The Sound of Hope concert at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture drew quite a crowd. Mostly very young people spread across the lawns of the school. While the crowd was an easy one, singing along to Mauj’s funky tunes and laughing at Sami Shah’s sometimes old jokes; it set a new bar for how to judge how big a star someone is.
As soon as Noori came on stage, all the girls who lingered at the back rushed forward in a stream to join the main crowd. After that, Noori could do no wrong. Ali Noor played his part of the rockstar well, and graciously. He pointed out that this was the first time in four years that himself, Hamza and Gumby had played together. And he gave “big shout out” to Omran Shafique who was also playing with them.
“It finally feels like a concert,” commented one fan, “they’re competing with the Cheapmunks,” remarked another as the band mixed up verses from the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and ‘Gaana No. 1’.
It didn’t matter though, as the audience went wild as soon as Noori started singing. “Holy s**t man, this kicks a**!” exclaimed Ali Noor. What added to the likeability of the band on this particular night was also the fact that they kept acknowledging the people playing with them;Â Omran and Gumby. “I think I’ll have to quit guitar after seeing him play,” Noor said of Omran.
Of course though, there were people who wondered why Hamza didn’t sing and why Noori didn’t play any of their newer songs. But all of that lay forgotten as the band played its set and asked its pet question “Maza araha hai? (Are you having fun?)
