A.R.Rahman. I dont need to say, what his music means to me. Right from the day I heard about this show, I was too eager to attend. Even after getting the tickets, I was bit apprehensive. Whether I will get to attend it? Will some important work stop me? Will the show go as per plan? So many ifs and buts. But when the day really arrived, I was upbeat. 5 of us, had planned to go (Myself, Magix, Gaja, Mahesh and Santhanam).
Chale Chalo Chale Chalo
I met Magix for lunch, and then we started for the show by around 3.30 PM. First we went to Gaja’s place in Wind Tunnel road. It was very cloudy, and it really reflected on our moods. We were kind of worried. But that was only till we got into Gaja’s car. He had compiled a list of ARR songs, sung by ARR himself 
That really lifted our spirits. I was meeting Gaja, Mahesh and Santhanam for the first time. But that didnt stop us from talking non stop about ARR, and how SJ Surya ripped apart the picturisation of Ah Aah songs!
We reached Palace grounds somewhere around 5.15 to 5.30 PM. It wasnt raining, but the conditions werent too promising either. Magix went on his way to the 500 Rs entrance, and rest of us went towards the 3000 Rs entrance. Since we were bit early, we got to sit somewhere in the front. Next to us there was a cute girl with her mom. Telephone maNi poal sirippavaL ivaLa?
Somewhere by around 6 PM it started drizzling. We were kind of worried. But tried to mask it by making fun and pulling each others legs. And there were many Tamilians around, and we kind of formed a big group there. Then the rain started thickening. Magix sent a sms ‘I dont mind if it rains all the way till 7 and then stops’. I swear. That was the general feeling. Let it
rain as much it wants before the show. People had come well dressed for the show. I mean the audience. Little did they know that all the brylcream, fair and lovely. axe effect, charlie, park avenue etc etc would have been washed away? Some people had umbrellas, some rain coats.
Some covered themselves with chairs, helmets etc etc. But for how long? At one stage they
gave up and resigned to the fate by getting drenched.
And rain stopped for a while. It was still drizzling though. Not even a single noise from the stage. Usually they do some mike testing etc etc. But there was no such activity. This added to our fear of the show getting cancelled. At around 6.30 PM Daraius came on stage and said that, the show will start on time. We all were thrilled to no end. We screamed and expressed our happiness.
But just when the show was about to start, it started raining. First slowly, then bit heavily and after a certain stage extremely heavily. Some singer came on stage, and even sang a song requesting rain god to hold on for a while. The 3D special screens came away first. Then the rain and wind spoilt the special type of funnels. Then the giant screen on the stage started tilting down. The stage itself wasnt completely covered and it was getting damaged. We even thought that the stage will come crashing down. Ooff. We didnt even move from our chairs.
Look at the same stage. How it looks? All lights switched off due to rains. And how gloomy! At one stage I dont think I thought about anything. Looked like the rain had washed away my feelings as well.
Rain stopped. Literally stopped abruptly by around 7.50 PM. But still there was no activity.
Suddenly Daraius and Rahman appeared on stage. Crowd responded. But there was not much enthu in the voice of the crowd. We all were bracing ourselves for the announcement that the show is going to be cancelled. We were extremely happy to be proved wrong. Rahman as ked us, if we still wanted to stay and listen. We screamed ‘Yes’. He said ‘Give us 1 hrs time. We will be
back’. Crowd roared in approval. And Sivamani suddenly performed something for couple of minutes to pep up the mood.
It literally changed the atmosphere. All the lights were switched on suddenly(They had switched off many lights during the heavy downpour). All of us shook away any doubts we had and walked towards the food court. Food was extremely costly and the quality wasnt that great either. But who cares?And time flew really fast. By around 8.45 PM Kailash Kher came and sang ‘Allah ke bande’. It kind of set the audience going. Then the IndiaClassicArts people came and lighted the lamp. Some singers came and said that we are the best audience, they love us etc etc.
By around 8.50 PM Daraius came on stage and started the countdown. Boom. AR Rahman appeared on stage, clad in a white suit. He sang ‘Fanaah’. Boy! Werent we happy?
