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Raghu Dixit Unplugged @ Swagath Garuda Landmarks (16th November 08)

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It was quite a while since I’d seen Raghu Dixit perform live, even though I’d had a chance to pick his album up (and have him open the cover and autograph it thereafter, heh) and listen to it.

The autographing was around the time I interviewed him for a cover story for RSJ, in April this year, which finally didn’t happen for reasons I’m not sure of.

I’ve also written a review for that album and sent it to the guys who’re supposed to launch the new version of gigpad, though I’m going to check with them if I can post album reviews on my site as well after addressing any potential cöpyright issues.

However, on 16th November 08, Sunday, I had been to the Landmarks bookstore in Swagath Garuda Mall, where I got a chance to see a live performance by him. I guess Facebook does wonders, and it was through an invite on it that I was even aware that such an event was taking place.

According to unconfirmed sources (me), apparently, for the first and only time in its existence, Swagath Garuda Mall finally had a sizeable number of footfalls, as people gathered en masse to see Raghu live, and mysteriously disappeared thereafter when the performance was over.

There’s something magical and nice about unplugged performances. They are quite intimate, and aren’t as high-adrenaline as the fully plugged ones. I’d witnessed TAAQ play their first ever ‘unplugged’ show at Alliance Français last year, and the unplugged accoustic jams that our band has, with my bass guitar being the only instrument that requires amplification (I am a cheap guy without an accoustic bass) are also a whole lot of fun.

Raghu Dixit was accompanied by Vijay Joseph on guitars, and while I wasn’t really sure whether Landmarks would be able to have enough space to cast aside for a performance along with a crowd, they did manage to have a good setup, and the sound quailty was impeccable, atleast where I was standing, which was right up front.

Junta turned up in hordes, for it was a free concert, and Raghu Dixit’s playful banter with the crowd, I am sure, won him some new fans.

He started off with a song (I still love you) that I’d last heard being performed on 5th May 2001, when I was standing in the first row at the Bryan Adams concert, and it brought back fond memories of that day when everyone in the front row got spat on by Bryan Adams when he was singing ‘back to (thoo) you’ and all that.

Aside from that, he played ‘Mysore se Aayi’, ‘Gudugudiya Sedi Nodu’, ‘Hey Bhagwan’ and one of my favourite songs by him titled ‘Ambar’. The last song’s rendition was, I felt, quite magical, as I closed my eyes and just immersed myself in the song.

Most unplugged songs tend to sound somewhat different from when the artists perform a fully plugged set, but in this case, Raghu’s powerful voice, combined with some masterful guitar work by Vijay Joseph made me not miss the other instruments, including, surprisingly, the bass guitar as well.

The crowd got quite noisy around the time when Raghu began performing songs from his movie ‘Psycho’, for everyone present there seemed to know the songs, and sang along uninhibitedly.

Most people were too busy taking videos to enjoy what was happening on stage, and this tendency to record or take photographs, in my opinion, kills the moment when one should rather be immersed in the music than be doing something to record it for later. Unless their memory sucks.

I was not able to bear the noise after a while, and decided to make a gracious exit around twenty past seven, when I knew Raghu would be almost finishing up.

Here’s hoping to see more of his performances in the days to come.


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