A R Rahman Live in Concert

The juggernaut rolls on...

Friends, I had the privilege of attending a LIVE musical concert by arguably the best music director in the world on 18th April at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Accompanying the maestro were a number of artists including Hariharan, Chitra, Sadhana Sargam, Blaaze, Javed Ali. It was an absolutely amazing night!!!

I came to know about the concert quite luckily through a friend during the weekend party in office on Thursday (17th April). I spent about one hour in office trying to search for sources for getting the ticket and finally, I did get one. Lunch break was spent having pizza and driving away to Spinneys to buy the ticket. I wanted to watch the show from the gallery as it provided the best view. The event also gave me a good reason to fulfill a long-standing wish of mine to get a pair of binoculars - a NIKON Action Extreme series!!!

The excitement ran through the local cricket game on friday morning until later by afternoon, my friend got his car and we were all set to rock the party!! Driving along, my friend remembered that Sivamani was known to one of his friends and he made a few calls to get Siva's cell no. Siva duly asked him to come after the concert to meet him. In the meanwhile, through one of my friends, Amith Chandran,I got hold of a few ARR fan club members who were attending the show. We all were hopeful that we could get to meet the great man himself though the odds in our favour were 1 in a billion!!!

The entry to the stadium was tough with thousands of people standing outside the gates well in advance of the concert. Somehow, I managed to squeeze my way in and secured a pretty nice seat for myself - 4th row from the top, right in front of the stage and around 50 yards from the spot where Sachin smashed Kasper for a huge six in that memorable cricket match at the Sharjah stadium!!!

The atmosphere at the concert was equally electrifying with giant screens put up - one at the centre and one by the side. There were designated areas for standees on the ground followed by seats for the VIP & VVIP sections. However, the best view was undoubtedly from the stands from where I scourged the stadium with my pair of binocs. In the meanwhile, my friend came along with his sister just in time for the show to begin and for an experience which will truly be cherished by me for years to come.

The anxious wait for Rahman continued a little longer till he came out singing Jaage Hain from Guru, a truly remarkable song for its music and sheer impact!!! He followed it up with Khalbali from RDB which had the crowds tapping their feet, just waiting to burst into a maddening dance. It was only a matter of time before the entire stadium got to its feet and sang at the top of their voices. Rahman & co gave a splendid performance with songs from Guru, RDB, Jodhaa Akbar, Roja, Dil Se, Bombay, Mangal Pandey, Lagaan and some Tamil songs. One of the highlights of the evening was watching Rahman sing Khwaja Mere Khwaja from JA and Pray for me Brother from his album Pray for me Brother.

The show ended with a scintillating rendition of Ma Tujhe Salaam, which can make your hair stand on end especially when Rahman sings it. I feel this song creates the same kind of impact on today's youth which Vande Mataram or Jana Gana Mana created on the youth during India's freedom struggle!!!

After the concert ended at 12 in the night, we tried hard to meet the artists but they all left before we could reach them. I sent an SMS to Sivamani thanking him and conveyed from regards to Rahman through him. I returned back to Abu Dhabi with the ARR fan club members and on the way, we spoke about Rahman, Rahman and only Rahman!!!

A truly memorable day had come to an end - one that I will cherish throughout my life. Hope you enjoy the pics!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/arvindshastry

Videos will be uploaded soon. So keep watching this space for more :-)

Here goes one -



This is simply awesome -