Good events to look forward to...and some notes...

After the rains and the cool climate prevailing in Chennai it's that the time of the year filled with events such as concerts and the infamous Saarang at I.I.T, Madras that will take place in January 2007.

But first let me remind you of the event that will be taking place on the 17'th of December at Palace Grounds, Bangalore. If you missed them the last time, here they are again, "Deep Purple" in concert. Breaking the news at work caused outbursts of excitement. Binny, my friend in Bangalore who couldn't accompany me to the "Uriah Heep" concert in February this year at last can go for this one with me. A bunch of guys from work will also be coming. Can't wait for the 17'th to see Gillan, Glover, Paice and Steve Morse in action. Only Blackmore and John Lord will be missed but the replacements have been very good indeed.

Wonder who are pro's lined up for Saarang 2007. It is difficult to forget 2006's disaster at the Led Zepplica's show. First for Parikrama's waste-of-time opening where they were trying to rock the crowd to "Sare Jahan se Acha" now being performed by almost every rock band in India. Donno who started it. I had an idea about it too many years ago. Led Zepplica though starting late put on an awesome performance till time restrictions made authorities to request the band to actually stop performing. What a sucker that was. The band gets back on stage and after asking the crowd to cool down begin and when the guitar solo is just about to begin on "Stairway to Heaven" the power to the stage is unplugged and the concert comes to a shameful end. I cannot believe such a thing happened. Luckily I wasn't at the concert for reasons I explained earlier in posts many months ago.

There are other things that can be improved at Saarang. During Saarang and Mardi Gras (Saarang's earlier incarnation) I don't know why authorities get very touchy. My friend wasn't allowed to take his inhaler inside the O.A.T. Can't the dumb authorities find the difference from an inhaler and a pot-smoker's pipe? Do they expect an ashthmatic person to be without his/her inhaler? That was real sick. For the Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy concert, ladies and gents were forced into separate queues. Imagine the confusion. Also ladies who were found to be carrying big bags were forced to go back and re-join the mile long queues after disposing their big bags for safe-keeping. The Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy concert touted at the biggest ever Light Music show at the Saarang was disappointing on several grounds. Although Shankar did a good job at singing and presenting (oh yes, he did call the ladies on stage for a song, then the hardworking student co-ordinators of the show and later singers Vijay Yesudas and Srinivas on stage, and even confessed he wrote the JEE twice and without success) he got away without even singing one "Tamil" song. It was a complete surprise considering the number of Tamil hits he has. Why, even the movie "Aalavandhan" had music composed by the trio. You also don't begin a concert by saying you'd only be singing Hindi songs. That was a big let-down for his Chennai fans.

Another thing from an audiophile perspective is the audio. After the initial songs the crowds start singing and dancing so loudly the audio is hardly audible. All you hear is "bass", "bass" and "bass". While the dancing and screaming folks are not concerned as long as they are able to hear a beat, the others who came to enjoy the music are at a total loss. The audio certainly needs to be louder and clearer for these special shows. O.A.T is acoustically a very good venue afterall. And finally, one thing that needs to be avoided is to stop introducing the performers. IT IS REALLY SICK! Imagine introducing Uriah Heep on stage. Why let some unknown student hiding behind a mike, with first-time (or seems like the first time) talking-and-presenting-skills to introduce a band who hardly need an introduction. Or better still, introduce the performers with zest and fervour (like how they introduce the basketball stars at N.B.A games) or a simple "I.I.T, Are you ready for "performer"? instead of reading out the resume of the band and their memebers. I.I.T, let's get professional. You can.

Let's wait and see what Saarang 2007 promises.