The "rock" concert:D-Aukro

I just got back from the concert put up by a band which calls itself Aukro. (Google them for now, I'm not very good at HTML to use the link thing. If someone does know, Help accepted:)) Anyway,it was a very grumpy me that went in, I actually wanted to watch the movie Rock on, but with no company and more importantly no tickets, I had to choose between watching half downloaded FRIENDS (season 8) episodes or attend a concert by a band I had never heard of (who supposedly have released two videos), I choose the latter. Contrary to the advertisement in the papers, it was not exactly a “rock” show- the mention of “rock” conjures a picture of head banging, torn jeans, rebel, dance till you cant stand, scream till you’re sore, etc but this was nothing like it. What the band members lacked in attention to detail, they made up with the cheery smiles and the fantastic energy-despite the low spectators.

Aukro played a few popular hindi numbers, hum bewafa being the one i liked most. They started the song with the chords and leads of Bryan Adams’ summer of 69!! It made for a nice change. But what the crowd particularly enjoyed was Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani… the band stuck to the original tune of this one, but the drums did the magic here.
Their original compositions were note worthy too. I liked this one song they played, I fail to recall the name, but it was in assamese and of course Nadiyaan, their first solo,really nice.

One striking quality about the band was the understanding between the members, maybe I read too much between the lines-thanks to the Beatles, but I found the band members constantly looking at one another, smiling, sometimes talking while on stage, it felt like they were just “there”, it was like Richard Bash whispering into my ears-“here and now”!!

I wont say I don’t have a favorite member from the band, but as someone said everyone is equally important in a band- the lead singer with a subtle East Indian accent, the bass guitarist from Goa/Mangalore(cute goatee!!), the lead guitarist, the IITan guy on some instrument(WOW!!), the guy on the tabla who personifies-the best things in life come in small packages(he’s a li’l over 5 feet I think), the guy from some other band who liked the music of Aukro that he joined them, the lady band manager from Delhi who could not stop taking pics of the band members, I’m sure they’ll all be on the official site by tomo :) and then my two favourate- the dummer and the keyboard player. The drummer’s a Shetty (if I remember right), and OH MY GOD!! What energy!! I was in total awe. The only reason I like live music is the drums, and this guy did full justice to it… and my other favorite- Rrituraj (yes, the only one whose first name I recall:)) I’m not very good at distinguishing one musical instrument from the other, and when its orchestrated so well-practically impossible, so I really cant comment on his playing skills, but this guy had this smile on his face… the smile that I have right now, of enjoyment, satisfaction, of fulfillment… I could not take my eyes off him!! The passion, energy, the enjoyment shown by them on stage made me forget the reason for my grumpiness all together. Of course, the best thing about the band, though most of the members are from East India, they call themselves a “Bangalore Based band”. I believe in bengaluru:)

To summarize, a decision well made, 100 bucks well spent, pleasant Saturday evening. If u do know of any other bands performing or have an extra pass, do not hesitate to invite me, I officially am into live music as of today. And if the Aurko band members are reading this, great work people, sorry about the low turn over, but if it helps you did make me really happy!! Rock on!!(no pun intended) LOL!! :)