Every time I perform in Dubai, I think that this is the best concert and best audience ever. But then, I return and I find a better audience and it becomes a better concert, said Sunidhi Chauhan during her live performance to a sold-out crowd at the Mirchi Bollywood Rocks concert in the Dubai World Trade Center on Friday. A culmination of the month-long first-anniversary celebrations of the Indian radio station Radio Mirchi, the concert, organised by the station and Purple Vogue events, brought Sunidhi Chuahan to Dubai along with the Indian musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
The show was opened by the Indian stand-up comedian Raviraj Kande. Kande tried his best to elicit genuine laughter from the impatient crowd, but fans of Chauhan responded to every punchline with chants of the songstress’s name, demanding she come on stage to get the actual show started. They were in for a bit of a wait, though, because Kande was followed by Rakesh Maini, an emerging Indian singer who first came to the public’s attention as a finalist on season five of Indian Idol. Maini worked his way through a set of five popular Bollywood tracks and managed to warm the audience up.
Clad in black head to toe, Chauhan then strutted confidently on to the stage and instantly elevated energy levels. The second she put her mouth to the mic for her first song – Crazy Kiya Re – the audience went crazy. From then on, the barometer just kept rising. She pumped up the audience with some of her most popular, high-energy Bollywood numbers including Desi Girl and Halkat Jawani, before taking a breather for a segment which she referred to as a collection of songs that are closest to her heart. These mellow, romantic numbers were followed by a couple of other songs sung as duets along with Maini.
A little after midnight, she made way for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who picked up right where she left off. Their set comprised popular songs from Bollywood films that the trio have lent their compositions to, such as Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On and Kal Ho Na Ho.
A rocking time in Bollywood style is what the organisers promised the audience, and – between Chauhan and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy – that is exactly what the concert delivered.
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