It was a night when Dream Theatre, Porcupine Tree, Linkin Park, David Guetta and Coldplay all came together. Presented by the Nathaniel School of Music, the graduation concert of their batches 34, 35 and 36 brought alive the music of these legends on stage with powerful performances by young and old musicians, most of whom were on a platform for the first time, in a high energy rock concert at BFlat recently.
Kicking off the show with the popular ‘Here I Am’ by Bryan Adams, the gig instantly had the packed crowd singing along to the finely executed song.
Amit Jain, who sang the song along with later renditions of ‘Summer Wine’ by Bono/Corrs and ‘When You Say Nothing At All’ by Ronan Keating, says he feels at home on stage. “I’m really happy that I’ve graduated from Nathaniel School. If we can have something like this concert every week, it will bring life to everything we strive for. I’ve trained in Hindustani classical for eight years. This is my first western course and my experience has been fabulous. It’s a direction change in music for me.”
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The second song was ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ by Joni Mitchell performed by Sumana Krishnan who also sang ‘White Flag’ by Dido and ‘A Sky full of Stars’ by Coldplay later. “It feels great to sing my favourite songs here,” she says. “I owe it all to the Nathaniel School of Music. I joined six months back and the entire experience has been surreal because you get together with like-minded people who appreciate music so much. I think everybody and anybody who enjoys music and wants to get on stage should give courses like this a shot. After all, this is one of the only courses I know of that gives you a platform to showcase your talent at a time when it’s so difficult for budding and aspiring musicians to get on stage.” Featuring vocalists Amit, Sumana, Nikhil, Nitisha, Megha, Geeta, Percy and Gaurav and backed by keyboardists Nayantara, Pranav and Prahadesh, guitarists Achyuta, Ganapathy and Eddie, drummer duo Hari and Aniket, and bass guitarists Divya and Aditya, the skilled performers played into the night with an eclectic assortment of songs.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ was powerfully rendered after some initial technical hiccups, while ‘Let Her Go’ by Passenger and ‘Rehab’ by Amy Winehouse were proficiently delivered. Going down memory lane with songs like ‘29 Palms’ by Robert Plant, ‘Wither’ by Dream Theatre, ‘Numb’ by Linkin Park and ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Guns n Roses, the audience was taken on a nostalgic joyride by the team that had worked hard in the four-month course.
Some of the other songs that became instant hits among the listeners were ‘Lazarus’ by Porcupine Tree, ‘Lithium’ by Evanescence, ‘Lovers On The Sun’ by David Guetta before closing with ‘The Captain’ by Billy Clyro.
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Drummer Aniket, who also took up the six-strings for two songs, was the show-stopper. A wizard of the sticks on the drums, the proficient musician belted some tight rhythms backed by the team of skilled musicians.
With certificates given away at the end of the concert and testimonies shared about experiences in the course, the crowd and the performers did not want the night to end. The school hosts its next summer batch 39 for the music method course from April 11 with training that promises to get you playing with an entire band in just sixteen weeks. To register, call 7760456847.