Aaaah… the woes of an organizer…..!!!!!! Georgie, as you may know, having read it elsewhere on this site, is a very dear, old friend. And I have been talking to him about doing a show for me. He's actually done a couple of karaoke gigs for me very privately, but I did want the rest of Calicut to hear him in full flow and be floored, just as I have been! We had got him a gig recently at a resort in Calicut , when he was backed by the Renegades and he was comfortable performing with them. So we fixed up a gig with him, backed by the Renegades.

The venue was the Cherootty Memorial Swimming Pool Lawns (venue for the Buddha Blown concert), the date was 11th Feb., 2006 . The sounds were Swapna Sounds from Calicut . Everything was set…. well, almost, as I was unhappy with the response of the people, hardly 50 passes out by 8 th Feb.! And now I go into the real "woe" part…. Georgie calls up on 8th and says, macha, my throat is screwed, I dont think I'll b able to sing on the 11 th, especially as I have to leave with Rahman on 15th to Hong Kong n Bangkok for the AR Rahman World Tour Series. He was croaking on the phone, his voice sounded really bad. After some consultation, we decided to postpone the concert to 25th. There was Raagam(NITC) on, but 25th they had nothing scheduled. 24th was Parikrama and 26th was Strings, a real rocking weekend bonanza for Calicut . But as luck wud have it, am at the "woe" part again, the Strings concert got advanced to 25th, can you believe it?!. To top it all, one of my comrades-in-arms Girish suffered an injury to his foot, which was later diagnosed as a multiple fracture, which meant I cud never get him when n where I wanted. Add to all this my court work schedule and you can imagine the chaos.

But this we decided to go ahead with it, and go ahead we did. Luckily, Althaf made himself available throughout and that was a great relief. Ok, for the less initiated, George Peter, or Georgie, to his friends, was the former voice for my favourite Indian band, 13AD. After they split, he joined up with the one and only A R Rahman, singing and composing vocal arrangements for him. He has written a song about the President of India , Mr. Kalam and had it composed by AR Rahman. He has sung in the Tamil movie, Boys, in the Hindi movie Rang de Basanti etc. He is soon planning to release an album. It has been ages since he did a full-fledged rock show. Let me put in a word about the people who made the show possible.

One has to pay tributes where it's due. First and foremost, we never really had to go around with the begging bowl for sponsorships this time. All it took were a few sms-es n a couple of emails. And I had Rontek Sound , Bhima Jewellers , Ramachandra Bhatt, Hawalker Chappals , Apex Constructions , Up's Marketing etc lined up. Kalyan Kendra and Bombay Jewellers also threw their hats in. That was really amazing. All these music lovers chipping in. We bow in gratitude before them. They are the real architects of the show. We just did the leg work. There were a few others who promised, but didn't deliver. Our thanks are due to Jacob Abraham, Kiran, Ramachandra Bhatt, Paul, Anju, Sreejith and Prem, Arshad and Hashim respectively. Our thanks are also due to people like Ganesh Bhatt, who contributed to the cause. Also to each and everyone who called us up and picked up the passes, lessening our having to hard sell.

Ok, on to the show…… Once the dates were changed, the lead guitarist and band leader had a problem as he had a recording engagement. He asked us to get a substitute lead and go ahead. Very nice of him, as another date would have been difficult.

The show started a bit late, by our normal standards. 7.30pm was what we had printed, but 8.15 pm it was finally, when Georgie came on and started the ball rolling with Eagles' Get over it. The band sounded good, the replacement guitarist Sikkand, who plays for a band in B'lore called Riptide along with Sridhar and Renju, doing a great job wielding his warlock axe. But frankly, Georgie didn't sound great, something was missing. The next song was I shot the Sheriff, the Marley classic. This time around he was sounding better. The sparse crowd was slowly drifting up front.

Suddenly there was a technical hitch, some howling sound form the guitar pickups. Sikkand had to tend to it. Georgie immediately launched into Khalbali, the song that he himself had sung in Rang de Basanti. Though every one had come to hear rock, they appreciated this lovely song. The next song was by Sridhar, who is an architect by profession and a vocalist by passion. This time it was Every Breath u Take, Georgie came in on the higher notes. Then came Message in Bottle. Georgie had the crowd singing along to this one. Then came a song you hear rarely at concerts, or anywhere else, except CD players, because it was by Michael Jackson, the King of Pop himself. Give into Me was rendered beautifully. George’s vocals hit the highs with ease and power and Sikkand paid tribute to Slash in style. This one had the crowd really grooving at Georgie's range.

Time by Floyd was next…and then Sridhar sang Let me inside and very well too. He then paid tribute to our very own (though he never really acknowledged it!) Fredun Balsara and sang I want 2 break Free. Summer of 69 was rendered in full steam next and Enter Sandman followed. Next came Sultans of Swing, an extended version where he had the women singing along and did some extended vocal improvisations meant to keep the crowd engaged in singing. All along, one thing that amazed me was his mic technique. The way his arm and the mic would move away from his mouth when he hit the higher octaves, it was as if it had a life of its own.

Was reminded of seeing a Phil Collins Live video. He then went into Sweet Child of mine, another favourite song of his, rendered absolutely beautifully. Next came Black night and this time it was Sridhar again. We will Rock you by Queen was up next, and needless to say, every one joined in! Smoke on the Water, that timeless Purple classic with that signature riff was on next. Tribute was paid to Mr. Knopfler with Down to the Waterline. Then came Road House Blues where both he and Sridhar did duties on the vocals. Brick in the Wall I/Happiest days of our Lives/Brick in the Wall III came one after the other. Then came the tribute to 13AD through City Blues. Sridhar then did Highway star... George soared into Comfortably Numb after that. The finale` was the true icing on this rock cake, Hallowed be thy name rendered flawlessly.

The band really gelling together to pull off that masterpiece. It has been a long time since I heard that one performed this well. Georgie's banter with the crowd, his powerful vocals, his easy familiarity and charm had everybody hooked. One word about Sridhar here; this tall, dark n handsome architect really did some good singing here. We had actually drafted him in to rest Georgie's vocals, but he turned out to be quite a draw himself. Needs to brush up on his stage show a bit. The Renegades did a great job of backing Georgie up as well. On the drums, we had the veteran of the Calicut rock scene, Anwar Sadat and on base Rineesh, who got special mention from George, who started off as a bass player himself

Harris

MP3 Downloads (Right click and Choose Save as to download - large files)

Enter Sandman | Give in to Me |Black Night | City Blues

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