It all started at 6 pm, (Me, Furkhan) with a walk to the OC centre Taxi stand..
The lights went out at 7:50 pm. The crowd shouted, screamed and every one of us stood up in our respective chairs, eager in anticipation. There was no sign of Rahman, not even his voice could be heard. But the 15k+ crowd was in its element. Rahman then surfaced, standing calm on a lift. He entered the stage singing “Jaage Hain Der Tak Hamein Kuch Der Sone Do Thodi Si Raat Aur Hai Subaah Toh Hone Do” We could barely hear the first few lines despite the speakers.
The concert was kicked off with him greeting ‘WOW Muscat!’ and then began’Khalbali’. The instruments and the speakers were top class, no one could have wished for better. When A.R.Rahman sang ’shola shola balkhaye…’ in Khalbali with his trademark tone, I was witnessing magic. To add to the frenzy among the audience,
3) Soon after a Tamil number, singers Neeti Mohan and Shweta Pandit added verve to the setting with the rendering of Ringa Ringa from Slumdog Millionaire. The pace had to slow down, we needed a break from all the jumping and shouting. So, a string of slow paced songs followed.
Hariharan’s rendering of Nahin Samne in his honey-glazed vocals left the audience asking for more as he returned with Yeh Haseen Vaadiyan from Roja.
The much- sought after Rasheed Ali’s famous number Kabhi Kabhi Aditi from Jaane tu Jaane Na garnered as much response from the crowd as Javed Ali’s soothing Jashn-e-Bahar from Jodha Akbar.
The highlight of the evening was Rahman’s Khwaja Mere Khwaja from Jodhaa Akbar. Wearing an Omani mussar, playing harmonium, his eyes shut to the world, he let the track absorb him as well as the audience. The effect was the same when he sang Maula Mere Maula from Delhi–6.
Suzanne D’Mello with her amazing vocals was awesome with her Aye Bachoo from Ghajini and Mangta Hai Kya from Rangeela. Sanjeev Thomas
on guitar and Asad Khan on sitar stunned with their act, as Stephen Devasia, the keyboard player keyed them on.
Rahman began the session with “Mustafa Mustafa” when hot air lamps were launched from the stage. Blaaze joined Rahman for Humma Humma, which was probably the best performance of the evening. We knew the end was near when the fireworks grabbed the attention for ’Jai Ho’ and the end was on a high note with ’Vande Maataram’.
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