Yesterday I discovered something which zapped me, Delhi has a rocking gig scene. Now, I will not compare it to either Bombay or Bangalore, because Bombay does have a very solid scene - Thursday nights at Zenzi or Seijo often had nice acts like Blackmarket (love Sonia's voice) as well as one of Bombay's myriad of nutty teen-angst filled heavy riff alternative bands. However, a classmate from college Adhi runs a company called Prospect which organises shows like this and it was a very nicely done show, and he told me that they'll be organising more. Quite nice!
Yesterday, at the Garden of Five Senses, a nice park developed by Delhi Tourism at Saidulajab (can't believe Delhi still has places still called that) behind Saket, well more accurately its off the Mehrauli-Badarpur road, the featured act, well the only act was this Cal band called Skinny Alley. They have a lot of original music and actually other than one Steely Dan cover, they played a two hour set of their two albums - you can download some of their MP3's over at their website. I liked them, despite missing the first half-hour but gut reaction was that these guys felt like the Indian Cranberries. OK, the lyrics were even more depressing, but still. But, they're worth a good listen, and yesterday's show was really nice other than the fact I caught up with tens of people I haven't met for years, including Adhi and Anup, another friend from college looking after Maxim India.
There are another couple of gigs today, one at Haze in the afternoon where Lou Majow is playing (and I haven't heard him before) which I might catch and HFT in TC tonight (who Sammy assures are damn good - Jazz Fusion he says), which I won't go for because its at TC and I have no reason to kill myself through oxygen deprivation. Anyway, thats enough for a Sunday morning post and I have 'Ultimate Power Ballads' blasting behind me for some strange reason - all the stuff I listened to while I was in Class 9-10-11-12. Damn, it feels weird when you listen to music you haven't heard in a decade - Poison, Scorpions, Whitesnake, Nazareth, Chicago, Heart... whoa!
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5 comments:
Were you the one asking for them to play Cranberries? If yes, I was sitting right in front of you. Anyway, this wasn't their best gig. I caught two last year, which were much better. But then they played mostly Steely Dan covers.
I cant get myself to enjoy songs titled "child bride", though.
Tons of good gigs this month, and even more next month. track http://rsjforum.noes.com
I post some of the gigs at
http://doingdelhi.blogspot.com
skinny alley are actually not even that popular in calcutta. However, their lead guitarist Amit Dutta is one of the more well-known rock musicians in india and pretty much a freak of a guitarist. There are other bands in Cal with a similar setup who've been playing similar music at the now hallowed 'Someplace Else' at The Park for years.. basically, a mix of classic rock and alternative. The problem though is that all these guys are way too freakin old to be on stage. Sounds pretentious but i seriously mean that. If youre going up on stage atleast put on a goddamn show man! don't just stand there like dummies. That's not rock n roll at all.. and i'm not talking about pyros and fireworks and shit.
I bet most bands have more exciting rehearsals than these guys' stage shows. And they usually have a very rigid set list.. that changes once in i dont know how many years.
However, the cool thing about the gig scene in delhi and bombay is that they have a good mix.. there are lots of young bands that also get to play. That doesn't happen here cause I think we just have one pub in all of cal lol.
Personally, i think Bombay is where its at. They have a way better rock/metal scene which is only topped by the stuff in the North-East.
But maybe delhi is catching up.. going by last week's 'Brunch'.
Unrest - Naah, I'm not the heckling type unless my friends were playing. But they sound very Cranberry-ish and you're right the lyrics were very depressing and very hmmm.... how do I put this politically correct!
Simran - I heard Thermal and a Quarter back in 1999 during the RSJ Great indian Rock at Pragati Maidan. They're really good!
Anon - all of one pub in Cal? I mean, which one?
Shillong?
check out Someplace Else at The Park (its on Park Street)on a tuesday(Krosswindz), wednesday or friday(Hip Pocket) the next time you're in Cal. Saturdays (Blues Band) aren't bad either. We've had live bands playing there for ages.. at least since i first started going there which i think was almost 6 years ago.
But what sucks is that its the only pub of its kind in Cal - it's been true to rock music from the very start.
I won't be surprised to find out that in terms of breaking 'live music' to the masses Cal has been ahead of all the other major metros simply due to the existence of 'Someplace Else'.
It's just a shame that since it's located in the same hotel that has the popular (read sleazy and nauseating) disco called 'Tantra' that sompleace else never quite got its due among the the fashionable and trendy until a couple of years ago when it started getting regular coverage in the entertainment pages.
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