I should have started on this blog a lot sooner. Just imagine a sardine can, no cancel that i haven't exactly seen one but just imagine you are in a place which is so packed people that it is impossible to raise your arms if you have them at your sides due to the teeming multitude surrounding you. Believe me the people surrounding you sure could give any Indian movie villain the best situation to subdue a hero without the use of ropes. The apt image would be like grains of rice in a sack of rice. The place I am talking about is surprisingly not any government office in India but a scene unfolding at the 1st concert that the Gods of Metal "Metallica" performed in India at our very own "Bengaluru".
I will start at the very beginning when my metal (not the element but genre of music) loving cousin had the idea of hitting the concert. I said yes without a second of hesitation. Just imagine the results of CA (one of the craziest courses in the world whose results hang by the same threads of fate that a lottery ticket hangs by) were not out yet and after that job and stuff etc were pretty much the next concern, yet i had no hesitation. The only thought that ran through our minds was "we might not get any other chance for Metallica!". The preparation for the concert began a month before the date of the actual concert. Four of us cousins had decided we were hitting the concert. Three of us from Chennai and one from Bengaluru. My bro, the one who handled the booking of the concert ticket handled the logistics with the one in Bengaluru, who was ready to pick us up at the station and also extended the hospitality of his house and I must add his mom's cooking was pretty awesome. Guess we owe him big time especially the way the guy kept flagging down cars and autos after the concert which ended at 10:30 and left us with few options to get home. An uphill task that ended with him successfully getting us to the safety and comfort of his home (Kudos bro and I will not forget that one). The preparation for all three of us in Chennai was trying to get an appropriate beard style to look like a metalhead. After a month of no shave and a bristly beard that i styled to get a reasonable look which i ruined and ended up with a little more than a french beard which gave me the look of an intellectual rather than a metalhead!!!!!! Still I must say I had a beard style which was more than that could be said for one of my bros.
Before we knew it D-day arrived with a bang and I had actually managed to keep myself unemployed for the whole wait. Before we knew it we were in Bengaluru and enjoying a great meal before the concert courtesy our Bangalorean cousin who decided it was his treat (Thanks loads bro). As soon as we entered palace grounds there were signs of metalheaded fans all around. The signature dress code of black t-shirts (actually metalica t-shirts but none of us had them so we decided black) was all around. The beards and the hairdos left us with no doubt that this was the greatest congregation paying tribute to the gods of Metal. There was no surprise that there were plenty of girls around considering that my cousin sister is an even bigger fan than all of us combined and thought us pretty much pigs as we left her out of it. Then the journey to the actual entrance began with around a thousand of us trying to get in through a single entrance at the same time. Sure was a nightmare and if your hands were above you, they could not be bought down and vice versa. Finally we were through and the fresh air was like a tonic.
The inner entrance was pretty much less hassling but the downside was the time it took us to get through the 1st entrance cost us chances to get into the front prime seats. We settled down for the second partition. An Indian band "Gulliton" was playing and pretty much sounded terrible. Everybody started shouting "U Suck!!". When they left, a Scottish band came to perform and except for one song were pretty much forgettable. We had to go through all this with rain pouring on us. By 8:00 Metallica had begun their preparations and the entertainment was provided in the crowd by a guy I like to call "the Punjabi from Bengaluru". This guy was stoned and was trying to barrel through the crowd. Was pretty much picking fights through the crowd. No one responded because, one he was huge, and two we were here for Music with a capital "M" standing for "Metallica". The guy actually made another guy roll the weed he had in a paper and genially offered my bro a chance to do pot. My cousin politely turned the offer down. Though he did provide some laughs as he was a goof it couldn't change the fact that he was a foul mouthed, jostling jerk. At this time I was pretty much tired, I had been squashed, pushed, pulled and had to suffer through some crappy music and also the "ghaaliyas" that some of the more "elite" were giving. A rational mind was soaking in and thinking about the 2750 bucks spent on the ticket. Then poof it all disappeared.
