Well GIR Day 2 was a more familiar GIR for me. Yesterday, except for one band, every band was an international one. Today was the opposite. Except one, every band was from India.
My friend ditched me at the last moment and hence I had to go alone..but thats really ok..as it is you cant talk and stuff inside with all the noise. Also, there will be no one cribbing about reaching early and stuff! I'm waay too excited for such events and I always make it a point to reach the venue at the specified time. I really dont mind waiting.
I started from my house at 4 pm..and reached there at 4:20 or so. The line was short and the gates opened early. I entered inside to see a bunch of kids with their guitars on stage doing the soundcheck. It was funny. They must be schoolkids..."unki twacha se unki umar ka pata nahi chal raha tha". Anyways, the first thing I noticed was better sound! Waay better sound in fact. Everything was louder than yesterday which is always a good sign in a rock gig. The show went something like this.
Colossal Figures
They are the "kids" that I was talking about. They were the Redbull band which dint get a slot yesterday. Their lead vocalist is such a li'l guy :) .. but you forget that when you hear him growl. He was awesome I thought. The band themselves sound metalcore and very lamb of god(ish). The vocals are a mix of growls and clean singing. They sounded pretty good. Nice crunchy riffs and awesome drums. I liked them a lot. The only thing that was missing was the showmanship part. They dint interact with the audience at all and Delhi audience needs someone to get them going. Most of the ppl were sitting throughout their setlist. There were claps instead of screams from the crowd. Well..they could have made it better if they took the audience along the "ride".
Digital Suicide
As soon as the "kids" left, a man came holding his guitar wearing a silver shirt and a silver pant! Then came another with a coat and a hat. Yet another sat on the drums who was skinny as ever! They were the second band of the day. They are from Assam and a three piece band. 3 piece bands always fascinate me. Its really tough for a 3 piece band..all of them have to be spot on. The best 3 piece band in India for me was Superfuzz. I remember seeing them for the first time at GIR and going crazy. Those guys were simply awesome. I was expecting Digital Suicide to be similar. However, they weren't. Although they weren't *that* bad..but something was missing. They played well in patches. Some parts were awesome and the others seemed empty. They were OK..cud have been better.
October
If metal was the flavor of Day 1, it was plain ol hard rock for Day 2. October again played well in patches. Actually none of them were interacting wid the crowd at all. The vocalist just kept muttering something and laughing nervously. They are a talented bunch..some of the songs were nice. Others were a bit boring. To make matters worse, one of the guitarists' guitar strings broke. He had to rush and get another one. They were a bit on the slow side and weren't peppy enuf. I was beginning to worry a bit about how the show would go on.
Lucid Recess
They were again a 3 piece band from Guwahati. Seeing Digital Suicide, I had lost hope. However, they were pretty good. Some of their songs were really awesome. The drummer was out of this world. Awesome guy. He was soo comfortable with his thing and the drum solo at their last song (which was a tribute to a band member who passed away) was breathtaking. They were nice. Had a nice time with them.
Undying Inc
The only Indian metal act of the day. I went to school with their vocalist Shashank Bhatnagar. He's also a close friend of my close friend - Harman. Anyways, I had heard a lot about this band but hadn't seen them live. Well one thing's for sure .. they really know how to put on a show. I mean Shashank was all over the place..jumping from the monitors..working up the audience...and screaming his lungs out. Delhi loves its metal..and boy did they love Undying Inc. They went crazy. There were mosh pits..wall of deaths..everything! Personally, I think my music taste hasn't developed to their style of music. I found them to be really distorted and unclear. I cudnt make out much of the riffs. The drums were awesome and Shashank's energy was out of this world.
Meshuggah!
Ohh man..the most awaited, anticipated band of the festival. They made us wait for almost 40 minutes. The wait was killing us. Wow..I dont have much to write about them. Well, I thought for like 10 minutes right now about what to write. I swear, I dont know how to describe them to justify how awesome they were and how monstrous their set was. All I can say is that ppl were literally in a trance. They were swaying and moving as if they were possessed. And I must say that at some level, we were. They were mind blowing. Everyone enjoyed like hell. The pits were the biggest I had seen in Delhi. It was insane. When they finished, we all were still screaming for like 5 - 10 minutes...unable to fully understand that the show was really over. They distributed some guitar picks and drumsticks and were on their way promising that they would be back.
Ohh man..what an end to an awesome festival. It had been a long time I had been to a gig and this totally made up for the lost time. Still a bit sad that the next one would take place after a whole year. Phew! what a night! The echoes of the amps are still ringing in my ears.
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