After a very very long wait, HEADBangalore had finally been blessed by the presence of motherjane. This was the first ever unplugged gig I was going to see live and the excitement started pumping in me from about a week before the gig itself.
October 15th took its own sweet time to come and when it did arrive, it came with a bang. The day started with a birthday party for me and soon, I met up with a couple of janiacs from school(Balaji and Dhruva) and our journey to Kyra began.
We reached the venue at about 6.30 and I ran inside to the toilet to paint my face. There was a lot of painting to be done. 15 minutes down, I had painted myself and though, many people had questions about my bowel movements due to my extended session in the toilet, I was pretty pleased with the outcome. (It was the first time I painted myself)
In another half an hour or so, I had finished painting Balajis and Dhruvas faces and we were waiting for the other janiacs to arrive. Soon, the hugest janiacs in Bangalore, Raja and Praveen arrived and in a while, we were all painted and ready for motherjane to hit the stage. We went in and took our seats (read temporary chairs to be sat on till the show began).
A few people came to us and asked us whether we were motherjane and I must admit, it felt great to be in the spotlight :P - sadly, good things last for a very short time and the spotlight was soon removed of us.
At about 9, the show began with the Gods taking their seats on stage. I ran down from the top floor right to the front. At the start of the show, we all sat on the floor and were left with our mouths wide open at the insane feel and aura around each song. It felt extremely different from a plugged gig and it threw us off our feet. Though we had seen videos of the unplugged gigs previously, the songs when played live right in front of you gave rise to a billion emotions all at the same time within us.
They started the gig with Disillusion and Suraj explained the philosophy behind the song and the reason it came about. Soon, they had all of us enthralled and played just about every song from their two albums except for "Ode to Life II" and as Suraj said, they still hadn't come up with the acoustic versions of "Tribes of Babel" and "Jihad" and hence, we couldn't catch them play their newest two singles but none the less, it was a brilliant set.
The acoustic versions of all their songs sound brilliant and they have been able to maintain the emotions, energy and sentiment of each song. What I liked best of the entire set was the verse riff on "Mindstreet". It was simply "WOW!".
Baiju played a brilliant solo filled with Carnatic Ragas. I never had the chance to ask him exactly what he played but it was a piece that was heavily influenced by Prasanna and had a touch of Western shredding to it. The solo had all of us with our mouths wide open and we were unable to do anything but bow down to the man, nay GOD after that piece. They, as usual, slipped into "Fields of Sound" after his solo.
As soon as this solo came to an end, all of us were on our feet, jumping, headbanging and basically having a ball. The solo took the gig one notch higher, if that was ever possible.
Another spectacular thing that we discovered over the course of the concert was that Clyde was actually on stage even though he had a splitting migraine. Suraj said that Clyde was the only person who could ever smile even with a migraine and he was spot on, as always. He dedicated "Walk On" to Clyde.
Another first in motherjanes profile came on this day. For the first time ever on stage, John Thomas played a drum solo. And I can proudly say that I was one of the loudest voices in the crowd when we chanted his name out really loud to play a solo.
After the intended setlist, motherjane took a break with a promise to come back and play a couple more. A wait of 15 minutes followed, with some frantic photography taking place on the sides with the band.
The band came back on stage and were taking requests. They had played their entire list and were about to play a couple of encores. Everyone voiced their favourite songs. After a few seconds, there was a slight pause in the noise and as everyone was thinking of which song they wanted their favourite band to play, I had a slightly different idea in my head. I screamed as loud as I could, "SILSILA".
Poor Suraj was drinking water and had to try very very hard not to spit it out, but the band obliged. Well, partly. Baiju played the melody and John gave the beats. We, malus, in the crowd, who knew the song and who knew the legacy that was Silsila sang our hearts out and we had a blast.
They then played an encore of Mindstreet. THAT RIFF!! :O -- and unfortunately that was the end of one hell of a night. It was a brilliant night and my first ever unplugged gig was KICK ASS! I hope someone soon brings motherjane back in town because I cant wait to see them again.
Here is the set list for the night :-
- Disillusion
- Mindstreet
- Blood in the Apple
- Maya
- Chasing the Sun
- Ode to Life I
- Walk On
- Questions
- Maktub
- Shh.. Listen
- Broken
- Prison Chains
- Before One Million Comes One
- GUITAR SOLO followed by Fields of Sound
- Soul Corporations
- Karmic Steps
- DRUM SOLO
- Mindstreet Encore
p.s. Special Thanks to Balaji and Praveen for pictures
Cheers
a\m/ajaniac
