Photos: Garage Paradise 2

Age of Chaos performed on day two of Garage Paradise

The second edition of Garage Paradise, a music festival organized to support rock and metal, took place in Kolkata last weekend and saw a lineup of 16 bands. The fact that the two-day festival was held far from city limits (at Rabindra Bhawan in Dum Dum) didn’t deter Kolkata metal fans, who showed up in good number. Besides playing originals, the bands also performed covers of international favorites such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica, thanks to this year’s theme, Tribute to Legends, which required them to play a song by any artist from the rock or metal pantheon.

The year-old alt-rock act The Buddha Therapy, were the scene stealers for the night on day one. They delivered a performance that was high on energy with vocalist Sudipto Pati charging up the adrenal of the audience. Heavy metallers Chronic Xorn performed songs from their recently released album, From Mercy, that fared well with the listeners. However, the metal frenzy seemed to fizz out when alt-rock band Loch Lomond dropped the tempo with their cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You”, upsetting many headbangers. 

There were plenty of histrionics on stage on day two. While metal bands Scarface and Age of Chaos delivered the tightest sets of the night, it was the visual feat (face paints, LED lights) that modern rock band Not Yet Decided brought with them that made them impossible to miss. However, it was equally difficult to overlook the sound glitches that marred their set. Fans soon had stiff competition when prog metal act Crematory Art’s female vocalist Suman let her hair loose. A slow start and a few hiccups later, the band was instrumental in bringing together some heavy-duty moshing. In spite of heavy rains outside, the crowd stayed back to watch metal act, Yonsample, that brought a fitting end to the festival. 

 Photos: Margub Ali