Now dubbed ‘The Dire Straits Experience’, the band features two of the original members – Chris White on saxophone, percussion and vocals, and Chris Whitten on drums. The band also has Terence Reis attempting to fill the gargantuan boots of guitarist and vocalist Mark Knopfler.

A long-standing initiative by Seagram’s 100 Pipers Music CDs, bringing to life their message ‘Be remembered for good’, the 2017 edition of ‘Play For A Cause’ focused on providing sustainable drinking water to villagers in Rajasthan. A part of the ticket sales proceeds was earmarked for construction of water conservation structures in target areas to help a cluster of villages.

The drive to the venue, the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre, which is a fair way out from the center of town, served up the first dose of nostalgia, as the new city skyline gradually gave way to one reminiscent of old Bangalore. With only the occasional structure more than a couple of storeys high, we had an uninterrupted view of the gorgeous watercolour sunset.

The venue itself brought back memories of the hallowed Palace Grounds, or even MMRDA of Mumbai, and all the concerts that we ever caught there, with the layout, the dusty concert area, and the pre-parties dotted all over the massive parking lot doling out the next serving of schmaltz.

Walking around the concert area, just before the opening, it seemed to be built to hold a lot more people than there were, and surprisingly, the least expensive section was also the least populated.

Still in throwback mode, we were pleasantly surprised when the show actually started on time with local veterans Thermal and A Quarter taking the stage. And boy, were they in a nostalgic mood themselves! Bruce, the frontman, peppered the entire set with anecdotes from their 20-year history (though the setlist itself was mostly newer material), reminiscing about the opportunities they’ve had in the past, to open for their musical heroes from Deep Purple to Guns n’ Roses, and how special this gig was.

With the formalities of the opening act out of the way, it was time for the main draw. While the band set up, a couple of short videos about this year’s cause, as well as the past initiatives were screened. Another tiny bump of nostalgia, as the musical alumni of ‘Play for a Cause’ talked about their experiences.

Finally, it was time for Chris, Chris, and Terence to take the stage, accompanied by Tim Walters (guitar and vocals), Simon Carter (keys), Danny Schogger (keys), and Paul Geary (bass and vocals).

Kicking off their set, and throwing our nostalgia motors into overdrive, the Dire Straits Experience built their set around their greatest hits, unleashing the spirited classic ‘Walk of Life’ super-early in the set, and quickly following up with ‘Brothers in Arms’.

The one thing I noticed with a small element of surprise was that all the keys seemed transposed a couple of steps up, for some reason. Nobody else seemed to notice, or care.

I turned my attention back on the experience of it all, and they didn’t disappoint, slowing proceedings down with ‘Tunnel of Love’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ among others, before building up to the grand finale, complete with fireworks, confetti and middle-aged men and women in the audience acting like teenagers as the band took on another Knopfler signature tune, ‘Sultans of Swing’.

The screaming middle-aged teenagers and the rest of the audience weren’t done yet though, and The Dire Straits Experience obliged, seeing as they had saved ‘Money for Nothing’ for the encore.

Bidding goodbye, Chris White spoke about the power of music, and how great it was to be involved with the cause. The Dire Straits Experience had a great first time in India, and by the looks (and words) of it, they’ll be back soon!

Check out what Nikhil Kumar captured at The Dire Straits Experience concert in Gurugram.

Skrat always has something new to offer during every show and what went down that night was particularly exhilarating because they hadn’t performed in their home city in a long time and the locals missed the band – it was clear that the feelings were mutual.

The Moon and Six Pence is known for its barn-like, Irish stage space, where the trio fit in like pieces of a puzzle. The minute the amps were plugged in, people began to swarm in and fill the venue. The effect was instantaneous – the lighting, the adrenaline rush from the 3-minute opening instrumental topped with the humidity made it seem like the heat levels had shot through the roof.

Skrat started with a power-charged version of ‘Revolution’, which was without any doubt, an excellent opening to the set. Jhanu, Sriram and Tapass belted tune after tune, as the groovy yet raw songs from their third album, The Queen satiated a rock-hungry audience.

The band proceeded to play ‘Favorite Song’ that sported a very groovy bass line, and a lighter, funkier guitar riff. The song as such is breezy, laid back and carries a tinge of romance with it. This song, being one of my personal favorites, put a huge smile on my face!

Skrat had announced the making of a fourth album during IIT Madras’ annual cultural fest, Saarang.  However, the gravity of the announcement did not seem to dawn on the crowd then. This evening, the realization set in – NEW SOUND. Skrat, known for conjuring fresh music with every album, exceeded expectations and blew us away with their new song, ‘Wake Up’ from their upcoming album. Perfectly concocting the early and later influences of Rock n’ Roll, this song had the quintessential Skrat flavour to it.

