Jai No

by Neethi Srinivasan – University of Michigan

A few weeks ago I was prompted to ponder the following question – what makes a concert great? Is it the size of the venue, quality of the background dancers, or the abundance of pyrotechnics that determines the success of a concert? Or is it the quality of the music and performer that ultimately influences the answer to such a question? Common sense would argue that a concert succeeds or fails based on the meeting of all these various artistic components. However, my own experience at A.R Rahman’s concert Jai Ho: The Journey Home, proved that a great concert is created from only two things – the performer and the music. Unfortunately for Rahman and his audience, this concert failed on both accounts.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Rahman’s music as much as the next person. I practically grew up listening to the Bombay Soundtrack and I love most of the tracks he did for Slumdog Millionaire (except for Jai Ho – especially the version he did with the Pussycat Dolls!). However, his show left a lot to be desired. Though the venue was great (Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City) and jam packed, Rahman failed to continuously engage and excite the audience. Instead, he seemed to be channeling Quasimodo throughout the show as he lethargically made his way around the stage with his keyboard/guitar combination instrument. To add insult to injury, Rahman only participated in maybe half of the sets, while several other artists and dancers filled in for him. Though some of them were fantastic, if I had known that I would be watching the Indian version of the Black Eyed Peas for a good third of the show I would have spent my ticket money on a couple of fraps from Starbucks.

In addition to the lack of energy and presence of the main performer, the show failed to have one of the most important things that all concerts should have- good sound! Most of the time I couldn’t hear what Rahman was saying and there was a tremendous amount of feedback throughout the sets. However, all of these shortcomings paled in comparison to the fact that the concert started an hour late and lasted only for 2 hours. Though I have only been to a few concerts in my lifetime (two to be exact), it is extremely annoying when the artist is late and even more irritating when the audience’s expectations (or at least mine in this case) are not met. It seemed as if the whole show was put together last minute just to cash in on the success of Slumdog Millionaire amongst American audiences. My advice to Rahman – stick to the recording studio, not the arena stage!