Dubai Desert Rock 06 Rocked!

Friday, 16th March, 2006. We lined up at 11:30 am, four and a half hours before the actual start of this ‘mega’ event. And deservingly got to be in the first row, yes the first damn row! As we were not real hardcore heavy metal rockers, we did frustrate a lot of long-haired men, who especially attacked Ali because he sported a ‘Metallica’ t-shirt in a ‘Megadeth’ concert, and that is quite daring, because Metallica and Megadeth don’t really get along. Actually they kinda hate each other. Anyway that’s Ali for you.

The first few minutes made us feel like we were in Hollywood – hundreds (ok not really, maybe like 5 or 6) of cameras flashed upon our faces, and we all gave poses and ‘horn-fingers’ and ‘rocker-like’ expressions (please see above). We were probably the gayest rockers there – but we bloody well enjoyed. As Ali says (who wore a ‘Metallica’ t-shirt, shorts, socks and floaters), ‘It’s all about the music, you need to feel it…’ and bla. Anyway, our gay apparel was not so bad as we made it into quite a few papers such as the Emirates Evening Post, and City Times.

After the ‘red-carpet’ experience, the extravaganza finally started with ‘Mannikind’ – a local band. They weren’t bad, but the lead singer was hilarious. He was considerably stout, and was jumping and head-banging like a freak, not to say he was only 17. For those ‘Modernite’s’ who cannot imagine, picture Manish (no offense dude, you rock), with longish braided hair, jumping all over, and moving his head in an up-down motion, and screaming into the microphone. Scary, huh?

Then came ‘Testament’. They were ordinary, not that good. We did not know their music, and maybe that’s why they were not so exciting. But from experience (as in watching Sepultura last year), I can say that they were quite dry, but we were in the first row, so it was still fun! This concert was characterized, by this Iranian dude’s white nose hair and constant stabbing motions. In his pursuit to push us away, and get into the first row, he gave us both entertainment and pain. He desperately tried to get between Ali and me, and guess what, he did eventually succeed, but that was only after giving us outrageous laughter and a view of his white nose hair. As expected, Ali was first to notice this. Anyway, this dude did not know proper english and did the following things:
1. He screamed(literally – those horse screams, like the one’s of Brad Pitt in Troy when he’s killing someone) for no apparent reason.
2. He showed the finger to everyone around for no apparent reason.
3. He shook his head so vigorously, that we thought it might come out.
4. He tried to hit on some school girl, by constantly giving her his hand and trying to let her come next to him in the first row, but I obviously didnot allow that.
5. He was not that bad though, because he made friends with security people in front of us and gave us free water.

The next band was Reel Big Fish. They played ska-rock. They were funky and hilarious. Great performers, who won the love of Harry. The band was basically a mix of hard rock, and trumpets and trampones. So it was quite different and fun.

Enter Tejas’ 3 Doors Down. The most ‘poppy’ of the bands, they were the one’s we wanted to watch the most, but they were the one’s that nun of the heavy metal hard core rockers wanted to watch, who couldn’t wait for Megadeth. They behaved like such losers, because they kept booing them and constantly chanted ‘Megadeth’. They compared them to the ‘Backstreet Boys’ – and that was weird. And when the lead singer came into the crowd, these same rockers were like, ‘I love you’ and felt him up. Such hypocrites, and as Romit would say, ‘Losers, man’. Anyway, Tejas knew every single word of every song they played, and as we were all in the front row, the lead singer Brad Arnolds obviously noticed, and thus began the great love story. Tejas’ Brad almost came into the crowd and almost jumped on Tejas – literally. He shook his hand and then made continuous eye contact. At one point he also gave him the fingers, as in the horn fingers. It was then the turn of Tejas to go insane. Love must be reciprocated, so his constant ‘Oh-My-God’s and groans and wows must have made Brad proud. Anyway, Brad certainly made Tejas’ day, and he certainly made ****** jealous (I don’t think I am allowed to mention the name). Personally I enjoyed 3 Doors Down the most, because I knew some of their music, and generally prefer their sort of music to heavy, heavy-metal.

Then the main event – Megadeth – were okay. We took a step back to save ourselves, and save Tejas who would have definitely been squashed by the ‘metal-hungry’ rockers, who were basically drunk and insane. Ali enjoyed, and more importantly survived Megadeth because he fought like a brave soul and stayed in front. Where as the rest of us found them to be average, I actually fell asleep at one point. But that was maybe because I was too tired.

All in all, it was an extremely memorable day, and a day I will not easily forget… (add all other cliches please)

I feel concerts are the epitomes of entertainment. The amount of joy and pure energy that a good band can give off is amazing. This only refers to popular good bands, and not any other side show. So what I basically want to say is, see as many concerts as you can – because they are loads of fun and great memories.

Rock on!