I would like to make it clear that the things you are about to read are absolutely true and I am not making any thing up even.
F.D.D.I Noida till now has been the most dramatic gig in our entire carrier.2012 ended up on a good note for Crystal Heads as far as gigs won and shows done is considered, but early months of 2013, we were jobless, bored, eating each others head, dying to do shows. We got to know about this gig at F.D.D.I Noida through my Childhood friend Neelesh who was a student there. Since I was in Delhi that time, I went to his college and filled up the registration form. We had everything clear, we had almost 20 days from when we filled up the registration form till the performance. We were continuously checking for our examination dates just to be sure that they don't clash with this gig. Everything was looking fine and since this was going to be our first gig in NCR, we didn't want to take any chances and were totally looking forward to prove the true music spirit of Dehradun in NCR. With all that, we had a gig in Garhi cant., Dehradun next day which was among the most awaited ones and then another gig at Amrapali after one day, so we started practicing hard for all three gigs. Fingers crossed, we were hoping that nothing stops us from doing these gigs .
Ten days before the FDDI show, I got a call from Nikhil ( Guitars/Tech, C.H )
NIkhil : Bro we are in a big trouble, Akash is having two very important exams, dates of which are exactly clashing with the Noida Gig
and I started picking broken pieces of my heart, but this time Nikhil was determined to do what we planned, more than any of us. He came up with an idea to call Akash Via flight from Dehradun to Delhi. The gig was suppose to start around 6 - 7 pm and Akash's exam was getting over at around 1 pm, + the cash at FDDI was good and if we won, it was enough to cover up all our travelling expenses. So the idea was possible to implement. We checked the flight timings and got one seat booked in the 3:30 pm flight which was earliest after Akash's exam. For rest of us we booked early morning train tickets. Now as per our plan We were suppose to reach the venue at around 1 pm and Akash at around 5 pm as it was a 40 mints flight and then one and a half hour in metro. Next day, we were suppose to take early morning bus from Anand Vihar, New Delh, so that we can reach on time for the Dehradun Gig and then one day later leave for Amrapali.
2:30 pm, we reached the venue at FDDI Noida with all instruments and things, got passes for ourselves and Akash too, all formalities done, got rooms to rest and freshen up, heard stories from my friend Neelesh about his ongoing war with his warden whose name was also Neelesh, ha ha he he everything and chilling.
Phone Rings :
Akash : Hello yaar, trouble, flight is delayed by 20 minutes
and this time every one else was picking up the broken pieces of there hearts along with me.
All of us started praying, God not this, what if Akash cannot make it on time ? What if we have to play without him ? We started working on the backup plan. Nikhil started practising the solos and he did that continuously for 2 hours, Jonathan started making new patches on his keyboard to cover up the rhythm parts when Nikhil will be playing the solos. 4 pm, the venue managers started coming in to do the sound setup and we get another call from Akash that the flight is delayed 20 minutes more. 5 pm people started coming in and Akash's flight has not left from the airport yet, over that, Akash's cell phone's battery was dying which worried us more. At 5 :10 his flight left and now we were praying to get his call about landing in Delhi as soon as possible. The gig started, some how we convinced the managers to give us the last slot so that we could buy some time for Akash. Around 6:30 we get a call from Akash that he has landed and at the same time we informed him that the first band was on stage. Akash needed at least one and a half hour to reach Noida City center from Dwarka sec. 21 and 15 mints additional on both sides. He takes a cab to reach Dwarka sector 21 metro station and the cab driver lost his way. It took him half an hour to reach the metro station only and here second band was done with there sound check and ready to play. That moment we were not able to think about any thing. All of us were silently waiting, even Jonathan was not P j ing. Third band performs, then fourth than 5th. 2 bands to go then it was us. We were sitting on stairs on third floor watching the whole gig silently with Akash, still one hour away.
