Cuts Like a Knife

Somya Abrol,22,dragged her boyfriend and took a five-hour bus ride from Chandigarh to Delhi on Tuesday for a special reason — the Bryan Adams concert. Even at 5 am,when she caught the bus,speculation was rife that the Summer of 69’ star would not be performing; but Abrol forced herself to think positive. “I have been a fan for the longest time. When I heard that Bryan Adams would be coming to Delhi,how could I miss it? This trip was exclusively for the Canadian rockstar,” she says. “We were planning to spend the day in Delhi,attend the concert and take the bus back,” she adds. A few hours after they arrived Delhi,they were looking for the first Volvo back home.

Across the city,as rumours gave way to confirmed reports that Adams’ show at the NSIC Grounds in Okhla had been cancelled,disappointment gave way to anger and wry humour. Twitterati lashed out at the “Bummer of 69” and Facebook profiles filled up with stories of despair. One Facebook event group had over 900 people attending,another close to 600. Among these was Ankita Lal,23. On Monday,she had received a surprise Valentine’s Day gift — a red envelope with a pass for the concert,and a message that she would find out her secret admirer at the venue. She posted updates about how excited she was on her Facebook profile. “I was going to meet him,” she says.

Organisers Netsurf Entertainment said,“Bryan Adams is keen to perform in New Delhi and not disappoint his fans,” and the concert will be rescheduled after an alternate venue has been finalised. One Twitterati explained that the concert had been cancelled because “Kalmadi was not getting his cut”. Another,called Raghav Tankha,was not hopeful for future concerts. “If his concert doesn’t happen,why would Bryan Adams ever come to Delhi?” he tweeted.

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Organisers are looking to bringing Adams back after his world cup opening ceremony performance in Bangladesh on February 17. Deepanker Agarwal,a fan,however,was in an unforgivable mood,and tweeted: “Bryan Adams cancelled…. RIP Delhi”.

Updates slowly appeared on the Kyazoonga website,warning fans not to go to the NSIC venue to pick up tickets booked online,and that non-attendees will be refunded. Those hoping for a rescheduled concert cited examples of Adams’ last visit to Delhi in 2004. Twilightfairy on Twitter wrote that she isn’t giving up hope and that “Bryan Adams concerts always run into this. They have changed venue to Mittal gardens once earlier. Let’s see.”