The band trooped out with their signature tribute "Ecstasy of Gold" with Clint Eastwood on the screen and the crowd was already humming to the music. It was "CLASSIC". Then the GODS began with an enthusiastic drum beat for Creeping Death followed by the guitar bit for the same song. Everyone of us went nuts. All traces of tiredness had disappeared and James had all the strings controlling the crowd. Then they moved on to one of my favorites "For whom the bell tolls". The iconic starting drum beats raised a storm of cheers from the crowd who were totally wild. We all had our hands in \m/ shape and were nodding our heads, correction, banging our heads to the beat of the drums. The song "Fuel" and "Blackened" had impressive flames on the stage and raised a roar of approval from the crowd. I was fortunate to have recorded the song blackened to an extent on my phone. I think "Cyanide" was the intro for Trujillo. the guy was wearing knee lengths and was literally climbing on the guitar and was amazing us with the sounds he coaxed out of the base guitar. The intro for Kirk Hammett is the song "Nothing Else Matters"(i think, Forgive my memory that is why I should have started this blog a while back). The song literally moved the crowd. Everyone was singing along with James, his voice, the guitars and the drum beats were, I must insist a thousand times better than when you hear the songs at home. Sanitarium raised the crowd's tempo and there was one repeated demand from the crowd for "Master of Puppets". I must confess at this point of time, although I sang along from time to time, I had about 5 songs of the entire 18 to memory while the rest of the crowd was amazing with all 18. Those guys on stage obliged with Master and "wow!!!!" is all i can say, but it pretty much sums it up. After 15 songs and the question from James "Are you Alive???!!" those guys were pretty much ready to say "bye Bangalore". We obliged them with an enthusiastic "We want more!!!!!". They got back for an encore and James had pretty much the crowd to his whims when he playfully removed the guitar and put it back on after a sad "NO!!" three times over. The encore was with three songs!!!!! I mean they loved the crowd too and decided to belt out three whole songs. A portion of the crowd close to us created some space for themselves and were head banging in a kinda cool way that bought out the essence of the music on stage. "Heads" Off for you guys. In the end Lars pretty much summed it up saying Bangalore was fucking great and James included us in the Metallica family.
To sum it up, it was mindf******ng blowing. In the end, all the hours of waiting, braving the elements and the occasional unruly ghaali giving Metallica fan, not to mention the weed smoke all around us, the conclusion was unanimous, METALLICA is worth everything and more. The only regret was that I was not able to get my hands on even one of the guitar picks that they threw into the crowd. As we made our way out the pain that had been blotted out by the Gods of Metal returned with a vengeance. We came away from Bengaluru with our appetites full and an unforgettable day of an incredible experience. I had sort of diverted from Metallica for a while but after this concert I am back to them. As i write this blog I have "Master of Puppets" in the background and am paying a silent tribute to these guys. I guess music is the most amazing thing in life next to love. Sure my parents would describe this as noise, but to me this is, as aptly described by Metallica themselves, the Music of the Goddess Kali. Metallica are truly the Gods of Metal!!
I will start at the very beginning when my metal (not the element but genre of music) loving cousin had the idea of hitting the concert. I said yes without a second of hesitation. Just imagine the results of CA (one of the craziest courses in the world whose results hang by the same threads of fate that a lottery ticket hangs by) were not out yet and after that job and stuff etc were pretty much the next concern, yet i had no hesitation. The only thought that ran through our minds was "we might not get any other chance for Metallica!". The preparation for the concert began a month before the date of the actual concert. Four of us cousins had decided we were hitting the concert. Three of us from Chennai and one from Bengaluru. My bro, the one who handled the booking of the concert ticket handled the logistics with the one in Bengaluru, who was ready to pick us up at the station and also extended the hospitality of his house and I must add his mom's cooking was pretty awesome. Guess we owe him big time especially the way the guy kept flagging down cars and autos after the concert which ended at 10:30 and left us with few options to get home. An uphill task that ended with him successfully getting us to the safety and comfort of his home (Kudos bro and I will not forget that one). The preparation for all three of us in Chennai was trying to get an appropriate beard style to look like a metalhead. After a month of no shave and a bristly beard that i styled to get a reasonable look which i ruined and ended up with a little more than a french beard which gave me the look of an intellectual rather than a metalhead!!!!!! Still I must say I had a beard style which was more than that could be said for one of my bros.
