Review - JRO 2005 -
 - July 30


First it was the bombs that seemed to plague the UK guitarist Aziz – on both occasions (Thursdays) there were bomb blasts in London. Though he managed to take the flight on the 21 st for a great curtain raiser concert, rain stopped the concert halfway and flooded the Nandanam YMCA! The natural calamities continued to roll and this time Mumbai recorded 91cm of rainfall in one single day!!! The financial capital was flooded which meant no trains or flights could leave the city! Which also means, ‘Metakix' from Mumbai couldn't board their train. Even their self-financed attempt to take a flight on the day of the concert was washed out as their flight just kept getting post-poned!

If the picture painted by the above para spells ‘ bleak, ' don't be mistaken because the DAY 1 of the JRO 2005 was as rocking as can be. The 2 bands Joint Family from Delhi and PITA from Chennai really gave the motley crowd of 300 plus their paisa vasool!

POWDER INTHE ASHTRAY - Chennai


Gates opened at 6pm and amid sponsor videos and some interesting clips from an Oasis live concert, the people waited for the concert to commence. Sure enough, the growl came, “Are you ready for the 7 th annual JRO?!” The crowd was ecstatic and sure enough they welcomed PITA even as the dim hues of yellow & red sneaked through the smoky haze of the special effects. Vishal, the frontman wasted no time in getting the audience to their feet and took the band into their first song Hush (Deep Purple) and Siddu on guitars and Shayne on keys really did justice to the Purple classic. Aeroplane (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) brought out the groovy talents of the rhythm section with Jitesh on the bass and Rodney on the drums.

The band really takes the cake when it comes to stage presence and score high on the ‘crowd-pull' quotient. Vishal and Jitesh have great manes that go with the rocky attitude and there's so much energy on stage when these guys groove. They also performed other classics like My Kiss (RHCP), Blacknight (Deep Purple); Time again (Own Composition), Hard to handle (Black Crowes) and their funky version of the Bee Gees classic Stayin' Alive which they dedicated to the mumbai band Metakix who couldn't make it due to the floods in Mumbai.
JOINT FAMILY - Delhi


OK if classic rock had it's leaning towards hard rock and even some metal overtones coming in here and there (like a really rocked up version of ‘Highway Star' ) the next band on stage left everyone astounded – or should I say tone deaf! The band was a steam engine coming straight at you at 110 km/hr! No stopping them! Just raw, unbridled guitar riffs and double bass drum power rhythms!

Akshay on the lead vox, had a no holds barred attitude and as they started to warm up everyone knew that the onslaught of NU-METAL was about to rain down on us. Suddenly, guitarist Rahul picks up an acoustic and performs an a soft ballad called Outside (Staind) and to hear the crowd sing along brought goose bumps. They shifted to overdrive immediately and there was no stopping the set of nu-metal crushers that followed:

Dig – Mudvayne
My own Summer - Deftones
Change - OC
In-dependence – Pin Drop Violence (band from Mumbai)
Edge Crusher – Fear Factory
Instrumental – Own Composition
Blind - Korn
Fight Back - OC
Loco – Cold Chambers
Life - OC
People - Slip Knot
Liberate - Slip Knot

The band went on for more than an hour and the surprising fact is that all through that time, the people in the first 4 rows never stopped jumping! The head banging looked like they were trying to get rid of their hair by flapping it up & down faster & faster!!! The people were beyond control and thoroughly enjoying the show! That is the spirit of a rock show – to dive into the momentum and never stop until the band stops – that's the high!!


Well the concert had to come to end before 10 and it was one more
power-packed evening of JRO music without drugs, alcohol and sexual suggestiveness.