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Groovy 'n' happening
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National Law School's three-day musical extravaganza, Strawberry Fields, swept music lovers off their feet
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Spread over three days, the first two days of the event was witness to bands coming in from Delhi, Pune, Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai
THE WINNERS Junkyard Groove lived up to their reputation of never losing a competition and wound up with delightful licks of funk rock with some inspired improvisations to walk away with the winner's cheque of Rs. 25,000
This band started off by almost getting lost in Bangalore and could be located only after a frantic search. But when Junkyard Groove came offstage with shades of a gorgeous sunset on their backs, they lived up to their reputation of never losing a competition and wound up with delightful licks of funk rock with some inspired improvisations to walk away with the winner's cheque of Rs. 25,000 on Sunday evening at the finals of Strawberry Fields, National Law School's three-day music extravaganza at Palace Grounds. They also won the best vocalist and best guitarist prizes.
This band from Chennai played exactly the kind of music one would expect them to play: groovy with lots of life and underlined funk tones. Now in its tenth year and its third year at the relocated venue of Palace Grounds, Strawberry Fields did live up to its reputation of being the biggest and the best organised college rock show in the country.
Spread over three days, the first two days was witness to bands coming in from Delhi, Pune, Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai. Possibly the best part of the event was the fact that there was a wide variety of music that was showcased in the preliminary rounds. It ranged from melodic black metal that brought back memories of '80s Scandinavian/Gothic metal music by Mumbai band Demonic Resurrection to truly original music by Maximum Pudding who had a sax accompanying the guitars and drums. This eclectic range was reinforced by the refreshing and original tunes of bands such as Lounge Piranha, Joint Family and Rainbow Bridge. From among the fifty-odd bands on show on Friday and Saturday, the judges chose Junkyard Groove from Chennai, Morrisson Avenue from Chennai, Panatella also from Chennai, Demonic Resurrection from Mumbai and Inviktus from Bangalore.
The bash saw a 7,000-strong crowd turn up knocking at the gates of Strawberry Fields eager to see for themselves some of the best music around. The added attraction this year were the pyrotechnics and the fireworks courtesy VH1 to showcase a rock show that is organised by a group of music-crazy law students.
Demonic Resurrection followed Junkyard Groove with a tightly woven set of heavy black metal that got the crowd in a frenzy with heads bobbing up and down and hair flying everywhere. Deservedly, they won second place. The energy levels were boosted further with Panatella rocking the crowd with their brand of classic rock, the highlight of the set being a cover of the Beatles' classic "Come together" blended in with strains of Hendrix's "Purple Haze". Morrisson Avenue who received the cheque for the best college band (in fact, they were the only college band that made the finals,) showed a lot of promise and potential.
The grand finale to the evening was delivered by Pin Drop Violence from Mumbai, a nu-metal outfit that would fit the description of one of the most explosive live acts in the country. While belting out originals such as "In Dependence", "H.A.T.E." and "Get 'Em Off", the band managed to keep the adrenaline of the crowd pumping. And in the deafening silence of the aftermath of the show one could only look forward to the next edition while enjoying the memories of this one. After all it's not everyday that a band converts a rowing song in Malayalam to a funk rock number and blows the crowd away.
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