Kolkata couldn’t wait to get a dose of Aussie prog as heavyweights Karnivool made their way to the city after delivering a stellar set at the capital. The 5-piece setup which was born in Perth has been travelling across the Indian subcontinent as a part of their Tri-Continental Drift Tour.
After completing the first leg of the tour in their home country, Karnivool is now playing in four major cities in India, before heading to Europe. The cities which are hosting the band are Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The tour is being conducted by Skillbox (India).
Progressive Metal at its finest despite poor management
The venue which was initially announced as one of the leading 5-star hotels of Kolkata was quietly shifted to a tiny lesser-known gastropub in the IT hub, 30kms away from the city centre. A move that was perhaps necessary due to reduced ticket sales which demanded prompt cost-cutting. This in turn reflected at the venue, Five Mad Men which decided to serve overpriced food and beverages to the audience.
The array of black t-shirts who were eager to attend the concert was greeted by the opening act What Escapes Me. The 4-piece Kolkata-based progressive metal outfit consists of Sayan, Sambit, Shourav, and Arindam and is well renowned for their debut experimental record titled Egress Point (2016).
The pumped-up crowd soon met with more disappointment. The organisers, SkillBox allowed no re-entry. The venue did not allow any tobacco products or lighters to be carried inside. In the absence of a smoking room at the venue, the agitated crowd were soon restless to leave, even before the final act took the stage.
Stale food and tiny water bottles aside, the night was no short of a spectacle. Karnivool’s impeccable mix was a testament to what a good sound engineer can achieve, even with the worst stage equipment. The band played crowd favourites like Cote, Mauseum, Simple Boy, and Goliath, while also mixing things up with new tracks like ‘Aozora’, off their upcoming record.
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A night of sore necks for the Kolkata metal scene thanks to Karnivool
The Australian band played a sold-out show to over 200 people in Kolkata. But wether this was compulsion or idiocy remains to be discussed. After making a mark for themselves in the city of joy in the past, metal enthusiasts expected the prog giants to play to an audience nearly thrice as large.
The Karnivool concert tickets were priced at over 2000 INR as compared to 500-1000 INR range that local metal concerts usually adhere to. This meant that a fair share of Kolkata’s youth (mainly unemployed college go-ers) were not able to attend the gig. Perhaps a daring move by LiveBoxIndia to introduce early bird tickets at that price point, as it ensured without doubt that a chunk of the band’s target audience would be missing from their most critical night in India. Let us choose to not discuss the menu which had 10 different items available for the exact same price.
Nonetheless, Karnivool made up for all the mishaps. Ian Kenny enchanted the muggles in the audience while the wizards gawked at Jon Stockman’s pedalboard. The crowd swirled into a moshpit as soon as Themata started. A satisfied Mark Hosking couldn’t help smiling. The night ended with the crowd shouting New Day in unison, as Drew Goddard said his thanks and Steve Judd flung his sticks towards the crowd.
On a more personal note: Karnivool’s mix was undoubtedly one of the cleanest that Kolkata has heard in a very long time. Discarding a larger venue with poor acoustics (sorry Steve Vai) for a smaller one with a better PA most definitely paid off in this particular aspect. Take a bow Luke Willott!
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