Imagine watching some jazz fusion in a pub lit with hundreds of candles with 50 other music lovers — all immersed in the live guitar strumming happening in the middle.
Blue Frog has one such night every month and it transforms the whole atmosphere.
Artists step down from their stage and become one with the audience. Performing in the pit makes it an intimate experience for the musicians and the audience. Unplugged nights are now wooing more pubgoers.
Ashutosh Pathak who has done some solo and some jazz fusion performances with Sanjay Divecha at Blue Frog recently says that it’s a night not really for partygoers but for listeners. “The crowds really get involved, it’s completely different from playing on the stage and I prefer it. It’s a great challenge for artists. It was for me too as I had to rearrange my compositions. But mainly, it’s a night for those who have not come out to party but to listen to some good music.”
The nights give a feeling of being close to the band. Hard Rock Café’s Batti Band nights are also an exercise in environment consciousness where performances happen in dim light mainly powered by candles on each table.
As a trend it’s just catching on. Artists like Sanjay Divecha, Ashutosh, Luke Kenny and newbie Gaurav have given it a shot. There’s also the ‘Open Mind Night’ on Thursdays at Zenzi in Bandra. This is slightly different though. It’s an acoustic night where anyone is free to step up and play a song.
Il Terrazzo’s (Juhu) Sameer Malhotra came up with the idea of Daddy’s Windsong Wednesdays — an acoustic night.
Last week Nikhil D’Souza played electrical acoustic guitar-based pop at Il Terrazzo. “I know that only people who specifically want to see the performance will come for the acoustic night. It’s intimate and there’s no drum and bass, just melody with electrical acoustic guitar, violin and mandolin,” ends Nikhil.
