For: Indian Ocean fans!! Rock fans.Indian Ocean is born to play live! They had released an original live album back in 1997 (Desert Rain) when they weren’t very well known and now 11 years later, they’ve released a DVD of a concert in Delhi they did in Nov 2006. It’s rare for Indian bands, but releasing concert DVDs is a popular idea in the west, and I am glad they did this.
The DVD is around 2 hours long with 10 songs. I had seen them live in 2005 at MoodI (IIT Bombay) and watching this DVD was like reliving that experience! They’re always in almost the same attire with bassist/vocalist Rahul Ram in his usual Al Qaeda uniform and there’s something special about a guy dressed like a Mullah with a foot long beard singing ‘Are ruk ja re bandeh’ with all that passion!
This concert starts of pretty vanilla compared to the one I saw which started with Bandeh and that one just took off from the very first song. This one starts with Kya Maloom (also called Teevra Aandhi, from the album Kandisa) and the DVD got stuck halfway through this song, and you don’t expect that with original stuff! The performance however, is very crisp and I wish my DVD was as good as the show! They follow this one with Melancholic Ecstasy from Desert Rain which is a lesser known song you can easily skip in the DVD if you are too eager for the songs to come!
The next song is Jhini (From the album Jhini), and you have no reason to forward this DVD for the next 25 minutes because this song is followed by Bandeh – the song everyone came to listen to, and Hille Le – the most upbeat song they’ve ever made!
Bandeh is slightly different from the original as there’s just one guitarist (Sushmit) playing and the distortion is absent, but there is absolutely no lack of energy and you will be head banging all the way through this song! Infact you can hear the audience also singing along in this one while Hille Le is the most enjoyable one of ssthem all and Asheem (vocals/percussion) really owns the stadium when he begins this song!
The next two songs (Bol Weevil from Desert Rain and Bhor from Jhini) are again less heard and it shows with the audience settling down and calmly enjoying these two elaborate compositions. You can actually skip Bhor if its gets too long for you (it’s around 15 minutes!)
You can’t miss the last three songs though – Maa Rewa, Kandisa and Kaun. Maa Rewa plays over 15 minutes but every minute is simply superb! The Jugalbandi itself is over 10 minutes and pure skill! Kandisa, for those who still haven’t heard, is this beautiful rendition of an ancient hymn in Aramaic and Kaun is another very nice song from the same album with a very Middle-Eastern sound.
So overall, in spite of the possibility of your DVD being as corrupted as the one I bought, for an Indian Ocean fan, this is a must have and must keep.
Also, I would appreciate if you can share any Indian Ocean concert experience in the comments section.
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