Twice Blessed

Who says you can't get to see GuruDave more than once in your lifetime?

The place: BIC grounds; Date : 14th Oct, 2012. GuruDave once again descended on India's humble soil.

Started off with staccato double bass of "Trust". Ellefson enters with a Jackson Bass and pounds the starting riffs. Chris comes next with his trademark Ibanez, working on Friedman's entry, searing solo. And then Dave comes on ripping on the main riffs on his Dean VMNT. "My body aches from mistakes, betrayed by lust; We lied to each other so much, that in nothing we trust". Pure awesomeness.

This was followed by "Hangar 18" without any intervention. Classics followed : "Tout Le Monde", "Skin O' My Teeth", "Symphony of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets", "Peace Sell....", "Countdown to Extinction" and most numbers from "Countdown to Extinction" notably due to the album's 20th anniversary.

Some words by Mustaine himself : "This isnt the place where we played in India last time. So most of you guys must be seeing Megadeth for the first time, right?". Crowd cheers. Mustaine : "Absolutely f***ing awesome."

And in between these lines made both Mustaine and the crowd senti : " There is a difference between the people of America and people of India. (long pause). People in America are spoilt. But out here you have to really spend so much to come to a concert like this. Its really hard here. We are so grateful that you all came. Its an honor to be playing for you guys. We love you India and we'll come back." Then he was teary eyed. And there was an awesome cheer from the crowd.

Sonam from Parikrama was right next to me, his eyes fixed calmly on the stage. So was Rudy Wallang and various other great artists from the Indian Rock Scene, before the band parted with "Holy Wars" and some air guitar playing by Mustaine before leaving the stage!

My only gripe? Something was wrong with the mixing. I suspect it were the amps and speakers. The guitars were overpowering. Drums were not audible in between the tracks. Vocals were audible only from the centre mic, and the moment Mustaine ran off to the sides and sang on another mic, there was nothing. 

But Mustaine on stage made up for more than that. Hail Mustaine! Long Live the King!!