Of Bollywood musical concerts

I recently attended two Indian singer's musical concerts in London - Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh's. This was my second time attending musical concerts (first was Jagjit Singh) because I always assumed that if you are not musically inclined, you might find them boring. And I am happy to have been proven wrong:).

For a start, they were Bollywood singers, so the fact that I have grown up singing these songs ensured that I didn't get bored:). If you relate to Bollywood and its movies and music et al, there is no way you will not totally enjoy such concerts. The loud cheers and electric energy that went up in the crowd everytime a popular song was sung is testimony to that. Given my experience this time, I am looking forward to attending many more such concerts in the future.

I also realised a couple of things, the first of which was that your experience can be widely different based on a lot of things, other than the quality of the singers. I will share some of the differences I noticed, though I must say these are just minor periphery issues if the singers are great.

First, Shreya Ghoshal's show was in a smaller theatre than Arijit Singh's; cosy, closer and more involved. Maybe it was that, or maybe because she has been performing for years - Shreya connected much more with the audience. She was talking to them, sharing her experiences and involving them in some of the singing. It did take up a notch my whole experience of the concert for sure.

She also had a bigger songs repertoire than Arijit Singh, since she has been singing for more than 15 years now. So her songs ranged from soft romantic to the hot and happening. And the mood changed along the 3 hours. Lastly, the lighting in her concert was more in line with the songs she was singing, sometimes soft and rock-concert-like at other times.

I totally enjoyed the 3 hours I was there, dancing on the seat to her songs, humming along, clapping and coming out of the theatre totally rejuvenated and on a high.

Here is a video from her show:

Arijit Singh's concert meanwhile was in the much larger SSE arena in Wembley. It was huge, and less cosy and involved than Shreya's. Also he was not 'talking' much to the audience, just performing. Standing there and singing on and on.

His repertoire was much smaller - all the soulful serious songs of the last few years, a lot of them slow and sad types:). He did sing some faster and more energetic songs but they were mostly from other singers. Later on I realised that was because he's been singing only for about 4-5 years. But still he has become such a huge sensation which is impressive.

The lighting in his show was off too - it was too rock-concert-like which just did not go well with the kind of songs he was singing. And he was singing the whole of his latest songs, but just snippets of his older but more popular songs (wonder why!). Also I noticed that his orchestra was from London itself, which made me wonder how they will have related to Bollywood songs while performing.

It might appear from the above though, that I enjoyed Shreya's show more but that is not true either. A singer's concert is a success based on just one thing - the voice. And Arijit's voice made up for all the other gaps in the performance. His voice was just heavenly. So deep and melodious and all encompassing that you could have easily got lost in it. During the concert, he also did a half an hour performance with no orchestra at all. Only him on the piano, singing his and other singers' songs. Pure unadulterated voice. And as I said, you could have got lost in all of it. His voice made up for all the other deficiencies of the show.

Here is a video from his performance:

I totally enjoyed both concerts and was singing along most of the songs:). Very happy to have gone for them, and looking forward to the AR Rehman concert later in the year!