Live: JD Rock Awards 2010

The JD Rock Awards 2010 ceremony was held at the Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai on Friday, February 5. We were there.
So what was the most shocking moment of this year’s JD Rock Awards? If you’ve only heard about the gig and didn’t attend it, you’ll probably say it was Anushka Manchanda taking her shirt off and proceeding to sing the last song of Shkabang’s set in her bright blue bikini top. It was a bold move, but there were plenty of other WTF moments during the event. And none of them had to do with the awards. They, by and large, went to the most deserving of the nominees, and this time around there weren’t any lame ones like the best venue award, which went to host venue Hard Rock Café in the same year Blue Frog opened. OK so they gave Sridhar/Thayil Best Emerging Band but if the Grammy guys can nominate the four-year-old Silversun Pickups in the Best New Artist category, we should cut the JD guys some slack.

It wasn’t the awards but the execution of the ceremony that made this year’s edition a lesson in how to lose credibility. We got to the venue late, two hours after the event started but almost everyone we asked said we hadn’t missed much. This was probably because it looked like a rock awards show everywhere else except the stage. You could see a musician wherever you turned and it really felt like the Indian rock community had come out to support one another. But in a large room full of musicians, the organisers decided it would be best to get C-list celebrities to give away the awards. These weren’t any C-list celebs, they seem to have specifically chosen those who had moved to India from abroad, had little familiarity with Indian rock and were most likely mangle the names of the bands they announced. This list included Adam Bedi, Rosa Catalano and Anaida. When you have to alter your event flow because Sophie Chaudhary has somewhere better to go (they brought forward the Popular Choice award for Band of the Year because she had to leave), you’re seriously devaluing your own legitimacy.

We were a bit taken aback by the decision to give Biddu, the de facto godfather of Indian pop, the Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony that celebrates Indian rock. But we felt he deserved some recognition because after all, he was a pioneer and he did start off playing rock music. However, we were positively gobsmacked by his performance. As much as we love Biddu, we couldn’t believe our ears when he sang “La Bamba” along with rapper Earl, a couple of female back-up vocalists and an obviously unprepared Gary Lawyer (who had come on stage to present Biddu the award and then not knowing if he should stay on or leave proceeded to awkwardly the tap the plaque as if it were an instrument). It was like watching a cheesy hotel band in the lobby of a resort in Lonavla, or to put it ever so slightly more kindly, as if three of your uncles had decided to put on an impromptu performance at your cousin’s wedding.

It was unclear whether Biddu’s performance was impromptu or not but we can confidently say it was the weakest of the night. Shkabang that followed him were relatively better than the last time we saw them, and with Papal on bass, seemed more energised, too bad that Hard Rock’s unreliable sound, which sounds better or worse depending on when you’re standing, didn’t fully reflect this. Perhaps that’s why Manchanda pulled out that attention-grabbing tactic, which is ultimately how people are going to remember JD 2010.

That’s a pity because the organisers did try to redress a few of the previous year’s mistakes. For instance, getting three relatively new bands (albeit those formed by already well-known artists) to play small sets was infinitely wiser than getting established rockers to dish out covers, which is what they did in 2009. There was also one genuinely pleasant surprise: Bhayanak Maut won the Critics’ Choice award for Best Album. “Fuck Yeah!” shouted vocalist Vinay Venkatesh. We suspect they knew they were going to win, for Venkatesh came equipped with a list of people to thank, Oscar-style. Of course, the least surprising surprise was the final award – the Critic’s Choice for Band of the Year. We were told to expect a surprise performance by the winners. Swarathma, who had already swept the Popular Choice categories of song, album and band of the year, could be seen walking around in their stage costumes.

Indiecision: B- for the actual awards, D for the ceremony

(Pic: Shkabang live file photo)