Was skipping Chaithu's annual day function for Opeth, worth it?

In fact if there is going to be another rock concert at the O.A.T. I.I.T Madras, I will not be going for it and wasting my time and money. I say this with over decades of experience of having been to shows there and all for this one reason - THE AUDIO SUCKS. The O.A.T is acoustically superb but it is the poor electronics that sucks and it sucks real bad. It is a pity that after years of being a "technology" institute the people behind such shows cannot fix this.

True I have been to great concerts with great sound there but many professional shows like this Rock Show just suck. Opeth was such a good band. I only wished they had performed elsewhere like in Bangalore where they have the right infra-structure to take care of such events. JethroTull in 1991 was fantastic but then again they hadn't performed at the O.A.T.

All you could hear in the Opeth's performance was thundering bass. I wonder if anyone could hear the keyboards. The lead guitarist barely audible and so was the lead singer's voice (though a good time was spent growling) and his guitar. Opeth could sway from complex rythms, hard riffs to lovely melodies. It was the melodies that gave me a break from the overdose of bass from the bassist and the very talented drummer. Here is one of their songs on YouTube (not recorded at the O.A.T). It was one of the songs you could enjoy listening to at Saarang, 2009.



Two other bands opened for Opeth. Demonic Resurrection (poor name for a band) from Bombay who also drowned their songs in bass. Their drummer was good too.

The only respite was Mother Jane who struck a chord with the audience with some catchy numbers. Brilliant solos and Carnatic licks on the lead guitar was welcomed by the audience. I was surprised how only their sound, sounded so clear inspite of hardly any tuning. But as they continued singing their vocalist grew stale on me.

So in the end did I miss Chaithu's annual day celebrations? Not really. I am going to watch it on DVD anyway.

I made friends with two headbangers, Vasanth and Siddharth who provided good company. Vasanth has already purchased tickets for the Iron Maiden concert in Feb. What am I wasting time for? Shouldn't I head to the place where concerts sound best.