Legends on a shattered stage: A night of music and chaos

Pakistani band Jal has taken Dhaka by storm after 14 long years. Fans were filling the venue at Jamuna Future Park, where the temporary roof over the North Court was removed, allowing people to look over the railings on all eight floors.

Fans were crammed into every corner, even taking over the elevators. They were all mesmerized by Goher Mumtaz’s heartfelt performance of the timeless classic ‘Aadat’.

The entire shopping mall was filled with nostalgia, excitement and tears as the music reached the depths of everyone’s hearts. As the crowd lapsed into nostalgia, officials came on stage and pulled Goher’s guitar, signaling him to stop. And he left the stage without even saying a single farewell word to his loved ones.

The show ended before it really started. After waiting 14 years for this moment, fans were left with an incomplete performance.

A chaotic crowd, many without tickets, forced their way in and the night was plagued by endless technical glitches, leaving what should have been a triumphant comeback feeling disappointingly underwhelming.

At one point during the chaos, I couldn’t help but laugh as the organizers were nowhere to be found and the ticketing team froze and watched as the crowd forced their way in as everything spiraled out of control.

The irony was striking, especially after an organizer had confidently assured me over the phone the night before: “The safety of the artist and the audience is our number one priority.”

The Vikings band came and went, but it was hard to enjoy any of their classics.
‘Bhalobashi Jaare’ because of the crappy sound system.

Originally, the concert was supposed to take place at the Dhaka Arena, an open space, but changing the venue to a shopping mall guaranteed technical problems. Organizers were responsible for managing this better, but they fell short.

Throughout the event, organizers reminded the crowd that the concert was far from what they had planned. While they somehow got the job done, the incident that occurred raised the question: Was it all worth it, and to what extent could the disaster have been prevented?

As visitors pushed their way into the venue at the entrance, they encountered a hall filled wall to wall with people.

There was absolutely no way to see the stage. Rather, people were sadly gathered around a single screen showing the performance. It comes to mind when you remember that most of these attendees paid Tk 3,000 just to watch a screen at the venue.

To add to the confusion, the mall remained open to the public, so there were only black curtains separating the show and the audience from them. And that wasn’t much of a roadblock.

Moreover, these curtains were lowered in the middle of the show when it became impossible to control the unruly crowd that was too large for the venue.

Eventually the army had to intervene and repeated demands for the crowd to calm down were ignored. It might have been more effective to steal Kendrick Lamar’s famous line from ‘Humble’ to get everyone’s attention!

No matter how magical every chord of ‘Aadat’ was, it still wasn’t enough. The crowd mostly sang along to ‘Sajni’ and ‘Ik Din Ayega’ but we craved Goher’s presence more.
But when the show began with everyone singing ‘Woh Lamhey’ in unison, it felt like a brief moment of unity, a reward for enduring the chaos and hardships everyone had faced before.

Goher was undeniably stunning, and while he showcased his brilliance as a guitarist outside of ‘Aadat’, his performance didn’t hit the nostalgic heartstrings as much as I had hoped.

As if in response to the all-evening challenge, the headliners played an unreleased song to the crowd, and we’re eagerly awaiting its official release.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the whole show was Aurthohin, who gave a truly unforgettable performance even though he came on stage an hour late.

Bassbaba Sumon completely captivated the crowd with ‘Chaitei Paro’ and every song that followed was nothing short of perfection.

But even this memory was marred by the sound interference that spread throughout the shopping mall’s floors.

While they enchanted us with their powerful renditions of ‘Aushomapto’, ‘Epitaph’, ‘Bijoyer Gaan’, ‘Nikkristo’ and ‘Tumi Bhorecho Ei Mon’, we sang along and closed their set once again with ‘Chaitei Paro’.

This was a particularly poignant moment because it marked Mahaan Fahim’s last performance with Aurthohin due to health issues.

The announcement came shortly after the concert, with a post on Bassbaba Sumon’s Facebook page wishing Mahaan a speedy recovery.

It was remarkable to see that real fans maintained their hopes until the end, in a night full of difficulties from beginning to end. They came for Jal and stayed, but their loyalty was not rewarded as expected.

The highly anticipated night with music legends turned out to be semi-unforgettable. While the crowd was eventually brought under some control, mid-performance disruptions and constant problems negatively impacted the experience.

A night full of legends should never be spent in a shopping mall. In the end, many left disappointed, feeling not worth the money, their faces reflecting the disappointment of unmet expectations.