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| Edited By: |Source: |Updated: Nov 19, 2013, 11:17 PM IST
It was Bryan Adams, Mobb Deep and INXS all the way, says Fali R Singara
As is often the case when it comes to the music scene, 2006 started out slowly, growing into a steady ebb towards the middle of the year, then crescendoing into a quick, propulsive rush of trendy sounds.
The biggest concert draw was rock star Bryan Adams. While international acts are just waking up to Mumbai as a regular gig venue, the world’s most famous Canadian keeps dropping by.
Adams performed his familiar repertoire of hits for a third time in the city — and the near-three hour performance was a religious experience — with fans and Bollywood stars blissfully floating around.
Like last year, hip-hop music continued to loom large on the scene, and two of the genres popular acts made a stop to perform in the city. Mobb Deep has set the tone for generations of hyperrealist rappers, from 50 Cent to Eminem.
Still, their inventive metaphors and state-of-the-art beats failed to evoke a big audience here, and they were in and out of Mumbai in a trice. And while Flipsyde’s hipster cache is somewhat overstated, it’s hard to recall a hip-hop group that elicited such widespread approbation from our corner of the world.
After taking a lengthy break following the unfortunate death of their unpredictable frontman Michael Hutchence, ’80s superstars INXS also returned in 2006 with new vocalist JD Fortune. Tickets for their Mumbai show were overpriced and long time fans were skeptical about Fortune stepping into Hutchence’s shoes — but for those who turned up, it was a surprisingly entertaining evening.
And Indian music fans all over agreed that music legend Bob Dylan’s new album Modern Times was so perfect, that PR gurus couldn’t have manufactured a comeback this good. No Dylanophile should be without this.
Yet, the best-selling international artist this year was apparently Crazy Frog — an animated frog who croaked his way through popular classics, straight to the top of the charts. Dancefloors and music channels spent the entire year playing the frog’s version of hits like Queen’s We Are The Champions — and so did college kids. Go figure.
