Well, it’s not every day that you get to see Guns N’ Roses’ guitarist play in front of you. But when you have the opportunity, seize it with both hands and legs (and if you are fat like me, be sure to frog splash on it). Point Of View is a Rock band hailing from Dubai. They are having a dream run in the past few months – releasing their debut album “Revolutionize the Revolutionary”, which Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal from Guns N’ Roses endorsed! After that they went on to winning two awards in the Timeout Music Awards 2013. Being around for about 8 years now, Point Of View decided to embark on their debut international tour, along with Bumblefoot; their first pit stop being India. 3 of the 5 members of the band being of Indian origin, one can say it’s sort of a homecoming for them.
The 5 city extensive, exhaustive tours kicked off on the 11th of June in Hyderabad; their second destination – Bangalore. I had the good luck of ending up in their guest list, but some noob ruined it and I had to enter like a normal person (it sucks when you sort everything out and it gets screwed up). Well, keeping the ranting aside, let’s come back to the show. Point Of View were performing with Bumblefoot and a special guest on stage – Bruce Lee Mani from Thermal And A Quarter. The stage was set, the warm ambience of HRC built up the mood as the band took stage at 9 pm. Not knowing about Bangalore’s curfew, they had to shorten their 2 hours 30 minutes set by about an hour to fit in to the night rules. POV started off with four rocking songs from their album, the fourth one being a nice little alternative track titled Unreal. Just after the song was over, guitarist Royden Mascerenhas started playing the theme track of Pink Panther and in comes Ron Bumblefoot Thal to join them on the stage. He was greeted with a loud cheer from the crowd as he presented his version of the Pink Panther Theme song, shredding on his custom double-neck guitar. Ron joined the band as their 3rd guitarist, playing along for the rest of the show with the band. A brief break of 5 minutes and Bruce from TAAQ emerged from the backstage. The local guitar hero played GnR’s version of the classic song Knocking On Heaven’s Door, trading solos with Ron and Royden. The crowd joined in with the band, singing the chorus in unison. Due to time constraints, Bruce was featured only on one song as they had to wrap up before 10.30 pm. The show stopper was their cover of Sweet Child O’ Mine, with Ron killing the iconic guitar solo.
The performance was mind boggling, certainly one of the best I’ve seen in a long long time. The crowd interaction was amazing and Ron stole the show with his presence. His song – Rockstar for a Day, which he wrote when he was pissed because GnR’s management were blackmailing him to join the band (yes, at first he refused to join the band). The song showed Ron’s vocal skills along with his unmatched guitaring prowess. Another special mention would go out to Royden and Chiro. Royden is a very impressive guitarist, backing vocals + playing a riff is not an easy job, but he does it with ease. Chiro, the man was hardly seen throughout the show. Hiding behind the drum kit, this shy person (that’s what I could make out while chatting with him for a while) deserves every bit of appreciation and credit for holding the rhythm throughout the set. The guys at POV and even Ron are very down to earth and humble. POV’s album sales go to animal welfare charities, just to give you an idea how simple they are. They enjoy the music and they certainly love to entertain. The post-gig interactions with the band members and Ron were very friendly, posing for pictures and signing autographs to anyone asking for one.
They will be playing at the following venues next in the tour:
Mumbai on 13th June at Hard Rock Café
Delhi on 14th June at Hard Rock Café
Kolkata on 15th June headlining The Festival in Nazrul Mancha with Northnegal from Maldives and Hacride from France.
While leaving the venue, as I was saying my goodbyes to the band members, a humble and satisfied Nikhil told me –
“It’s a small world and we hope to see you again!”
I surely wouldn’t miss the opportunity to catch them live again in the future.
The setlist for the night was –
- Down
- Seed
- Third Eye
- Prelude followed by Unreal
*Ron Joins them on stage*
- Pink Panther Theme
- Revolutionize The Revolutionary
- Rockstar for a Day by Ron
- Set Me Free
- Chainsaw
- Knocking On Heaven’s Door feat. Bruce Lee Mani
- Objectify by Ron
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
