Raja - Live in Concerts - Madurai Concert Telecast/Videos

[suresh]

KV,
You spoke my mind, I was just so disappointed with this event but you know sometimes one doesn't voice an opinion just so some sensitive friends don't get offended. But if there's some sort of feedback channel capable of taking some of the chatter to KR or someone who matters in Raaja's mysterious scheme of things, why not try right? Ok, I'll try and bullet-point it so I can keep this short.

1 Someone pls tell KR or the family, or Raaja's coterie, that 4 guys in blazers DO NOT mean professional event organisers. These were strictly wannaBEEs (pardon the pun), who were strutting around thinking they'd pulled off a Broadway coup just by showing up with 6 gymboys in black and a few college girls decked in saree and flowers for props sake. Short point - if you don't know how to organise or how to spot a decent organiser, pick the phone and call someone tuned in to today's event management circuit - atleast Gautham Menon.

2 Stop Bhavatharini from assaulting 'Janani Janani' again, I am tempted to file a restraining suit on this. She must be thinking this is family property for her to toss around as she likes, but I have been watching the last 3 shows and it has been going rapidly downhill. And to think Haricharan and the likes are playing chorus!

3 What's this with Bosskey? I mean, I can only think that these guys must be so contemptous of the loyal IR audience to treat it with such a cavalier attitude? Doesn't Raaja, who sets high standards (claimedly) in his interaction with others, see this dumbing-down of the event for what it is?

4 Parthiban, Vivek, Na Mu, Pazhanibharathi - collectively these guys monopolized more than half the show; worser still, Raaja seems to be indulgent of their fanboy comments that were so juvenile, I wished I was watching Manada Mayilada instead. These fairly jobless (save for Na Mu who's scraping by) gentlemen need to be bound and gagged the next time an IR show is on.

5 The questions were, let me be polite, so lame and pedestrian barring a couple - did KR indeed select these personally?

6 The Paa RR and quite a few segments were rehashed from earlier shows, so another 30 mins wasted.

7 The sound guys can't be fit to set up loudspeakers for a Mariamman thiruvizha pandhal, continued to be poor right through the show. Atleast can't fault them for consistency.

8 Raaja says that he means to interact with his fans more, but please, he needs to understand that the average IR fan like me will continue to spend (such high ticket rates, but no seating plan, ticket nos..) time and money despite serious misgivings, but he's letting many discerning music loyalists rue their decision. It is not alright to wave an excuse that he doesn't understand marketing, but still price tickets so high for what was a performance that essentially lasted just about 1 hour (the rest was, well, *&%@#$!). Again, if the intent of the show was to launch "ilayathalam", what was the need to be so secretive about it?

9 They had Balu Mahendra sitting right there - these guys couldn't think of asking him to discuss with Raaja the making of any of their epic songs, but had all the time for Parthiban and Vivek's monkey chatter?

10 If, as Bosskey claimed, the show had no pre-decided format and was basically meant to be a freewheeling Raaja show, part lec-dem, then they better spend atleast a few hours on brainstorming atleast 6 key segments that they could structure a 3-hour show around. My friend says he'd rather spend his money on a Thursday evening at Black & White to get his fix of Raaja nostalgia (besides other poison). As for me, I’m a sucker for even a 1-min Raaja alaap, so I’ve lined up my dear friend Rajasaranam for Sept 1.

I'm not stopping because 10 is a good number to round off, but for concern that I may offend someone the more this goes on. Ok, just one last jibe, what's with this 'Ilayathalam' business? Anyone smell an Emu scam? You pay 5000 to get straight to KR and Bhava judging you on shruthi and bhavam? Please someone tell me this is a joke?

If someone here has access to KR, please tell him there’s something called ‘brand salience’ and even though the Raaja brand is strong enough to withstand such trauma, there’s a better way of squeezing those golden eggs out. I offer to consult for free.