Articles - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - 18 Comments

Independence Rock ? What??

Over the past four years (that’s about when I first attended the event), I’ve heard tons of people talk about Independence Rock in its heyday at Rang Bhavan – when it was held on the 15th of August, when advertising the event wasn’t THAT big a priority and above all, when the bands that played then were nothing like the one’s that do now. There’s a pattern here – the quality of music, originality and performances on the whole are simply deteriorating. Days before the event, rumours flew about I-Rock being a money-making and publicity gimmick (Especially after ‘The Works’ qualified for the Mumbai eliminations), how the audience had transformed – from true patrons of rock ‘n’ roll to posers in Black coloured Iron Maiden tee’s and how the organisers made sure they catered – and catered well – to such an audience. But after all of this and more, I didn’t change my opinion, looking forward to the event in the same way that I have since the beginning – with an open mind, unaware of any of the bands playing (excluding Black, considering they were finalists last year), hoping to have a good, in fact, great time. Sure there are some really bad acts every year, that’s permitted – but this year, even the ones that were headlining on Day 2 were rather disappointing. 

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