First time to live concert

I'm fond of music. I like to listen and forget myself in the very flow of it. But till now I have been listening to recorded tapes or CDs. This was the first time I ever attended a live concert. It was organized as part of cultural fest by IIM-B and was open for entire bangalore.

When B suggested we give it a go, I decided it's time to try it out! So B, R and me planned together and reached there by 7.00. The show was supposed to start at 6.30 by the ticket and 7.00 by the banners there. B said it is usual for the show to get delayed. We calculated it to be around 8.00. By that time R and me were terribly hungry and wanted to have some pet-puja done immediately. Finding a loooooong queue for the entry to the ground, we decided we sit and chat for sometime till the crowd dissipates. We were in the grounds by 8.30. With the sweet aroma of foods teasing our already roaring stomach, we walked straight towards the food counters, praying for some more delay to the program till we are finished :) We tried some fried rice to fill and some chat for timepass. I liked the chat better.

It was now 8.45 and the crowd was getting impatient already. There were continuous ads in the big screen, about SBI atms, one of the main sponsors, that was worsening the temper of the audience. Finally, the show started with the Pak band "Jal" singing the opening song "Woh Lamhe, Woh yaadein..." I was standing at quite a distance from the stage, protected from the blaring sounds and flashing lights, right enough to enjoy them though. It was pure magic, to hear them play and sing right in front of you, with audience cheering and waving and applauding... the show lights dancing to the beats and splashing colors... "What it is to be there on the stage with all spotlights focussed on you and you have hundreds of people waiting down there to hear your voice, wanting you to sing for them!" Wow... now I understand the thrill of attending live concerts and going crazy not bothering about the heavy ticket charges. Jal sang some 7-8 songs in total. I haven't heard most of their songs and couldnot relate to them. But I frankly felt they were all sounding so similar. Anyway, their voice was just beautiful, with a touch of sadness - a longing to it that made their song that big a hit.

When they were done with, it was Shivamani's stage now. He wore a white sleeveless top with his head covered with some sort of white cloth connected to his shirt. He was wearing a chain made of big rudhraskha beads. He was maestro there, in the middle of his huge collection of drums of different types and sizes arranged all around him. He started off with Ohmkara and some cosmic background base tune on top of which he was sprinkling lavishly, sounds from his own drums, interspersed with his own voice of 'thakida thakka junu...' I was absolutely thrilled to see him blowing a shankh in between his drumming. Is that all? No, he had got salangai (ghungrus) too that he was using to diversify the sounds he produced. "Is there anything that he cannot do?", people were wondering. The big screen closing in on him was the only way we confirmed he was actually producing those sounds! It was absolute ecstacy... The beats that were thrown out of his hands, the sticks dancing and rotating in the air, the sound resonating in everybody's ears saying, "Now, just shut up and listen!" We were mesmerrised. The beats from modern to folk enthralled everyone. There were few people who started dancing to his beats, unable to hold themselves in control. He was GOD there! I felt bad that I couldnot jump and enjoy like others :(( I could see someone waving their crutches in cheer. What an enthu!

Then was the combined performance of Jal and Shivamani. Shivamani was all over the stage coming up with something different every time and Jal's guitarist was trying to give equal competition to his beats. Out of the world, it was! There were no boundaries, no nationalities, no differences... the music merged everybody there into one single base. What a feeling!