Campus Rock Idols 2005, Indore

Rock Idols 2005
Indore Regionals
Venue: Basketball Complex

5:00 PM was the time the show was to start, but it started late at around 6:30 PM. Vayu was to headline the show. I read in the newspaper here that there are in total 6 bands that will compete for the regionals - three from Indore, two from Bhopal and one from Nagpur. Knowing this, I was sure that the band from Nagpur is System House 33 which won the last time in Indore. No wonder that they see this place as lucky and less competitive and indeed it turned out to be the same what I thought. Unanimously, they won.

The show started with the band "Who am I" from Bhopal which played Knocking On Heavens Door by G'n'R, It's My Life by Bon Jovi and an original composition. The vocalist wore an Iron Maiden tee and seemed inspired by them. They also seemed like they will cover any Maiden track, but no. Indore isn't a place you get to see bands like Maiden being covered. Although, last time Diet Smoke from IIM Indore covered Wasting Love by Maiden.

The second band to play was some band whose name I don't remember. The name had some 'PC' thing in it for which the vocalist cleared that the band has nothing to do with personal computers. It sucked. They covered 'Larger than life' by Backstreet Boys, and played some original composition which they called 'Assembled PC' which sucked, badly. Covering Backstreet Boys? Are you nuts? While some in the Indori crowd loved it, some who thought it sucked (which indeed it did) threw crumpled papers on the band. It was sure these guys aren't going to win.

The third band to perform was 'Inferno' from Bhopal. They played an AC-DC cover followed by My sacrifice (Creed Cover) and an original composition. Considering that they were new to Rock Idols, and are bunch of guys from some school, they played really well.

The fouth band was 'The Tripwire' from Indore. It had a female, and a male vocalist. They covered Avril Lavigne's Complicated, an original composition, and one more song. The presence and appearance: the vocalist was in a 'Slayer' t-shirt and they played something what the new generation calls punk. What else could be more disappointing? Holy crap. But then they still were better than the 'Larger than life' band.

The fifth band was 'Radioactivity'. These guys performed much better than the last time. A grunge band as they are, they covered Three Doors Down, Puddle of Mudd, and perfomred an original composition. Overall, were much better than all the other bands which performed till now and looked like they will be the runners up if System House 33 performed the way they did last time.

The sixth and final band was 'System House 33'. I rushed in for the front row and luckily got a space to stand there because I knew next 20 minutes were going to be heavy, the moment I was waiting for. They started their set off with a Pantera cover 'I'm Broken' which was awesome. They have really improved as a band from the last time. The solo was really covered well (in case of I'm Broken) and I can't remember much about their stage presence because I was busy banging my head for their entire set. Then they played 'One Eyed Monster', their original composition, then another track, and then ended the set with a nu-metal track - Korn's Blind which again was covered well. I loved their original compositions (I guess they played two) too, some really heavy songs to bang your head on. This was the only band that covered some quality music in my opinion.

Then was the time for the headlining act - Vayu. And man, they really played it well. I'm not a big classic rock fan but I loved their set. They played Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and their original compositions of which I liked the song named 'Tonight'. Ravi Iyer is one hell of a guitarist. He gave smashing solos on all of these songs. 2Blue was great on vocals. Overall a great set, the best thing about them being the Ravi Iyer's solos. I loved it.

The disappointing thing was that the Indori crowd was still chanting for Linkin Park, Bryan Adams, asking Vayu and the other bands to cover them. Thankfully, they didn't. And man! You have so many mallcore kids here in Indore, so many LP fans. Holy crap again!

The only two acts of my interest were System House 33 (because they generally cover Pantera some other thrash bands) and Vayu because they are such a big name and I wanted to see 'em live, and they really proved it at the end of the day of what they are. A great show! The only band that sucked was that 'Larger Than Life' band. I don't like this new punk rock but then it's Indore, people here love Linkin Park, Bryan Adams, Puddle of Mudd, Avril Lavigne, and similar bands.

The best thing for me about the show was the Pantera cover by System House 33 and their originals. And the Vayu set of course.

The conclusion - System House 33 were declared as the winners. Radioactivity as the runners-up, and The TripWire as the second runners-up. Vayu were great as ever, and the response from Indore crowd was indeed good!

Good luck System House 33 for the show at Chandigarh. Also, to Radioactivity, the best band from Indore in this show.

And all you delhites, I envy you for the reason that Prestorika is headlining the Rock Idols 'Delhi'. Prestorka - Megadeth, Metallica, Maiden covers plus Prestorika's original compositions - may be some songs from their new album. I'll miss 'em all.

Rock On!