Rock Ethos, the rock music festival held at the Palace Grounds on Sunday was an attempt to invoke the dormant spirit of rock in the City and to match the best of rock festivals in the country like the Great Indian Rock Festival of New Delhi and the Independence Rock of Mumbai. Going by the response to the festival with a crowd of nearly 10,000, it is a Woodstock in the making.
Rock Ethos was a free-entry rock festival with a dozen bands playing including Bhoomi, Myndsnare, Threinody, Kryptos, Inviktus, Inner sanctum, Whitenoiz, Slain, Spitfire, Illuminati, Extinct Reflections, Galeej Gurus and Motherjane.
The 12 noon to 10 pm festival had the bands performing back-to-back with each band performing for about 45 minutes. The first band to perform around 1 pm was Slain, a band which proved its mettle at the NLS Strawberry fields ‘07”, bagging the honours for best band, best guitarist, best vocalist and best drummer (where incidentally they were the first Bangalore band to win after 8 long years).
Bhoomi, which has now been signed by an international label, was among the band which performed their originals to critical acclaim. This band had a dream start at the National Law School 2002 when they were the first college band ever to get into the semi-pro finals by playing an all original set something which even the established acts back then didn’t dare to do.
Incidentally, Rock Ethos was also about originality. The idea of the festival was to promote original music and to create an international rock festival experience, something similar to Woodstock of the 1960s.
Says Raj Hansoge, Director of Buenos Entertainment, the event company which organised the show, “We insisted that the bands play their original songs and not covers. We were doubtful about the acceptability as audience often demand cover versions, but then the festival has been a success.”
By the time the third band started playing, there was a considerable crowd although it was too early in the day and rather sunny. For sheer variety there was the sponsors beer to guzzle, bungee jumping, gaming zone, Paintball (shooting game) food court serving a variety of cuisine and a lounge bar, all providing a carnival atmosphere.
The three-dimensional stage had two huge 14 feet guitars and two kick drums with a diameter of eight feet as stage backdrop. The bands did their tuning in the the green room from where they could directly step up to the main stage and start playing instead of doing the tuning on the main stage and annoying the audience.
In the evening, the bands literally set the stage on fire as the crowds began to increase.
The pyrotechnics on the stage were matched by the thunder and lightening in the heavens above. Mercifully it did not rain, until the concert was over. Motherjane, the most anticipated band, performed last.
Says Raj, “The idea of the festival is to build a platform for rock bands to be recognised. Many bands have not been playing for the want of a platform. For instance, Threinody, the metal band has been around for 12 years now, but they have not performed for the last three years. Bhoomi has not performed for the last nine months.” Both these bands performed at Rock Ethos.
“We are shooting the entire event with a four-camera set up and sending a DVD to all the international rock festivals and rock publications. We may make this an annual event and may make it even a two or three-day multi-city national event,” adds Raj with confidence.
