Rear-view Mirror

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ALTHOUGH hindsight and retrospection are good enough indicators of the miles logged in a journey, they have been known to suffer from the odd momentary lapses of functionality.

If statistics are any indication, the Levi8217;s Great Indian Rock GIR concert has completed 10 years, encompassing within its ambit 10 albums, 80 bands and a unified nationwide movement aimed at giving original Indian rock music a concrete platform.

This, admittedly, gets a little heavy for any kind of retrospection but it is true8212;the GIR has turned 10 and no one is more in awe of that fact than the team at Rock Street Journal, its founder and organiser for the last decade.

As would be expected of anyone arriving at a milestone of this sort, a bit of celebration was absolutely called for. Therefore, when the GIR festival kicked off on February 17, 18 and 19 in New Delhi, and on February 25 in Mumbai, it stayed absolutely true to our mantra for the year 20068212;larger and louder than ever before.

Excited as we were at the prospect of turning 10 with a project which, in its inceptive stages, always seemed doomed to an extremely short life, the butterflies in our collective stomachs seemed busier than ever. This was the first time we were experimenting with a three-day format in New Delhi and had absolutely no means of foretelling how the audience would respond.

Faced with gnawing uncertainty, there was no option left but to take the plunge. After many sleepless nights, flaring tempers and incessant chewing of fingernails, the three days of the Delhi leg were sold out, with 15 of our our best and three international bands raising Cain and making sure the rock and roll message was, to paraphrase Judas Priest, 8220;rammed down straight through the heart of the town8221;.

On then to Mumbai, a city for which, in the post-gig euphoria, I feel nothing but the greatest amount of love and affection. As a metropolis, Mumbai has always scared me more than a little.

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It is a city that has seen it all, is the first stop for some of the biggest bands in the world when they come calling and really needs something special to make the Churchgate resident spend one-and-a-half hours in snarling traffic to get to the Andheri Sports Complex. And that is exactly the reason why I am mooning over Mumbai right now.

When Indian Rock called, Mumbai responded. In droves. The view from the side wings was beautiful, hordes and hordes of people pumping their fists in the air, singing back at the bands at deafening volume and moshing like nobody8217;s business. Thank you Mumbai, for reaffirming the faith. Till we meet again very soon, keep rocking.

Sam Lal is the executive editor of Rock Street Journal