Yes, I got back home today, a little late, courtesy Mood Indigo at IIT Bombay, which featured a performance by finnish \m/etchul legends Ensiferum. Kudos to IITB for getting them down here.
Brilliant performance it was, but I can't believe why the crowd was SO retarded. What's the point of going in to watch a 'prograam' if you don't have a fucking clue about what's in store for you? Practically the whole of Bombay's college junta was there. These should be ticketed shows to keep the unwanted junta out. There were people doing bhangra, shaadi dance and what not to Ensiferum. Its metal, not indipop you morons. On many occasions, the band expected some of the most popular passages of their songs to be chanted by the crowd... needless to say, they were disappointed and more than amused to see the crowd clueslessly jumping as if they were a part of the audience for Voice of India, Indian Idol or any other one of those similar 555.5 shows. The pinnacle was yet to come.
Ensiferum announced that they were playing the 'so called last song of the evening' - "Treacherous Gods" next (one of their most popular songs). It was almost understood that there was going to be an encore after that song. Guess what happened. The band went backstage after playing "Treacherous Gods", expecting the crowd to chant 'once more'.... but the crowd DISPERSED, leading to the end of the show, inspite of the last sound being announced as the 'so called' last song. I stayed back for a bit after the show to try getting snaps with the band. All of them looked really pissed and stormed outside the venue. Needless to say, this was probably the worst audience they could have got.
Another glitch - We were pretty much among the first 200 people in the queue, but the thoroughly mismanaged queue and entry system made sure that we had to wait for a good FOUR AND A HALF HOURS in queue. God knows where the ocean of people appeared in front of us. We entered after more than half the show got over. There was an elaborate system of U turns and what not to get in. There were very few entry/frisking points for that big a crowd, I hope the organizers take a lesson or two from this (simply increasing the number of people handling the frisking and 2 more entry points would have made a great difference). Thankfully, we didn't miss Ensiferum.
