friends,
Had a great time watching the ARR show at Calicut. It was one of the
breathtaking crowd ever seen. Calicut had its day when ARR blessed them on May
3rd. Sure, it was a day to remember for us Calicut people.
Now coming to the details of the concert, I would like to mention the Plus'es &
Minus'es which I had felt. I am not critising ARR or his fans. This is
just my opinion, so please dont create a controversy here. I also LOVE ARR as
much you all do. Thanks..
Pluses -
a) Great crowd, Great visual presentation accompanying each song.
b) Hariharan and Chitra's singing were almost perfect, and they were the real
stars of the day.
c) Padakaali was a great surprise for all Mallus. It was great singing by
george/benny.
d) Post interval, the concert's momentum picked up and it was rocking till the
end. Most fast numbers
were performed post interval.
e) Humma Humma, with the Carnatic beginning was astounding.
f) Same with Ey Hairathe Aashique.
g) ARR's fathers song which he dedicated.
h) Sanjeev on the Crane and Mustafa after that. It was the highest point of the
concert. The entire crowd with their mobile lights on was just
a visual treat to watch.
i) Khwaja was again a mere bliss to watch and hear. Azeem/Rukumani/Veerapandi
was a rocker.
Minuses -
a) Why was ARR not handling the Keyboard? It was so frustrating to see Stephen
handling it and ARR was just as a mere singer.
People who have put their hard earned money had to come to watch ARR and
not Stephen. This was very disappointing.
b) The concert was delayed by 40 mins which led to the downfall of momentum
which had got built very high at 7 PM.
c) Pre interval - the Songs/performances were very average and some people left
between 8 and 9 PM.
d) Where was the String section? What was the drummer doing? Was he just
hitting the drums without knowing which song was playing?
I felt he was a MERE SPECTATOR like us.
e) Sivamani was heavily missed. Because his presence would have mad the concert
more interesting and his 20 minute individual performance
would have been great.
f) Most of the songs had Karoake (i.e. the background track). Only the voices
were Original. All background music in the songs were ditto from the CD.
i.e it was not played LIVE.
g) Naveen didn't have much to show his skills. We all know how much he is
talented.
h) Sadhana Sargam was given 2-3 songs and she was wasted.
i) Only 2 Singers who are widely popular performed in this concert?? Hariharan
and Chitra. Rest all are from ARR's immediate gang. i.e. who have
become popular in the last 2-3 years. Where are the other singers? like SPB,
Srinivas, Naresh, Sujatha, Shreya, Karthik, Sukhwinder etc.
j) In some songs, only 1 Charanam was performed.
k) Opening song and ARR's intro was not great and it didn't capture the
audience as expected.
l) ARR's singing was out-of-pitch at times.
m) Hari and Sadhana having a single mike to sing Roja Janeman. I thought it was
amateurish.
n) At lots of places, lyrics were forgotten, some one was talking on the Mike
when the song was going on. It wasn't professional.
friends, I am repeating that these are my thoughts and please dont take it as a
offence. I just expected more from this concert. When compared
to his previous Chennai, Delhi concerts, this was a letdown.
