Every single Indian rocker knows that Parikrama opened for Iron Maiden in Bangalore on 17th March. That was some news, but nobody knows about the kind of impact that show left on everybody from the lands of rock that day. The Maidens themselves paid the Parikrama a visit back stage to congratulate them on their unique blend of Indian classical and retro rock of the 70s. Parikrama wasn’t even expecting to see the Maidens, let alone their coming to them personally. Well to sum it all it was an awesome experience for the band that has been singing for more then 14 years and that too without a single album to their credit.. some nerve..

Noticeably Parikrama performed all original set at the gig and also played two new songs. The success of the show and the impact it had was blatantly projected in the article “Maiden India” by Ed Vulliamy which was released online on the Observer Guardian Unlimited on Sunday, April 22, 2007. This is the official say:

“If the support band, Parikrama, don’t soon make inroads in the West, the A&R system is malfunctioning badly. During an entrancing instrumental called ‘The Open Sky’, the violinist, Imran Khan, played a hypnotic solo entwining heavy rock, Paganini and the chromatics of Ravi Shankar, while a huge, majestic but appropriately ominous jet-black house crow hovered above the stage.

Offstage, Parikrama’s vocalist Nitin Malik says with a knowing look: ‘Yes, that number can often change the weather.’ He explains that ‘heavy rock in India has been the preserve of the young intelligentsia until now. But it is filtering down to the blue-collar workers, becoming the music of a new generation in a new kind of country. But,’ he adds, ‘there is nothing in the world like playing on the same stage as Iron Maiden.’

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