Islamabad got a good healthy dose of rock as Entity Paradigm, Jal, Call and many other bands performed on 13th march 2004 at the opening of the Open Air Theater in the scenic “Shakarpariyan”.
The event was organized by Dream Weaver Productions (known for the highly acclaimed murder mystery musical “8 women” performed at Al Hamra Lahore in December 2003) and the Capital Development Authority. Tickets were affordable at rupees 500 a piece.
Fans poured in to experience the glory of their best-loved bands. The event was extroverted, but sadly there were some moments of disappointment owing to lots of sound problems and technical shortcomings during the performances.
Ali Zafar won many fans. His performance was smashing and invigorating. Even fans who had attended the event to see their favorite rock bands admitted that they now had a niche in their hearts for Ali Zafar’s “Huqa Pani” songs! He no doubt proved himself to be “Rangeen…rangon se bhi ziyada”
Visaal performed as well as could be expected of them. They played Noori’s much loved “Dil ki Kasam”. Visaal made a pretty good effort and did complete justice to the number. Young Asfandyar was amazing with drums, and I am sure no one will be surprised to see him transform into the next “Gumby” (of Noori fame) on the Pakistani rock scene soon!
Jal was quite entertaining as we all expected. There were bad moments, but the band is not to blame, it was mostly owing to all the technical sound problems that kept on popping up! On the other hand, fans were a bit let down by the new vocalist…it simply was not the voice we all drool over in the super “Ab tu aadat si hai mujhko aysay jeenay mein…”
Call’s performance was a bit monotonous. “Nishaan” was of course lapped up by the audience. Khurram and Junaid did very well, and it was felt that they are actually taking the band wherever it is going. They definitely need to investigate for a new bass guitarist!
Entity Paradigm had the most fans following at the concert. They came, and they conquered! eP simply took the crowd by storm. They were awesome. Almost everyone thought they were brilliant. Fans were of course mesmerized when the band members arrived on stage. However, the spell did break at one point! “Hamesha” was done perfectly. It come out exactly as it sounds in the album. The sound was amazing! Fawad went on and on in his very different but totally cool accent. You rule boy! Keep it up! We still have no clue about that whole area of his expertise! The amazing Xulfi, who we all know pumps life into the eP songs with his brilliant guitar-playing, suffered some blows at the expense of the technical sound problems too. There were moments of silence. Hassaan may have come to the rescue by filling in with his own guitar strumming but of course he didn’t! Ahmad Ali Butt…well, lets just say he saved the show. All of him was ultra cool just being his own self. No accents, no loss of sound, no boo-boos!
All in all, the entire concert was amazing. At the end of the rocking night everyone went home more or less happy. It was one of the best concerts in Isloo to date. Those of you who missed it get ready for the next one…I hear it’s just around the corner!
By Sarah Asif
