Its Rahmania!!!!!!

Finally finally, a chance to see the 'Mozart of Madras' live in action. The musical genius and his equally talented entourage fired up the passions of thousands of NY area desis. He lives barely a 5 min. walk from my home in Chennai! yet this is the first time i saw him in flesh and blood (though from a few hundred yards away)!The 3 hr traffic congestion ridden drive from jersey to Long Island was really worth it. The moment we reached Nassau Coliseum , we realized the reach of Rahman's music. We could hear a multitude of languages on our way to the entrance. it is true. music transcends barriers! The almost jam packed stadium roared as if on cue, when Rahman appeared for the first time. And then what followed was 3 hours of bliss. There were a few things though which proved to be dampeners. The acoustics were really not worthy of a Rahman concert. Due to last minute changes in the schedule, the troupe had to do a concert in Dallas friday night and perform again Saturday night here in NY.The voices of all the singers sounded strained. And then there were no fireworks.....literally! But despite all this , the kind of energy that flowed amidst the audience more than made up for these! Chanting, Shrieking, tapping, clapping, dancing.....the crowd was alive and kicking! As Rahman was delivering one hindi hit after another, the enormous 'SI-VA-JI' chant thundered! and Rahman yielded. It was pure madness after that! Rahman left out most of his 'staple' hits from movies like 'Lagaan', 'Rangeela', 'Minsara Kanavu', 'AlaiPayuthey', 'Gentleman', 'Kadhalan' ....etc!!!But then u can deliver only so much in 3 hours. Besides, he had to cover his recent hits like 'Guru', 'Sivaji' and 'Rang de Basanti'! He had a generous share of tamil hits to satisfy a big number of tamil fans in the crowd. But if you are a true Rahmaniac like me , you wouldn't care about languages! Blaaze and Sivamani added colour and energy to the show. Neeti with 'Mayya Mayya' left the crowd spell bound. Hariharan did some crazy antics but singing wise he was spot on as usual! Sukhwinder was good but he really has to know when to stop. the white guy with his 'jathi' was awesome!My picks for the best renditions of the night were 'Mayya' and 'Secret of Success'! At the end of the show I wondered if any other musician can cast a spell over the entire cross section of Indians (across languages, regions, musical tastes, age...!)like Rahman did. He is GOD of MUSIC..at least for the current Indian generation!