Though it was kind of thrilling to see ARR in action, I was wondering what happened to him. He was awfully out of form in ARR. At the beginning of the song and also at the ending piece. Hmmmmm. Was wondering whether they will sing any tamil songs, and the next song was Telephone mani poal from Indian. Again there was no sync between the orchestra and singers. And Sadhana commited couple of mistakes. But the crowd didnt mind and kept on cheering. Then slowly slowly the sync between the singers and orchestra started happening and it was too good. Wow.
Here are the list of the songs that were sung
Fanaah – ARR
Telephone Mani- Hari / Sadhana
O Hum Dum – Shankar / Blaaze / George Peters
Mangal Mangal – Kailash Kher
Mehndi Hai – Alka Yagnik
Sakhi Aayo re – Sukhvinder / Sadhana Sargam
Hum Hain Is Pal – Madhushree
Roja Jaaneman – Hari / Sadhana
Chupke Se/ Snehithane – Sadhana / Naresh Iyer/ Aslam
Oh Iniyane (Kannalane in Kannada) – Chitra
Chale Chalo – ARR
Chanda Re / Vennilave – Hari / Sadhana
Chinamma Chilakkamma – Sukhvinder
Kabhi Neem – Madhushree / ARR
Pagdi Sambhal – Sukhvinder
Taal Se Taal – Alka / Aslam
Hamma Hamma – Shankar Mahadevan / Blaaze / ARR
Baba Rap – Blaaze
Sivamani Solo
Pray For Me (Poverty Anthem)
Bombay Theme
Loves Never Easy / Ishq Bina – Alma / Madhushree
Muqabla – Badri Prasad / Sayonara
Ghanan Ghanan – Shankar
Mustafa – ARR
Sa Re Ga Me – ARR / Blaaze / Tanvi
Chaiyya Chaiyya – Rehana / Sukhvinder
Aazaadi – ARR
Maa Tujhe Salaam – ARR
Magix will write a detailed review on each and every song
Somethings I observed in the show were as follows.
* There was this dancers group at one corner of the stage. They were rhythmically dancing for every song without even moving from their place. It was cute
*Sukhwinder Singh. He sings straight from the heart. He is very good.
*Blaaze. Surprise of the day. I never knew this guy had so much talent
*Chorus. They were amazing. Especially for the song ‘Chinnamma Chilakkama’ from Meenaxi. Wow.
*Shankar Mahadevan teased the audience a lot before the Humma Humma song. Shankar said something like ‘We are going to sing a flop song from the movie Bombay. This was the original melodious tune we had composed. The way he and Rahman sang the ‘Humma Humma’ song, had us in splits. Blaaze mock screamed at them and they shifted to the original tune
*I think someone needs to tell Hariharan that the original tune of ‘Vennilave/Chanda Re’ is good. Especially the beginning of the song. He doesnt need to scream ‘Vennilave’ like a man selling plastic buckets X( I have seen him do like this twice or thrice in TV as well
*Madhushree surely doesnt know tamil. She was pointing and waving at the audience when she was singing ‘Nee reNdu mozhaththil dhaan paaya podayya’ 
It was hilarious!
*ARR dedicated a song from water. Someof us had managed to hear Water songs before the official launch. So when we were humming the songs, people around were surprised how come these guys know the tune 
*Director Shankar should have picturised the audience when the song Sa Re Ga Me was played. That would have been a better picturisation for the song, than what he did in BOYS.
*Not even a single song from Ah Aah, Maybe Rahman was so irritated with the picturisations, he didnt want to sing it?
*I got to see Naveen. The flute guy. He mesmerized the audience with the bombay theme
*Enna solla pogiraai song is something close to Shankar Mahadevan. He said so.
*AR Rahman was so bubbly throughout the show
*AR Rahman didnt leave the stage even for a single minute. He was there either singing or playing the keyboard.
