Docs at AIIMS get a taste of ‘medicine’
Weekdays are usually not a good option for a gig, moreso when you return back squeezed out of all your juice from a hard day in the garb of a corporate shark. But when its something like PULSE happening, its something which is hard to resist. So you’ve got to keep your mundane professional vagaries aside for a while, and recall those reserves of energy kept aside for times like these…astonishing as it is, pushing yourselves to the edge of your energy levels at moments like these (rather than preserving it) in quest of a supersonic boost.
Well, the venue as always was the AIIMS grounds, and the line-up fairly impressive, what with Parikrama, Them Clones, Brahma (all the way from Bombayyy) and the new kids in the circuit, Five8.
The stage set was fairly okay, considering that this was a college fest and not a pro gig, with two gigantic screens on either side of the stage projecting the stage antics (looking at the crowd presence, that wasn’t something which was actually warranted, if it was actually meant for ‘viewers with a distance’; by the way, there was in fact a sizeable audience, which was both ‘non-viewing’ and ‘at a distance’).
Kickstarting the show was Five8, who apparently are the college band for KMC, DU (that’s what I got to know from a friend). Keeping aside the much desired non-existent intro at the start, considering they are new, the overall stuff also wasn’t something which you would actually call ‘neat’. But I guess you can discount this to them, as they are just starting out. The fare dished out by them was the regular Purple and Led Zep stuff (Burn, Rock n Roll), Extreme (It’s a Monster). The vocalist surely was running out of lung power emulating Plant and Gillan octaves, but he try a good show being the same difference of Gene Simmons’ tongue act. Sound fuckups aside, the performance was not something worth really drooling over, but the guys need to work it up if they wish to go on for long.
Ahhh, the much looked ahead to ‘Them Clones’ were up next. These guys have really carved out a firm repute of being entertainers in their own right with tight covers and supertight self compos. Building up the tempo with RATM (Killing in the name of), on to their own songs (Zephyretta, My Life, Follow the Prophet, Ignite and Walk Away) they did a good job keeping the audience enthralled. Over time, they’ve built up a good following (in the Delhi circuit at least) with their audience singing along and swaying to their self compos. In true rockstar element, PD was absolutely connected to the crowd, with him getting into the ring being the high point. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that they managed to ‘Ignite and Walk Away’ with ‘Pride’.
Brahma…aaargh, them band from yonder…I was looking forward to a good metal night with these folks, considering that Bombay bands have a reputation for metal. Disappointed through and through with a performance having a profundity of just covers (come on folks, we do love to hear original stuff), which is all the more disappointing considering the fact that they’ve been around for quite some time doing their stuff. There was just one self compo, the politically apolitical ‘Bomb the Neighbours’ which came of their stash, else it was just covers ranging from Metallica to Slayer to Pearl Jam to Linkin Park thrown ‘In the End’ complete to the effect with a hooded rapper en tow trying to catch up life dear draining out of his lungs in a tongue-twisted-lyrics-pad-assisted attempt to match upto Mike Shinoda. Wonder when are geezers gonna realize that just pulling on a hood ain’t enough to pull it off.
Anyway, to ease the aural senses, there was Parikrama who started off with their self compos ‘Vaporize’ and ‘Rhythm n Blues’, moving onto Pink Floyd (Coming back to Life), Ozzy (Mama I’m Coming Home), the almost essential Parikrama cover of Coldplay (In My Place), Iron Maiden (The Trooper) and did best what they are always expected to do…give the folks down under a kick ass time. The entire lineup of the band was in their element and did their best to ensure that the crowd was headbanging to the core, and left with their senses elevated, leaving behind ‘Smoke on Water’ and a ‘Fire in the Sky’.
All in all, a gig with a fairly lukewarm crowd presence comprised mostly of college goers present for the sake of a collegefest, and semi-tepid performances with occasional streaks of character from the ones you always expected; nothing like a big blue bolt. But with the culfest season just starting, there should be much more to look forward to.
To view the images of the show, you can go here: Pulse 2006 pics
