When ‘Rebel Star’ Ambarish personally recommends and invites you to perform for a event that he is personally involved in, you just go! and what a fantastic thing that turned out to be!

We were called to perform for the annual celebrations by the Sathyanarayana temple in Hulimavu (Off Bannerghatta Road) and we thought it was going to be a small affair but nothing prepared us for what it actually turned out to be! We were playing on the same stage that was previously graced by greats such as Yesudas, Hariharan, SP Balasubramaniam, Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan and more! to even be spoken of in the same breath as these artistes is an honour let alone performing at the same stage!

There was a little disappointment because of the person who supplied us with the drum kit for the show bringing a complete sub standard kit inspite of promising the best! well .. that just goes on to our list of vendor woes and is another lesson learnt! But the people came out in huge numbers for the show and by the time we got off stage post our sound check and before the show had to start, there were easily about 15,000 people in the audience ready to party! It was infact, after a long time that we saw people climbing buildings nearby etc to watch our show! It did help that the show itself was in the middle of the main road in Hulimavu!

Half way through our show, one of the superstars of the Kannada Film Industry, Mr. Devraj and his wife came along and sat right in front of the stage! that just completely roused the crowd’s interest and one song later, when the man himself, ‘Rebel Star’ Ambarish turned up, it just went insane!

We weren’t sure if we were to continue or if we had to call them on stage right away, but Mr. Ambarish sat right in front of us and told us he was here for the music and to watch us, and we should just go on with the show!

We ran through some of the newer songs we’ve written including ‘Kodagana Koli Nungittha’ which is gaining in popularity, and the title track of ‘Just Maat Maathalli’ which were both completely loved by the crowd following which we closed with Raghu’s most popular song in Karnataka right now, ‘Ninna Pujege Bande Mahadeshwara’.

Half way through the last song, everyone went up to Ambarish sir and got him on his feet and he was doing a little jig with some of the organizers which got the whole crowd including the people on those buildings going crazy! What a way that was to end the show after which, the whole band got felicitated and Ambarish sir took the mic and told the whole gathering that he was a regular for this event and its something very close to his heart, but this year, he was there because he is a fan of the Raghu Dixit Project and he was here to listen to Raghu’s music!

That, coming from him, is most humbling for us as he added that, the value of the band cannot be matched in money, but only in the love that everyone showers on us! and it was a LOT of love they showered on us that night :)

As I look back on the show last night, it was something truly special and one that we will not forget in a hurry! there is something about performing to the people who love your music in your own backyard, heck, this was right by the roadside! its truly magical!

Much thanks to Ambarish Sir, Devraj Sir for coming in and watching us! and Mr. Venugopal who called us and made everything possible for us to play yesterday and special credit to Niranjan Sivram on the sound console who also took these photos!