on Feb 4th., 2006. Here goes...
The techies started flitting on and offstage checking the lights, bringing on the guitars n basses; teasing the crowd. Then finally after an agonising 30 minutes of soundcheck, everybody vacated the stage, the lights dimmed, the crowd suddenly went silent and five dark figures appeared from backstage.
As I saw that one of them had the ROOM SERVICE strat strapped on, I had an instant cramp in my stomach due to sheer excitement while screaming my guts out for it was known that THE GOD was here. I couldn't believe it and as I write this on the more than 20 months down the line, I still can't.
The haunting opening riff of Room Service hit my ears leading into what would be a rollercoaster ride of 24 songs and 2 and 1/2 hours. Cruising through Somebody and This Time (a joy to hear live), he introduced Open Road, the band settled into the standard setlist ripping through one song after the other to MASSIVE sing alongs. BA didn't need to sing at all given that a (from what I hear) 35,000 strong crowd was doing lead vocals on stuff like 18 Til I Die, Can't Stop, et al. In fact, the chants of the Summer Of '69 lead riff were on for a good couple of minutes even after the song had ended. After the ever so beautiful Everything I Do, He launched into Cuts Like A Knife resulting in total frenzy. Amruta, a pharmacy student from Bangalore got to sing with him on When You're Gone. Lucky chick!
A little later He picked what was (to me) the GEM of the evening - Hearts On Fire, which featured some wonderful guitars by the great K-man (but The Best Was Yet To Come). Next up was Kids Wanna Rock (a sight for sore eyes). The mid-song guitar battle was a total laugh riot with the 'crying' act that they put on (guitars doing sounds and faces doing expressions = HILARIOUS). Heaven (and I'm Ready a little while earlier) was played to a sea of mobile phones giving the many love birds out there a few romantic moments.
Everyone by now was deeply caught in the magic of BA's music. He decided to get down to some serious business, to unleash the man few would dare to challenge on the axe - KEITH SCOTT. Its Only Love had him doing an Oh-my-God-what-is-that kind of a thing only he can do with the guitar. That song truly rocks. They ended the set with The Only Thing and went off the stage after the usual band introduction. But everyone knew it was much too soon. As expected, they came out for the encore consisting which had BA actually coming down into the crowds during The Best Of Me. They once again took a bow and left.
BA again came back, this time alone to bid a goodbye for the last time. He did it with his voice and his accoustic only. He walked across the stage, took his bows, gave his thank yous and finally left the stage. This time it was for real. He came, He played and left us all satisfied to the core.
Bliss!!!! Thank You Lord, Thank You BA!!! Long live...
HIGHLIGHTS :
The WHOLE gig - I was bloody 10 feet away from BA, can you believe that????
SUPERFUZZ - Opening act \m/
Hearts' On Fire
Its Only Love - All hail Keith Scott
Keith n BA's guitar battle
.jpg)
CREDITS :
BA - Guitar n Vocals
Keith Scott - Lead Guitar n Backing Vocals
Mickey Curry - Drums n Backing Vocals
Gary Breit - Keyboards, Piano n Backing Vocals
Norm Fisher - Bass n Backing Vocals
Varad n Abhishek - Lead Vocals n AIR GUITAR :P
SETLIST :
01. Room Service.
02. Somebody.
03. This Time.
04. Open Road.
05. 18 'Til I Die.
06. Lets Make A Night To Remember.
07. Can't Stop This Thing We Started.
08. Back To You.09. Summer Of '69.
10. Everything I Do (I Do It For You).
11. Cuts Like A Knife.
12. When You're Gone (with Amruta).
13. I'm Ready.
14. Hearts On Fire.
15. Kids Wanna Rock.
16. Heaven.
17. Its Only Love.
18. The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You.
*encore*
19. Cloud Number Nine.
20. Run To You.
21. The Best Of Me.
*encore*
*accoustic*
22. Please Forgive Me.
23. All For Love.
24. Room Service.
*accoustic*
My "God of Music" played the city that evening. More than 150 minutes in the line at the venue paid off well. Was just 10 feet from BA; probably the happiest moment of my life till then. And until now too. What is it like, to stand this close to someone who you follow so religiously, to someone who's given you your musical identity, your passion for music - I found out on Feb 4th., 2006. Here goes...
