BANGALORE: The stage was set. The crowd was waiting with beer mugs in hand, and then, they walked in. First an auto driver with spiked blond hair, then a Jamaican-wannabe, an office employee who cut his formal pants half like ACDC, a guy with a colourful polka dotted hat and last but not the least a flamboyant character dressed in fluorescent pink attire who looked like he just popped out of a Austin Powers movie.This was indeed an unusual entry of Live Banned when they performed in the city recently. With their bizarre attire itself they were successful in arousing quite a bit of curiosity and amusement amongst the audience. They definitely did not disappoint people’s expectations as they managed to blend hard rock with fast thapang beats in their own distinct style. The band played popular medleys of Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malyalam which were fused with classic English numbers. The crowd loved fast beat numbers like Nakka Mukka, Ringa Ringa and Appadipodu, which were over toned with the essence of rock. The crowd was also quite fascinated and amazed at the wacky blend of songs such as Eye of the Tiger and Mission Impossible with Sheila Ki Jawani and Munni Badnaam Hui. Just when you thought it was over, they pulled out another trick from their sleeves and finished the medley with the famous Zandu Balm jingle. Apart from this; they also covered legendary classics Roadhouse Blues which was given a classical Indian touch by the vocalist.The five piece band comprises Dheerendra Doss (drums), Amrit Rao (lead vocals), Dhruv Kumar (lead guitars), Siddharth Kamath (keyboards and guitar) and Raveesh Tirkey (bass). They played over 20 songs in a span of two hours. Apart from transforming or blending genres of songs in various languages but they also played original compositions.The band played two of their original numbers, one was a song on auto drivers and the way citizens deal with their demands like an ‘extra fare of 10 rupees’ or their general erratic behaviour. Their other composition was on ‘Fasts/ fast food’ which seemed like an interesting topic considering the recent fasts for human rights. By the end of the gig crowd was literally eating out of their hands with witty interactions and a humorous blend of songs. Live Banned have boomeranged themselves right at the front of becoming one of the biggest entertaining bands in Bangalore even though they are only six-months-old. Rao said, “We were just hanging out and we had this conversation of playing something different, that’s when we thought about this genre of music. We first took it as a joke, but then again, we felt that it might just work.”
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