When people hear about Mood Indigo, a fest by IIT Bombay, they always wonder, will Mood I top last year's shindig? The answer every year has been the same, they keep serving you some of the best art forms from all over the world and music is the forefront of Mood I . It has been so since the past 5-6 years.

After overwhelming performances by Katatonia, Porcupine Tree, Ensiferrum, Mumbai Rock enthusiasts were pondering as to who would be coming this year. IIT B blew away everyone by announcing that Karnivool, a progressive rock band from Australia, is all set to perform on 18th December 2011.

Karnivool is a progressive/psychedelic rock band from the western coast of Australia which was formed in the year 1997 and till date has come out with 1 EP and 2 albums. All these three records were critically acclaimed and musically brilliant and unheard. When Karnivool fans in Mumbai and the country heard about this news of them coming in the city to perform, they were all ecstatic.

Mood I was not just a regular engineering college on the eve of 18th December 2011, it was a venue for one of the most talented yet under rated bands to put a spell on the audience and create an unforgettable enigma.

The Hoodwink Circle

The show began at 6.00 pm and was kicked off by the live wire finalists The Hoodwink Circle. Their set was short, fast and void of any public contact whatsoever. The next two bands Turn Keys and Versus learnt a lesson from The Hoodwink circle and did their best to talk to the audience and create a favorable environment to play. In that short span of time it was really hard to judge the band and come to a collaborative consensus, yet 'Versus'  the band from Bangalore was named the winner and would be getting an opportunity to play in Romania and represent the country.

Like every year, there was a fair bit of mismanagement by the organizers and some delay too. The most depressing part of the evening was the treatment given to these three finalists. They were just given 10 minutes to play a set of 3 songs which resulted in the bands playing at a little faster tempo intentionally and running off stage as soon as the songs were over without even being able to name the band and the members properly.

Junkyard Groove, the alternative sensation, was set to break free and open for Karnivool.

Junyard Groove

JYG was seen with an all new setlist along with new members and a little different sound. They, who used to sound a little like The Hootie and The Blowfish, now sounded more like a hard rock band experimenting with funk. With non stop jokes on Kolaveri Di, calling the composers of that song “Eunuch” was highly unprofessional and uncalled for. JYG was no more like the way they used to be when they came out with their album, they seem to have lost their magnetism somewhere on the way.

Their new songs failed to create an impact like It’s okay or Say goodbye used to do for them once upon a time.
A couple of songs sounded like Bollywood ripoffs with English vocals and one song even reminded some of us of Shair n’ Func. They were called upon stage again once they had left to play 2 more songs as karnivool wasn’t ready. These two songs included a 3 minute drum solo and the vocalist Ameeth going topless.

For people who have seen the old JYG live this would have been like a bad dream and for the new ones it was a pretty good and a power packed performance. The new line up seems to be much more versatile with their instruments.

All you could hear was screams and chants, “We want Karnivool” for the next 10 minutes and then all of a sudden a sound explosion of “WHOOOOOOOOAAA”

Karnivool

That was it, the moment Karnivool took their place on the stage, geared up to play, what would be some of the best 120 minutes for most of the fans and an inexpressible TRIP to say the least.

One would have been awestruck just looking at those guys play some of the best technical and soulful music ever. Jon Stockman and Steve Judd are a class apart, for the kind of drum and bass groves these guys laid down it would have been fairly easy to pick your Gods. Prieti, a hardcore Karnivool fan commented saying, “It seems like Ian Kenny was putting a spell on the audience with his hand gestures” another fan, Manasi Kale said “Karnivool were dreamlike . Took Me a while to believe I finally saw them live” Further she also said that it was the best live act she had ever seen.

Karnivool is not just another band, they seem to have this magical presence surrounding them when they play, one has to witness that live to understand what I am talking about. They played songs from all the three records including “Cote”, “New Day”, “All I Know” amongst several others. For many of us it was magical mystery ride with feelings of over enthusiasm, excitement and adventure and there it was a Loud boom and you could see millions of paper bits shot high in the air getting people back to reality.

A few of us were unable to comprehend the scenario where Karnivool just went off stage with a thank you and the lights went out, people started flocking the exit. Just then, Goddard was under the spot light playing and this resulted in people rushing back inside no sooner did the people got in the band was all set to deliver their last song “Change”
Sadly however “Shutterspeed” a song expected to be played by many fans was not on their setlist. The show stealer, undoubtedly be “New Day” and “All I Know”. Expressing Karnivool in words is a very difficult task to do. They are a band that needs to be seen live to understand their music and exchange the immense energy let out by the band.

The tickets were cheap at just 400 bucks resulting in a soldout counter and a super packed house. Making this by far one of the best gigs held at Mood Indigo. Thanks to concerts like these, India is slowly getting top on that Rock/Metal venues of the world. It wouldn’t be very far away that we would be having an international artist or a band play in the country at least once a month. Shows like these are nothing but the roots of that tree..