Before we knew it D-day arrived with a bang and I had actually managed to keep myself unemployed for the whole wait. Before we knew it we were in Bengaluru and enjoying a great meal before the concert courtesy our Bangalorean cousin who decided it was his treat (Thanks loads bro). As soon as we entered palace grounds there were signs of metalheaded fans all around. The signature dress code of black t-shirts (actually metalica t-shirts but none of us had them so we decided black) was all around. The beards and the hairdos left us with no doubt that this was the greatest congregation paying tribute to the gods of Metal. There was no surprise that there were plenty of girls around considering that my cousin sister is an even bigger fan than all of us combined and thought us pretty much pigs as we left her out of it. Then the journey to the actual entrance began with around a thousand of us trying to get in through a single entrance at the same time. Sure was a nightmare and if your hands were above you, they could not be bought down and vice versa. Finally we were through and the fresh air was like a tonic.
The inner entrance was pretty much less hassling but the downside was the time it took us to get through the 1st entrance cost us chances to get into the front prime seats. We settled down for the second partition. An Indian band "Gulliton" was playing and pretty much sounded terrible. Everybody started shouting "U Suck!!". When they left, a Scottish band came to perform and except for one song were pretty much forgettable. We had to go through all this with rain pouring on us. By 8:00 Metallica had begun their preparations and the entertainment was provided in the crowd by a guy I like to call "the Punjabi from Bengaluru". This guy was stoned and was trying to barrel through the crowd. Was pretty much picking fights through the crowd. No one responded because, one he was huge, and two we were here for Music with a capital "M" standing for "Metallica". The guy actually made another guy roll the weed he had in a paper and genially offered my bro a chance to do pot. My cousin politely turned the offer down. Though he did provide some laughs as he was a goof it couldn't change the fact that he was a foul mouthed, jostling jerk. At this time I was pretty much tired, I had been squashed, pushed, pulled and had to suffer through some crappy music and also the "ghaaliyas" that some of the more "elite" were giving. A rational mind was soaking in and thinking about the 2750 bucks spent on the ticket. Then poof it all disappeared.
The band trooped out with their signature tribute "Ecstasy of Gold" with Clint Eastwood on the screen and the crowd was already humming to the music. It was "CLASSIC". Then the GODS began with an enthusiastic drum beat for Creeping Death followed by the guitar bit for the same song. Everyone of us went nuts. All traces of tiredness had disappeared and James had all the strings controlling the crowd. Then they moved on to one of my favorites "For whom the bell tolls". The iconic starting drum beats raised a storm of cheers from the crowd who were totally wild. We all had our hands in \m/ shape and were nodding our heads, correction, banging our heads to the beat of the drums. The song "Fuel" and "Blackened" had impressive flames on the stage and raised a roar of approval from the crowd. I was fortunate to have recorded the song blackened to an extent on my phone. I think "Cyanide" was the intro for Trujillo. the guy was wearing knee lengths and was literally climbing on the guitar and was amazing us with the sounds he coaxed out of the base guitar. The intro for Kirk Hammett is the song "Nothing Else Matters"(i think, Forgive my memory that is why I should have started this blog a while back). The song literally moved the crowd. Everyone was singing along with James, his voice, the guitars and the drum beats were, I must insist a thousand times better than when you hear the songs at home. Sanitarium raised the crowd's tempo and there was one repeated demand from the crowd for "Master of Puppets". I must confess at this point of time, although I sang along from time to time, I had about 5 songs of the entire 18 to memory while the rest of the crowd was amazing with all 18. Those guys on stage obliged with Master and "wow!!!!" is all i can say, but it pretty much sums it up. After 15 songs and the question from James "Are you Alive???!!" those guys were pretty much ready to say "bye Bangalore". We obliged them with an enthusiastic "We want more!!!!!". They got back for an encore and James had pretty much the crowd to his whims when he playfully removed the guitar and put it back on after a sad "NO!!" three times over. The encore was with three songs!!!!! I mean they loved the crowd too and decided to belt out three whole songs. A portion of the crowd close to us created some space for themselves and were head banging in a kinda cool way that bought out the essence of the music on stage. "Heads" Off for you guys. In the end Lars pretty much summed it up saying Bangalore was fucking great and James included us in the Metallica family.
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