“Eppadi Irukkeenga Coimbatore?” Neill Braganza asked the crowd.
They gave him a hesitant response but the rapport had been established. What followed was three hours of foot-tapping, hand clapping, humming and a song in Kannada, made popular by Raghu Dixit!
The Neill Braganza Music Project clearly made it’s presence felt in Coimbatore. Belting out a medley of classic rock, pop and select Bollywood songs, the pop and rock band from Hubli had the audience at their feet at That’s Y On The Go restaurant at Race Course.
The evening got off to a sombre start with ‘Aye Khuda’, an original, emotional composition. Neill Braganza, lead singer and rhythm guitarist then shifted the tempo with Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’.
It was now the turn of contemporary Bollywood as Neill sang ‘Ab Tu Bhaag Milkha,’ ably accompanied by Dan on the bass guitar, Sunny on keyboards and Akshay on the drums. By now some of the teenagers were out of their seats, clapping in enthusiasm. This enthusiasm turned into spontaneous jigs to the peppy ‘Slow Motion Angreza’, and the band was now in its elements.
Neill, talking about his admiration for Canadian rocker Bryan Adams then crooned ‘Let’s Make a Night to Remember,’ and the Beatles’ ‘Come Together,’ which received loud applause. But the loudest applause was reserved for ‘Give Me Some Sunshine,’ from 3 Idiots , which had the entire crowd singing along .
The band then shifted to Tamil, performing ‘O Shanthi Shanthi,’ from Vaaranam Aayiram and ‘Hosanna’ from Vinnaithandi Varuvaya . Minor mispronunciations were forgiven as the audience had really warmed up to them, and requests started pouring in.
It was vintage Elvis with ‘Jailhouse Rock’, as the night started getting heavier. Metallica was next, with ‘Enter Sandman’ and ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and the 20 some things were clearly thrilled.
Even the language barrier was broken towards the end as Neill got the audience to sing a Kannada folk song along with him.
For 25 year-old Shivaguru Nagarajan, it turned out to be a perfect birthday treat given to him by friends. “The band even wished me with a Bob Marley like reggae rendition. This show gave me good memories of my college days and introduced me to lots of new music too,” said Shivaguru.
