JUST A FEW FROM A ZILLION REASONS WHY THE DANISH MEN TOOK OUR HEART AWAY

TOLLY FACTOR

IT’S FUN TO BE NOTHING BUT A FANBOY: DEREK O’BRIEN

 

Twenty years ago, in simpler times when the abbreviation “EMI” meant a music company and not a monthly debit from your bank account, I presented a radio programme on popular Western music. It was my privilege to introduce on radio a young group from Denmark that was  beginning to make a name for itself and was the latest sensation from the EMI family. And so Michael Learns To Rock came into my life, and perhaps to those of my listeners.

A few weeks ago, when I heard Michael Learns To Rock was coming to Calcutta as part of a tour, I was excited. Politics and public life impose obvious restrictions on what you do, but once in a while it’s fun to be nothing but a fanboy. That the concert was to take place at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club (CC&FC), a short walk from where I live, made me even happier. Until I saw the ticket prices: Rs 10,000 a pop, Rs 4,000 if you wanted to just stand and listen. 

Luckily, t2 came to my rescue and offered me three tickets provided I wrote for the paper! I asked my 20-year-old daughter, born at about the same time as Michael Learns To Rock was becoming famous, to join me. She made a face. Oh ho, wrong generation, I realised. So my wife and I went, and an old friend, Patrick, now living in Australia but visiting home, came along to hum and sing as we relived our younger days. 

The atmosphere at CC&FC that evening was nostalgic. I have attended several concerts live — Osibisa, with my brothers, in Calcutta in 1981, and later when one-fourth of Boney M performed at Raichak. Overseas, I’ve been in the audience, jumping, grooving or just gaping, as Elton John, The Eagles, Neil Diamond, Kris Kristofferson, Air Supply, Diana Ross and Billy Joel (yes, eat your heart out!) have brought on the music. But CC&FC was special — this was my city, my para, my people, my generation. Our music.

My favourite Michael Learns To Rock number is that soulful love anthem The Actor. It gave me the goose pimples to hear it in person. But as the concert ended, I felt a bit empty. Something was missing. Then I whispered to Patrick: “Paint My Love …. They haven’t done it yet. I think they’ve kept it back for the encore…” A few moments later, my prediction came true. The band had reserved this catchy love song for the encore. For me, listening to Paint My Love was to ride an emotional roller coaster. This was the very song I’d played as a radio jockey all those years ago!

Postscript: After a long week in the Parliament, Thursday was Michael Learns To Rock at CC&FC. Friday saw me hop across to the CIMA Gallery, CC&FC’s neighbour, for a Paresh Maity show, trading pop culture for high culture, admiring paintings and settling into an adda over cha. MLTR to Maity in 24 hours? Only in Calcutta.

MLTR was the best concert of my life because... Tell t2@abp.in