Thick as bricks

Morons! They were tying us down in chairs for a rock show where Ian Anderson would be floating and kicking all over the stage ? my first reaction as I entered Shanmukhananda Auditorium at Sion, Mumbai.

Morons! They were tying us down in chairs for a rock show where Ian Anderson would be floating and kicking all over the stage — my first reaction as I entered Shanmukhananda Auditorium at Sion, Mumbai. The event was co-sponsored by the Hindustan Times and I had managed to get myself a ‘Diamond’ pass for the event.

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There were quite a few seats full (depending on your perspective) in the ‘Diamond’ class. The average age of the group must have been the mid-40s. That lifted my spirits. This was the tulli on Tull generation, I thought. They would know the songs this amazing musician was going to perform. I was happy, thinking I would be singing along with the rest of my ‘Diamond’ class co-audience as Anderson brought us Songs from the Woods.

The opening act, Alms for Shanti, was performed. The ‘Diamond’ audience didn’t clap half as hard as those in the ‘Gold’ class standing in the balconies upstairs. Perhaps, the ageing fraction of the audience was saving all its energies for the eccentric Anderson.

The master came, he performed and he finished. All the singing along and shouting was happening up there. Bloody Tosh! Not only were these ‘Diamond’ people ageing, they were as thick as a brick (no, they didn’t know the number either), uneducated and ignorant as far as a Tull concert is concerned. “I am in the wrong section of the crowd. I need to go up right away,” I decided. After the interval, I did and let out my loudest rock cry, others enthusiastically following. It was great.

I came back to office and told my editor, who’d given me the ‘Diamond’ pass, about the Tull evening. He went the next day. He asked for his ‘Diamond’ seats to be changed to something further back.