It began with some confused first timers wondering if the jam was actually happening or not. So we guided them in and sat around discussing useless things until Leann arrived with the acoustic guitar and so it began the semester’s first Sunday jam. As the newcomers waited for the metal to begin, Amlan, Abhimanyu and Leann started off with some acoustic numbers with the occasional company of our vocals. The mic finally arrived quarter to five and the jam went from acoustic to semi-acoustic with Rohan and Ashish on guitars and Abhimanyu on vocals on the mini stage in the corner of dingy Twist.
Abhimanyu’s voice was absolutely stunning and I definitely want to mention that about a million times! According to me, this guy just stole the show by singing and playing Dave Mathews Band, Alice In Chains, Oasis, Pearl Jam and many more. The best was definitely him on vocals of ‘Where did you sleep last night’. I really don’t know what more to say about Abhimanyu, I’m quite speechless and definitely hope he succeeds in forming his grunge or blues band.
Almost every band in Manipal was there and got a chance to play. Ashish and Errol from Chimera, Alex from Artificial Insanity, Rakesh and Avinash from Unreplica, Narayanan from Riot House (who is a 16 year old who studies in Little Rock School J) and Tet, Benjamin, Naman and Irshad from Can Of Bliss. It was a jam in the true sense with people playing with each other. People of all ages and tastes, a first year Abhay from Delhi played some Pearl Jam and Radiohead with his own style.
The guys from Unreplica covered some Metallica while Alex sang along with the Chimera boys on Roadhouse Blues; the song was later covered better by Abhimany and Ashish with Leann on bongos. The sound setting was a little unusual. As there wasn’t a mic stand, I held the mic up for everyone who sang and played at the same time. While Abhimanyu and Ashish and Ankit indulged in a blues jam, the acoustic guitar was miked by me too. Along with the talking walking mic stand element, there were flowers. We gave out flowers to anyone who sang, grooved and head banged. The unconventional MCing by Shonali just added to the chilled out atmosphere completing the jam (though she did go overboard at times).
We played a couple of originals with the name Ten People WhoDon’t like Being Called Alexander. We also covered Save Tonight along with a chorus involving a lot of people, whose names I’d take too long to mention. Shonali’s drunken “stage act” was neat! Towards the end, a lot of people were drunk and the music only got better. Rohan, Abhimanyu and Abhay shuffled guitars and vocals bringing the jam to an end with Don’t Cry where everywhere sang as loud as they could almost in protest to the trance DJ who had set up behind the bar waiting for us to finish. When the DJ proceeded to play trance, Shonali fought for another “last song”. We wanted it to be Freebird so the music would go on but settled for Stairway to Heaven which was played beautifully by Abhay with Indrasish on some killer vocals. The end reminded me of Freedom Jam 2007 when musicians just played till the cops cut their sound off and when it off, they continued with acoustic guitars and bongos bringing people closer to the stage and literally fighting for freedom!
The only difference here was that while in Bangalore it’s a war against authority, here it’s against trance. Next jam, bring your voices and instruments (do not forget, please) and applaud. Rock is still alive.