After the performance of second last band, we got a call from Akash that he need 20 minutes to reach the venue. My friend Neelesh and Sanil made a plan to pick him from the third last station on there bike, they left and we were on stage for the sound check. We decided to waste time on the sound check so that Akash can reach before the performance starts. We wasted 20 minutes, Nikhil plugged in Akash's guitar and processor unit, and every one acted as if there was some technical fault for which the sound engineer was responsible. Just take a guess what can be worse, it started raining. Now we had no option left we have to take the stage otherwise we would be out of competition without even playing. We slowly walked toward our positions on stage, everybody plugged in there respective instruments, I turned on my mic told everyone that our guitarist has not reached yet and we were still hoping that he comes in the middle of the song at least, like Arjun Ram Pal did in the movie 'Rock On'. We played ' The last Mirage ', everyone of us was literally feeling the rain that night. Everybody came near to the stage and head banged with us, but we were playing with an aggression that comes because of sadness. As we finished the song, it started raining heavily and doing second song became impossible. Everybody ran away back from where they came and exactly when we packed up our instruments and reached the nearest shed, we saw Akash coming along with Neelesh and Sanil. That was an emotional moment and we just looked at each others faces with most naturally saddest possible expressions, ever. We told Akash that we lost it just by few minutes. Then out of no where came the organizers and informed us that they have decided to conduct the finale next day and we are in it. " YEAHHHHHH M**T***R FU***RS, NOW WE'LL SHOW WHAT WE ARE " were our exact words and we were full of anger. We were not going to miss this chance now. We had no money at all to afford return bus tickets + the finale was on the next day, so it became clear that we were going to miss the Dehradun gig, so we planned to work hard for this one atleast. We decided to sleep early and wake up fresh for practicing, as if that was going to happen. We went to Neelesh's room to sleep and just when we thought that the bad day was over we realized that Neelsh was not in the room. He comes from outside with a angry and sad look on his face at the same time and told us that his warden has not approved for us to stay in the hostel. Middle of the night and you are thrown out of a hostel thats not even yours, in a place you have never been before but always heard in News for its high crime rate, not a good feeling at all. Thankfully, few friends of Neelesh came up with a plan which was to sleep in a 1 BHK flat which was left open in there building. It was middle of the night and around nine guys wearing black and soaked were walking like thieves with local mattresses folded up on our shoulders, that too in the pathetic galees of Noida with super skinny dogs barking at us from distance, thats good enough to scare the hell out of your own self, forget the neighbourhood. Despite everything that has happened, we finally found a place to sleep. Did the show next day and conquered FDDI's band war with a victory. Got cash in prize which gave us the hopes of going back in a good A/c bus back to Dehradun. Now when we talk about this gig, we don't talk at all, we still hate those 5 hours of nervous breakdowns performing without a band member :D
Here are a few pics,
pic 1 - The early morning Train
2.Finale Morning with comeback of Akash
3. Returning in the good A.C bus
The Survivors :D with Neelesh in Centre,
Sanata missing for confidential reasons.
F.D.D.I Noida till now has been the most dramatic gig in our entire carrier.2012 ended up on a good note for Crystal Heads as far as gigs won and shows done is considered, but early months of 2013, we were jobless, bored, eating each others head, dying to do shows. We got to know about this gig at F.D.D.I Noida through my Childhood friend Neelesh who was a student there. Since I was in Delhi that time, I went to his college and filled up the registration form. We had everything clear, we had almost 20 days from when we filled up the registration form till the performance. We were continuously checking for our examination dates just to be sure that they don't clash with this gig. Everything was looking fine and since this was going to be our first gig in NCR, we didn't want to take any chances and were totally looking forward to prove the true music spirit of Dehradun in NCR. With all that, we had a gig in Garhi cant., Dehradun next day which was among the most awaited ones and then another gig at Amrapali after one day, so we started practicing hard for all three gigs. Fingers crossed, we were hoping that nothing stops us from doing these gigs .
Ten days before the FDDI show, I got a call from Nikhil ( Guitars/Tech, C.H )
NIkhil : Bro we are in a big trouble, Akash is having two very important exams, dates of which are exactly clashing with the Noida Gig
and I started picking broken pieces of my heart, but this time Nikhil was determined to do what we planned, more than any of us. He came up with an idea to call Akash Via flight from Dehradun to Delhi. The gig was suppose to start around 6 - 7 pm and Akash's exam was getting over at around 1 pm, + the cash at FDDI was good and if we won, it was enough to cover up all our travelling expenses. So the idea was possible to implement. We checked the flight timings and got one seat booked in the 3:30 pm flight which was earliest after Akash's exam. For rest of us we booked early morning train tickets. Now as per our plan We were suppose to reach the venue at around 1 pm and Akash at around 5 pm as it was a 40 mints flight and then one and a half hour in metro. Next day, we were suppose to take early morning bus from Anand Vihar, New Delh, so that we can reach on time for the Dehradun Gig and then one day later leave for Amrapali.
2:30 pm, we reached the venue at FDDI Noida with all instruments and things, got passes for ourselves and Akash too, all formalities done, got rooms to rest and freshen up, heard stories from my friend Neelesh about his ongoing war with his warden whose name was also Neelesh, ha ha he he everything and chilling.