The song that followed next was powerful – jaws dropped wide open! Any one who has listened to ‘Gun Slinger’ on their music players would just dismiss it as another Skrat song. But that was exactly what this band did not want people to assume. A progressive and strained introduction to ‘Gun Slinger’ had everyone transfixed, with their eyes glued to Sriram TT. His vocal range took me by surprise – his fierce, yet controlled vocals were a complete knock-out. This transitioned into ‘Gun Slinger II’, which had the audience jumping to the chorus!

‘Stomp’ appeared to be the much awaited song – the introductory riff was just enough for the audience to take over the vocal duties and sing along with their hearts on their sleeves. The band had acquired over 50 vocalists with that song! It soared to a whole new level when Jhanu and Sriram jumped in the air together, belting a wild riff that made the audience bounce off the ground with them!

This familiar song was succeeded by another new song from their upcoming album, called ‘Raptor’. This song is longer than the usual Skrat songs, and retains that funky tune to it. Tapass Naresh’s long overdue drum solo was timed to the T! Up next was another song one can never grow tired of – ‘High’ caught the audience completely off guard with its orgasmic climax.  ‘Tin Can Man’ sounded as fresh as it did when I heard it for the first time, and it was high-spirited and full of energy that night.

The crowd’s energy was at an all time high, the musicians were at their best and they decorated the chorus with amusing variations. These little surprises caught the audience off-guard, and they seemed to love every moment of it. This was definitely one of those gigs that will be etched in everyone’s minds for a long time.

The line-up for the evening features the very talented Darshan Singh Sur on the violins, and Dan Thomas on percussion. The band kicks off the proceedings with ‘All I Have’ off the new album. The song lends itself very well to an acoustic interpretation, with its tender lyrics, and an understated combine between the guitars, violins and the cajon. The trademark vocal harmonies that the duo has mastered work to great effect here, while the ringing guitars and an almost haunting violin tone hold everyone’s interest. The acoustic version of the bridge breakdown is intense, bringing in Bala’s voice to the fore and letting it soar.

After a quick rendition of Floyd’s ‘Breathe’, the band moves on to another new track. Titled ‘By a Thread’, this song has an upbeat vibe, and has a catchy sing-along chorus. With another display of how a classical instrument like a violin can intertwine effortlessly with guitar driven tunes, the song also sees the duo seemingly sing in one voice. This is followed by some Beatles. Yes, the chaps are big Beatles fans, and often play full tribute sets – something that’s not to be missed. Coming back to the gig, the two have the whole house singing along to ‘I Feel Fine’. They move on to ‘Something’ from the Abbey Road album. Interesting trivia behind this song – George Harrison reportedly wrote this song for Patti Boyd. He even hinted at this in interviews, and this was often mentioned by Boyd herself. But later on, Harrison claimed he’d been misquoted and the song was more about the God that one sees in his or her love. Perhaps his Hare Krishna days led to this inspiration? We’ll never know, but the song remains a masterpiece. And on that evening Akshay and Bala do more than justice to the song. The staccato bits are perfectly timed and Akshay gets a brilliant wailing tone out of his guitar as Bala sings about something in the way she moves.

Next up is Bala, doing a solo act. He covers ‘Naked‘ by Iron and Wine. After a short sound glitch that sees the guitar overpower the vocals, all is well again. This is followed by an intro with Arabic influences, as Akshay and Bala launch into ‘Woke Up Dreaming’ by the legendary Joe Bonamassa. This is one of the highlights of the evening. The guys make the thunderous fretwork look easy. It’s hard to imagine two guitars and two voices can have that kind of effect on a place, but everyone is mesmerized. The guys outdo themselves on this one – pure gold!

After a quick trip down memory lane with ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, they move on to a new instrumental composition. With a working title of ‘Chocolate’ (because the idea was to create something sweet sounding, according to Akshay), the track sees the two effortlessly alternate between rhythm and solo sections, seemingly feeding off each other’s energy. They follow it up with some gypsy jazz. Entrancing from the word go, the tune is soothing and uplifting at the same time.

It’s time for Darshan and Dan to come back to the stage, and as Darshan is tuning up, the two, impatient as ever, start jamming, with Akshay getting his mandolin out. Just one guitar at first, then the mandolin, and as the violin comes in, everything just falls into place. Darshan takes charge of the proceedings, and as the band reaches a crescendo, his violin is the star of the moment. It is a measure of how accomplished a musician he is that he is able to hold the attention of the audience and make his instrument the centerpiece of the track.

