We deserve respect as listeners!!!!

Rock music in many a ways is a channel to vent out frustrations and stress for listeners...

Unfortunately, last evening the target of my frustration was the rock band itself!!! And for "Avial" to be the focal point of my article with negative connotations is a pretty sad turn of things to say the least!!!

Avial are an Indian band with an ever expanding fan base!!! They play some of the finest rock music in India. Their You tube channel is a crowd favourite!!! I was deeply impressed by their professionalism, videos & song quality and was very much looking forward to last evenings show at Kyra.

3 major disappointments from my perspective:

1. The show started very late and had a break every 20 minutes for 15 minutes. That killed the continuity and feel
2. Like most rock bands, the group is going through an over-haul of sorts with their lead vocalist moving out and one of the guitarists calling it quits. They played the female vocals through a tape and that to me was an absolute dis-respect for a paying public
3. And finally, the more I pull myself back, the more I struggle!!! The make shift female singer they had was an absolute sham to say the least. She cant sing for nuts and if I ever felt like venting out my frustration last night, it was then... I just had 5 words on my lips- "Give me my money back!!!!" Her voice cracked, she could not sing the high notes for nuts and she was constantly out of pitch. If you randomly pick a singer from any of our colleges, I am sure you will find better ones!!!

Overall, I would have preferred the show to have been a neat 60-90 minute affair with only their 8 songs sans the ladies, instead of playing it out of a stereo (Why do I need to pay for live music then, I have youtube at home) or having absolutely rank amateurs perform.

The saving grace was the impromptu performance by Suresh Peters. He got the crowd going with his drums recital and "peta rap" performance

Overall, I still have great confidence in this over-hauled group too. I particularly liked "Nada nada" and "Aranda" last evening. Although my favourites are "Karukara" & "Chakele". And the song I just melt in ought to be "Njan aara"!!!!

This new group is only going to get better once it gets used to playing without Benjamin and Kamath. But, they will never sound the same without Benjamin in the lead vocals.

I think Tony can go a long way once he performs a lot more, but as a true "Avial" follower, cant help wonder why the typical rock band fate (Break ups) hit upon this group as well....