Though it came a bit late, The Great Indian October fest 2011 by Common Colours ensured that it more than made up for the delay by lining up a group of great artistes from around the world to perform. This year’s edition featured around thirty live performances by four international bands, sixteen Indian Bands and ten Bangalore-based bands. The highlight however was the second Indian visit by Finnish Band Poets of the Fall who enthralled fest goers with their very distinctive brand of music on the last day of October fest. Poets of the Fall have come a long way from their humble beginnings in 2003 when vocalist Marko sold all his belongings to invest in the band with his friends Olli and Captain. From a living room studio to number one on Finland charts, their journey has resulted in a unique blend of music including pop, rock, metal and industrial music. The band played songs from all their albums on Sunday and had the crowd chanting along with Late Goodbye, Carnival of Rust and Lift.“I absolutely had to be right up front when they started playing Carnival of Rust, this is something I have been looking forward to for a long long time,” said Valerie Joseph. “Everything about their music is magical and has a sense of unreality, the way Jani stares at you when playing is so soulful,” said Malavika, a music lover.The band comprises of Marko Saaresto (lead vocals), Olli Tukiainen (lead guitar), Markus Captain Kaarlonen (keyboards), Jani Snellman (bass), Jaska Makinen (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Jari Salminen (drums, percussion). Marko was on fire on Sunday with his strong vocals and boundless energy which saw the band performing for a good part of two hours. Another great performance at the Octoberfest this year was by the Queen Tribute Band named Killer Queen which featured Patrick Myers aping Freddie Mercury. The best part about the band is the grace with which they manage to pull off an act which for many would just be impossible. Myers as Mercury looked very convincing and his vocals sealed the deal. Killer Queen on Saturday managed to bring back memories of yesteryear concerts for many people. “I absolutely love his stage presence. It is heartening to see how seriously the band takes their performance. I have seen tribute bands for many artists, this is the first time I have seen someone paying a tribute to Queen,” said Kaushik Chatterjee, an avid Queen fan. The three-day festival named after the German Oktoberfest also had other popular bands like Indus Creed, Kryptos, Motherjane, Parikrama and Rabbi performing onstage. Indus Creed’s performance was enthralling and it was sad to see them leave the stage early due to issues with timings. Kryptos from Bangalore also gave a spirited performance. The venue also featured games, flea shops, secondary stages and free flowing beer. The organizers seem to have made a good choice of venue as the KTPO grounds in Whitefield gave the visitors a lot of breathing space to sit back and enjoy the show.
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