It was close to 4 p.m on friday when i was filling up my timesheets just when i received a call from my friend only to be surprised by him "Are you aware that ARR is performing tomorrow at Chennai and whether i was going?"!He gave me the website link and i filled up the form with no hope of getting into the concert,but i wanted to be there desperately.
Even if i did get a pass i had to leave bangalore early on Saturday morning.I called up the telephone number on Marg's website only to be told by the lady that she couldn't be of much help in getting me a pass.But she did give me another contact which was helpful.I called up Mr.Sanath trying to convince him to get me an entry to the YMCA but he rejected until i broke a deal with him saying "Can u get me IN if i catch the first flight and reach Chennai" only to be ridiculed by him "Are you joking,karthik!".I said "I've done it before for the Unity concert in 2000".Once i had a gurantee from him i decided to leave by the morning train.With no reservations all i could do was to get some standing space at the pantry car of the crowded Chennai express.On reaching YMCA in the evening,Mr.Sanath (incidentally he was the GM,MARG) as promised picked me up and I WAS IN!In the end it was all worth the SWEAT.Trust me :-))) Thanks to ARR and his troop again,for the performance was invigorating. As Nafeez puts it in his message(previous),overall the concert was great sans the "CROWD" despite ARR saying it was a special evening since it was the first concert of the year in his hometown.It lacked intensity,moreso i thought because it was a free invitation for the corporates,business group who at some time might or would be part of MARG.And am sure many ARR hardcore fans would have missed it because of lack of promotion,publicity.When i asked the GM of Marg he said it was intentional not to have a tie-up with sponsors as they wanted this 3.5 crore event to be a "SOLO" show to commemorate the SEZ acquisition. I must say "GUITAR PRASANNA" was great with his team of carnatic musician's to start with but not many were appreciative of that to be honest.One instance of it was a section of people starting to clap in between in desperation.To add to it the speech by the MARG chairman and the other guy was a great means of causing "restlessness" to the already somber crowd.Am sure none of them wanted to listen to the speech which talked about "developement in spirituality,growth,infrastructure,IT,real estate" bla bla bla...,except for the fireworks which was worth watching.With Percept Mark handling event management,i would say they made a wrong choice in choosing "MC-Rakshanda Khan", which could have been better with a different person probably,who could have lifted the crowd's spirits(say a javed jaffrey or a local guy with good humour & wisecracks).The crowd needed an entertainer of sorts rather than someone making just an announcement on stage and she wasn't the right one for such an event.She could be better for an anu malik concert that seldom happens! The reason i wanted to elaborate on the crowd and organising was with such a BIG BUDGET things could have been better.In contrast the Bangalore concert in 2005 even with stage disasters and "not good" organising had great energy amongst the crowd inspite of the rains and the audience listening to the songs with chairs on top of their heads! Back to the concert:(Shall keep it short as the previous blog details about this by Nafeez) Must say the choice of songs were great,amazing quality with lots to choose from "Guru".Khalbali was one hell of a kick-ass number and you couldn't help but get out of the seats and jump around."Maiya Maiya" was exceptional by Neeti.Not only was she apt in singing the right way but her dance and the sync with music,costume was classy.I caught up with her backstage and congratulated for this when she said she'd practised and that having sung before at couple of concerts(guess one in USA) helped her sing well. As we know the legacy goes on-Hariharan & Chitra did just that and everytime they repeat a ROJA or BOMBAY you feel its a new song.That's MAGIC OF THESE LEGEND's AND ARR's music!But i thought quite a few songs were cut short,am not sure why?The medley of Azzem- o-shan,Rukkumani and veerapandi kotaiyle was "TOP NOTCH".Personally I thought atleast the performance by Benny & Chinmmai(was smashing!) should have lifted the spirits....but wasn't the case until when ARR asked the crowd "R U ALL SLEEPY?","DO YOU WANT SOMEMORE?".Blazee and ARR provided a magical one as always with "hama hama" and crowd was on its feet. Finally it ended with Vande Mataram(of which i have a pretty good video).Later i went backstage and caught up with Prasanna,Neeti,Chinmmai,Benny and Naresh Iyer.I spoke to Naresh and Benny for a good 10mins and the first thing they told me was "Man... it was a disappointing crowd.. what do u think?" and that the troop were disappointed too.Well i said my views were no different! Overall a great show by the great MAN again.... ARR Rules...........! It was worth it:-))) Very few pics @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stumpersinn Videos i've uploaded: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1966042354317940968 (medley) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4395505985980062913 (azhagiya tamil..) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=267022962764392088 (Khalbali) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2414828841433187284 (Roobaroo) http://rapidshare.com/files/90913365/Vandemataram_video.MPG.html (VandeMataram Video) --The video is good after a while when i stood on the chairs! Cheers, Karthik.
