Were we too blown or did that really happen on stage? We picked our top 3 bizarre gigs of the year, and yes, we want an encore for at least two of them
Were we too blown or did that really happen on stage? We picked our top 3 bizarre gigs of the year, and yes, we want an encore for at least two of them
A PINK gorilla on acoustic bass, a skunk on the xylophone, a dog on the keys and a chicken or frog on the drums, we now forget.
Four-piece Brooklyn band The Xylopholks fronted by Jonathan 'Skunky' Singer were a visual experience that no one should have missed.
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| Pinky aka Bridget Kearney of The Xylopholks and Shane Solanki at Blue Frog |
The band performed in January this year, and Blue Frog did well to host them. Where else would we have heard a curious, ragtime routine that would befit an animation film or a comedy score? Horns up.
Our next pick: an underground gig that was held at the now defunct Zenzi Mills. The Art of Noise performance art show featured Sridhar/Thayil (Mumbai), Noush Like Sploosh (Mumbai)and members of Emperor Minge (Delhi). We walked in when Anousha Anand of Noush Like Sploosh was reading lines off The Alice in Wonderland.
What followed was nothing that we've ever witnessed on any stageu00a0-- part muffled screams, part scary laughter, part jazzu00a0 and complete entertainment. Whileu00a0 Suman Sridhar's singing was barely discernible, punctuated by odd animalistic dance moves, as Nikhil Vasudevan thrashed away on the drums, the audience wasn't entirely sure how to react to this insane line-up.
When the act finally kicked in, we knew this wasn't a bunch of junkies indulging, butu00a0 an intelligent, tangential approach to cut through the clutteru00a0-- it was shocking all right. But it was meant to be so.
Sadly, we can't say the same about the recent Alchemy show at Blue Frog, featuring Bandish Projekt with songwiter and performer Shane Solanki from the UK.
The spoken word experiment by Solanki was nothing more than a mash-up of puerile rhyme and strange stage antics. Here's a gist: "Am ever so spicy, your garam masala." Need we say more?