*At the end of humma humma song, ARR waved towards the orchestra. And they all stopped. All except shivamani, ARR and the audience We took over the song with Shivamani providing the right beats. I liked the way Rahman swooshed towards the orchestra. It was really Magical
*Madhushree is making progress in her tamil pronounciations. Good!
*People forget their decency when they attend such shows. A group of girls were standing in front of us. We requested many a times, asking them to move since they were covering the stage,. They didnt budge. A guy from the back said ‘Yakka’. Immediately they moved. He he Atleast these people moved. There were many smart alecs, completely drunk and standing on
the way. But somehow we managed to ignore it and enjoy the show.
One more thing that I realised is that, AR Rahman deliberately underplays his singing talent. The Poverty Anthem was amazing. His english accent was excellent. And the song was really touching.
There were 2 incidents that can summarize the show
1. After the break Rahman came on stage and said ‘I learnt 2 lessons today. one is not to keep any shows during Ramzan. Next is, I learnt how much you all love me. I know you listen to my music by looking at the cassette and CD sales. Thats nice. But when you really brave the rain, and waited for 2 hours under this rain it really shows how much you love me. God bless you
all. Thank you very much’. He really meant it, and my eyes were really moist when he said Thank You.
2. When he started the last song for the day ‘Vandhe Matharam’ we all were standing on the chair. And it poured. It poured extremely heavily. One particular moment, when he sang ‘Vande Mataram’ the rain at that particular moment was the highest all day. Not just me. Many of us felt the same. This time there were really tears in my eyes. The rain and rahmans music washed away the layers of dust that had settled around my heart and made me cry.
The show ended at around 12 AM. Went to Leela Palace from there for dinner. Was there till around 2.45 AM or so. Myself and Magix reached my place at around 3 AM. Immediately changed to dry clothes. Applied some amrutanjan etc etc to prevent cold/fever etc. But we werent tired even a bit. Just kept talking talking non stop. Since Magix was at a different stand, we had more to share. Like ‘Hey. Taal se Taal mila start pannache audience thought it as ‘Sawariya’ from Swades. Nee adha observe panniya? Semma comedy’ etc.
By around 4.30 in the morning we slept and got up again at 7.30 AM. It was one of the best days in my life To conclude, I would like to share something. I have attended many a shows and
programmes. This programme was not the best organized. And the situations werent too conducive either. But the spirit of the show is something that I have never ever seen in my life before. Rather never ever felt like this in my before.
Rahman Tujhe Salaam! Whenever I think of this programme in my life en mugaththil ‘endrendrum punnagai’dhaan.
Please give me sometime to upload some pictures. Due to the weather conditions couldnt take much photos. And they had banned digital cameras. So the clarity of the pictures from mobile camera wont be that great either. But almost every song has been recorded(some audio. some video) in either mine or Gaja’s mobile. Will download them and give a list of the same, after
testing the quality and all. You can download the same
Yeah. Now am feeling sleepy after 24 hrs Tataaaa
Update: Please check Swaroop‘s page for some good quality pictures
hey ferrari…that was nice hearing from u..thought of actually sms-ing u whether rain Gods stayed awaay to make this occasion possible….
btw how are u updating this blog? thru mobile is it ?? (or laptop??)
anyway have a nice time
Wow!! Was expecting your post…… Enjoy
Cool…..
What a soooper begining!!!
Eagerly awaiting for the complete version…
Nice to hear that u guys enjoyed the show though it was heavy rain..
Prabhu… I completely agree that Shankar Mahadevan was the singer of the evening, other than the “Thalaivar”. I guess even Madhusree did a good job if we forgive her Tamizh!
) I have already gargled twice since morning today and still have a hoarse throat. I just downloaded all the videos and sound clips from my mobile and believe me, it feels like reliving the moments again! It has been one of the most memorable moments in my lifetime. I only hoped Magix was with us in all the fun! And bro… you know what.. the front seats are totally dry. The rear seat is so soaked up like it wont dry for another 2-3 days now. 
) All pardoned for the sake of what we enjoyed…
Buzz me when you need the vids and sound clips. Everythings ready!
