'What the fuck' were the exact three words that came out of my mouth when i read in Nov issue of Rolling Stones that Amon Amarth and Textures were coming down to Bangalore somewhere during Nov. Now I had every reason to dismiss the piece of article as shit after the GnR fiasco, but then I agreed with it 'cos the word about Textures playing in Bangalore had been floating in air for quite a long time(from August, in fact).That they didn't play in Nov is a different thing, but then they DID play on Dec 5th which was one of the most ultra-epic event that the Indian metal scene ever witnessed. Cheapest too! After all watching these two bands for 450 bucks is a bargain that no one even dreams about.
Nevertheless, I reached the venue - a good hour before the opening of the gates(1.30 PM being the scheduled time for the opening), hoping to catch the thrill in the air right from the beginning. 'What the fuck' were the exact three words I blurted out once again when I reached the place, for going through a state of shock on seeing the arrangements of the venue. A marriage hall with bright decorations overshadowing the posters and banner of Deccan Rock Festival was something I never even expected in my worst nightmare about a concert of such great magnitude. My anticipation of seeing droves of crowds gathered near the venue were quashed too when all I noted was hundred odd bunch of people around the ticketing counter. Surely more metalheads would have turned up had the publicity campaign of the event been pursued with more vigor. Maiden's first concert saw anxious fans sleeping in Palace Grounds much before the opening. Not to mention thousands of them crowding the ticketing counter from noon itself. Even though the organizers - Orka Networks and Live Gig did bad on the publicity side, they scored some major hits on the sound console which sounded more than perfect that evening with soundman supreme Anupam Roy at the console.
Eccentric Pendulum, prog metal band from Bangalore kickstarted the show with tracks from from their EP- Sculptor of Negative Emotions with such exuberance that they clearly proved their worth of sharing the stage with the big guys. The little crowd that had gathered up got a bigger shot in the head when Inner Sanctum took to the stage next, ripped the place apart with their fiery brand of death/thrash music as Gaurav growled like a psychotic on loose while Chintan literally masturbated the fretboard with his display of awesome fret skills!. Although a point of mention added here would be that the 'moshpit' in there had a greater resemblance to a dance pit instead(blame it on the large quantity of weed that the crowd smoked up that day, as though in 'accordance' with the event's theme of fight against global warming), with pathetic posers jumping to such songs instead of headbanging like a nutter which should've been the usual case. Such would not have been the case had the tickets not been priced so low at Rs.450.
Nonetheless the show moved on and Undying Inc came on stage next, who were by far the best Indian act of that evening. It was the first time I had seen them live and by God I swear they instantly blew my ears to smithereens with their music that is hellish in every aspect. Vocals were screamed by Shashank at such incredible voice that Textures' member were actually stunned at his performance! Not to mention they were equally taken aback by the near-perfection handling of instruments by Undying member. So much were they impressed that Yuvi(Undying drummer) landed himself cymbal from Stef Brok's own kit! Bhayanak Maut were next and regardless to say the crowd went berserk over their rendition of deathcore music that comprised of tracks mainly from their new album that included Ungentle and Blasted Beyond Belief. In fact the first actual moshpit of the evening started to BM's setlist.
Things didn't go smoothly for the last two Indian acts - Kryptos and Demonic Resurrection. Nolan Lewis, Kryptos frontman attempted an audacious act of wearing Liverpool scarf on stage which got half the crowd pissed off! A good deal of anti-Liverpool abuses were hurled at him. As if pissing the crowd off wasn't enough for them, then oddly the band sounded off-tune once they started their set. However they squared off well in the end by playing the final track Descension with absolute integrity. Last supporting act was DR who are one of my least fav band. It was the first time I witnessed them live too, and needless to say left a bad taste in my mouth after their act. Apocalyptic Dawn, Unrelenting Surge of Vengeance were among the few tracks they played and I oddly felt the keyboards were out of the place with Sahil's really bland vocals. By the time DR ended I at least expected to see the venue being jam packed but then didn't happen. By the time Textures took on state, the crowd haplessly numbered around 1000 which is significantly less for such concert.
But then I had better things to think about and I thanked god when DR ended their set after 3 tracks 'cause Textures were up next and boy! i couldn't wait any longer. Like true professionals, they took less than 20 minutes to do their soundcheck and right away started their set with the track One Eye For A Thousand. Swandive and Storm Warnings were next, with the band's take on the latter being impeccable.Awake was one track to which a good part of the crowd sang along too. Awake was preceded by Between Stream of Consciousness and The Sun's Architect. An improvised version of Laments of Icarus followed by final track Regenesis ended their setlist, which was enjoyable to every single moment they lasted on stage. And it was not just the crowd who enjoyed the performance, but the band members too enjoyed every bit of the response they received from us. Erik was powerful at the vocals, doing his clean vocals as good as the growls. Bassist Remko Tielemans seemed a bit more charged up than the rest as he jovially bounced on the stage. Stef Brok's polyrhythmic drumming with adept dexterity was unfortunately not visible to me clearly as for some weird reason the drum kits of all bands including Textures were placed in the corner most position of the stage with the sole exclusion being that of drum kit of Amarth kept at the centre.
Finally the moment of the day had arrived though pretty late at around 9.30, and Amon Amarth took to stage after quite a long sound check. With the mere sight of them on stage, adrenalin rush increased in my body pumping me up for the excitement that awaited once they started playing. With Twilight of The Thunder God, they couldn't have chosen a better track to open their performance. The crowd was gripped by a bout of headbanging, even though they seemed(including myself) tired after headbanging to Textures. An Amarth flag flew high all through this with a sense of pride up the holder's sleeve. Johan Hegg's incredible growls left me awestruck, leaving my spines chilled to the bones. Free Will Sacrifice and Asator came next. By then I was headbanging like an absolute psychopath in a drunken state just like how the Vikings would have done. Runes to My Memory and Guardians of Asgaard followed up next. Metal is the only way to live life, added Hegg before dropping the A bomb on the crowd with Live For The Kill. And then he dropped the H bomb by going full throttle with Death In Fire, which sadly happened to be their last track of the night. Hegg seemed stunned when the crowd sang the pre-song build up perfectly. When he added the show was over, I was hoping it would be some sort of gimmick of the usual kind which a band pulls to get an encore to play rest of the tracks. In this case I was clearly rooting for Pursuits of Vikings and Cry of Blackbirds after this stage enactment. But alas! That wasn't the case as B'lore's fucking cops always have the last laugh while killing our joys in such concert and Amarth members promptly exited the stage. The band members nonetheless kept the crowd happy by throwing all their plectrum, drum sticks and even beer cans!
In the end though I was pretty contented at having attended the concert, I was quite miffed at the organizers for shocking conditions of the overall event. It wasn't actually required to gather so many Indian acts for supporting, as everyone is clearly aware how long they would take to finish up their set, leading to delay of the headlining acts performance. And had they been more aware of Bangalore's infamous nightlife ban rules, Amon Amarth and Textures would've started earlier in the night and maybe played an extra half an hour each. Food and Beverages were overpriced inside too, with a pint of KF beer being sold at 100 fucking bucks! However in the end though everything wasn't picture perfect, I walked out of the venue satisfied thinking back about the epic time I spent in there witnessing Amon Amarth and Textures and wondering which big band will they get next
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