It was a feel good evening last Saturday at the Levi's Ones 2 Watch Christmas concert at the St John's Auditorium in Koramangala. The event, that saw a great selection of upbeat Christmas music performed by a group of talented musicians and singers from the City, made for a great entry into the festive season.

Jerusha Verghese set the tone for the evening, opening with an energetic and punchy rendition of Mariah Carey's ‘All I want for Christmas is you’. Next was the very versatile Jacob Ninan, with Bon Jovi's ‘I wish everyday could be like Christmas’, powerfully and faultlessly delivered with guitarist Tony Das and pianist Jason Zachariah providing perfect vocal back-ups.

Mark Lazaro, easily one of the finest tenors in the City, came on next with the Michael W Smith’s version of Mark Lowry’s deeply moving ‘Mary, did you know?’. However, one wished that Mark had not chosen a version that did nothing to carry through to the listeners. Bryan Adams’ ‘Run, Run, Rudolph’ by Anoopa Anand saw amazing breath control and energy that set her piece apart and made up for the rather inane lyrics of the number. Diminutive Neha Kapoor's surprisingly powerful and very lovely voice was a perfect fit for Dolly Parton's ‘Hard Candy Christmas’.

Moving into a more traditional mode was Miracle Ward whose flawless execution of the exquisite Christmas hymn ‘O Holy Night’, truly brought home the real reason for Christmas. Mark Swaroop warmed many a heart with his simple rendition of the much loved ‘When a child is born’. Jude Lazaro followed, with a beautifully modulated rendition of ‘Believe’, the original sound track from ‘The Polar Express’ and Sushma Joseph presented ‘Christmas Everyday.’

The real treat of the evening was the male ensemble consisting of Jacob Ninan, Mark Lazaro, Jude Lazaro and Mark Swaroop, accompanied on Spanish guitar by the hugely talented and very dexterous Robin Colaco. An entertaining spoof of ‘The twelve days of Christmas’ was sung in the most delicious blend of voices and bound by the warm sense of brotherhood that obviously knit this group together.

Post interval, Miracle came back with a typically adroit handling of the challenging ‘The Light of a Million Mornings’, followed by Jerusha's brilliant cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Santa, Can you hear me?’ and Jude's equally impressive rendition of ‘The Christmas Song’, which also showed off great instrumental work by Jason and Robin.

Neha Kapoor's contemplative ‘It wasn’t his child’, originally by Tricia Yearwood, was a beautiful meditation on the role of St Joseph in the Christmas story.

Jacob Ninan's final offering was the Irving Berlin classic ‘White Christmas’ followed by a truly brilliant  performance by Mark Swaroop of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Merry Christmas Baby’. Mark Lazaro and Miracle Ward sang ‘The Prayer’ going well together to create just the right touch for an end-of-the-year reflection.

The evening was rounded off with the entire ensemble presenting a feisty version of the Bob Geldof favourite for this time of year — ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’, followed by ‘Feliz Navidad’.