A night of collaborations

June 14, 2013

Music lovers were in for a real treat when ‘Point of View’, a hard rock band from Dubai, performed at Hard Rock Café recently. 

They had a tight sound, good stage presence and knew their music well. But what added to the excitement was the fact that their performance featured legendary guitarist, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal, currently the lead guitarist for ‘Guns N’ Roses’.  

The band started off with originals like ‘Down’, ‘Seed’, the progressive ‘Third Eye’ and their radio single ‘Unreal’.

Soon after, Ron made his entry with the Pink Panther theme providing the background music. 

He performed ‘Revolutionize the Revolutionary’, the title track of the band’s debut album, following which he sang his own punk-rock composition called ‘Rockstar for a Day’.  Bruce Lee Mani, the frontman of ‘Thermal and a Quarter’, also joined them to perform the rock anthem ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’. 

After a few more songs, the time for the last song arrived. “This one’s going to be a Celine Dion medley,” joked Ron, after which he started playing the familiar riffs of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. The enthusiastic crowd sang along, and when the band took their final bow, nobody wanted them to go.

Ron, who is joining the band on the five-city tour across India, was more than happy with the response.

 “It was wonderful. If anything, coming back to Bangalore this time around was more like home. I think I can say I finally have friends here!” he shared.

For the band, the experience was better than expected. “It was a really supportive crowd. Bruce is one of the best guitarists we’ve seen and it’s a huge privilege for us to have played with him.

And with Ron, there are still times when we can’t believe he’s touring with us,” laughed frontman Nikhil Uzgare. He points out that the stage was a little too cramped for seven musicians to perform at the same time. 

The audience found little reason to complain. “Earlier, to see international acts at this venue, I’ve had to struggle to get a good view. 

But today was a good evening because it wasn’t too crowded, there was great music and I got to see a legend like Ron from such close quarters,” said Sam, an attendee.


Posted at www.deccanherald.com/content/338508/a-night-collaborations.html