It wasn’t Friday the 13th, but Friday, October 27th got just as scary at the Blue Leopard. The Grand Oriental has its own ghosts from the colonial era and four home-grown bands descended the basement to raise the spirits with the sound of rock ‘n’ roll for Halloween.
Concertgoers came in costume, but we had more witches and black-clad rockers than zombies, ghouls and monsters. Hallowed Undead was Rockclusive’s sixth show and final one this year; a fitting capstone for a series of successful concerts that showcased the local rock scene. All-female ensemble, Aarthie was first up in the blood-red lit stage and carried it off with classics from Led Zeppelin, the ‘FooFighters’, ‘Nirvana’ and the ‘Cranberries’. The band sounded robust and the performance was outstanding.
Man Till God, were up next with their unique brand of metal which is both melodious and super punchy. The songs were energetic and well constructed. ‘Interconnected Mind’ was a real crowd pleaser followed by the Carl Sagan inspired ‘From Atoms to Galaxies’ and finally the ‘Cosmic Dancer’ based on Shaivism.
Things became heavier when Thishira took to the stage and the mosh pit opened up several times. Second Chances, To Slaughter a Lamb and Ashes to Ashes were definitive highlights. (By the way we loved the Rock Company cap).
Local finished things off with their Sinhala Rock blast; touching some of their staples like ‘Janaki’, ‘Sunakaya’ and finally ‘Machine Has Come Alive’.
We spoke to Misha from W Productions, the organizers behind Rockclusive. He said the point of Rockclusive is to foster a community where musicians work and support each other. “All the bands are paid equally with no regard to seniority. There is no real entity for rock music in Sri Lanka now so we do this to give the bands a platform and get the scene up. Without a community there is no scene,” he said.
