The audience at the MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai on the evening of December 14th '07 comprised of three kinds of people. One, who knew each and every lyric as well as the vocal delivery style in addition to the riffs and the leads. Another kind for whom Scorpions meant just one song - Wind of Change. That or they just wanted to notch up an international act on their concert counter.
The second kind (and this included me) went to see a band they loved for whatever they've heard. And knowing their origins, expected some on-stage madness. Given the (predictably disappointing) overall turnout, the fraction of the crowd that I stake claim to was negligible. But I daresay for us (in obvious addition to the aforementioned first kind), just watching James Kottak was enough. In immensely exaggerated ways, the drummer epitomized the crazy German rocker - he juggled with his drumsticks (and routinely failed catching them but persisted anyway), played double-bass standing up, guzzled can after can of beer, tore off his shirt, drummed the bass guitar and shouted "Mumbai rocks!" repeatedly while egging various sections of the crowd on during his drum solo.
An obscure duo (Spaz & Brad if I'm not mistaken) did their best to while the time away (read: braved the abusively intolerant audience) by playing a bunch of covers including Sweet Home Alabama, Good Riddance and Knocking on Heaven's Door, in addition to an OC. (Channel-)[V]J's host duo did their best to infuriate the crowd with their ignorant talk and arrogant body language. The German legends did their best to test our patience to the limit. They outdid Waters. Then they proceeded to outdo Maiden and even Aerosmith. Yes, it was almost 8.15 before the PA system bursted out: "Welcome to Humanity. This is Hour I."
The pounding of the bass drum hit the centres of our hearts, as we tried to match up with Klaus Maine's vocals. Of course we soon realized the futility of our efforts - as far as singing along went, it was always gonna be a long night. After the customary attempted Hindi ("Mumbai - Namaste!" *crowd screams* Shukriya!") was out of the way, Klaus & Co. took us on a journey which has been 40 years in the making. First, we were madly tossed around in a time-warp - early hits such as The Zoo, Make It Real (from 1980's Animal Magnetism) and Bad Boys Running Wild (off the legendary Love At First Sting) were woven in with a couple from the fairly recent Unbreakable (Love 'em or Leave 'em and Deep and Dark). A fast-paced start done, it was time to slow things down - and start with the ballads. Send Me An Angel. Always Somewhere. Holiday.
By this point of time the crowd was on some other astral plane altogether, so it was an ideal time to get the comparatively unfamiliar tracks out of the way. So we got 2 more from the new album - the title track Humanity and the anthemic 321, and an obscure (well personally at least) track Dynamite. Klaus expected us to sing along on this one, but his disappointment was fake - it was his excuse to suddenly raise his pitch. We also got their 2 staple instrumentals. Coast To Coast saw Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs alternate solos, even as Klaus joined them at the edge of the ramp with an acoustic guitar and a fresh shirt. Sometime later, the 3 of 'em went off to set the stage for Pawel Maciwoda's bass solo.
Voodoo Child. Enter Sandman. Huh? Typos? No way! Pawel actually played those along with some booming solos, before letting the madman James take over. Till that point of time, both the axemen had walked the ramp, occasionally with Klaus, who danced and pranced and provided jangling beats (off the mic). Rudolf had let his rotating arm strike the strings a tad too hard, such that his instrument had to be replaced mid-song. Matthias had tried his best to keep up with his wide eyes and wider smile. Even James had been busy with his antics since the very beginning. But his drum solo, dubbed Kottak Attack, simply stole the show - and if you've been reading, you know what all he was upto. (Just in case you haven't been - 2nd para)
During the entire course, Klaus kept raining signed drumsticks into outstretched hands all over the place. Later, the guitarists joined in, throwing autographed plectrums. Oh and how can I miss out those power-packed ones? Tease Me Please Me. Blackout. Big City Nights. Many personal favourites were just not meant to be, but surely they couldn't just go off without doing the obvious ones could they? Well they did go backstage, but the encore was always gonna come. And it did. It was time for their biggest ballad - Still Loving You. It was then time for their signature - Wind of Change. Then, it was finally time for their most obvious anthem - Rock You Like A Hurricane.
The predictable encore was over, but the crowd wanted more. And what happened next was unbelieveable, just like Aerosmith - a 2nd encore! A somewhat unfamiliar ballad, but who gave a damn? We got one more outta 'em - When The Smoke is Going Down. And when the smoke did finally go down, it was already 10 minutes past the 10pm deadline! Crazy is indeed a small word. No doubt we were rocked like a hurricane, but that's a cliche. This report is 10 days late and I'm still at a loss of words. Guess the most visible (and mellow I daresay) export of the "beer and metal nation" have always had this exact effect on worshippers all across the globe.
