Wow what an experience. If you are going to the Jai Ho tour with the expectation that it will be the same as last time you will be in a different treat. The reason being this time the focus is more on India for western audiences as stated BY Rahman himself.
To begin with no Sivamani, but there was no Rashid Ali or Keith Peters either. However Naveen Kumar did come to enthrall the audience with his mastery in flute. But the asian drummer did an awesome job so did the other drummer who doubled up on the dhol and conga. Singers, I couldn't recognize everyone, but last time I did meet up with Vijay Yesudas, Blaaze, A R Raihana and Naresh Iyer. This time also Blaaze was there but so was Hariharan. 3 more male singers I wasn't so sure about, one sang the telugu songs, the other was more of a back up vocalist and the 3rd was a punjabi who did the electric guitar and sang RDB. Among females it was again Neeti muhan and Shweta pandit and one other female who sang Ek Onkar and Chaiyya female part very very well. I felt as if I saw Alphons sir in the midst also during the Khwaja mere khwaja song backup vocals. The performances were good and I was ecstatic to see almost all songs being performed live including instruments and not on tracks. The video projection of Lataji singing Lukka Chuppi and Rahman sir singing live was a brilliant idea. In general the dancers, choreography, the slide shows, sets were a treat. Very different treatment to a full-on energy concert last time. Gopal was in ATL last time but not sure if he made it thru this time. Jagdeesh
