With people wearing Black all the way, typical Rock Heads with long hair & Rock chicks with their toned bodies, the I Rock competition began with a Mumbai band, ‘Black’. They started off with a Pearl Jam song, ‘Even Flow’, which was well played. They went on to play a couple of OCs (Original Compilations), which sounded good. By that time, the crowd had started entering in humongous amounts. What I like about the band Black was that they dared to play what arguably is the best Pearl Jam song ever, ‘Black’ and moreover, they played it with some appreciable fluency.
Then came a band called ‘Boomerang’ from a place where I didn’t even know people are aware that there exists something called Rock. They had come all the way from Aizawl. Boomarang, were surprisingly good when they played ‘Bulls on Parade’. They changed the entire scene at the evening. That was when the crowd started headbanging. Their OCs were decent too and they took a leave on the best possible note. ‘Killing in The Name of’ rocked each & everyone around.
The band performing after that, ‘Half Step Down’ looked dull to me in their first song. But as I heard them further, some of their OCs were amazing. ‘Rocking at the Top of My Head’ was undoubtedly the best OC played in the evening, as someone from the crowd shouted, “You are the next ZERO”. Now, that’s some compliment.
‘Afterburn’, the next band from Chennai, played only Metal. Even they tried their hand at playing a Pearl Jam cover but it didn’t sound as good to me as some of the previous ones.
‘Caesar`s Palace’, a band that beat the much talked about ‘Perusia’ in Banglore elims, didn’t look too impressive to me, but even they had their share of support from the crowd as they were playing at I Rock.
The last band to play in the competition was ‘Scribe’ from amchi Mumbai. Mumbai gave them a larger than life welcome as they arrived on stage. They played ‘Hardcore’. They covered some rare bands. Their music was loud.
Soon after ‘Scribe’ finished, the results were declared. ‘Scribe’ were declared as the winners though many from the crowd wanted either ‘Half Step Down’ or ‘Boomarang’ to win. Though some showed disappointment after the results, it was time for the entire crowd to welcome their beloved band. The veteran headlining band they were waiting for since a long time – ‘Parikrama’.
Parikrama arrived on stage with a crowd that was going mad. The respect for them on the Indian rock scene could be clearly sensed. Parikrama mesmerized the crowd with their amazing originals namely, ‘Vaporise’, ‘Open Skies’, ‘Rhythm Blues’ and ofcourse the much awaited song that everyone knows by heart, `But It Rained‘.
They covered Iron Maiden by playing ‘The Trooper’ and as expected by many, they terminated the electric evening by the legendry ACDC song, ‘Highway To Hell’.
‘I Rock 22 – day I’ got over with some tough competition among the bands, music that lingered for long in the minds of the crowd & the excitement of turning up for day 2.
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