The techies started flitting on and offstage checking the lights, bringing on the guitars n basses; teasing the crowd. Then finally after an agonising 30 minutes of soundcheck, everybody vacated the stage, the lights dimmed, the crowd suddenly went silent and five dark figures appeared from backstage.
As I saw that one of them had the ROOM SERVICE strat strapped on, I had an instant cramp in my stomach due to sheer excitement while screaming my guts out for it was known that THE GOD was here. I couldn't believe it and as I write this on the more than 20 months down the line, I still can't.
The haunting opening riff of Room Service hit my ears leading into what would be a rollercoaster ride of 24 songs and 2 and 1/2 hours. Cruising through Somebody and This Time (a joy to hear live), he introduced Open Road, the band settled into the standard setlist ripping through one song after the other to MASSIVE sing alongs. BA didn't need to sing at all given that a (from what I hear) 35,000 strong crowd was doing lead vocals on stuff like 18 Til I Die, Can't Stop, et al. In fact, the chants of the Summer Of '69 lead riff were on for a good couple of minutes even after the song had ended. After the ever so beautiful Everything I Do, He launched into Cuts Like A Knife resulting in total frenzy. Amruta, a pharmacy student from Bangalore got to sing with him on When You're Gone. Lucky chick!
A little later He picked what was (to me) the GEM of the evening - Hearts On Fire, which featured some wonderful guitars by the great K-man (but The Best Was Yet To Come). Next up was Kids Wanna Rock (a sight for sore eyes). The mid-song guitar battle was a total laugh riot with the 'crying' act that they put on (guitars doing sounds and faces doing expressions = HILARIOUS). Heaven (and I'm Ready a little while earlier) was played to a sea of mobile phones giving the many love birds out there a few romantic moments.
Everyone by now was deeply caught in the magic of BA's music. He decided to get down to some serious business, to unleash the man few would dare to challenge on the axe - KEITH SCOTT. Its Only Love had him doing an Oh-my-God-what-is-that kind of a thing only he can do with the guitar. That song truly rocks. They ended the set with The Only Thing and went off the stage after the usual band introduction. But everyone knew it was much too soon. As expected, they came out for the encore consisting which had BA actually coming down into the crowds during The Best Of Me. They once again took a bow and left.
BA again came back, this time alone to bid a goodbye for the last time. He did it with his voice and his accoustic only. He walked across the stage, took his bows, gave his thank yous and finally left the stage. This time it was for real. He came, He played and left us all satisfied to the core.
Bliss!!!! Thank You Lord, Thank You BA!!! Long live...
HIGHLIGHTS :
The WHOLE gig - I was bloody 10 feet away from BA, can you believe that????
SUPERFUZZ - Opening act \m/
Hearts' On Fire
Its Only Love - All hail Keith Scott
Keith n BA's guitar battle
.jpg)
CREDITS :
BA - Guitar n Vocals
Keith Scott - Lead Guitar n Backing Vocals
Mickey Curry - Drums n Backing Vocals
Gary Breit - Keyboards, Piano n Backing Vocals
Norm Fisher - Bass n Backing Vocals
Varad n Abhishek - Lead Vocals n AIR GUITAR :P
SETLIST :
01. Room Service.
02. Somebody.
03. This Time.
04. Open Road.
05. 18 'Til I Die.
06. Lets Make A Night To Remember.
07. Can't Stop This Thing We Started.
08. Back To You.09. Summer Of '69.
10. Everything I Do (I Do It For You).
11. Cuts Like A Knife.
12. When You're Gone (with Amruta).
13. I'm Ready.
14. Hearts On Fire.
15. Kids Wanna Rock.
16. Heaven.
17. Its Only Love.
18. The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You.
*encore*
19. Cloud Number Nine.
20. Run To You.
21. The Best Of Me.
*encore*
*accoustic*
22. Please Forgive Me.
23. All For Love.
24. Room Service.
*accoustic*
- Varad "Daddy Doodle" Wategaonkar
2 comments:
d account of d event was just awesome! n i hate my exams vich coincided wid d date of d concert even more ...
Hmm ..I don't understand why you're doing the review at this time of the year :P
Post a Comment