Author Archives: Rupayan Basu

Sometimes being a little late for a concert isn’t such a bad thing. On Thursday, October 6th, I walked into Hard Rock Café a few minutes into ‘Even Flow‘ and it was like being taken bodily out of Bangalore’s sticky traffic and being hurled into a musical blitz. Possessing the stage was Chimera – these guys have come a long way since their college days in Manipal, winning the Economic Times Rock Challenge in 2010, and after a brilliant stint in Bangalore this was to be their farewell act. No politics, no teen angst, no agenda…this concert was about looking forward, and ‘Even Flow’ by Pearl Jam (with its swaggering, irresistible momentum) made for a great start…

Jekyll and Hyde, the Bangalore based garage-band, had gone grunge on Thursday evening to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s iconic album Nevermind at Hard Rock Café, Bangalore. The venue was packed as usual. The crowd comprised mainly of college students and young professionals, and the excitement was palpable as people waited to see if the two year old local band would do justice to one of the enduring legacies of alternative rock. With the popular song ‘Lithium’, Jekyll and Hyde instantly established a connection with the audience and set the tone for the rest of the evening. The band seemed pretty much in their element – their muted, relaxed stage presence providing a foil to…