SWAT Concert – Bandra Amphitheater, 02 December 2009

WHAT: India’s first smoke-free concert, presented by SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) (Event Facebook page)

WHERE: Bandra Amphitheater, Land’s End, Bandra, Mumbai

WHEN: 02 December, 2009

WHO: Vidyadhar Bhave and A Detached Foundation, Radio, Ash Chandler, Rhys Sebastian, Reverb, Blakc, Jimmy Felix, Sharon Prabhakar, Sceptre

Okay, before I start this review, let me get your reaction to this line: A rock concert sans smoking. Better yet, hosted by a group of well-meaning students, trying to dissuade fellow students from taking up smoking. Headlining bands: Blakc and Sceptre, by the way, not the neighbourhood church organ group. I can almost hear the collective ‘pschaw!’ as you read this.

But yes, that’s what the students of EMDI, the guys behind SWAT, brought to us. And before I say anything about the quality of performances, I’d like to give a huge shout-out to EMDI and SWAT for just having the balls to do something like this. I, a simple gig reviewer by night (social media professional by day), was greeted with immense cynicism when I said I was going for a ‘smoke-free’ gig, I can just imagine what these guys must have gone through, trying to get the rock fraternity to agree to a gig like this. It was pretty well organized, the intent was there, the sound, stage, security, were all very professionally done. Yes, it got quite preachy at times (especially with the AVIs), but it was still a good effort and I hope they managed to get their message across to some walking chimneys.

Onto the show itself now. I came in 20 minutes late, and didn’t catch too much of Vidyadhar Bhave (and a Detached Foundation), but I did catch the song that he said was special to him, and landed him a record deal with Times Music. That went off nicely, unfortunately he followed it up with a cover of Turn the Page. Unfortunate because he seemed to be doing okay till then. And then he commits the mistake that separates good stage performers from bathroom singers – tried to sing like James Hetfield and Bob Seger combined. Now, James has one of those voices you think is very easily replicable. I too, in my foolish youth, tried to perform versions of Unforgiven - II in my hostel loo, thinking I’d pulled off a decent Hetfield, only to have my roommates threaten to cut off water supply if I’d carried on. So there you go. Bhave went all over Hetfield and Bob Seger, trying to get somewhere between a Californian and Michigan accent. It was a decent performance on the whole, but there was just so much drawl you would’ve been happier if he’d just stuck to another of those originals. And yes, the song also had a sax player, which was a real treat, good to see bands experimenting with instruments (Something Relevant, anybody?).

Following an inane ‘game’ by an RJ (the type of game you generally hire a clown to do for your son’s 5^th birthday to entertain a group of KG students), in came Radio, a band who unabashedly sang in Hindi. Well, they weren’t endeared to the metchul audience who learnt that they performed the song Musafir from the cult (hehe) movie, Rock On!!. And I’m not kidding, check this out. Most of their stuff was pretty decent pop-rock Hindi stuff, not Jatin-Lality enough to drive the Sceptre fans away, and still rockish enough to make Bollywood fans feel they were moving up the music ladder. I quite liked these guys, especially a song written for ‘any guys here who’ve broken up recently?’ (heh!). The chorus went ‘Teri Chu… Churiyon… Teri Ma…’ etc. and I still can’t get it out of my head. I wish they had a video of this song up somewhere, quite fun. They also did a cover of Kula Shaker’s Govinda Jaya Jaya, probably the first time an Indian band has covered a Western band who sang in Hindi. Whatever.

Then came Ash Chandler, an comedian who lives in the Americas (no! Where have we heard that story before!), quite decent with jokes about Indian negotiation skills (too bad the crowd were a little dead), also did a couple of songs before leaving the stage for the superb Rhys Sebastian, sax par excellence. Check out some of his work at the Indo Jazz fusion at Goa, here.

Then came the disappointment of the evening, a band called Reverb. And nothing was more disastrous than the opening statement, “you guys have had a heavy dose of originals so far…”. To be fair to the bunch, they seemed to do a decent version of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, before going into two of the most difficult-to-sing-unless-your-surname-is-Perry-or-Jovi songs there are, I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing and Always. It didn’t help that these were not exactly the most popular of songs with those adorned in Slayer and Behemoth tee-shirts, either. They band ended with a painful rendition of Comfortably Numb, with the end solo being reduced to a T20 version, and that too a Kolkata Knight Rider version. They need to spruce up their singing, guitaring, work on their tightness (a lot!) and more importantly, stick to songs that they can perform within their abilities. They would have won over the audience if they’d stuck to Time of Your Life or Wish You Were Here. Maybe.

Then came the up-and-coming rock (or should I say rokc) act of the city, Blakc. Extremely tight, catchy, electric stage presence by vocalist Shawn, superb guitaring and drumming, fantastic basswork (Roop is one of the best slappers I’ve seen live, and I don’t mean that in a Harbhajan Singh way). Sadly, they could play only four songs, but that set the crowd alive. Dreamcast, Paper Doll, Rift (fantastic riff this has) and Field of Thought. Sadly, due to the time constraints, we couldn’t get more than four songs out of them. But these boys look damn good, and their upcoming album (Chokin’ on a Dream) should be greeted with much fanfare.

Then followed Jimmy Felix of erstwhile annoying-reality-show-leading-to-even-more-annoying-band Aasma fame, who sang Salaam-E-Ishq and really just got the audience back to the pre-Blakc energy levels. Sharon Prabhakar followed, with a decent rendition of Celine Dion’s I’m Alive. Here’s where I couldn’t help but feel that the organizers goofed up. In their attempt for variety perhaps, they sandwiched Jimmy and Sharon between Blakc and Sceptre. I mean, picture Boyzone and Justin Timberlake playing between Metallica and Lamb of God. Only the whole ‘goodwill’ nature of the concert itself perhaps kept the audience (or rather, the aforementioned Slayer-adorned segment) from revolting.

Finally, Sceptre came onstage, and absolutely owned whatever was left of the crowd. They went on to prove why they’re still one of the heavyweights of Indian metal, and through four power-filled tracks – Incomplete, Revolution, Enemy and Charred (written originally for 26/11, but relatable to the smoking theme here), ensured that some 50-odd Mumbaikars would wake up the next day with very sore necks. Twin guitars, killing double bass, fantastic low-end work and powerful vocals, everything you can ask for in a metal band, really.

So there we go. Highlights? Black and Sceptre, without a doubt. Song that refuses to go out of my head: Teri Chu by Radio. Funniest moment: When Ash Chandler (name itself was a pun waiting to happen) asked why there was a smoke machine at India’s first smoke-free show. Dissapointments: That the two best bands could play only 4 songs each. Cutest moment: Two little kids on stage with \m/ signs claiming they were Mumbai’s youngest rock fans.

All in all, a good evening spent. And it was free, too. A huge shout-out once again to SWAT and EMDI for doing this. A recommendation for next year: Keep the solo acts, pop acts and rock acts separate.

And well, as expected, there was a throng outside the cigarette shop just out of the venue. Oh well.

Deepak Gopalakrishnan aka Chuck is a social media professional who gorges on PG Wodehouse, jigsaw puzzles, Iron Maiden, Blackstratblues and cricket.  He tries to draw incessant observations on everything in life from auto drivers to bartenders. Atleast he tries to. He blogs at www.chroniclesofdementia.blogspot.com and tweets (like a maniac) at www.twitter.com/chuck_gopal.