Live music is one of my greatest loves, so it was about time that I finally caught a show here in Bombay. On Tuesday night I went to the Hard Rock cafe to catch Shaa'ir + Func, a Bombay and New York based duo that is also currently one of India's most raved about indie bands.
The electronic sound consists of Shaa'ir, the vocalist and Func, the guitarist, who were backed up by a bassist and drummer. Shaa'ir has won awards for best female front woman, and rightfully so, she has amazing stage presence, bitchin' vocals, the dance moves to back it up. She also has the style that leaves a mark, somehow painting white bands around her knees that look like kneepads and making it look cool.
While initially some of the lyrics sounded a little too much like they came out of a 1960s hippie movement, such as the repetition of "stand for something, or you will fall for anything" in one of the numbers, somehow Shaa'ir pulls it off. And what what would usually sound cheesy, ends up sounding pretty sincere. Between songs this comes out even more, with her talks of love and all of us coming from stardust, but she's entirely endearing, and has the audience is in her grip.
The worst part of the show was the venue. Initially I thought it was really cool, then when the band started to play I realized that the stage that probably started out as a really great idea, should have been trumped by logic before it was actually created. The stage hangs above the bar. Nothing about being on the dance floor with an arched neck sounds like a good idea, and the stage set up doesn't do wonders for the sound either.
But it didn't stop the show from being pretty wonderful.
The electronic sound consists of Shaa'ir, the vocalist and Func, the guitarist, who were backed up by a bassist and drummer. Shaa'ir has won awards for best female front woman, and rightfully so, she has amazing stage presence, bitchin' vocals, the dance moves to back it up. She also has the style that leaves a mark, somehow painting white bands around her knees that look like kneepads and making it look cool.
While initially some of the lyrics sounded a little too much like they came out of a 1960s hippie movement, such as the repetition of "stand for something, or you will fall for anything" in one of the numbers, somehow Shaa'ir pulls it off. And what what would usually sound cheesy, ends up sounding pretty sincere. Between songs this comes out even more, with her talks of love and all of us coming from stardust, but she's entirely endearing, and has the audience is in her grip.
The worst part of the show was the venue. Initially I thought it was really cool, then when the band started to play I realized that the stage that probably started out as a really great idea, should have been trumped by logic before it was actually created. The stage hangs above the bar. Nothing about being on the dance floor with an arched neck sounds like a good idea, and the stage set up doesn't do wonders for the sound either.
But it didn't stop the show from being pretty wonderful.
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| Picture from Hard Rock India |
"...started out as a really great idea, should have been trumped by logic before it was actually created." I love this!
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