hiiiii! I think this event is blog-worthy :D (definitely WC is too but since it's so late when the matches end, I just go off to sleep after updating facebook statuses!) So anyway, ARR'S JAI HO TOUR!!
Didn't want to go for this coz 1. $95 tickets for a 2-hour show, 2. no karthik, no naresh iyer, no hariharan, no shankarM! BUT THANKS TO DBS TREASURES we got 2 free tickets!! So T and I went for it :D
Twas at MBS, and we were seated at the $241 ticket area, about 10 rows from the stage!! Seriously lucky. It started at 2045, which is really decent (only 15min late!), and there was no rubbish Vasantham Star nonsense that we had to endure the previous time. So the concert started off with drumming for a while (but gasp, not Sivamani!), and ARR came up on stage singing O... Sayaaaaaaa :D :D (Slumdog Millionaire). And during the song, all these females came up from various boxes and they turned out to be the female singers! I didn't know any of them but I think one's Shweta Pandit? And all three girls were gorgeous and dancing along too! So there was a LOT of showiness and glitz and glitter. And random dancers whom I refused to watch coz I'd much rather watch the highness and pure exhilaration on the singers' faces as they sing :) :) (but the female singers weren't looking too emotional, just smiling a lot and dancing hmph).
Let me try to list the songs here (not in order!):
1. O.. Saya
2. Irumbile Oru Irudhayam (Enthiran), sung by ARR and female1
3. Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera (Swades) - last para in Tamil, sung by ARR
4. Dil Se Re (Dil Se), sung by ARR
5. Bombay Theme music, played BEAUTIFULLY by flautist Naveen
6. Chaiyya Chaiyya (Dil Se), sung by Vijay Prakash, Javed Ali, females1&2
7. Hosanna (Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya), sung by Vijay Prakash - one line
8. Kadhal Anukkal (Enthiran), sung by Vijay Prakash - one line
9. Hello Mr. Ethirkatchi (Iruvar), sung by female1 (and pronunciation slightly killed)
10. Ik Onkar (Rang De Basanti), sung by female3
11. Rang De Basanti (RDB), sung by Javed Ali, Benny Dayal, females1&3
12. O Paalanhaare (Lagaan), sung by female2 - one line
13. Khwaja Mere Khwaja (Jodhaa Akbar), sung by ARR, Vijay Prakash, Javed Ali
14. Dreams on Fire (Slumdog Millionaire), sung by female3
15. Jashn-E-Bahara (Jodhaa Akbar), sung by Javed Ali - one line
16. Genda Phool (Dilli 6), sung by females2&3 - one line
17. Ringa Ringa (Slumdog Millionaire), sung by females1&3
18. Tu Bole (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na), sung by ARR
19. Random Jamaican song
20. Kilimanjaro (Enthiran), sung by Javed Ali (right?) and female2
21. Bhor Bhaye (Dilli 6), sung by all - one line
22. Barso Re (Guru), sung by females1&2 and very nice instrumental bit
23. Urvashi Urvashi (Kadhalan), sung by ARR - one line
24. Taxi Taxi Nanba (Sakkarakatti), sung by Benny Dayal and Blaaze
25. Ishq Bina (Taal), sung by ARR - one line
26. Luka Chuppi (Rang De Basanti), sung by ARR and Lata M who'd been video-d back home!
27. Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire), sung by all - penultimate!
28. Maa Tujhe Salaam, sung by all - FINALE! Same as last time :D
I think there are songs that I've missed out and will add on when I remember. So mostly newer songs no.. And I think lots of Hindi. But he spoke in Tamil and said "porumaiya iru" when everyone started shouting requests :D (T was the one who caught this. I didn't understand coz Tamil fail.) Since I'm not that big a fan of Slumdog songs, and much prefer ARR's older stuff, I didn't like the song list TOO much. And there was way too little classical! They had a classical segment where each singer sang about one line of the classical stuff and I definitely wanted more!! Also, not many famous singers, as I'd said earlier! The previous time, I enjoyed screaming for favourites like Hariharan, KARTHIK, NARESH, Chitra, Sadhna Sargam, etc!
One thing I really didn't enjoy was all that SHOW. There was a video going on throughout in the background which was sometimes like the 'ambience thingy' that Windows Media Player has. Not very necessary. And all songs had dancers mannn. If it was meant to encourage the audience to dance, it didn't work! Hopefully people dance during the subsequent shows.
The show ended at 2245, so only 2 hours long! Definitely too short for all us fans! Clawed our way through the throngs of people towards the bus stop, and luckily most people went off to the taxis and car park so the bus stop was quite empty. On the way there, we spotted someone who looked a lot like Blaaze! I'd always seen him from afar so couldn't really decide if it was him! So I asked T who said "yes it's him, go talk!" but he has a habit of making me look like an idiot so I didn't know whether to fully believe him or not. But thought, ah nvm, let's just go say hi. And it WAS HIM!!! We each took a photo with him and mentioned CharanK whom he said was going for today's show! So all HIGHLY we walked towards the bus stop (I was high, not T). And suddenly wondered where Blaaze came from and found a door near the bus stop. And slowly the orchestra artistes trickled out :D And then Vijay Prakash, Javed Ali, females1,2,3 and flautist Naveen!!! GOT PHOTOS WITH ALL OF THEM :D And Maithreyi and Divya happened to come to the bus stop too and we all went to take pictures with the singers again. And then my awesome brother (enough credit?) said "eh ARR is walking there" and after a slight hesitation, I ran madly to ask for a photo. And he was with 3 bodyguards and they all just kept walking on! By this time, T, My3, Divya and 2 random girls had caught up, so the bodyguards finally said "ok give me all your cameras and just take a group photo". SO WE HAVE A PHOTO WITH ARR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He didn't speak at all, and I was too mind-blanked to talk also. And he happily jaywalked and crossed over to MBS. So we went back to the bus stop and ogled at the others (Vijay Prakash being a new favourite :D). My3 lipread VP and found out that only ARR was gonna stay at MBS but smartly forgot to see where the rest were staying. Anyway it was 2345 and we were dangerously close to having no bus transport home, so T and I left then.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH :D :D :D :D
The end. (old blog post from 2005 to compare:
http://archanasramblings.blogspot.com/2005/10/hiiiiiiii.html)