And now I must highlight something that DID go wrong. Not the music, but the people purportedly listening to it. We demand great music, but fall way short when it comes to being a good audience. Throughout the set so far, there has been scattered chatter from the two floors, sometimes to a point where it becomes downright distracting for the band. And this is tantamount to disrespecting the artist. Unfortunately, not many realize this. Arjun Sagar Gupta, the owner of TPMJC, steps in at this point and asks the audience to undertake an ‘Experiment of silence’. The said experiment involves listening to one song in complete silence. Arjun gives a very heartfelt view on why the silence is so important – in his words, this shows respect for the artistes, and more importantly, allows musicians to hear each other better and interact with each other more effectively, and what comes off the stage is that much better music. Not much to ask for, but it works only partially. Perhaps one day, we can develop better appreciation for music and those who make it, and respect the simple ask of a venue – listen to the music.

It’s time for the song that I have been waiting for. ‘Glow’ is a song that had made an impression the first time I heard it. This is another song that is more moving and soulful in a live acoustic setting, its music and lyrics strike a chord deep within. It made me want to wave a lighter as I sang along. If only this were an open-air setting! If one were to be introduced to Barefaced Liar, this would be a great place to start. The band has shown a distinctive change in their sound and approach from their first album to their next. While the first has a palpable sense of urgency to it, MoM is more reflective in nature, more personal. If you think that that somehow limits the band’s popularity, think again. ‘Toe the Line’ has been a radio staple for months now, and is one of the most foot-tappable tracks on the second album. So when the well-known guitar intro kicks in, a lot of people are on their feet clapping along. The chorus hook is hard not to sing along to, and the crowd obliges, befittingly.

As we approach the end of the evening, the band dishes out their adaptation of Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Tonight’, and goes back to the first album, singing ‘Mirage’. Bringing the proceedings to an end is a new song called ‘Amen’. A word about the percussion here – Dan was always in the pocket, never overplaying, always giving just the right amount of restrained flourish. Look out for more from this young chap. And Ananddev Banerjee deserves kudos for handling a tricky sound mix, in a venue such as this, with aplomb. As the band announces that it’s time for the last song, everyone wants to make it count. Dan gives the beat on the cajon and the audience follows, heartily clapping along, and as the guitars and violins wade in, the picture is complete. As the band takes in the applause, Arjun joins in with the harmonica, and a tentative start soon turns into a full blown blues jam, with several call-and-response parts between guitars, harmonica and violin. Lots of fun for musicians and listeners alike.

But all the fun isn’t over yet. As the band leaves the stage, a drumkit is brought in. Arjun sits down on the piano, and invites Dan to play along. And soon, we have blues, bossa nova and everything in between, as the drum and piano duo have a rollicking time. And then it strikes me, Arjun IS The Piano Man! Everyone leaves with a smile on their face, good sounds echoing in their heads. This is undoubtedly one of the better ways to usher in the weekend. Barefaced Liar sure gives us a Happy Friday! And TPMJC justifies its tag for being one of the finest venues for music, because it lives its simple motto – love of music.

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We missed Muskets cos the bus is a crap way to get around. I’m sorry. We arrived just as Blood Youth took to the stage in a riot of swish haircuts and chequered shirts. If I’m honest BF really don’t look like a hardcore band, they look like H&M sales assistants, but their music speaks for itself. Whilst the crowd weren’t biting on the breakdowns (aside a few hesitantly pointing fingers down the front), the unmistakably British vocals cut across the scene and the Lincoln lads acquitted themselves fairly well. Not gonna lie the synth lines of ‘Closure’ are totally lost on me and the trendy metalcore overtones are hard to ignore. Also it’s sad to hear their pre-recorded second guitar parts too. That said Blood Youth seem to be making waves in UK hardcore and that, for me, is no bad thing.

Next up are Aberdeen’s Grader, who are all gravelly shouted vocals (that are somewhere between Caleb Shomo and Louis Armstrong) and moody guitars. A contemplative and fairly technical take on hardcore, I actually really enjoyed this performance. Fiercely underground in their rhetoric and attire (shout out for that Converge patch), the Scots are born performers. There’s noticeably more finger pointing for these guys, strange given they intersect Creeper’s target demographic even less than Blood Youth, but the band feed off the attention garnered to give a performance befitting of a longer set.

