Gig Review| Deconstruction

Photos and Text by Pavithra Jovan De Mello

2012 has so far been a very good year for Rock Music in Sri Lanka. With some amazing talent showcasing their music at countless concerts. While I’ve been to most of the concerts this year, Deconstruction was a night to remember. It was an unplugged musical extravaganza that was held at The Fuze in Colombo. The bands that performed were RAGE, Circus Cult, Angel Down, Cry Wolf, Ethereal and a special guest performance by the pioneers of Rock music in Sri Lanka, Rattle Snake. The venue was packed and was indeed a great sight to see that, many had turned up to support the local talent. And believe me the music didn’t disappoint. Starting off was RAGE headed by Ravin David Ratnum, with their very first performance this year, with their originals “Set me free”, “Lives in me”, “Back Again” and also a few covers by Opeth, Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam. They were followed by Circus Cult who started off with “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf, “Somebody that I used to know” by Gotye, “Hemorrhage” by Fuel and a few other covers plus their original “After dark special”.
Next to get on stage was Angel Down who was fronted by Lasith Fernando, who was also one of the brains behind the event. Angel down covered some amazing classics ranging from “Would” by Alice In Chains to “Mamma I’m coming home” by Ozzy Osbourne and a few others.
The atmosphere was electric by then. People were settling in and the layout and design of the stage did justice to the face that this was an Unplugged event. Candles were lit around the setup, which completely went hand in hand with the whole acoustic atmosphere of the night. The next band that performed was Cry Wolf. Starting off with a few covers such as “Save Me” by Shinedown, “Leader of Man” by Nickelback and “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes. They also performed three of their originals, “The Wind”, “Silhouettes In The Dark” and their latest single “Burn” which they performed for the first time to the public that night, which the audience definitely enjoyed.
Then came the much awaited guest performance by Rattle Snake who reunited to perform for this very gig after almost 30 years. Comprised of Keerthi Fernando, Thilak Dias, Kamal Perera and Bonny Appaswami, Rattlesnake gave the crowd a performance that left them in awe. Everyone was silent when they performed, surely mesmerized by the level of professionalism by these masters of music and the Godfathers of Sri Lankan rock music.
And finally Ethereal took to the stage, gave the crowd some amazing covers like “Zombie” by The Cranberries and “Vermillion part 2” by Slipknot, followed by their originals. Arfath Saleem from Cry Wolf and Bernard Botejue from Circus Cult were also involved in the organising of this concert which was a huge success. To all of those who weren’t there to witness it, well, you surely missed one hell of a gig. Let’s hope that the organisers will come up with another round of Deconstruction very soon.