Hi Everyone. Well this one is a review on the Antiquity Club Fusion - Series 2011 rather than the drink Antiquity. Certainly these events are meant to promote the product, so the mode of promotion does not hold much value. But what if the mode creates a bad image of the promotional measure and the product, certainly every company would be bothered about it.
Well this years’ Club fusion was scheduled to start from Bangalore. My wife had gone home for Diwali and I was left alone to do something during these holidays. So the best thing to do on a Saturday was to attend this event. In all, we were 5 of them and like any other group all five had different taste of music. Anyways after 10 failed attempts to book the tickets through, BookmyShow.com we finally decided to test our luck and get the tickets before the event. BTW all the discounts and offers on bookmyshow.com had some or the other clause which will disqualify you for the promotional benefit.
The evening was quite threatening as it had started drizzling. Still we reached there by 1915, the event was supposed to start by 2000. The event was organized at the UB City amphitheater. Certainly that was even more bothering, given that it was cloudy, that evening. Well we did not face too much trouble to get the tickets. The counter was empty. The audiences were not allowed to enter the auditorium before 2030, which means straight away a delay of 30 mins. From outside the black clothed boundary, we could hear the sound systems getting tested and from my little knowledge of music(We used to have a band during our college days) I knew the sound system was awesome. Slowly the que started to form and by virtue of being an Indian there were 3 ques for a single entrance. The event management team did not seem to bother about this. Since it was UB City and everyone is expected to behave well, people tolerated cross cutting the que to get into a good position. Note: since it was an amphitheatre there were no allotted seats. Finally the gate opened by 2100 and to our surprise we were put a band on our wrist by one cute lady while the other lady handed over two complimentary coupons. Yes two coupons for 30 ml Antiquity. Wow we could not have expected anything better from an Rs 500 show. Two of us didn’t want to drink so the luck was even better, meaning the remaining three get 1 additional coupon of antiquity. Wow!
Sound check …Sound check continued for another 45 mins. And by then every one was getting impatient. Even the drinks were over. So, in all good 2 hrs sound testing. By 2145 someone wearing a florescent orange colored shirt appeared on the stage. Oh that’s Leslie. Trust me I could never dream in my entire life that I would see these genius so close(hardly 20mtrs away) on a show worth Rs 500. He started to check the sound for another 15 mins while he indulged the audience in his bullshit discussion. I know all these tricks of the game buddy. So finally the first set of chords strummed at 2200 hrs instead of 2000 hrs printed on the ticket. God save Indian from unpunctuality. Overall the first song sounded good but by the second one all sorts of technical problems started peeping in. Feedback, monitors not audible etc. The funny thing is, of the 5 songs he sung, three were along with tracks while the musicians were playing shadow. The worst part was it started raining heavily and yes there was no arrangement for a shed. To top it all some started burning crackers continuously when Leslie was in his last song. Leslie thought it would be wise to wrap it up and left the stage. Search Antiquity club fusion 2011 in youtube to see the video I uploaded(from same login id).
Pretty much the entire crowd was inside the mall to save from rain. Suddenly we hear Kailash kher singing. Run buddy run. Now no one seemed to bother about the rain, given that Kailash kher was singing. Technical problems continued and to top it all the drummer started missing the beats. Kailash was humble enough to request the sound engineer to fix the problem while the other guys of the bands literally blasted Teju(the sound engineer). But hey, after 2-3 drinks, rain and mind blowing voice of Kailash kher, would anyone bother about the sound system. Most, from the audiences would not even understand the technicalities. The sound technician amplified the sound of all the instruments to such a level that nothing could be heard distinctly. By now, all the audiences had moved as close as possible to the stage. I have never seen and probably would never see such great artists from this close but certainly I have attended much better live performances and well managed program than this one. But hey Rs 500 for a live show along with two complimentary drinks, certainly not bad. Of everything else Kailash certainly did stand out and proved his metal.
While we were coming out of the auditorium, there was a tall guy standing wearing formal dress, most probably from the Antiquity Management Team. One of his colleagues approached him and said ‘this must have been a memorable one’. I guess he had all the sarcasm in that sentence. The guy kept quite.