Rock n Rhythm 4.0: After-school thoughts

'Rock n Rhythm 4.0' promised to take millennials back to their school days with a dream lineup on paper that was destined to evoke emotions of good old Bangla rock music within the 15,000 present at the ICCB Expo Zone on Friday night.

 

However, as always with ICCB shows, there were two sides to the coin and although the artistes were nothing short of amazing, most fans returned home feeling hard done by due to mismanagement, rather than basking themselves in the musical serenity the likes of Oni Hasan and Black presented.

It's always unpleasant when a once-in-a-lifetime show is overshadowed by negative posts swarming the internet. That is why before delving into all things musical, we have to address the elephant in the room—the allegations of mismanagement.

Does everything rest with the organisers?

At Dhaka's open-air concerts, the issues that detract from the fan experience are frustratingly consistent. This particular show was no exception. The cumulative impact of various mismanagement incidents, which cascade from one to the next, ultimately results in a disappointing overall experience.

It usually begins with inadequate crowd control. Individuals without tickets often force their way in, leading to excessive crowding. This creates a suffocating atmosphere, ironically at an event meant to be enjoyed in the open air.

Reaching out to Adventors Communications, the organisers of the 'Rock N' Rhythm' concert series, we tried to decipher the mismanagement to the best of our abilities.

"We only sold one-third of the venue capacity and weren't granting entry to anyone who couldn't produce a physical copy of their ticket. We delegated 250 security forces, we had four doctors and even two platoons of the police force. 

It's not upon our volunteers to look into this. The hired security have to pull in their weight but when thousands gather in front of a single entry gate, it's physically impossible to contain them. It's not all down to Adventors," said Mozammel Haque, the Adventors CEO.

Booking venues and pulling off concerts of this magnitude are quite expensive. But Adventors are staying true to their claim of not adhering to any cost reduction mechanism that may have led to a subpar fan experience. 

It takes around Tk 15,00,000 to book the ICCB Expo Zone. On top of that, the venue charges extra sound check day fees and security money. Adventors believe they are entitled to the bare minimum service from the venue, which they claim to have not gotten on 10 May.

"We paid around Tk 40,00,000 beforehand to ICCB. For that amount of money, can we not expect a bit of coordination and service from them? All they throw at us are restrictions to abide by but when it comes to crowd control at the gates and other things, there was zero support from ICCB," accused Mozammel.

Nearly all general ticket holders reported that the sound quality at the concert was poor, with some even struggling to hear it from the back. Adventors asserted that they had procured the best sound system available in Dhaka's music scene from Blues Communications. Yet, they only planned for an audience of 10,000, but the actual turnout exceeded 15,000, resulting in a less than satisfactory auditory experience.

Despite all the blame being tossed around, the reality is that Adventors' reputation for these shows continues to suffer. Their promotional hype consistently falls short of the actual concert experience. Whether this will improve in the future remains to be seen; only time will tell.

Now finally, onto the music.

The resurrection of Black

Black was phenomenal. There's nothing more to say really. But then again, there are also two sides of the coin here. The purist Black fans, the ones who know their entire discography by heart, had the experience of a lifetime for the choice of setlist the original five members chose to perform. However, thousands of seasonal fans expected some iconic Black numbers to be performed by Jon Kabir but were disappointed in not being able to witness that live.

The current Black lineup performed five songs before the 'OG's took to the stage and although vocalist Ishan Hossain was pitch perfect and did a fantastic job, fans felt hard done by because it was Ishan singing the likes of  'Manush Pakhir Gaan,' 'Abar,' and 'Tumi Ki Shara Dibe' instead of Jon.

However, it was a deliberate decision from the band to do so.

"We decided that the five of us will only perform songs from the first two albums. The original lineup did not compose the first few tracks that were performed," confirmed Jon and Ishan alike to TBS.

On the flip side, that also allowed the spectacle of a ton of 'underrated' Black songs to be witnessed live and that was a spectacle that probably won't be repeated soon.  Tahsan Khan got to rap on stage when they played 'Prakritik,' and everyone dwelled in the serenity of 'Kobor,' another fairly less heard number by Jon.

Moments of embrace amongst the 'OG' members, especially Jon and Tahsan, hugging each other at intervals provided for wholesome moments where all the outside negativity was overshadowed by musical greatness. Jon singing in his iconic 'kneeling down' pose also got the crowd riled up but in the right way.

Before calling it a night, Jon and Tahsan got the 15,000 to sing with them to 'Amar Prithibi,'— arguably their greatest ever track; before ending the night with 'Blues n' Rod' where all the past and present Black members performed in unison.

It was Oni Hasan who flawlessly set the stage for the headliners. He entered with his signature white Kiesel flying V and kicked his set off with the intro of 'Shrine Revisited.'  Things took off when Jamshed Chowdhury joined him for the Vibe numbers. 

Oni was further joined by Wali, the original composer of a few Vibe hits and the duo performed side by side for the first time in 17 years.

That was before Oni was joined by his favourite partner in crime from his Warfaze days, Mizan Rahman. Jamshed introduced the veteran vocalist by calling him "one of the best singers in South East Asia" and Mizan truly lived up to those words. 

Oni also paid homage to another guitar virtuoso, Ayub Bacchu and played AB's evergreen 'She Tumi' on his six strings, only backed up by a piano. He ended his set with none other than Purnota and as an added present for his fans, he finished his set with an extended guitar solo.  After all, what's Oni Hasan without a bit of crazy shredding, right?