Posts Tagged ‘london’

Its been a long long time since we did this! and in fact, this is the first time we ever did it in London and it was only apt that we did it gently! 2 shows in one day, one at Bracknell and the other at Eastleigh, both a couple of hours away from each other on a nice sunny Sunday!

The twist in the tale was the previous night when we finished playing at the Wattsfest in Devon, and decided to head back to London and then drive all the way back to Bracknell, but that would just work against us, so we let better sense prevail and booked ourselves into a hotel close to Bracknell for the night and for some much needed rest for everyone!

A short drive to Bracknell in the morning and we found ourselves at the Fusion Asia Festival where things were still being set up and like a true India festival, it was all getting started, the stalls were just being opened, the stage set up and there were a couple of kids playing cricket! But a quick set up and sound check happened and we were ready to get the party started.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon crowd that were clearly not sure of what was to come, but then once we got them up on their feet and right up in front, it was a whole different game! The crowd was a true mix of people right from kids in their cradles to some senior citizens soaking up the festival in the park. Moreover, it was a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic melting pot which was just perfect for our music.

The show was done in an eventful fun filled hour and then we headed to the big red and yellow tent for a workshop with the audience where Raghu sang his first English song for the tour and then got them all to sing along on Lokada Kalaji. If you haven’t already, please go check the video of Raghu taking a Kannada master class here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHB4J2PtmrQ

We did not have much time to spend at Bracknell because we had to head to gig number 2 in Eastleigh for the Eastleigh Mela. The festival site for the Eastleigh Mela was mostly a HUGE tent in which there was a really nice sound system rig set up and a brilliant stage with some really nice lighting! After our drive from Bracknell, we just about managed to make it to the venue with an hour to spare and it was just enough time for us to look at everything there and take some of these photographs :p

We got on stage after a really nice Kenyan band and after sound check, we were most happy with the sound on stage and were ready to rock and roll! Since our set here was much later in the evening, we had a lot of people all eagerly waiting for us to get started and there were a bunch of Kannadigas in the audience as well which made the interaction that much more fun especially the little jokes that are mentioned in passing ;)

An energetic set followed and it felt like the point when we were on stage was the hottest the UK has ever been even through the recent heatwave that was on here! We came off stage huffing and puffing with all the sweat and met a whole bunch of people who we managed to convert to being fans of the band. It was perfect, talking with all these guys about life in the UK and the music that they like over some really nice Indian food that was set up at the stalls in the venue.

But like a true band on tour, it was time to move on, and go back for a short, well deserved break in London where we sit and work on our music before the rest of the shows in the UK - http://raghudixit.com/tour

In May, we played the Great Escape Festival in Brighton and little did we know that the organizers of Watts Fest, Devon were among the people paying close attention to us, and we got booked to headline the Outdoor stage at Watts fest right there!

Like many festivals in the country side of the UK, we drove for miles and miles and there was no sign that there was a festival happening but then we turned on small corner and there we saw it, hundreds of cars parked with trailers and camping tents and what not with a crazy bunch of fun people just walking around chilling out and having loads of fun!

Watch this video for a tour of the fest - 18 mins long, but very fun!

We had sometime to kill before we got out to play, so we went out and took a tour of the whole place, sampled the freshly cooked food and then just chilled out watching some really eclectic music including a 2 piece blues band that really rocked it and a beat boxing hip hop rap duo who were joined on stage by one of the lovely organizers as well. We met Bob Watts, the man who owns the entire farm on which the festival is held, and he just loved the whole concept of having a festival on his property as well as our show, which he told me later on after our set!

By the time we were on stage, everyone was ready and warmed up and it took little time to get them all going. From these videos you can see how they were quite kicked about the set and were having a crazy fun time! It was one of those sets where we really wished we were on stage longer, but for the time that it lasted, it was brilliant.

Like we do at all our shows, it was time to teach them some Kannada, and by the looks of it, that went well too! Well, I am fully loving the new flip cam that I got myself, was shooting from on stage when Raghu was getting started!

We absolutely loved the festival and we’re told, they loved us too :) so we’re certainly looking forward to playing there again next year round.

Catch some of the photos we took of Watts Fest here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=194018&id=22220507136

There wasn’t much time to rest as we had to head out immediately for a long long drive back to London before we set out to play 2 gigs on Sunday. That and more coming up in future updates … watch this space!

BTW - are you a friend of the band on Facebook yet? If not, http://facebook.com/theraghudixitproject - do it right now!

As a musician in London, one of the fun things to do is the “Black Cab Sessions” where you get into a traditional black cab and while it drives you around the streets of London, you sing songs in it! Making this even more special is an awesome film crew that films you doing just this and then puts it up on their website - The Black Cab Sessions

For those of you who have met us, you will know that with all our instruments, there is no possible way to fit all of us into a black cab and while I appreciate that the cabs have so much more room than our Autos back home, it was just a feat we did not want to attempt!

