Good old rock ‘n’ roll addas

This evening, I am looking forward to visiting Adagio, a music venue near Lilavati Hospital in Bandra, for the first time. I have been invited before but tonight have blocked the date for a listening session of Jethro Tull’s 1972 album Thick as a Brick. Run by the young and enterprising Aman Singh Gujral, Adagio has another venue in Chembur. They have done sessions on rock bands Queen, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac on vinyl records. Apparently, some interesting trivia is shared and new friends are made, bonding over music.

The concept of music listening clubs isn’t new, of course. A few friends and I have moderated a rock club since 2001, and many still haven’t recovered from our last bash a few days ago, on Sunday April 15. Later, the Bombay Rock Association did a similar thing on a commercial basis.

I have been to ghazal clubs, often featuring younger artistes performing live, and smaller jazz and fusion get-togethers where recorded music and videos are played between a small group of friends. Many Hindi film and classical music groups exist.

The point is this. Within such communities, where people get together in person and not online, the primary purpose is to have a group listening experience.

Music is shared and discussed. And this concept may not be restricted to music, but also to football, fashion and Federico Fellini. Online groups on Facebook and WhatsApp have become pretty common now. But most of the time, most of the members never even meet each other.

The live listening sessions, however, involve real meetings, though a lot of planning is done on social media. They take effort and preparation. A club venue will have to choose the theme and think of the broad audience numbers expected. A close-knit group of friends will look at venue, costs involved per person, choice of music and arrangements for food and beverages.

In the latter case, there may be differences of opinion. Some may not prefer a particular artiste; others may insist the artiste is played. Some may want recorded music, some may ask for live jams. Some want Mughlai, others want South Indian veg, Chinese or Italian. The objective of course is to get together and enjoy a common genre of music. It’s not easy to cater to 50 diverse tastes of C Minor, cuisine and comforts.

Places like Adagio, and private listening clubs, fulfil that purpose. Tonight’s Jethro Tull session should be a treat for fans. The venue plans a Beatles session next month. Literally, people will ‘come together’ once more. As Tull frontman Ian Anderson wrote, you’re never too old to rock ‘n’ roll.