Its not everyday that one of the most recognizable Indian bands in the world comes down to Hyderabad for a gig. So when I heard that Motherjane was going to headline the rock show at IIIT’s fest “Felicity 2k10”, I didn’t need a second invitation.
The show was supposed to begin at 7 PM “sharp”, but as things go here there was an “unavoidable” one and a half hour delay and by the time each competing band for the Battle of the Bands event was done with their sound checks, we had already finished our can of Coke and were on the brink of our You Suck chants. Fortunately though the first band “Almost September” did eventually take the stage and belted out the Porcupine Tree hit “Blackest Eyes” followed by a few of their original compositions which I must say were very well written and played. The crowd too swayed to the reps of “Frieda come take me away!” suggesting the growing popularity of this open-genre band.
Metal ruled the roost for most of the remainder of the show with bands covering Iron Maiden, Metallica et al. A special mention of the band Anarchy whose covers of “Fear of the Dark” and “Noble Eyes” really pepped up the crowd and had them asking for more. Other bands who competed were Cerebral Assasins and Skrypt, about whom I cannot comment much because I never did and never will understand Death Metal. But yes there was this chick guitarist who seemed to be hitting all the right notes both with her instruments and with the crowd too!
The local bands of the college Apotheosys and Karmic Blend (If I’m not wrong) also did their one song performances but the crowd seemed to agree that they would rather they hadn’t! One of them covered Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing in the name of” so horribly that at one point the vocalist was squealing so bad that it seemed like he was about to give birth or puke, or both at once. The second band who had…. wait for it… a male-female duo of vocalists, were a little more kind to the crowd when they covered “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, but it had little to do with their music though I must say!
Cut to 11:30 PM and it was Motherjane’s turn to turn up the volume. What took me by surprise was the fact that their arrival was preceded by a well organized, almost perfect drill by the roadie crew. A sign of their growing reputation as a global yet Indian band. Then when the half painted faces of the 5-piece band did come into view, the crowd went berserk. The band played their most famous songs from their hit album “Maktub”. Songs like “Mindstreet”, “Chasing the Sun”, “Blood in the apple” and quite possibly their greatest hit yet, “Fields of Sound”. Interspersed in between was a beautiful guitar solo of the Indian patriotic song “Vande Mataram” which left the crowd in complete awe of their unmatchable genius. Their new single on the topic Peace, as given to each representative band of a country by Amnesty International, was also well received.The insanely rhythmic yet Indian riffs of Baiju and Deepu, the hard and well rounded bass notes of Clyde, the heart thumping drumming of John and the melodic yet rockworthy vocals of Suraj, left the crowd in a trance as we swayed and headbanged into the night. The sore throat and the pain in the neck that followed the next day was completely worth the experience and even though this was my second time watching them live, I cannot wait to hear them again and be rocked by the phenomenon that is Motherjane.
(For complete set of pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/omkarparkhi/sets/72157623477270362/show/
Credits: Omar Parkhi)
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