Gig review/ That Christmas Spirit
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR
Various Artistes/ That Christmas Spirit
Genre: Festive/ popular
Details; St Andrew's Bandra, December 1
Rating: *** 1/2
An interesting part of the stage set-up was a stall in the corner, mentioning 01.12 FM Radio Happiness. It was for a makeshift radio station created for host/ 'RJ' Brian Tellis at the concert themed 'That Christmas Spirit' at Bandra's St Andrew's Auditorium on Thursday.
It took a few seconds to figure out that 01.12 was inspired by the date. Brian announced that the set list would be a good mix of Christmas songs and popular fare that celebrated the festive spirit. In reality, retro and rock n' roll far outnumbered the Yuletide melodies, but the packed hall had a blast all the same.
Much of the enjoyment had to do with the way the concert was structured. Instead of singers doing long individual segments, they sang one song, or maybe two at a time, keeping the crowd in anticipation. Gary Lawyer, Sonia Saigal, Siddharth Meghani, Darren Das, Giselle Pinto, Karen Vaswani and the duo comprising Vivienne Pocha and Shazneen Arethna provided a good mix of genre and tempo, frequently rotating the strike, so to speak.
Curated and produced by Niloufer Rohira and Darren Das, the show began pretty much on time and lasted two and a half hours, aside from the chicken sandwich break. Though one felt there should have been more Christmas songs, given the title, some of the festive highlights were 'O Holy Night' by Gary, Siddharth's rendition of the Elvis song 'If Everyday Was Like Christmas', Darren's presentation of Jim Reeves' 'An Old Christmas', and Giselle's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', made famous by Mariah Carey. Singers Zoe Siddharth and Chelsea Das, who did back-up and harmonies, also had their own take of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'.
The tight band comprised saxophonist Shyam Raj, guitarist Ashley Quiney, bassist Russell Fernandes, keyboardist Arthur Lobo and drummer Cassy Lobo. Adding to the mood was the good sound, smart use of lights, and appropriate visuals on the back-screen
The popular fare included many sing-along anthems, with Sonia excelling on the recently-deceased Irene Cara's 'What A Feeling' and ABBA's 'Thank You For The Music'. One often sees her at jazz shows, and her rendition of retro-pop is equally impactful. Gary impressed on his trademark 'Sweet Caroline' and Darren got the crowd dancing to 'La Bamba', before getting into nostalgia mode with an Engelbert Humperdinck medley. Another tight medley was by Vivienne and Shazneen, who presented a Beatles theme. Siddharth came in and out with Elvis songs and costumes - he and Darren had that theatrical showmanship.
In keeping with the theme, there were bright songs ('Walking On Sunshine' and 'Sunny Side Of The Street') besides songs on hope and making things better ('Heal The World' and 'What A Feeling'). However, barring the Viv-Shaz song 'High Horse', there were no originals.
With Brian announcing that the show will return on December 1 next year, there is enough time to write a few new and special tunes. That's still a long way. Season's greetings for this year, meanwhile. December definitely began wonderfully with an enjoyable concert. Santa, pass us that hamper, will you?
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