IIT Sarang Reviews. Please post it here.

I was there at the IIT Saarang. Had a chance to watch Parikrama and Led Zeppelica. I saw Parikrama after 4 years and they have become a world class band now. 4 years back, they were a very good India band and today it's on par with a lot of big bands. I feel it's just that they need a break in the international scene. Nice Originals, Pink Floyd Covers and the show ended with Smoke On The Water with nice Fireworks. Somebody post some reviews please. I am bad at writing.

Led Zeppelica, a tribute Led Zeppelin tribute band from the US. Surprisingly they also looked similar to the original Led Zep dudes. The better equipments clearly showed the difference between Parikrama and Led Zeppelica. The guitar tones were pretty much nailing down Jimmy Page. They belted out some great numbers from Led Zeppelin and it was pretty much like watching Led Zeppelin with plenty of Guitar solos and improvisations and jammings. The guitarist was nailing down the style of Jimmy Page too pretty much. The highlight of the band was the Drummer who was simply mindblowing and he pretty much held the crowd with not a single guy leaving when he playing the Moby Dick Drum Solo. The bassist was pretty tight and was also playing Mandolin and Keyboards in a few songs. The guitarist was pretty good but was making too many mistakes. He missed out notes, went out of key, band bends making things go out of key was happening quite often. But there were a lot of phenomenal things he played including several amazing solos and improvisations pretty much like Jimmy Page. There was also a Firework Gimmick. All of a sudden fire was kinda pouring down inside the stage. The Drummer got up and started running and there was a lot of panick on stage and whole crowd started thinking there's some kind of fire accident. But then the vocalist announced that it was a gimmick to scare us and they did it pretty well.

Now the worst part of the gig. IIT has this close everything by 11 o clock rule. Led Zeppelica announced that they will play stairway to heaven and a couple of more songs and then wind up. Then started Stairway to Heaven and just when the drums begin, the power goes off. Confusion everywhere. Power came off after 10 minutes and the vocalist announced that the Cops are crazy and want them to finish off, so they said that they will finish this song and end their set. So the band started the song again from midway and then when the guitarist launched into playing the Greatest solo, the cops cut the power again and asked them to get off the stage. They had to leave without even wishing us goodbye. That was a pretty bad treatment to a band which was invited to come and play. This surely is going to affect India's name in the international road map for various bands which would want to come. I dont think Led Zeppelica will come to India anymore after this experience.

 

Am surpirsed with the Parikrama thing.
When I was there in my third year: Jan 2002, exactly same things happened.

The Laser, sound n light.
Pyrotechnics show.

Ending with Smoooooookeeeee on the Waaaaaaater .......... Fiiiiree in the skyyyyyyyyyeeeee ----> The pyros going bust in the sky at that very moment.

Am sure Ronnie, same thing wudve happend :grin:


This was surely a rerun. Ofcourse thye wudve performed classic rock and glam metal numbers.

*drool*

 

Besides Ronnie, U cant help it.

They are govt orders, that prohibit any kindof public performance after 11 o clock.
The worst thing is that pFoolish dont get any bribe from IIT.

SO the only way to make their importance felt is to enforce the LAWs.

 

Last time I saw Parikrama, they played a bunch of crappy AC/DC covers
or might be they were sounding crappy because of the crappy sound system...whatever


Bangalore is atleast better than Mumbai...here the deadline is 10 PM :annoyed:

 

I was thinking Bombay is open all night long. Bombay is known for it's Night Life.

 

the Pubs/discos/cafes are open, but for outdoor performances you need a prior police permission if you want to extend it after 10 PM.

 

some stuff abt this posted at the led zeplica's website forums:
https://www.tributecity.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1118&sid=1643faec4021ee5c3bbb97fffc95c132

.. and " Saarang ends with a whimper after authorities decide not to invite trouble from the law"
at: https://www.hindu.com/2006/01/31/stories/2006013114910400.htm

 

Hmmm!!!

Am happy know that the sorry state of affairs in Chennai (coz I know about only that place, maybe other India cities are like this too) are out with public outrage.

I remember the police hawaldars coming at us with raised lathis to drive us out of OUR Open Air Theater.

LMAO, no I should be ROTFL. 'coz our institute authorities were gaping helplessly.

But I understand.
Rules are Rules. Meant to be followed.

The people who should be condemned in such cases (as in all cases) are the law-makers (who unfortunately are the most shameless breed of humans on htis planet).

Hah!


Besides I personally dont have much problem with this 11 o clock rule.
But If u look around, this rule is not followed usually.

Especially if the theme/cause is politically motivated


However, the case here is that why is the rule selectively enforced.

 

.. as an audience i feel parikrama must cover something new now or perform more of originals in their shows -- saw them perform during the finals of campus rock idols on vh1 last week (held at goa) and they performed 'another brick on the wall' ;(

 

another brick in the wall is present on every parikrama setlist

I kinda like the duel between the guitarist (the chinki one....) and the violin player

 

LOL
nice siggy.

Audience do not prefer originals.
Can you believe that the Livewire @ IITB is a comptetion (where u dont pay anythign to watch), and similarly Powerchord @IITM.
People actually walk out if the band starts playing original number.

Most of the people coming are wannabes who dont come for music.
They just come for the "brag value" associated with it.

So that they can claim among their equally wannbe mates: they saw Parikrama perform Sweet Child O' Mine.
Now how can they brag about watching they perform "But it Rained"???


That is the majority of the crowd.

As a band who has been PAID to perform. Would you dare to go against wishes of these people?

