Gig Review: Galeej Gurus U2 Tribute at HRC B'lore

I’m running through a lot of disappointed emotions while writing this review. I have just way too many negative adjectives running through my mind to put down at the moment. But I've got to start somewhere. I've always been very skeptical about bands doing tributes to other artists. And that’s been with good reason because the handful of the tribute shows that I have been to (especially by desi bands) has bombed. The best tribute show  was about 3 years ago when Thermal and a Quarter did a Dire Straits tribute. But alas, going in with much expectation from the otherwise ‘tight on covers’ Galeej Gurus doing their tribute to U2, from last Thursday had me very disappointed.

Thank the lord for an inebriated audience with a terrible ear... or a more forgiving ear for music. The least one would expect when you’re playing to a somewhat full house of U2 fans, you’d at least get the names of the song right. I’m not even going to mention the somewhat slurring of lyrics because the vocalist (Nathan) was reading off his lyric sheets which made the timing go all over the place.(Oh wait, I did mention it).  While the second vocalist (Ananth Menon) took off on ‘when love comes to town’ (which was the only spot-on song of the evening in my opinion) the rest of the songs had me wondering why wasn't I home reading a good book listening to the original band on my laptop.

 The band clearly had not practiced enough. The fading into songs, the extremely low volume on the bass, the leads which did not match the original song and a whole host of other things made it a very unpleasant evening. I was more intrigued by the drunken girl in the next table who wanted to make out with the band’s drummer because she thought he was cute. She did eventually have to be dragged out because she was disappointed that the drummer had a girlfriend, and was too drunk to accept the fact. (Well that escalated quickly). The fact that I choose to write about this and not the band’s performance is an indication of what the evening was like.

Ananth Menon - When Love Comes to town

The biggest disappointing factor was that I've seen Galeej Gurus do covers before. And they've always been very tight with their performances. The timing, the lyrics, the improvised lead guitar are all normally in place. But this show is something that I wish I can forget easily. My friend who had come along has actually seen U2 live...she’s still in a state of shock.

No stars for Galeej Gurus this time.