Bangalore, India-

Nokia Alive-  Lamb of God, was one of the better organized concerts that India had seen recently. From the distribution of vouchers and tickets, to transport facilities , stage and lighting were top notch too. India needs more of such organized events. And Ayn Sil, captured the concert on his camera.

On 15^th of May, 2010, in Palace Grounds, Bangalore, Randy Blythe said that they will be back soon. And in an almost exactly 2 years, they returned. They came armed  with a new album, and the quintessential dreadlocks .

The change in the venue turned out to be unexpectedly good. Clarks Exotica seemed perfect for a concert. Apart from the distance from the city, there was nothing serious to be worried about.

But well, the die hard  music fans would not be deterred by some kilometres . As soon as the gates opened and the crowd started to  pour in, Escher’s Knot took the stage.  This  metal outfit from Chennai, could  only get   a small percentage of the total  crow to headbang, for there was a huge queue. But spirits were raised, as their music did riase the tempo of the evening.  Literally .

Next up, BhayanakMaut  ravaged the stage and delivered exactly what was needed, never mind the few glitches with the sound. Some viewers claimed otherwise.  Others were too busy moshing to say anything.  But it was BhayanakMaut. They rarely fail to surprise .The sun was on its way down, and the stage lights on their way up.

Skyharbor’s  popularity in the past few months has increased substantially. The hype was silently built around their performance. Suddenly everyone wanted to see them live. Their act was only a little less anticipated than  the Lamb of God. Daniel Tompkins’ third visit to India was successful.

Twice with Tesseract and this time with Skyharbor. One thing was clear by the end of their show ;AnupSastry is a monster. Devesh (Goddess Gagged) is also worth mentioning . At the other end of the stage, Keshav and Nikhil looked out of place and surprisingly  not that  comfortable on the stage. It was sure  rusty up there. But nevertheless, they put up a decent gig which pleased the audience.

And then it was time. For Lamb of God to get up and going. Opening with a short drum solo, they leaped into Desolation. The crowd went berserk. Randy’s constant interaction with the audience played a huge role that  kept the concert flowing. Just like last time, there were circle pits on either sides of the console. But luckily and unlike the last time, less bones were broken. After Desolation, they moved into Ghostwalking. The wave of energy that swept through the audience was contagious .

During the one and a half hours of their presence on stage there was not a single moment where your mind would wander off to some place else. It was absolutely gripping. Randy also talked about how the metal scene in India has just started. He also encouraged the local bands.

Of the 15 songs they performed  that night, 4 were from their new album. The encore was a re-run of their previous visit to India. ‘The Passing’ to ‘In your words’. Their last song for the night, like most times, was Black Label. There is no doubt that the crowd  had something to take home that night. 

Written by – Akash Das

Photographed by: Ayan SIl

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