 

:shock: ^^ hmm yes i agree -- but watever -- i think im more than convinced now that parikrama is capable of covering pink floyd in a superb way --- ab apne ko to kuch different sunne ko mangta hai

 

Ronnie..arre y didnt you tell me you would be at Saarang??..I was there 4 days..could have met up..newaz...

Ronnie has pretty much covered what happened at the Rock show...
It was the most disgusting kind of behaviour..its not something which is new to me..I was at the receiving end of the Dean's whims at my convocation.just because I came a bit late to Chennai..i wasnt allowed to take my Degree with the other students in the official ceremony.....anyway, I digress...

Parikrama was seriously good this time, enjoyable as always with their playlist of covers and some cool and familiar originals.They started with Highway to Hell, and went on to play numbers like Coming back to Life, Yellow,Purple haze,a violin version of Sweet Child o' mine,their originals(But it rained, SuperHero..forgot the third)..the violin solos were real cool..
As usual they played a rock version of Saare jahan se Achha in between..Sonam Sherpa did not roll around on the stage though

 

Led Zepplica is FANTASTIC...I went to a workshop they were conducting the previous day..only 40-50 turned up..saw them real up close....
The guitarist Lenny Mann, plays a LP standard, through a pedal board with tape delay modelling pedal, a wah, a Danelectro slapback pedal($35):shock:, some Lezlie modelling pedal....forgot a few others...he plugs into a 70's marshall..no wonder he sounds better than Sonam Sherpa on his Epiphone LP thru a line6 multifx and a Crybaby..
Now Lenny was saying that Jimmy Page made a lot of mistakes in his playing..lots of missed notes, slurs etc..said that if you slow down Page's playing it sounds pretty vague..but with the right feel and tempo..its all good..so some of those mistakes could be intentional...even then he was pretty phenomenal...
The vocalist is amazing too..he covers some Dio stuff too...sounds really like Plant with all the mannerisms to boot..
Drummer was total :nw:..plays with huge drumset..poor guy got shit-scared when fireworks erupted over him and he got hit by a spark..truth being the VH1 c.hu.ts who were sponsoring, set off th pyrotechnic without informing the band or the show coordinators..but these guys are Pro..they took it in their stride
The playlist consited of numbers like Rock n Roll, Lemon Song,Immigrant song, The song remains the Same,Four sticks etc....cant remember...
They were to end with Stairway to Heaven and Kashmir..but those mo' fuc.ke.rs had to spoil the fun...obviously they were pissed off..I talked to the the Show Coordinator, he was to discuss it with the manager the next day...poor guy..dunno what happened..they wont come to India next time for sure..
Its a real shame..its the worst nightmare for any band..you are playing..the crowd
is wild and then power goes off..leaving u in silence and darkness..
They resumed the song right where they had left it, AND DECLARED THEY WOULD JUST COMPLETE THAT SONG...Mann launched into that unforgettable solo and BOOM!..deja vu..left a real bad taste in the mouth in probably my last Saarang visit....

BTW..half the crowd had packed by the middle...the posers with the black T shirts cant digest serious music...most of these guys are unlikely to be into the bluesy Progressive Hard rock style of Led Zep..I admit i didnt know half the songs they played, but I couldnt help keeping my eyes and ears glued to the stage...seriously awesome stuff..

 

Thread moved to Music Reviews.

Damn. :shock:

 

hey guys,

IIT sarang this year was very sad ..actually if what happend in the end had bein avoided ...it would have bein much better..actually feelin sad for led zepplica or wateva...but they did play decently ..i gotta say the highlight was indeed the none other than the drummer ..he was real good ..and the guitarist ..well he did make a lotta mistakes but overall he nailed all the solos well ..i gotta say he did have some of jimmys style ..and has come close to the tone jimmy had ..not bad at all..

regardin parikrama..i had only seen then once before and they have improved a lot ..but there O.C need some work ..they werent that great but there covers sounded sweet ...

I also liked shankar mahadevans performance ...and all the college bands who played in the music competition..there was some good competition there ..the one which was judged by steeve vatz ..

hey ron..dint know you were goin to sarang man ..could have met you ...continued the pickup discussion in person ..

anyway..for all you guys who travelled frm different places to chennai to see led zeppilca ,it must be a huge disappointment for you..2 bad guys..hope the next sarang is way better than this 1..

 

Sorry..got double posted..

 

There might not be another Saarang..I've heard talk of it being scrapped from next year..and from experience I can say that such bad news tends to be true at IITM..

Yeah forgot to mention..Shankar Ehsaan Loy show was pretty good..Shankar is one amazing singer..improvises like anything and is tireless..his co-singers werent all that good though.....I liked Ehsaan's playing too(He was playing a Parker Fly BTW..the way he weaved distorted guitar melodies and solos with the vocals was quite refreshing....

Regarding the semi-pro band competiton called Decibels..I unfortunately missed the performance of joint winners Black Earth..so cant comment...but I love the sound of the other winning band Panatella (They won last year too..well 1 member had changed.. and were called Rainbow Bridge then)Their bassist is amazing(plays an acoustic bass)and they play funky blues kinda stuff..loved the guitarist's(I think his name was Akshay.not sure) tone and general playing on his Fender Strat...

Have to say 1 thing though..most bands were using something like a GT-8 but most of their patches sounded HORRIBLE..guess they werent set properly..

 

well if they scrap saarang ,,then its would be the worst decision they make.anyway it aint upto us to decide

ya man..his name is akshay only .and he is played well ...the bassist is sundar..both of them play really great..his custom black acoustic bass sounded very nice ..and as usual akshay brought his red fender strat and ripped through it ..

 

umm..akshay's strat wasnt red, it was a tobacco burst..last year he was playing a blue tansen and I think it was Sanjeev Thomas on the red strat..newayz he sure sounds killer!