- G
Prabhu… forgot to mention about Blaaze. I guess I always underestimated this guy. He is a natural performer and a thorough entertainer. I doubt if he can be a solo like Hariharan. Nevertheless, yesterday he had the crowd going gaga over his rap “alaapanai”s.
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Looking forward to the photographs Ferrari
Hi Ferrari, nice post of A.R.Rahman program.
kewl man…u had fun
:D
aaaaaaaaaahhhh…. naanum paaakanum concert
hey ferrari nee solla solla i felt whatever u felt
( i meant the touching feeling when Rahman said thanks etc.,)
program poneno illiyo…….. i experienced the feeling thru this blog (and thru many other blogs too…who were lucky to witness this show)
am proud to be an A.R.Rahman fan…….hail ARR..long live A.R.Rahman
machaa… kalakitte daa! appadiye re-live panniten! u know, i actually played that poverty song and final azaadi+maa tujhe salaam piece again… avlavu pramadhama irunthathu!
btw, i just returned from a shubha mudgal concert at ambedkar bhavan. muzhukka hindustani classical and multi-faith poets couplets thaan. naan discrete aa konjam record pannitten. superb aa irunthathu…
one of the best weekends in my life so far! rendu concerts, back to back, and each by isaiyin sigarangal!
having attended two different concerts, i can say one thing. these genuine artists have something in their hearts which those d!ckh3@ds (read anu malik etc.) dont have. honesty! they sing from the heart, speak from the heart, they are what they are – from the bottom of their hearts. absolutely sincerely. you know.. they look beautiful/handsome because of the purity in their hearts! i am struck with awe…
apram enna… my cousin just gave his arangetram in carnatic classical on violin. he is a shisya of sri lalgudi jayaram school of music. he is taught by lalgudi’s children and sri lalgudi jayaram also personally recognized his talent and taught him a few important nuances. avan concert oda DVD en kitta vanthirukku… atha paarthundirukken. so.. ore isai mazhai thaan intha weekend la. i m filled with absolute bliss! aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
whatta a lovely post! >:D
dei maams, ippo thaan da mela antha pic a notice pannen… rahman tujhe salaam… junta! unmaiyaa solren, intha payya antha pink dress figure aa thaan click pannindirunthaan.. aana thideerna antha poster frame la vanthurthu..
eppadiyo… rendume focus out thaan..
parva illai… adjust maadkoli!
What a nice write up Ferrari. Amazing
Hi Ferrari,
Felt the ecstasy as i read thru the post..nice writeup..cant wait to see pix/audios/videos..Seekiram plzzz!!
Excellent write-up. Could feel the excitement!
Thanks Man!!! God Bless you and ARR!! I loved it and lived thru it
it was super!!! Thanks again!!!!
seeing ur writeup, makes me to feel “Oh.. wat i missed……….”.
Ehhehehe everyone don’t miss Gaj’s comments – you’ll know what Ferrari was aiming for taking the photo of the poster ;p hehehehehe
wonderful post really enjoyed it – now photos pls ;p
samma ensaai panninanu sollu…
i believe there were more thamizhans in the show than others??!!
rs,
I was updating from the mobile
Richa,
Thanks
Matt,
Thanks a lot mate
Will call you sometime when I regain my ability to talk 
GajB,
Poattu kalasariye paa
You are able to talk now? I am slowly making effort. He he 
WA,
Give me some time
Jeevan,
Thanks
Capri,
You bet
aNTi,
I think thalaivar is coming to US and Canada as well. Check it out
Shub,
Thanks
GajB,
Adanguppa adangu
rs,
True man. Me proud too
Uma,
Thank you
Krithika,
Richa,
Thanks again
Prabhu,
Sure. Sometime this week
Matt,
Visithra,
Kris,
Yes maams. Most of them were tamilians
Man! What an ammmmazing post!
Nice review. Should have been a great concert. I just wish the rains had stayed away for a day and also wished that the song selection was a little better.
Mehndi Hai – Alka Yagnik. The one from Zubeidaa?
I know the concert was not in Tamilnadu. But still for an ARR concert, they could have given a few more authentic ARR Tamil numbers. Tch!