So Raghu and Karthick got into the cab while I stood outside and took photos of the whole thing, except for the driving around London part where, fit as I am, it was too much to ask ;)

But before you write me off for not capturing those ‘moments’, take a look at the picture below which is the expression on the face of the people recording the minute Raghu belted his first note!

The video should be out soon and when it is, we will personally let you know, in the meanwhile, check out other videos at http://blackcabsessions.com

We’d never think we would ever say this, but its actually now part of our lingo when we say, “Back in London …” because we’ve been here that often in the recent past! In fact, yesterday, I caught myself giving directions to a tourist on how to reach a particular place in London and that was quite something!

All along, when we are in London, its always been a little too cold for our comfort, and many times, the day starts off okay but then just the drop in temperature is massive! but this time round, things have been more than pleasant! it reminds us so much of Bangalore’s weather. Its bright, sunny, there is a little chill in the air, and it isn’t raining as often. Londoners consider this heavenly weather and you can see how everyone wants to be out all the time :)

We landed here in London early this week and headed straight to Charlsbury, Oxfordshire for the Cornbury Festival, touted to be a fun festival for the family. And it was all that it promised to be and more. The whole place was so colourful and bright and there was so much happening all the time, right from the puppet shows to the crazy rides to the food stalls to the soap bubbles, everyone was having a belter of a time.

We played at the Riverside stage as evening broke into night and a first for us, we had the audience seated on bales of hay! a true festival in the fields this was, but that was not for long. As is customary when we get on stage, the audience was up on their feet ready to shake things up a little along with us.

It was a quick set up thanks to Gary and Ron who picked up from where we left off in May with their awesome work and in no time, we were all set to get on with our set. We chose to go with the traditional “Hey Bhagwan” as the opener and just as that prayer to the good Lord above ended, as if s/he had heard us, there was a nice little drizzle acknowledging the acceptance of that prayer and just as the drizzle started, it faded away. Thankfully, we had gotten most of the audience off the hay by now and more people were running towards our stage as we proceeded to run through the rest of the set.

We debuted our brand new T-shirts at the fest and also sold a bunch of CDs and met loads of people who loved the show! reviews are still coming in and we’d love to hear from you if you were there at the festival! Do give is a shout.

A nice long drive on the way back nicely broken down into pre-dinner and post dinner at a Indian food joint in Southall and much to Gary’s dismay, harmonius snores in the tour van throughout the evening rounded off what was a brilliant way to start a tour.

Thanks to the folks at the Cornbury fest and we will surely be back next time round :)

Catch more photos from the festival here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=453303&id=522175007

Our gig at the Nehru Center was the most important one of the entire tour! This is where we had invited a whole bunch of people from the music industry and we were officially going to show London’s music biz that the Raghu Dixit Project had arrived! With our tour manager and tech, Gary and Ron, we have already worked out the entire flow of events for the day we have a gig. We land up at the venue, separately, since we don’t stay together. Quickly run through the set up, sound check, chill and then the show!

This day was not much different, we pulled up at the Nehru Center, loaded in and then to our horror found that there was no PA system! So it was time to pull out our best contingency plan! Gary set up the amps we had and everything that was available to him there, and managed to put together some decent sound. The band on the other hand, took a swift decision and we were going to go on stage with only Raghu, Vijay and Karthick and doing an acoustic set.

The reception was fun, the Indian food served was the first traces of good Indian food we had in a week, so I think all of us devoured it! We then headed up quick to get ready for the big showcase.

Its a very different feeling when you know that the entire audience is there to critically look at your performance, the room is filled with nervous energy and that got to Paul Knowles, our manager who officially gave the cutest intro ever! :p

Raghu came on next, started with a solo rendition of Sorutihudu Maneya Maligi, then moved on to Hey Bhagwan with Vijay on acoustic guitars, followed by acoustic versions of other songs with Karthick and Vijay alternating through the set and closing the short set with a nice energetic version of Mysore se Aayi.

Following the show was a short interview with Neil McCormick which was targeted at getting the audience to learn about Raghu and his story so far. That was a fun short interview that brought out some really interesting stories that I will get Raghu to blog about someday!

After the interview it was time for us to wait for feedback and here is some of it

This was a high pressure gig! we had invited about 75 people from the music industry in the UK to come watch us and it was like a final exam situation :) Thankfully we had prepared :p

And we had a whirlwind show! it started when we had to walk to the show without our guitars coz we had to pick any Gibson guitar of our choice to use for the show. Now, in most cases, it is a dream come true for a musician and we were wondering if we could have such an arrangement for all our shows!

But there was a slight problem in that we took some time to get used to those lovely guitars! and the bigger issue, we were too used to our own guitars!

But then it was only a slight deterrent and we go on with the rest of the show. The showcase was in the Gibson Guitar Studio which is a fantastic place for performance! the acoustics are brilliant and the equipment was fantastic as well! so it had all the ingredients of a nice show.

