Its not everyday that you are called to perform at a concert in Bangalore that starts at Midnight and goes on to the wee hours in the morning! atleast not if it is bang in the middle of the city and at full volume! But that’s just one of the reasons this show was so special!
It was Shivratri and the folks in Jayanagar were going all out to stay awake that night! and for that, they made the right choice when they picked us! :)
Mr. Lokie from Taurian Events, went all out to ensure that everything we asked for was provided, tech requirements wise and I am still reeling from multiple phone calls with him ironing out every little detail on stage and around it! But that din’t stop some glitches during the sound check which were deftly handled by Niranjan and Vinod who were helping out at the console that day!
We arrived early for the show in the night and it was the perfect time for Ganesh, who has been faithfully following us and photographing our shows for us to experiment with the lenses he had borrowed. He had the band doing all kinds of weird things and the combination of those lenses and our mental ideas resulted in some very interesting photographs! A small sampler of the same is put up here for your viewing “pleasure”!
After a couple of hours at the venue, we were joined by the man of the moment, Sudeep himself who was clearly basking from the success of his latest movie, Just Maat Maathalli, which I’d definitely recommend you go watch! He came and sweetly introduced himself to us and then spent some time chatting with us before he got mobbed by eager fans who were whipping out cameras of all shapes and sizes to click their pictures with him!
The show started close to midnight and it was a surreal experience going up on stage at that time in Bangalore. That is usually the time everyone is packing up and heading back home! But that night, the party was just starting! and we were not ones to sober it down, so we went on stage and allowed the audience to get used to us for the first song and then, much to the dismay of the organizers who were trying to make people sit in an orderly fashion, we got every single person in the audience jumping around and dancing along with us!
A couple more songs and it was time for Sudeep himself to get on stage and deliver the mother of all treats to the audience when he took the mic and sang “Munjane Manjalli”, his favourite song from the movie! He then moved on to some audience games where he got sections of the crowd screaming their lungs out pitted against each other in a way that convinced us of the fact that he really needs to start a band of his own!
Sudeep’s cameo got the entire crowd even more excited and we launched into some of Raghu’s film songs followed by our new Kannada songs including the eternal favourite of every Kannadiga, “Kodagana Koli Nungittha”.
By now it was 2 AM and time to finally heed to the multitude of requests that were pouring in for “Mahadeshwara” and a perfect note to end a brilliant show on! we are very grateful to the organizers and also to Mr. Lokie who co-ordinated the whole event, we loved the show, we loved the food and you guys were lovely! Do get us back there next year!
Hey Raghu,
I too attended your concert on that day and the show was absolutely rocking. I’m your twitter follower @rajashekars, was sending live tweets from the event. The guy with camera in this picture is me :) http://raghudixit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/vaz_8905.jpg .
You Rock Man !! Will attend all other concerts which will come up in future in bangalore..
-Raj
Awesome pics! Vijay, never looked more handsome ;)
Dear Raghu
The midnight shivaratri programme was very fanatstic.You made everybody to stand on their toes and dance.We are very much proud to have a singer and musician like you,in karnataka.
regards,
R M BHADRI
[...] from “Just Math Mathalli” movie (Side note: I was kicking myself because I had to miss their MahaShivratri night performance because I had to travel to Auroville). That song set the pace for me. Soon, I was listening to [...]
hey raghu:)
i too was present there right in the front row enjoying the music. It was too good. u were very energetic.
Hey Raghu,
Bangalore hasn’t been awake for a long time at those hours and it was really the greatest of the treats!! Thanks for bringing Bangalore back to it’s life, at least for that one day!! It’s just a wish now that every day or at least some days become like that one day and you rock the crowd more and more!! I just captured a bootlegger video of your show on my cell phone.. Check it out.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtUnWa8yXg4
Regards,
Deepak Nayak
[...] the original post: Keeping Jayanagar Awake! « The Raghu Dixit Project :: Indian … Share and [...]
thank you so much for the pics and the details of the show, your music was magical, i stayed till 2 and danced like crazy that night, it was an amazing performance by your team, thanks for making our jayanagar rock, waiting for your next live performance…..kudos!!!!!!!
Waiting for your new songs !!!
yu guyz jus rock!!!!
it was jus amazin that nyt…
pls let me kno your next concert…
i am waitin for it!!!
Hey Raghu,
The Midnight show is xactly wats called keeping Bangaloreans awake. Unlike us who had earlier tried with loud music and drags on the same main road bt ur show actually rocked!!!!! Surprisingly the number of uncles dancing was something never seen before.
Hi Raghu,
Fantastic show at Jayanagar! What a Shivratri nite!!!
I have become a fan of Iyer who played Violin, Oh Man was it really violin!!!Amazing talent, to be frank voilin was the best that night compared to 3 guitars u other guys were playing.
All the best to the entire team
oh man, never seen a beauty like this ,,,,,
u guys made the oldies and the young ones of jaynagar dance like never before !!! May all success be yours ,,, god bless !
heyaa!!!raghu
its de 1st shivratri wer i enjoyed a lot n 1st time danced so much!!!!!
u guys really rock!!!
ciao……
Hi Raghu,
It was an outstanding performance from you n your team i stayed upto 2 n voilin was excellent. you realllllllllllllly rocked. All the best for your music assignments. Keep us engaged with ur such live programmes.
Thanks a lot for giving such an entertainment.
First I heard you raghu when my brother recomended mr to listen to gudugudia… The one thought came to me was’unique !!!!
Then I heard this song of munjane manjalli.. Just math mathalli Well it’s fantastic….and wonderful… I had an occasion to say hai to you at the taj lands end Bombay.
After hearing this song nunjane manjalli.. I went straight to planet M and asked for a audio CD.. I bought one… When I saw the price.. It showed just Rs 50/- the song is worth Rs. 500/- and I bought ten copies in aporiciation of your song. You will go a long way.. Somewhere you remind me of a r reheman in his early days!!! May be there is one more of him in you!! All the best !
Regards
d Venkatesh
98451-66763.
hi raghu sir you guys rocked ,you voice was phenomenal… and i never seen a guitarist like vijay joseph who could make the guitar talk he was amaaaazzzing…it was an amazing performance by your team, thanks for making our jayanagar rock…………god bless !
hey awesome performance =) by your Group i remembered .. Today wen i got time u just turned up to Comment =) Jus awesome … ND I DID enjoy Your performance … AMAZING guys =)yeah im Followin u ppl on FB =)