A second coming indeed

Around 3,000 heavy metal fans travelled thirty-odd kilometres to the Clark’s Exotica, where the concert ‘Nokia Alive 2012’ – featuring heavy-metal legends ‘Lamb of God’, was being held.

The venue might have been an entire city away, but the distance did nothing to
dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.

The concert began early in the evening, with opening acts by a line-up of well-known bands like ‘Escher’s Knot’ and Bhayanak Maut.

The other group which took the stage before the main act was ‘Skyharbor’, who set the tone for the evening.

The crowd – which had gathered to a fairly sizeable number by the time ‘Skyharbor’ appeared on stage – was especially eager to watch them perform because
Chris Adler, the drummer of ‘Lamb of God’, has previously admitted to being a huge fan of their work.

They didn’t disappoint – the band was on stage for a good hour and belted out track
after track, each characterised by a signature growl and incredible drum-work.
As soon as ‘Skyharbor’ finished their act and took their instruments off stage,
an anticipatory hush fell across the crowd.

As the ‘Lamb of God’ backdrop was pulled up over the stage, thousands of fans raised their hands and cheered, chanting for the iconic band to take over the stage.
And when they finally did – amidst rather thunderous music and a frenzy of neon strobe lights – the energy at the venue reached a whole new level.

The band began with a few tracks from their new album ‘Resolution’. They began with the epic ‘Desolation’ and proceeded to rip right into a rendition of ‘Ghost Walking’.

Their fans went frantic, tossing plastic bottles into the air at regular intervals – a
few particularly enthusiastic metal-heads even stripped off their shirts in the frenzy.

Randy Blythe – the vocalist of the band, who was clearly in his element – greeted the crowd with a few expected swear words, saying, “It’s awesome to be back here. How many of you saw us last time at Palace Grounds? Here’s to many more shows in India!”

After a high-energy rendition of ‘Set to Fail’, he said, “This song goes out to the people who saw us here last time – you’re two years more old-school,” and the band proceeded to play the all-time favourite, ‘Ruin’.

They followed this up with more popular numbers like ‘Ashes of the Wake’ and
‘The Undertow’, followed by ‘Omerta’, ‘Number Six’, ‘Laid To Rest’ and ‘The
Passing’.

The crowd evidently approved of the selection – a careful blend of classic favourites and newer, edgier sounds.

John, an engineer who had come to watch the show, admitted that he’d been
looking forward to this for a long time.

“I’m a huge ‘Lamb of God’ fan and bought my tickets three weeks ago. I had a lot of expectations – and the band has more than met them.

Being here is like a dream come true,” he cheered.

The band peppered their performance with plenty of interaction with the audience.
In fact, Randy even mentioned the documentary that the band is currently working on, saying, “We’re making a movie – it’s not so much about us as our fans, and India is definitely going to be represented in the ‘Lamb of God’ movie.”

He added, “The really cool thing we see about India is the birth of the metal scene here – it’s just beginning, and it’s very exciting to see this.”

The band wound up their concert with renditions of ‘In Your Words’, the classic, ‘Redneck’ and ‘Black Label’.

Evidently, their second coming to Bangalore was even better than the first.