All our favourite moments from Pepsi Battle of the Bands' kick-off last night
Pepsi's Battle of the Bands kicked off last night and looks like we're in for a great show.
The relaunched show has garnered a lot of hype, with stars like Fawad Khan, Meesha Shafi and Atif Aslam on board to judge the competition, which is full of new talent. It's about time these budding artists be given a platform to showcase what they've got!
This episode did not feature Atif Aslam but had Farooq from Aaroh as a guest judge.
With the first episode out, here are the moments we enjoyed the most.
1) The show kicked off with a female-led band!
Naksh is a band consisting of three brothers, their childhood friend aaand a female vocalist (yay!). The band did a great job of covering 'Bolo Bolo' by Sajjad Ali. The judges loved it. But Fawad gave the most interesting comment of all.
"It's refreshing to see a female lead vocalist after [such a long time]. We used to have a band called The Milestones who had Candy as the lead vocalist... that trend is kinda gone. I feel there is a lot of power when you [sing]... you were just nailing it," he said to the vocalist Mehak.
It's like he read our minds! Here's hoping we see more promising female vocalists come to the fore with Pepsi Battle of the Bands.
2) Positive's performance took us back to our roots
Band Positive (yeah, that's what they're called) had taken part in the last Battle of the Bands (in the same season that EP and Aaroh participated) and now has returned, with fewer members though. Talk about persistence!
The band did a cover of 'Kalab' by Allan Fakir, which was clearly one of the standout performances of the episode. It took us back to the early Coke Studio days.
Positive is an unexpected entry; when you think Battle of the Bands, you think pop and rock. We loved that the tabla player was kinda front and centre in their performance. Positive showed that classical music is alive and loved.
3) The Pindi Boys just wanna break some stereotypes
Jasim and the Pindi Boys is a band formed by the creator of the viral song of the same name, Jasim Haider. You'd think this was the comedic troll band that came for a few good laughs but you'd be wrong to make that assumption or any assumption at all!
The Pindi Boys is a band that knows its music and wants to challenge misconceptions about young men from Rawalpindi. They have their quirks, like funny lyrics and wearing shades before the performance, but musically they were spot on. With their music, they want to end the Islamabad vs Rawalpindi feud by quashing the maila stereotype that's associated with being a 'Pindi boy'.
Jasim and the Pindi Boys performed their song 'Pindi Boys' and their original track got them noticed!
4) Fawad cracked a joke about EP
Band Kashmir performed EP's 'Hamesha'. While we already appreciate the band for its guts (it can't be easy to cover a song in front of its creator), we really admire Fawad Khan's joke at his own expense in front of the band.
"Whoever covered our song has always done a better job than us," laughed Fawad. "So you guys have nothing to worry about."
5) The guitarist who knew how to rock
Kashmir did a good job with EP's 'Hamesha', but it was the guitarist that won our judges.
Vais Khan performs lead guitar for Kashmir and he has some new fans. His passion for the guitar and rock was very clear and he did more than just play the guitar but gave a whole performance. Fawad dubbed him Slash and was even contemplating getting his autograph.
Vais is definitely the fire we want to see in such competitions and something tells us if this was a guitar competition, he'd have already won!
6) OB Positive embraced the simple love for music and melted our hearts
Three "very sweet" guys, as Meesha Shafi called them, form the band OB Positive and their goal is to keep a particular authentic feeling in their music. And they gave us the feels, alright!
The band performed a cover of 'Aitebaar' by Vital Signs and their unplugged take was simple, raw and full of emotion. OB Postive showed that it's not about the gear or the glamour, but the heart. It was certainly enough to remind Farooq of Aamir Zaki saying to him "less is more", and that shows the strength of their performance right there.
7) And finally, this sweet moment of Fawad just being really happy <3