Blackstrat’s Back!

Who: Blackstratblues (Warren Mendonsa, Vinay Lobo, Gaurav Gupta, Siddharth Coutto)

When: 19 March and 21 March 2010
Where: TSEC, Bandra and Blue Frog, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Those at I-Rock 2009 will remember the hero’s welcome that Warren was given. But a mucky day and Farhad Wadia’s inexplicable whims meant that the experience was so-so. In December-January, his three shows were fantastic and well-received, but were clearly overshadowed by something monumental - the Zero reunion tour (Oh look, a review!).

This time, it was Blackstrat all the way (I’d actually have liked an opening act). With his new lineup (Vinay Lobo on guitars, Gaurav Gupta on bass and perpetually-in-the-same-tee Siddharth Coutto on drums), Warren reminded us why he remains one of the most revered axemen the country has produced.

At Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, poor sound (and to a lesser extent, a poor choice of tone by Vinay on Anuva’s Sky’s arrpegio) marred what would have otherwise been a fantastic gig. However, at Blue Frog, it was acoustic brilliance and only a sloppy few seconds on Incense marred a perfect Blackstrat set.

Both gigs contained the now-standard opener, Incense and Anuva’s Sky. Some of his preferred covers (Muffinman by Frank Zappa and Third Stone From The Sun by Jimi Hendrix) were played, before Saba Azad (she of the ‘Fire’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love’ of previous Blackstrat tour fame) came on with ‘Buy You a Chevrolet’, a song I confess I haven’t heard myself. At TSEC, Sidd and Vinay combined for vocals.

All instrumentalists tried their hand at vox, but no one was more effective than Coutto, who showcased his multitude of talents (singing lead and drumming together is no mean feat) again.

There were no ‘surprises’, really - Ode To A Rainy Day, Blues For Gary, Lullabyebye were all dished out efficiently and brilliantly. The epic Ode To A Sunny Day deserves a special mention - any guitarist able to carry off the same riff for over 8 seconds HAS something. Vinay Lobo’s effects, as usual, were terrific - his slide guitaring filled the atmosphere perfectly. Post the Blackstrat gig, we were treated to a brilliant impromptu jam by New Zealand Airport (:P) with Amit Ahuja, the world’s happiest bassist, taking to stage.

Warren has promised he’ll work on Bombay Rain next time he visits. We’d love to see Spitleaf too (and the solo of Cry. And I Won’t Pick Up Your Phones. And… Ok, never mind)

Ah, and me and Warren conspired to make Varad (my co-interviewer)’s birthday extra special with Happy Birthday in A Major - watch the video here.

In the meantime, enjoy these two videos. Kudos to Blue Frog for awesome sound.