Organised by Sonido Musicals, the event witnessed a fierce musical competition between more than 40 bands from across the country.
The two-day event was exclusively meant for rock bands and provided an excellent opportunity for college, amateur, semi-professional and professional groups to showcase their talent as well as win handsome cash prizes and music instruments.
Most of the contestants were local but a good number of bands had come from Chennai, Kochi and Ahmedabad.
As the event was open to all, even school bands could compete with established professional bands.
On the first day, a few popular bands like Uchitra, Hamseandda, Koritsu, ‘Cosmic Resonance’, ‘Amalgam’, ‘Ashes Awake’ and ‘Mad Mad Orange Fireworks’ enthralled the crowd with their power-packed performances. ‘Mad Mad Orange Fireworks’, a semi-professional band from the City comprising Micheal, Kaushik and Shravan, performed their own compositions and got an astounding response from the listeners.
“The competition was really tough both in terms of quality and magnitude. But the acoustics could have been better.”
“As the venue is a little far from the City, the crowd was less till the afternoon. But by evening, the hall was packed,” said Michael from ‘Mad Mad Orange Fireworks’.
Another popular band taking part was Parvaaz, which plays blues and psychedelic rock. Comprising Kashif Iqbal, Khalid, Neil Simon and Sachin, Parvaaz played Azaadi, one their personal favourites which left the audience asking for more.
“The event was supposed to happen at Jain College, J C Road. But at the last minute, we had to shift it to Jain Heritage School, Hebbal. We thought the crowd was a bit less due to this last minute change. But Bangaloreans supported us fairly well and made this event a grand success,” said Siddarth, one of the organisers and the man behind ‘Saturday Jam’.
Finally, ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ emerged victorious and received cash prize along with two guitars, two amplifiers and one drum kit, sponsored by Sonido Musicals. The second place was awarded to ‘Tiffin Box’.
The best lead guitarist prize was won by Abhishek, who was awarded a guitar and an amplifier. The event was judged by Siddharth Baja, guitarists Michael Mayne, Apernit Singh and Ricky Kej.
On the second day, Baja, a Bangalore-based band was the headlining act.
Siddarth along with Michael Mayne and Apernit Singh performed a jugalbandi and also played ‘Rocking In The Free World’ and ‘Smoke On The Water’.
