JRO 2009

Needless to say , this post is about the June rock out fest 2009 - which was a 2 day fiesta of the best in emerging rock , that India had to offer. Having asked a few rock concert regulars after refrerring to the list of groups on both days , I ended up going on saturday (yesterday).

I reached the venue a little late , so I guess I missed out one group's perfomance ... I was there for the rest . Here is the list~

ABRAXAS from Pune

BLEED from Bangalore

BLOOD & IRON from Namma Chennai!

CRIMSON WOOD from Trivandrum

PUBLIC ISSUE from Namma Chennai!

SKRAT from Namma Chennai!

TOUCH WOOD from Namma Chennai! (never got to listen to them)

The first group I listened to was Public Issue. They did a good mix of Modjo's Lady , followed by an original of theirs , and also a MJ medley - which was pretty good! (Tracks included were Billie Jean , Black or white , Smooth criminal and they don't really care about us) . After Public Issue , it was Crimson Wood , who had won CRI (Campus Rock Idol) hunt.

These guys played some real good hard rock , and those who were not standing in the mosh pit (most people in the stands) were barely able to hear the lead singer , but their sound was edgy and quite good!

Following them was Skrat (who already had the crowd cheering loud for them) and they also played a lot of original tracks , which was well recieved by the crowd. Following these two were the real screamers.

Next up was Bleed from Bengalooru. (Again due to the feeble mic, the lead singer was barely heard from the stands) They also played a few originals and couple of covers too - Iris by Goo Goo dolls, Vindicated by Dashboard Confessionals and a mix of Another brick in the wall (Pink Floyd) and Take a look around(Limp Bizkit)

Abraxas and Blood & Iron were the only 2 metals bands from the line up (thank god!) I definitely could not understand a word of what each of their lead singers were growling into the mic. And I honestly wonder how they can talk after growling like that continously for like 30-45 min! May be I dont understand that genre , but I definitely don't appreciate it :-) (Metal lovers, no brickbats puhlease! Freedom of opinion , people!!!)

While the metal bands growled, I stepped out to grab a wrap which was uber spicy (never underestimate the indication of 2 red chillies next to a particular item on the menu) - and walked back to my place. Even before the other performers wound up , there were chants of - 'Mother Jane!' 'Mother Jane!' making regular rounds.

The grand finale was performed by Motherjane (duh!) . This was the first time I had ever heard these guys and I love their sound! (Baiju is GOD) Here were some of the tracks that they had played :

Chasing the sun

Maktub

Mindstreet

Broken

Karmic Steps

Fields of sound

Blood in the apple

Maya

I stayed on till the last song, the event got over at around 10:50 - 11:00pm. In between there was a hella lot of rain coming on and off. There were some sissies who ran to the sound control area's shamiana to take cover. I , for one, stay put and enjoyed it. JRO is known to have rains happening through out the venue - so this was no surprise. But it was a one of kind experience , and a great one at at that!