GREAT post f e r r a r i…….
you’ve made everyone reading this feel “darn I missed it”….and also given a thorough account of what all we have missed….
and now reading it fully, we feel we actually havent missed much.
(of course other than the BEING there and the FUN you’ve had before the concert started in the rain….)
Thanks for the compilation…:)
Mav… yes, that song “mehendi hai rachne waali” is from zubeidaa. ferro would attest my view… for this song, the gals from the chorus were swaying beautifully… hands on their hips n all dat… u know!
moreover, blr has a more cosmo crowd than chennai.. more tamil numbers would have meant that the northies might not have enjoyed it. had the concert been in chennai, it would have had more tamil numbers. what if the concert had been in mumbai…? i doubt if he would have included more 2-3 tamil songs at the most.
Gaj
Yelaam OK, but after seeing the skipped songs list, I just felt how much better it could have been.
ferrari,
hats off to ARR!! n am waitin eagerly for the pics!!
good review!!
Ok.. Take care.
Ok Ppl.. you gotta read this Press release about a pre-concert interview with ARR published at the online edition of “The Hindu”.
And just see how his singers sing praises about him and how humble ARR is! And ARR prayed for no rains and it happened otherwise. Well… I remember Magix‘s words now… “God sticketh out his tongue if… “… Good one – Magix!
Amazing, ferrari.. as i read your review, i could actually visualize things happening there.. Continue to stay ‘high’ for a few more days.. no hurry to come down.. thats what our thalaivar can do to his fans!!
Hi Prabhu,
Your story on the concert was really worth reading. It was exactly the same experience myself and my friends went through when we watched the show. It was probably the worst day in terms of getting drenched in the rain but the memories of actually seeing arr with all the cool singers and listening to all the songs was very enriching. To those who missed out, I would suggest that never think twice to attend an concert by arr. The concert was a “dream” and it was once in a lifetime experience for me.
On a lighter note did u guys notice that the rain song, “kaale megha ….ghanan ghanan” from Lagaan was played just 10 mins before the end of the concert and the rain aptly came pouring as arr started singing “vande mataram”…….
Take care…..
Folks…
Found another great account of the concert… check these links..
http://www.livejournal.com/users/amitshah/#entry_10072
http://www.livejournal.com/users/amitshah/#entry_10598
http://www.livejournal.com/users/amitshah/#entry_10806
kewl!
yours truly,
Thanks
Maverick,
And after all the hungama programme nadandadhe jenma sabalyam adanja madhiri oru feeling 
True. The song selection wasnt the best. But still it was cool
Swapna,
Thanks
Gaja,
I saw this on saturday before the show
And magix englees la thillalangadi 
Sudha,
Thank you very much
Kiran,
That night will be savored as one of the best nights in life time
fun2fun,
Thank you
Folks…
Got this link from an arrahmanfans yahoogroups email…
Good Pics of the concert
yensaai….
Missed it all the way!
Lucky you!!!
Your passion for ARR and his music shows in your review!!! Wish ARR performs more live shows for his fans like you
PS: Are you outta this concert mentally??
Wooowwwww, had nice fun eh? real glad to know that. But pleeche pleeche put up the fotos soon
Idhukku thaan machathula udambu irukkanumgradhu…sigh
Amazing post
I’m a die-hard AR Rahman fann. was really pleased to read the review. I’m now looking forward for his concert in USA early next year.
Looks like u had a terrific time….I really repent for not having gone to the show
Macha it was a nice post and thanks for that. That day, we went back at around 8 pm after getting fully drenched and shivering like pneumonia patients. The moment we came to know that the concert had started, we came back again but by that time, we had missed some wonderful numbers (I came to know which ones from your post only). Anyway, should be thankful to God that we had an opportunity to be there and watch the man himself.
Jo,
vee-jay,
Not eyt
Neha,
I have put some pics
Kumari,
Thanks
Prakash,
Dont miss it
Nandu,
Sasi,
Oh yes. It was worth waiting in the rain
jrflsejfskejf
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