We had about 70 confirmations for the show and it was nice to see most of them turn up for it! the drinks were set up and ready and the band was sounding nice! As with all our shows here, we had to start with cajoling the audience and making them clap and move on to some singing, dancing and jumping around! but they did it and it was beautiful :)

We played a tight 45 minute set and it was pleasing to hear after we finished that the audience wanted some more ;) its always a good sign when the crowd wants more :p - it was time for us to then say Hi! to everyone in the audience and interact with them and see what they thought of the band!

We got a nice and positive response which was worth all effort before we headed out to the Varun suggested, “Benito’s Kitchen” for some of best Mexican food ever!

Muchos thanks to Paul Knowles, his lovely wife and Kaz Sahota from Jenral who set up the whole showcase for us and were our lovely hosts for the evening. It would never have happened without you guys!

And thanks to all of you who came and watched us! Now we wait to see what comes from this :)

As always - photos available here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=285017&id=522175007&l=d694355582

Our first club gig in London was at the Von Underbelly and we were the headlining band! and what fun it turned out to be :)

Read more..

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 50 years or have nothing to do with the world music scene at all, you know that WOMAD is just the *Biggest* world music festival ever!

Read more..

We *LOVED* the Lovebox and by the looks of it - Lovebox loved us too :) We could not have asked for a better start to the tour!

The famed British weather woke us up in the morning and it was just freezing cold with a drizzle and the general moroseness that is associated with the British weather was in its element! Add to this, the fear that, coming from India, there won’t be anyone who will venture out for a gig in that kind of weather, din’t make things any easier for us!

We finally reached the venue well in advance and after collecting all the passes we needed, we headed backstage to get ready for the gig!

Like many other things in the UK, the gig started at 12.30 PM on the DOT and no one exceeded time! it was just crazy!

We got on stage a couple of minutes in advance since the band before us moved out a little early and did a quick line check before we plunged into the set!

Just as our first song, ‘Hey Bhagwan’ was getting over, Horror of Horrors, the 5th string on Raghu’s guitar snapped! Rajeev went backstage like a pro and sorted it out with the guitar from the previous band! while he fixed the string that was broke and tuned it right there amidst all that chaos!

The rest of the set was one big party with the crowd increasing in size and volume :) We got them to jump and sing and dance and even learn some Hindi! Not just that, I thought we were on the spot with our humor as well :p - and the crowd seemed to LOVE that!

This was of course, Varun’s first gig with us and after exactly *ONE* practice and he nailed it! The next task is to make him wear a lungi and jump with us on stage! But we have 5 more shows and I’m confident it will happen. It would be lovely if you guys could leave a comment here telling him how much it would mean to you that he does that - It might just change his mind :)

In all, it was a mindblowing experience, we got to see the scale of things at a festival of this size and stature and we should hopefully be back soon!

It was with great apprehension that we arrived in the UK without our guitarist Vijay Joseph and the man who was supposed to replace him was Varun Krishnan ..

So after the heart breaking news that Vijay could not make it, we were in a complete fix about how we would pull off the trip to the UK and one part of the answer was Varun Krishnan. He was the guitarist for Zero after Warren had to move to New Zealand and he came heavily recommended ;) - So we had nothing to fear!

We landed up at his house early in the morning yesterday and I must say it helps when you stay down the road from Abbey Road Studios! You know what you *HAVE* to do when you are in the vicinity of the Abbey Road Studios right? We did just that!

Sang Beatles songs and crossed the road and had someone click that famous photo! except small problems - the song that Jithin started singing when we asked him to sing a Beatles song was - “Hotel California” !! - though we can just blame his Mallu descent for it :p - and we most certainly don’t look like the Fab Four a couple of decades back, but then, it was a brilliant experience walking through music history!

Varun did not disappoint - he had his parts nailed, gave us cereal bars and cake and some excellent coffee and the morning session was a breeze! We ran through the structure on most songs we were playing and stepped out of his house to watch the long queue of people waiting to get into the Lords Cricket Ground! We have promised ourselves that we we will make it to the Final day of the Ashes test on Monday - I hope the Aussies stick around till then!

We then headed out to meet Sareata, our lovely host who has been quite an angel, helping us out with settling in and sorting out all issues we’ll face here about our travel and accomodation - its been brilliant! thank you so much :)

The evening practice session was at ‘The Joint’ which is a studio that is used by bands like Noah and the Whale and Coldplay for practice! and when we reached there, we learnt that we have been upgraded to use one of their bigger and newer studios - the Red Plus!

A LONG practice session and some Mc Donalds burgers (Thanks Sammy and Rajeev for that!!) and it was time to drag our tired selves to the flat and get some sleep! But its all good coz in a couple of hours - its us on the Gaymers Stage at the Lovebox festival!

Check out some of the pictures we’ve put up! - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=281666&id=522175007&l=fecccf746e