One Last deTour

“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child… See heaven’s got a plan for you. Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now”

They came, they raved, they left. Swedish House Mafia that is. One sweet sunny noon on 22 Jan 2013, I gave 2 hoots about the day, took off from work, spared the urge to check my BB, dug into my almost shallow savings and RAVED at the Sunburn Arena , Mahalaxmi Race Course. I had a good friend Banguela for company. Ironic as his apelido means ‘old man’. He was anything but an old hobbit for a 1^st timer both as an SHM fan and a concerter.

This was 1 event I ho-hummed my way to. I am an SHM fan… nah I’m an SHM junkie as much as I am an EDM, psychedelic trance and all pulse-rhythmic beats junkie. Hence, I was well aware that missing the concert would be a huge regret for me. I had attended many in the past mostly for the hype or cause of my ex-BF who was a huge metal and rock fan. This was purely for me. The passes had sold out faster than our IRCTC tickets aeons ago and I was getting poorer by the minute. I had the evilest sense of satisfaction when the 1^st concert was canned due to the ‘untimely’ demise of the Sena Tiger. Somehow, I took it upon myself that Gods were giving me a 2^nd chance to reconsider if I would go. And ‘go’ I did thanks to last minute passes which btw were not hard to get.

At the venue, other revelers begged for some nasty tweets from me. But thanks to the almost dear dying battery on my BB, I saved it for fighting with Banguela followed by some videos and pictures. Of course Mr. Samsung Galaxy just had to save the day. What I couldn’t see from my rather small frame, was made up on the screen of the ‘old man’s’ fone. The girls dressed in their best bare-minimum and the fellas were covered in smoke and confusion bordering on puberty and stupidity. I could tell most weren’t even followers of the music or must’ve heard a few tracks like revising the night before for an exam 1 must face.

The whole experience was exhilarating. It wasn’t exhausting and annoying like the previous concerts I had been to. It was well-worth every penny I spent and the experience was beyond me. An awesome view of the stage, the lights, the set-up, sound out-put and the overall crowd was balanced for me. The weather was perfect, the company was memorable, decent amount of spirit in my system (emotional and liquid) and I hoped the night wouldn’t end but, end it did. I didn’t care about anything. The music pulsated through the ground and it felt like a curtain of sound and waves had covered me. I had to constantly look around me to ensure I was still where I had started moving into a trance like state and more importantly I hadn’t lost banguela to the very un-still crowd. The SHM trio were interactive and kept us on our toes. The whole ‘We love you India’ signature was always a crowd puller and so was tugging at the emotional strings ‘You waited for us and here we are.’ Hell yeah we waited and really appreciate that they didn’t diss us but actually fit us in to make up for the unnecessary cancellation, thanks to the Sena Tiger. Nik Chinapa should be commended for carrying and toasting this whole thing fwd. #Epicwin. I was intoxicated by everything that evening and kept wanting for more.

Now in a sober state and surrounding, I will also had a line or 2 of marvel at Suburn/Submerge/Percept’s organization of the event. Sure they must’ve incurred losses and darned sure they made up those losses from the massive sale of the very expensive passes. But the organization, venue and whole setup earned an overall ‘kuddos’. I was excited like a teenager for my wristband, which btw I haven’t taken off yet. Emotional attachment doesn’t beg for age or gender, please. I have been snooty ever since to those who missed it. I can imagine there was a time, almost 24hrs before the concert that I wouldn’t have made it and would have been at the receiving end of the snoot.

Currently I’m battling huge withdrawal symptoms fuelled by a constant rerun of the SHM songs on my poor ipod. Not to mention a frantic download of anything and every song that remotely sounded like an SHM mix. I really hope this is a temporary hiatus as they realize what an impact their ingeniously crafted and executed One Last Tour has done. It was near world domination, if 1 views their tour dates and the rate at which every venue sold out.

I will miss the strobe lights that made a spectacular play just above me and the pulsating warm ground beneath my dancing feet. I will miss the breathless crowd in front of me and the 1 that had me for the whole evening!