Sunrise on a Friday night
Bangalore, 8th March 2013: The long and dusty ride through the monstrous traffic at the end of a very hectic Friday led us to the Manpho Convention Centre to watch Norah Jones live in concert in Bangalore City. Right from the moment we entered the venue, Only Much Louder never failed to impress us from their impeccable event organisation.
After grabbing some food and beer, Norah Jones was welcomed and got right into her set with Happy Pills. The stage décor was simply marvellous, beautifully lit with serial lights of cool blues and purples with large origami cranes hanging in intervals. The mood was definitely set. The crowd was a mixture of young and old and for a change, the attire was colourful and cheerful and the aura sober and lazy, just the right thing to chase the honey that oozed from Norah’s voice.
Most people seemed to be old school enjoying best the tracks from Norah’s debut album. Her set was absolutely tight and flawless, note to note sounding exactly like her original records nailing every pause and every gasp with strict timing. She played all of her signature tunes including Say Goodbye, Lone Star, Don’t Know Why, Sunrise and her covers of Hank William’s Cold Cold Heart and Tom Waits’ Long Way Home. My favourite for the evening was Turn Me On which painted a perfect picture for all the couples in the audience to swing and sway together. And for us flying solo, we had the benefit of being cuddled by Norah’s warm and soothing voice.
The band did a splendid job in accompanying her sultry vocals. As they neared the end of the set, they huddled up in one corner of the stage together. There was no dearth of chemistry in their performance; they not only crooned but entertained too and that is something that I honestly did not expect from a Norah Jones concert. As they got in and out of Stuck, the band jammed and it was the only moment that I could describe as rocking! The energy exploded out in this one song, making it the perfect build up to the last and most wanted, Come Away With Me.
She wore a 90s style ponytail and a simple black and white dress. I was taken back to the time when we would tune into our walkmans with big giant headphones. It was a surreal moment for me, to see how far we have come. There she stood, a woman who looked like me crooning a large crowd of 2500 people with the most sensual jazz. There was this connection that left me feeling enchanted at the end of the show.
The concert felt like only a few moments even though her set lasted 90 minutes; at the end, everyone was hungry for more. It was like eating only one slice of a melting delicious cheesecake and with the aftertaste still lingering, we headed out, back into reality, into the traffic and into a weekend that could have had no better way to start. I have to give a big shout-out to Only Much Louder, for pampering us at every step. From the brilliant organisation, the unreal atmosphere to the very keen attention to detail – there were even Watch Your Step stickers on the parts of the ground that were bumpy. The coupon counters, the bars, food and cigarette stalls were running smoothly with no room for any hassle. OML sure knows their fans and what we need and I have to say they are a refreshing change for the Indian event scene.
