Rock On

So it’s a rare treat that Bryan Adams,a first rate musician will perform on February 15 at the NSIC Grounds in Okhla. I decided to get pro-active on the tickets for once,so I’m not scrounging around helplessly on February 14. While rounding up some friends who might want to watch Adams,I can’t help but recall a very special night,almost 23 years ago.

Even now,if you get together a bunch of middle-aged adults who’ve lived in Delhi long enough,it’s entirely possible the conversation could veer to: “Where were you on September 30,1988?” Not including the morbid events of 1984,it was the most memorable night of the decade,the night of the Amnesty Human Rights

Concert when Bruce Springsteen,Sting,Peter Gabriel and Tracy Chapman performed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

I was 12 at the time and entirely unfamiliar with any of the singers,besides Springsteen. A 16-year-old boy who lived in the neighbourhood became the most popular kid once he started organising the cheapest tickets that cost Rs 100. My two other 12-year-old friends and me were dying to go but our parents wouldn’t let us,with him. Finally,after much pestering,a young aunt of one of the girls,reluctantly agreed to take us. Eventually we were five madly excited children piled in one car,when we reached the venue a couple of hours before the concert began. I remember lots of walking and endless waiting before the music began: it started with obscure Indian bands that nobody knew.

What I do remember is Tracy Chapman,who had not yet generated the following she has today,being booed offstage by a shamefully inconsiderate crowd for one of two reasons: being African (likely) and because nobody had ever heard of her or experienced the beauty of her music (also likely). Gabriel and Sting,were for a more discerning audience as well. The only guy anyone wanted to hear was Springsteen,and he was every bit the wait,once he started with I’m On Fire .

The only other big pop-rock foreign artist I’ve heard live in Delhi has been the Spice Girls,in the late ’90s. Considering they had just one hit,the concert was over almost as soon as it started. It’s unlikely Adams will have anywhere near the same impact on any of us who went for that Human Rights concert. It was an unforgettable experience,a turning point for us 12-year-olds who were awake past midnight,probably for the first time. But at least it’s likely to be a more than a once-in-two-decades occurance. So what if Roger Waters and Iron Maiden skipped Delhi? The organisers of the Adams tour have promised to bring Shakira next.

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