Bangalore is a city which more often than not gets to host some kind of international concert (This way this city is far better than Delhi and just behind Mumbai). This city is blessed with a rock culture groomed over a long period. For rock lovers this a place to be for the probability of seeing their demi-GODS is very high.
In a sense Bangalore has given me a double treat. First with Deep Purple and then with Iron Maiden. Unfortunately I hardly listen to either of them. But the very fact that an international band was performing was too good to be true ,thus not going as a choice was ruled out long before. The concert brings in the pressure of familiarizing oneself with the songs so that one doesn't stand there as a fool. A whole week was spend by my friend for its preparation. But I think I belong to a different breed. My abnormality doesn't make me feel like listening to the band which I am going to listen. Rather its after the concert I feel like listening to them . When everything is over. When I could have done without listening to those bands as before. But thats the way I am.
Any ways both the concert were great treats. Deep Purple were great in its presence. Great in visibility . Visibility is important because of my short height, in a standing concert ,I could hardly see anything. But in my first concert I ensured to be in queue hours before along with a few bottles of beer inside my system. This in turn ensured my good mood and an advantage view point in the front. However unknown were the songs my spirits did not die down. In concerts of unfamiliar bands more often than not one just try mime the lyrics of the song being played so as to look like belonging to the group. And I had no qualms in doing just that. The recipe is simple ,have alcohol in your system and you can belong to any group and mimic anyone. Sky is the limit indeed.
Iron Maiden concert was a little different. I worked till 7 in the morning to ensure that I did not get disturbed during the concert. With a few hours of sleep ,the inevitable happened ,I was not able to wake up on time to ensure my presence in the concert venue hours before. Adding to my woes was the fact that I was now going to an unfamiliar bands concert with no alcohol inside my system. Anyways along with my friend I managed to get there by 4pm (the gate opened at 3). In between Bangalore summer has gone crazy. The day are too hot to stand for hours in it and fortunately we managed to get ourself in shade inside the venue. Inside one thing I realized that if one is going to any concert its better to take the costliest ticket and be in the front rather than being infinitely away from the stage to save a few bucks. However the bands which started the show were so bad that I do not regret being unable to listen to them from the front. The reason for poor permonce of FTN(Campus Rock Idol Winner) and Lauren Harris were multiple. Their unfamiliarity was compounded by the unfamiliar songs they were playing along with a 3rd rate audio set up. So all these thing summed up to give a crap. The third starting band Parikrama were at their normal self. In between one of the crazy guys jumped over the barricade between 900ticket guys and 1500 ticket guys and ran to the top of speaker system. Like a dude he smoked a ciggarate on the top and later on ran from the authorities.
Finally with the arrival of Iron Maiden and after suffering for 3 whole songs of pathetic music system the barricade got broken and we ran to the front. After that things started to look up. We were able to listen and see maiden and finally able to do something for which we had come i.e. enjoy. Maidens prop and stage presence are simply too great to be missed. Not only that they started to play few of their classics like Number of beast,Fear of the dark,Run to the hills,Hallowed be thy name. What more could I have asked for, almost front row, songs in which in I did not had to pretend that I know them,great atmosphere, overall an amazing environment. This show taught me that I do not need to have alcoholic support to enjoy rock. The reason for not listening to Maiden was that it was neither on the heavy side nor on the lighter side. I did not know where to put them But their live performance was simply too appealing to ignore them anymore. Later going through their lyrics I found out that their songs have been written with such poetic zeal and meaning that they form a good enough reason to listen to them over and over again. Every good thing comes with a catch and after the show was over I had to walk almost 8 km to get an auto but who cares when in Maiden's word "I could tell my kids :
You think you are cool ,what the hell ,did you ever hear Maiden Live"
