If you were at the finals of the NXg Rockstar last week, you would have experienced the power of the vocal chords and guitar riffs that sent decibel levels soaring! The third edition of NXg Rockstar, presented in association with Saarang 2013, was held at the OAT, IIT-Madras.
The inter-collegiate western music competition pitched bands from various colleges from across the state against each other to claim the top prize of Rs. 50,000.
Spanning two days, day one saw the preliminary and final rounds of the acoustics and accapella categories in which 24 competing bands were judged by Saroop Oommen of Unwind Center and Melvin Ranjan of Musee Musicals.
Indie band F 16’S won the title of Best Acoustic band along with a cash prize of Rs. 15,000. Girl power reigned in the Acapella category, as Stella Maris’ Western Music Club were adjudged the best and won a cash prize of Rs. 15,000.
Day two proved promising for the future of rock music as the quality and level of professionalism of the competing amateur rock bands were top notch. Six bands made it to the finals from among 18.
The six finalists — Paradox, I-Borg, Distortion, Two Decades and After, Drift and Glue — were chosen by musicians Eddie Prithviraj, Bruce Lee Mani and Yohan Marshall who judged the prelims.
It was a battle of the vocal chords; from soft rock, popular rock and rock and roll to growling — they did it all!
Popular German guitarist Ed Degenaro and Parikrama’s guitarists Saurabh Choudhary and Gaurav Balani were given the task of judging the winners. The three-member Glue scored over the other bands with their professional-sounding score and were the deserving winners of Rs. 50, 000. They also won the Best Own Composition category.
Coming a close second and third were Two Decades and After and Drift, who claimed cash prizes of Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 20,000 respectively.
Even after Rockstar came to a finish, the decibel levels didn’t! Experimental rock band Pyjama Conspiracy opened the act for one of India’s biggest rock bands Parikrama, who showed why they are the best in the business. Playing own compositions and covers, they whipped up the crowd into a frenzy.
