The Unforgettable Tour on his imposing six-foot, two-inch frame with characteristic cool and his US fans are willing to splurge $500 to $1,000
NEW YORK: Amitabh Bachchan (65) is carrying The Unforgettable Tour on his imposing six-foot, two-inch frame with characteristic cool and his US fans are willing to splurge $500 to $1,000 on premier tickets to the star-studded Bollywood concert that landed at the Los Angeles Sports Arena last weekend.
Two years in the planning, the tour kicked off on July 18 at Toronto, in Canadian and opened in the US in Los Angeles (LA) before travelling to 10 other American cities including, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Atlantic City and New York’s 16,000-seat Nassau Coliseum. This is Bachchan’s first strenuous stage outing in two decades.
But in Toronto, he flashed rocker Mick Jagger’s age-defying ability to work the crowd in a pounding three-hour Bollywood music and dance extravaganza.
“I am excited about performing in LA and reaching out to our fans here,” said daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.
Rai and LA-based Madhuri Dixit will also perform an up-tempo routine together. Dixit, Shilpa Shetty and Akshay Kumar have agreed to be part of the tour in some cities. The three-hour events, choreographed by Shiamak Davar, will have performances by Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Riteish Deshmukh.
“It will be mind-blowing. This tour will unite the biggest stars of Indian cinema on a mammoth scale,” said Manoj Kaytee, co-founder of Super Entertainment Inc., the promoter of the LA event. He said The Unforgettable Tour was getting “an amazing response” and based on initial sales, he expected the 13,000-seat Los Angeles venue to sell out.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the show is a big draw with South Asians, but ticket buyers include Brazilians, Russians, Iranians and Armenians. “We have sold 95% of the tickets for the show at Atlantic City. New York is heading in the same direction,” Priyanka Jotwani, whose family is promoting the show in New York, told DNA. She said there were buyers for even the $750-$1,000 “VIP” tickets to the show.
According to Wizcraft, each performance will cost about $1 million to stage and involves a 150-member crew of dancers, musicians, technicians and 15 tonnes of equipment. The Tour is snaking its way through 28 countries across five continents. The scale has prompted The Times to quip that Bollywood’s first family is giving world domination a shot with a tour which is being billed as “probably the biggest stage show to hit the Earth”.
Promoters say tickets ranging from $50 to $1,000 are selling out quickly for The Unforgettable Tour in America.
uttara.choudhury@gmail.com
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