An impressive set change time given the entire change in back line follows, and as the lights dim the anticipation grows. Creeper launch straight into the chugging riff-work of ‘VCR’, and as the first verse starts up the singing from the crowd is almost deafening. ‘You aoour, the clock on my VCourr,’ everyone sung as one, mimicking the characteristic poor diction of Creeper frontman Will Gould. This energy hardly lets up as we were treated to 4 tracks from each of the 3 EPs, including outings for new songs ‘Black Mass’, ‘Valentine’, ‘Astral Projection’ and ‘Misery’ (the last of which was stunning). An encore comprising oldies ‘We Had A Pact’ and a rare outing for the seminal ‘Novena’ was a nice treat for those assembled, before we were left alone some 40-or-so minutes from when we started.

It’s true that this article could’ve really written itself; I mean Creeper would’ve had to REALLY f*** up not to capitalise on the momentum they’ve build over the last couple of years. But they not only avoided f***ing up, but also put on the consummate live performance we’ve come to expect from them over the last few months. This is THE premier heavy band in Britain today, and this band WILL be a huge hit if they want to be. Next time they tour is in support of Neck Deep (again), and then they’ll be off to bigger and better things I’d have thought. But I was there. I was there the night Creeper headlined the Camden Underworld.

Up next were Philadelphia’s The Wonder Years, purveyors of ‘realist pop-punk’. TWY provide the adult take on pop-punk we might expect from a generation reared on the stuff, and whilst the performance was mired by muddied vocals and less-than-clear guitars the crowd carried the day. With the set leaning heavily on new offering ‘No Closer To Heaven’, the songs explored themes of suicide and self-reliance in a manner devoid of crass clichés to deliver a set as moving as it was bombastic. Finishing on crowd-favourite ‘Came Out Swinging’, the Philly lads did themselves proud on what must be their biggest UK show to date. Please please please come back for some headline shows though; that was their first time back here in the UK since the release of the new album and it really has been too long.

Counting down to show-time with their traditional continuity announcer, the headliners certainly knew how to build the suspense. As the lights when down, the chanted start of ‘Solidarity’ from the crowd was spontaneous. As Enter Shikari entered the stage under cover of darkness the veiled backdrop was revealed, amongst a battery of light emplacements and speaker stacks. Launching straight into the previously mentioned ‘Solidarity’, I was taken aback at the energy down the front. The pit openings were frequent and bodies piled in shortly after, as the energy was maintained through second song and old-skool banger, ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’. Having moved myself a little further back at this point, I started to enjoy it a little more as we plunged headlong into a set spanning the length and breadth of Shikari’s career. No song was left untouched, with remixes, intros and mashups rife. Every possible genre was explored and the pit was a glorious mess of moshers, skankers, two-steppers and pillheads. The more humourous side to Shikari was set to good work on an infectious rendition of ode-to-poor-customer-service ‘Slipshod’. This was followed by a stunning D’n’B remix of ‘There’s A Price On Your Head’ courtesy of Hospitalized Records’ Danny Byrd, which gave frontman Rou Reynolds to reach a piano located at the centre of the crowd. Here we were treated to a rousing rendition of ‘Dear Future Historians’ and a low-key piano reworking of the usually titanic ‘Juggernauts’.

Redoubling the tempo post-piano interlude, the colossal low-ended ‘Arguing With Thermometers’ had the crowd descend into a giant skanking mess, giving way halfway to the bombastic ‘Ghandi Mate, Ghandi’. Delaying the drop for a fists-in-the-air rendition of Robbie Willams’ ‘Angels’, the St Albans boys prove once more that they don’t rely entirely on giant drops and political lyrics to get the crowd moving. Ending the set with old-timer ‘Mothership’, Shikari certainly left the crowd hungry for more, and me in dire need for a water; the intensity of the show was off the scale. Returning to new song ‘Redshift’ (which sounds much better live than the crappy recorded version), the boys finished the job with a mashup of ‘Anaesthetist’/’The Appeal and The Mindsweep Part II’. A fitting set ending combo. From their humble beginnings with Take To The Skies, Shikari have shown their progression from a gimmicky trance-sampling hardcore band to a band not only worth of taking to the biggest stages in the country, but also as one of the most creative heavy bands out there. Their remixes are by now almost seamless, and their tireless reworking of old work to make it novel and interesting is an example to other bands of their 12-year vintage. Tonight was not without fault: people smoking in enclosed venues are arses, throwing cups of piss is a dick move and the cavernous Ally Pally soaks up sound, but Shikari hardly put a foot wrong for their 2 hour set. Even if that keyboard Rou plays on stage is as useful as a chocolate teapot.