This blog is about the biggest concert of my life and I’m sure the feeling was shared by more than 25k people watching the God’s live act. Bangalore was going bonkers for the sight of Eddie. Pop was long out, and heavy metal was the new sound of music. Almost all the modes of transport converging towards bangy were packed with eager fans, dying to see the unimaginable and gasping in utter disbelief “Oh my fucking GOD, I still can’t believe that I’m going to see Iron Maiden live and that too in India.” And let’s not talk about the fans of bangy. Maiden performing live only in Bangalore, was official stamp on the unofficial-n-invisible-n-debatable document which reads Bangalore is the rock/metal capital of the country.

*I was trying to think of a scientific explanation for it and this is the best I was able to come up with. Bangy is the silicon valley of India and silicon is a metal, so it has to be metal capital. I know its crap, but 5 hours of brutally savage head banging without dope kinda makes your brain do rock n roll*

I had friends coming from all over the country for the concert and for the past few days I was busy arranging tickets and accommodation for them. I was so thrilled that philanthropy had taken over my sanity. And on the D day we were a bunch of 7 mean guys, most of them were drunk (at 1 o’clock in afti) and doped, and for being the sober one, I was given the responsibility to arrange for taxi and take care of the tickets. We reached the venue at 4 and managed to get few packets of “sutta” inside, hiding them near our holiest of the holy, in our undies (idea no. 53 in the bestselling “101 advantages of large undies and chubby ass”)

The moment I entered, my eyes popped out of the socket and as my friends say I was shouting “Holy Fuckkkk!!” All that I could see was people in black shirt and dirty jeans without any exceptions, well almost without any exceptions. It was a different world altogether. It was mean, it was dark, and it was crazy. Age no bar, color no bar, caste no bar, and sex no bar. It was a world where tattoos and piercing were no more a taboo. It was a world where “fuck” was the most frequently used common noun. It was a world where weed and spirit were staple diet. It was a world where Maiden was the only God and no one was atheist.

There was still time for concert to start and we thought what better way to waste some money and time on merchandise. I was in my maiden shirt, but could not resist the temptation for another one. Here goes “the greens”. Next pit stop was sandwich shop and the Pepsi stall. Sandwich sucked, by the way. And so did the sound. They said, maiden got 20 tons of instruments with them. Tell me, speakers were not in them. Sound was pathetic, by any standard. But whatever!!(I possibly could not have sounded more indifferent).

The concert started at 5 o’clock with the stage being occupied by FTN (winner of campus rock idols ’07). Who cares about the genre, they sucked major. We were busy hooting them shouting “suck my dick”, “fuck off bitch” and our very own kgp special “ek do teen char, band karo ye atyachar”. Our unison and undying hatred to that crap was source of inspiration for people standing next to us, and our rhyming masterpieces proved contagious for our neighbors as well. Finally, we got relief from that junk in around half an hour.*I guess they were done with the performance but I won’t mind taking credit*

Then came Parikrama. It was their 3^rd live performance that I was attending in last 5 years, and every time they were getting better and better. Their chick guitarist had added layers on his waist. But the best part was their recent addition of a violinist in the group. He was a surprise addition in an essentially rock band. Crowd was going berserk on the performance when they played hits like “but it rained”, “rhythm and blues” and “whiskey in the bottle”. I was especially impressed by the violin instrumental.

Then came the most boring part of the day. Before this let’s define loser. Loser is someone who thinks genetic advantages always pay. Laura Harris’s (daughter of founder and lead guitarist of iron maiden, Steve Harris) performance proved the definition. Enough said.

All minnows were done with their efforts. Some good and some not so good. But my clock of patience was ticking and heart was pounding higher than ever. Even the anticipation of the thought of seeing maiden was giving me jitters. Stage preparation was going on. Mob was turned to frenzy mode. It was in this time, I saw a kid (no more than 10, mind you) wearing a maiden tee-shirt, which could have fit two like him was shouting “maiden maiden!!” sitting on his father’s shoulders. And I was like “man!! And I call myself fan.”

Suddenly lights went off. And when they come back, I could see masses of blood and flesh on stage. Then I thought I know who they are. It was Dave, Steve, Adrian, Janik and Nicko. All the hands were up in the air making that typical head banger’s \\m// . Ear deafening sound of “maiden” was thundering the sky. But I was still looking for the king of the gods. And then he arrived, in a black blazer and a mic in his hand. Bruce was here.

Then he started singing. Song list was

The reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
For the greater good of God
Wrathchild
Trooper (yes! he had Union Jack in his hand)
Fear of the dark
Run to the hills
The evil that man do
Iron Maiden
Brighter than a thousand suns
These colors don’t run

The voice was magical. It was more perfect than the body of any Greek god. It had velvet touch, irrespective of the pitch. He was everywhere. At one moment he is up on the steel bars, and next moment, just on the face of crowd and in a split second he is on tier 2 of the stage. After that I lost my senses. I was higher than any amount of booze can take me to. They had that scintillating presence that people talk of. Bruce’s energy, Adrian’s jugglery with guitar and Nicko’s smile made that entire wait worthy. It was like a living one of the most beautiful dream ever, when you wish if you could sleep forever.

And then Bruce said “bye bye Bangalore”. Nicko threw his stick in the crowd and Janik threw his picks and some bastards just got lucky. My heart sank. Just one hour! We were spellbound and were hoping that the curse would never be lifted. We started to move back trying to go out. But then he came back with “2 minutes to midnight” and we were like “whoa!!” there is still more to come and this time Bruce came out with Eddie. A giant Eddie. And finally came “Hallowed be thy name”. Crowd was getting mundane and I was one step ahead of them.

I was busy head banging, jumping and throwing my hands around. I was dancing insanely. By the end of an hour my neck, back, legs and hands were telling me to chill out. And then I jumped some more. I have lost the count of number of feet I had crushed and how many times I faced the same. My head was blessed with gift of perpetual motion. Back and spine witnessed the fury like never before. My voice had gone down two octaves. But fatigue was something unheard of, and pain was sweeter than ever.

And then they bid the final good bye. Such a crowd was not what they would have expected in this part of the world. Demography has always deceived them and a lot of other bands. But let’s hope not anymore.

Maiden concert is over and now only must watch concert in my list is of Opeth. But I’m an optimist. I’ll watch it someday, if not in India then maybe in Sweden.

And to Maiden, all I could say is “adios amigos”. :)

Labels: I, Lord's review, Memoirs, Strings and Drums