Phone Rings :
Akash : Hello yaar, trouble, flight is delayed by 20 minutes
and this time every one else was picking up the broken pieces of there hearts along with me.
All of us started praying, God not this, what if Akash cannot make it on time ? What if we have to play without him ? We started working on the backup plan. Nikhil started practising the solos and he did that continuously for 2 hours, Jonathan started making new patches on his keyboard to cover up the rhythm parts when Nikhil will be playing the solos. 4 pm, the venue managers started coming in to do the sound setup and we get another call from Akash that the flight is delayed 20 minutes more. 5 pm people started coming in and Akash's flight has not left from the airport yet, over that, Akash's cell phone's battery was dying which worried us more. At 5 :10 his flight left and now we were praying to get his call about landing in Delhi as soon as possible. The gig started, some how we convinced the managers to give us the last slot so that we could buy some time for Akash. Around 6:30 we get a call from Akash that he has landed and at the same time we informed him that the first band was on stage. Akash needed at least one and a half hour to reach Noida City center from Dwarka sec. 21 and 15 mints additional on both sides. He takes a cab to reach Dwarka sector 21 metro station and the cab driver lost his way. It took him half an hour to reach the metro station only and here second band was done with there sound check and ready to play. That moment we were not able to think about any thing. All of us were silently waiting, even Jonathan was not P j ing. Third band performs, then fourth than 5th. 2 bands to go then it was us. We were sitting on stairs on third floor watching the whole gig silently with Akash, still one hour away.
After the performance of second last band, we got a call from Akash that he need 20 minutes to reach the venue. My friend Neelesh and Sanil made a plan to pick him from the third last station on there bike, they left and we were on stage for the sound check. We decided to waste time on the sound check so that Akash can reach before the performance starts. We wasted 20 minutes, Nikhil plugged in Akash's guitar and processor unit, and every one acted as if there was some technical fault for which the sound engineer was responsible. Just take a guess what can be worse, it started raining. Now we had no option left we have to take the stage otherwise we would be out of competition without even playing. We slowly walked toward our positions on stage, everybody plugged in there respective instruments, I turned on my mic told everyone that our guitarist has not reached yet and we were still hoping that he comes in the middle of the song at least, like Arjun Ram Pal did in the movie 'Rock On'. We played ' The last Mirage ', everyone of us was literally feeling the rain that night. Everybody came near to the stage and head banged with us, but we were playing with an aggression that comes because of sadness. As we finished the song, it started raining heavily and doing second song became impossible. Everybody ran away back from where they came and exactly when we packed up our instruments and reached the nearest shed, we saw Akash coming along with Neelesh and Sanil. That was an emotional moment and we just looked at each others faces with most naturally saddest possible expressions, ever. We told Akash that we lost it just by few minutes. Then out of no where came the organizers and informed us that they have decided to conduct the finale next day and we are in it. " YEAHHHHHH M**T***R FU***RS, NOW WE'LL SHOW WHAT WE ARE " were our exact words and we were full of anger. We were not going to miss this chance now. We had no money at all to afford return bus tickets + the finale was on the next day, so it became clear that we were going to miss the Dehradun gig, so we planned to work hard for this one atleast. We decided to sleep early and wake up fresh for practicing, as if that was going to happen. We went to Neelesh's room to sleep and just when we thought that the bad day was over we realized that Neelsh was not in the room. He comes from outside with a angry and sad look on his face at the same time and told us that his warden has not approved for us to stay in the hostel. Middle of the night and you are thrown out of a hostel thats not even yours, in a place you have never been before but always heard in News for its high crime rate, not a good feeling at all. Thankfully, few friends of Neelesh came up with a plan which was to sleep in a 1 BHK flat which was left open in there building. It was middle of the night and around nine guys wearing black and soaked were walking like thieves with local mattresses folded up on our shoulders, that too in the pathetic galees of Noida with super skinny dogs barking at us from distance, thats good enough to scare the hell out of your own self, forget the neighbourhood. Despite everything that has happened, we finally found a place to sleep. Did the show next day and conquered FDDI's band war with a victory. Got cash in prize which gave us the hopes of going back in a good A/c bus back to Dehradun. Now when we talk about this gig, we don't talk at all, we still hate those 5 hours of nervous breakdowns performing without a band member :D
Here are a few pics,
2.Finale Morning with comeback of Akash
The Survivors :D with Neelesh in Centre,
Sanata missing for confidential reasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment