My previous career iteration afforded me watching a ton of concerts, to the point where I would hate going to live music shows, because they would feel like work :p
But here are my top 10 concerts — *1. Coldplay headlining Glastonbury* (2011) — my band had just played 2 shows earlier that day at the same festival, and it was my first Glastonbury experience. Truly incredible festival and an insane show. Easily the best live music experience of my life. *2. John Butler Trio - London, 2011* - This concert left me in tears! The 3 of them were magic on stage. *3. Sting - Bangalore, 2005* - Bucket list concert. It was a beautiful night in Bangalore in much simpler times with loads of music. I had just started my first job, and everything was just right! *4. Aerosmith - Bangalore, 2007* - Never realised how many Aerosmith songs I knew by heart! This was the concert I sang along the most in! *5. The Prodigy - Bangalore, 2011 *- First time I worked backstage at a major concert. I went in there only knowing "Smack my bitch up" but came back a fan! *6. Pentagram - Mumbai, 2008* - First time I watched them live. Vishal Dadlani IMO is the best Indian band frontman of all time. *7. Raghu Dixit Project (BGU) - Bangalore* - We would play this concert every alternate year almost, but there was one time, the organizers were trying something new and slotted us for Sunday morning at 11am. We assumed no one would turn up, but there were over 10,000 people in the crowd that morning! *8. Thermal and a Quarter, Bangalore, 2000s* - I'm not exactly sure what year this was, but TAAQ would host an overnight concert and it was one of those few times you could go out to a concert overnight in Bangalore or near Bangalore :p This was the concert where there was the (in)famous "Sparrow" guy who was drunk and kept screaming "Sparrow" the entire night! and I think someone asked Rajeev (the drummer of TAAQ) to play a drum solo when the power went off and Rajeev replied saying it's dark and he can't see a thing, to which there was the most impressive response - "Stevie Wonder was blind, macha!" *9. John Mayer - Philadelphia, 2017* — my band had just finished a gig in New York the previous night, and had to drive to Philly for this concert in a rental 12 seater van. Of course, we woke up late and left after lunch and I drove that rickety van with 6 Bengaluru boys and all our precious equipment down the freeways, got 2 speeding tickets and made it to the concert just after the opening act had finished! *10. Phenom, Bangalore - FOSS.in and PESIT* - The first band I was part of, got to officially "headline" FOSS.in (through some super insider contacts we had ;)) and I remember practicing a whole month for that gig! Also, the last gig I played as a student was when we headlined our college (PESIT) fest opening for Antaragni at that time. It rained and our gig was going to get cancelled to maximize time for the "professional" band at that time, and the entire college chanted for us to go up and play a couple of our own songs! *Special Mentions* - Big Chill, Goa in 2007, the 1st NH7 Weekender in Pune in 2010 and the first Sulafest in 2008 - those 3 festivals were just magic. It was almost an insiders only festival because literally no one had heard about the bands or the festivals, but for the few that were there, it was the best vibe of any music festival in India. On Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 3:22 AM Krishna Udayasankar < [email protected]> wrote: > Sting. It was truly a bucket list moment, a lifelong dream come true. I > don’t dare say a word more about it, beyond perfect. > > A recent Remember Shakti concert - Watching Zakir Hussain live was another > dream come true. > > Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan - he was playing at a math/temple in Ulsoor - it > was a surprisingly low-key affair and there were about 10 of us in the > audience (3 my family). I was a teenager then; I remember him asking > “kuzhandai, which ragas do you like” :) He kindly played an all time > favourite of mine with all his usual panache. > > A concert where, I cannot, for the life of me, recall who the vocalist > was. I just remember Vikku Vinayakram. > > I think I cried on all 4 occasions. > > PS. Thanks for this prompt. Probably would not have thought about these > experiences otherwise. Nor would I have had a chance to celebrate and be > grateful for the dreams that have come true. > > Warm regards, > Krishna > > > Krishna Udayasankar, PhD. > ------------------------------------------------------ > [email protected] > > > > > On 11-Dec-2020, at 12:59 PM, Peter Griffin <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > On Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 11:40 AM Venkatesh H R <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > >> Thinking on and off about Udhay's 'what do you splurge on' thread, I > >> realised I've spent good money to get to concerts. What have been your > >> memorable ones? > > > > > > After Alla Rakha died, Zakir and his brothers played in different venues > > across the city all day. In the evening, they concluded with, as Zakir > > said, we've been mourning, now let's celebrate his life. It was the Kala > > Ghoda square in Bombay. What was then Orange was the sponsor, and a > > friend's dad was a big shot there, so she got a few of us tickets. We > were > > filing in right at the back, friend and her dad were in the front. We > > waved, she waved back, her dad said, bring your friends here, there's a > bit > > of space. So we got to experience an evening of magical percussion from > the > > second row. > > Some other memorable evenings at the St Xavier's IMG (Indian Music Group) > > open air concerts, where I got to hear folks like Alla Rakha, Zakir, (and > > Alla Rakha playing with all his sons), Amjad Ali Khan, Brijbushan Khabra, > > and once Ravi Shankar playing until dawn on a moonlit night, all with > cheap > > baithak seats. L Shankar doing a little lecture and demo with his double > > violin. Then, some cool jazz at Rang Bhavan. The Remember Shakti > concerts. > > An L Subramaniam concert in Shanmukhananda. The Symphony Orchestra of > India > > doing Beethoven's Ninth at Bhabha auditorium. Many 'Zakir and friends' > > concerts at Prithvi. > > And not concerts, but parties where a number of the folks who were top > > Bombay singers and musicians would jam or just play and sing favourites. > > > -- Gaurav Vaz | [email protected] | +91-99005-16156 (India / WhatsApp) | +1-647-572-1123 (Canada) If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice! http://gauravvaz.com
