From the category archives:

rock

Saturday Night at Bangalore circa March 2008

by Sujoy on March 28, 2008

in rock

STYX entrance

If you are a rock-addict( I mean music, and nothing related to Geology or Paleontology) in India, and you love Beer and the subsequent alcoholic preparations, and your wardrobe fashion is dominated by those Black tees flaunting the GnR, Metallica and Sabbath prints, you know which is the best place to hang out. It is Bangalore! Especially when it’s concert season. I was there for the “Rock in India” concert and the air was breathing and smelling rock , I mean grass, I mean the fragrance of beer burps, I mean all of that. We’ll talk about the concert later, here we are talking about the eternal escapism for a Rocker like me, on a Rock weekend at the Rock Mecca of India-Bangalore.The journey begins on 15th March 2008, a day after the Big-Rock in India Concert-at 6 pm from my friends’ place at Jayanagar. There’s rain and there’s Bangy’s infamous,static and most irritating traffic jams. But I was more than ready to brave all of them for the Booze, the Bass, the Beeotches at the Bar and of course Bang Bang Headbanging. Do you know the concept of Party hopping where you are so restless enough to be at more than one party on a single night. Try that when 5 glasses of LAGER are already down your throat. Anyway, first venue- STYX at MG Road. It’s still raining. Thanks to my pal’s Raincoat, I am 70% drenched. I am waiting for my friends -Praxy and Harshal to arrive.And here they are (see pic below, I am the chinki guy).

Me, Praxy and Harshal aka WALF

A cover charge of 200 bucks on a Saturday Night-pretty decent. And as we walk up the stairs, I can see a few chicks trying hard to speak on the phone and a few others staring at them. The doors open and I am hit by a WALL of shreddding guitars. It’s Hetfield and his army and the black tee brigade with the long hairs is echoing -Master ! Master! Instant reaction : Yeah with a devil’s horns Up!!! Walk straight to the Bar. [Continue Reading…]

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Somewhere Back in Time – Mumbai GIG in Pictures

by Sujoy on February 6, 2008

in concerts,rock

If you are one of those lazy bums who just can’t sit through the 1285 words of my previous post on the Maiden Gig in Mumbai, this is for you. And for those Maiden Maniacs like me, this is definitely for you. And for those who missed it, burn , burn, burn in ENVY!!!

The Story in Pictures .
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The Pass

The Pass

The Prophet

[Continue Reading…]

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Metal Mayhem Mumbai Maiden-Somewhere Back in Time

by Sujoy on February 6, 2008

in concerts,Reviews,rock

Somewhere Back in TimeIn the beginning, there was darkness. And the Devil said,” Let there be Metal”. So Sir Winston Churchill speaketh, “…. we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” and the cymbals hit hard with the guitars riffing. Mumbai screams in unison, the bass commands us to Jump, the lights go haywire, and Bruce Almighty jumps out of nowhere , over the monitors in his army cargos, and orders

“Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live. Aces high.”

I was there. HELL YEAH! I look around to see only one reaction, the headbanging, the fingers closed perfectly to show the devil’s horn and the music taking control. IRON MAIDEN ripped us all apart. And when you just wanted to take a breather, the shredder reveals another killer with the drums rolling to the Anti-War Anthem “2 Minutes to Midnight”. The crowd goes frenzy, and chaos prevails. My first bruise, my first kick on a guy’s back (now his T-Shirt reads the mirror image of Size 9), and even more jumps and pushes. Ladies who were expecting some sort of courtesy and ahem, respect, got the unexpected answers. Hilarious it was, when a lady started to roam around searching for her lost boyfriend, and my pal told her, Auntie, you won’t be able to manage yourself in the first row. It took her not more than two minutes to realize that.

Aces High

Track 3: The very AC/DC-ish Revelations. The crowd responds as Bruce commands and that’s what you expect at a Maiden gig. Personally, not one of my Maiden favorites, and add to that, the great fall of Sujoy. I do a “Konhi to Konhi” (elbow to elbow) Dance to stand up, to be pushed down furthermore. And before I could even realize, I was at row 10 from the barricade. I somehow managed to get a breather when Dicksinson engaged the crowd with his English English. My dear neighbors thought I had passed out , I replied , not yet!! Yeah right! Unaware of what was coming up next. Track 4: “The Trooper” [Continue Reading…]

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4 hours to Maiden

by Sujoy on February 2, 2008

in Reviews,rock

Iron Maiden MumbaiPrelude: It all begins at the Volvo stand of Pune, near Nandu’s Paratha house, on Jan 31st, the day before the gig. Or is it, umm, Jan 21st, Planet M, MG Road, when I bought the tickets? Screw it. The excitement all began with the first rumors that emerged on various online forums that the Devil’s Official Children-Iron Maiden were coming, yet again, to make our ears bleed and reign our souls with their Metal-this time, not so far from here. I reached Mumbai on the 31st at 1:00 am, thanks to Neeta Volvo’s extremely “relaxed” pace.

Feb 1 Morning:10:00 am. Shit!Shit!Shit! Waking up to a Stomach Upset on a Maiden Concert day. Things weren’t as “green” as I wished they were. I mean the day. I had to rush for breakfast, coz I wanted to reach the venue ASAP. Had Chole Bhature for Breakfast cum Lunch and two glasses of water. Took a Bath, got into the Auto, oh yeah! got dressed, not in that order. Auto Waala was Shaana and knew that I didn’t know squat about Mumbai. So he took me for a RIDE. Ghatkopar West se Bandra Kurla ke beech main 3 flyovers paar kiya. ( He crossed 3 flyovers from Ghatkopar West to Bandra Kurla). And so I reached BKC somehow, amidst all the chaos of Kurla. The Namaaz was going as usual; the Mikes were playing the usual Himmess. And the crowd as busy and lost in the hustle- no one with any idea of the Mayhem that was about to get unleashed. But then, as I approached the venue, things seemed a little more familiar. Auto Rickshaws, Cars, and People Walking towards a Banner that read- To Iron Maiden Concert Venue. And before I knew, I had my devil’s horn on my right hand. [Continue Reading…]

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Chulbul Pandey