Live: I-Rock 2009 @ Chitrakoot Grounds

The 24th edition of Independence Rock took place at the Chitrakoot Grounds in Andheri (Mumbai) on Oct 3-4. Reverrse Polarity, Bhayanak Maut, Silver, blackstratblues and Motherjane played Day Two of Mumbai’s flagship annual rock event and a few hundred rain soaked Mumbai rock kids turned up. We were there.

Regardless of how good or bad an event you think I-Rock is, it’s always an experience. There’s something about being there in the midst of a thousand or so black t-shirt sporting kids, listening to mediocre metal, that always gets one’s adrenaline pumping and body ready for some minor to major bruising. Sunday was no exception; the experience made doubly compelling by the post-monsoon rain that submerged the already mucky Chitrakoot premises.

Remember all those pictures of European music festivals that appear every summer in newspapers, where rich white people in raincoats battle slush to watch Coldplay or Muse? Mumbai had its own version of that on Oct 4. Sure, the kids weren’t as white and the music not as big, but well, there was rain.

Channel V Launchpad winners Reverrse Polarity kicked off proceedings. With an additional vocalist in the lineup the band’s aggro seems to have doubled, but their gimmicky hate-metal that revolves around cuss-word choruses is beginning to wear thin. The potential that they showed during the Launchpad competition is yet to be fully exploited and given the direction the band looks to be taking, there’s a long way to go.

Bhayanak Maut did what they do have started doing best – throw down some mosh worthy, Lamb of God-inspired metal from their new album. Their tag team with Scribe at the coming GIR in Pune is looking dangerous already. Their set was the highlight of an otherwise lacklustre second day at Chitrakoot. Jai Row Kavi on drums brings the PDV spunk we loved to BM’s material.

Last year’s I-Rock winners Silver followed in what can only be described as the biggest downer in recent I-Rock history. Their pedestrian ’80s hard rock inspired sound killed all the buzz created by BM’s set. Their originals take many tricks out of the AC/DC-Deep Purple song books but lack any imagination save for the guitar solos that their songs seem to be based around.

Warren Mendonsa‘s presence in Mumbai was well acknowledged at the gigs he played with Naina Kundu and Shefali Alvares before I-Rock. The original Zero axe-man was given a hero’s welcome by the adoring Mumbai crowd and he responded by busting out ‘Christmas In July’ (with Zero bassist Bobby Talwar). His supporting cast for the rest of the set was Jai Row Kavi on drums, Loy Mendonsa on bass and Zubin Balaporia on keys. He previewed some new blackstratblues material and was joined by I-Rock organiser Farhad Wadia for one of I-Rock’s definitive features of the last decade – the ‘My Sacrifice’ cover. He was also joined for a couple of covers by a female vocalist, Saba Azad, who apparently he “heard singing at a party”. While his set was efficient, it was nowhere near the tour de force we used to expect of Zero.

Motherjane have a surprisingly large following in Mumbai <insert joke about Mallus>, and are always well received when they play outdoor gigs here. But we’re tiring of their riff based indi-rock, and perhaps having BM close out the night would’ve been a more exciting finale to a musically uninspired I-Rock.

The rain, ironically, made the sonically tedious ordeal bearable.

Indiecision: C+

Kunal Kakodkar took these ace pics. Check out more of his work.