The ARR concert at the Nehru Indoor Stadium was a mixed bag. The show started off with Vaanga Makka Vaanga rendered by Haricharan even before Rahman made an entry and then the showman arrived in a palanquin to an absolutely deafening roar. The crowd were literally on their feet giving a raptourous welcome and then when he got underway to perform Oorvasi Oorvasi the atmosphere was electrifying.
The unplugged on piano was lovely comprising of Thendrale Thendrale , Anjali Anjali and Netru Illadha Maatram. The choice of selection of songs were good and included a lot of his early 90's which I am extremely fond of and biassed. The thud of the opening Mridangam and the resonating flute bits made Narumugaye delightful , Chandralekha / Mukaala Mukaabala / Kaloori Salai / Endrendrum Punnagai were high octane trailblazing and set the stage on fire , Minsaara Kanna began sedately and then Srinivas and Kalpana unleashed absolute brilliance going forward making it one of the highlights of the show , Aathangaara Marame was cherubic and fun esp with the added attraction of the set , En Kaadhale by Hari and Mano with sax backing brought back childhood memories of repeated listening of this gem in napster & winamp eons ago. In the recent songs Aila Aila acored high where the female singer Natalie who seems to have a dynamic voice range gave an awe inspiring energetic rendition.
The stage set up , lighting and design was top notch and the wonderful array of colors glittering across the venue was a bedazzling spectacle. It was so chic and quirky especially witnessing the fireworks sparkling from the guitars.
There were also a lot of scope for the instrumentalists and they did a fabulous job. Raghav Sachar played sax with elan and Punya Srinivas on the veena along with a duet on the sitar with Azad Khan made Netru Illadha sound even sweeter. Naveen pirichu menjified in his flute portions and Violinist Ganesh took Ennavale and Kedaram to a different plane. Sivamani playing different percussions was entertaining as usual.
However some of the disappointments were the show began extremely late which is happening time and again and there is no excuse for starting a show at quarter to 8 when scheduled for 6.30. There were some off pitching and slip up's by the singers in certain songs , also the sound of the vocals appeared quite jarring at places and to boot were some obviously visible minus one tracks in the background.
Personally would have liked the concert to end with Thai Manne Vanakkam as opposed to a Jai Ho. Despite some of the quibbles overall it was a decent experience and I enjoyed it much more than the previous ARR concert at YMCA in Dec , 2012.
Pros :
- Breathtaking entry by ARR
- Nice selection of songs comprising vintage 90's and fairly recent ones
- Wonderful set design and lighting
- Great scope and performance by instrumentalists and percussionists
Cons :
- Very delayed start and early completion making the concert last less than three hours .. Also ARR being the man of the show not being constantly on stage was a touch disappointing
- Too much time wasting in between songs .. (Thankfully no anchor)
- Going off shruti by singers in quite a few numbers and also missing lines or singing in advance
- Some obvious in your face karaoke tracks
List of Songs :
1) Vaanga Makka Vaanga - Kaaviya Thalaivan
2) Karna Veeran - Kochadaiyaan
3) Oorvasi Oorvasi - Kadhalan
4) Thendrale Thendrale - Kadhal Desam
5) Anjali Anjali - Duet
6) Netru Illadha Maatram - Kadhalan
7) Kannodu Kaanbathellaam - Jeans
8) Narumugaye - Iruvar
9) Rasathi - Thiruda Thiruda
10) Thirai Kaadhu - En Swasa Kaatre
11) Naan En Pirandhen - Coke Studio
12) Sa Re Ga Me - Boys
13) Kanden - Ambikapathy
14) Kalloori Salai - Kadhal Desam
15) Nenjukkule - Kadal
16) En Kadhale - Duet
17) Aathangaara Marame - Kizhakku Seemaiyile
18) Ennavale Adi Ennavale - Kadhalan
19) Nenje Ezhu - Mariyaan
20) Minsara Kanna - Padayappa
21) Konjam Nilavu - Thiruda Thiruda
22) Enge Pogudhe - Kochadaiyaan
23) Oruvan Oruvan Mudhalaali - Muthu
24) Maatram Ondrudhaan - Kochadaiyaan
25) Aila Aila - I
26) Mukaala Mukabala - Kadhalan
27) Endrendrum Punnagai - Alai Payudhey
28) Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
