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On Saturday, June 16 2007, A.R. Rahman brought his "3rd Dimension" tour here to Fairfax VA, and I realized that this would be the perfect time to see the "Mozart of the East" in person.  Knowing that these shows sometimes are a bit "off schedule," I left a tad bit late from my home and headed towards the Patriot Center, anticipating what was to come from this highly publicized event. 

When I arrived at the event, the doors were open for us to enter however, ushers would not allow us to go to our seats because, as one usher stated:  "They are still rehearsing and are not ready for people to take their seats."  If I had not been exposed to these kinds of "quirks" typical of Indian shows, I could have lost my patience however I took it in stride and waited inside of the building with the rest of the patrons, waiting to be seated.

After being seated, the very first thing I noticed was the 2 large screens intended for viewers to watch during the concert.  What was annoying about these screens as we waited for the show to start, was that the promoters played an app. 1 minute clip of a promotional video for Himesh Reshammiya's "Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story" over, and over again.  This went on for the almost 1 hour wait, and I thought to myself, as large as this event is being promoted as, they couldn't add more video clips than just 1 highly annoying song clip?

At 7:50 pm, 20 minutes after the scheduled start time (not so bad for a Indian concert huh?!) the lights were finally turned out inside of the building.  Blaaze, an Indian hiphop/pop artist took the stage first and did the general "How you doin' Fairfax VA!!??" dialogue typical of "hypemen."  After getting the crowd to cheer loudly for a few seconds, to my suprise A.R. Rahman was the first artist to take the stage.  At first glimpse, I asked myself "who is this guy?  And why does he sound like A.R. Rahman?"  For those of us accustomed to American concerts and events, the main acts never take to the stage first, they normally take the stage after all of the opening acts have finished performing.  But after looking at the large screen above me, I realized it was indeed A.R. Rahman, dressed in an all white outfit, singing the lyrics to "Jaage Hain Der Tak," from the film Guru.

After performing the track, A.R Rahman left the stage shortly, and then reappeared to take to a platform where he would spend most of the night.  As each of the co-stars came to the stage, such as Hariharan, who played to the overwhelmingly Tamil crowd, and Sadhana Sargam, who sung such tracks as "Ay Hairathe," a somewhat "corny" and rather "tacky" troupe of dancers would occasionally accompany them onto the stage.  I'm glad that the event did not showcase 30 dancers on stage all trying to synchronize dance moves however, the "corny" routines of the dancers completely took away the effects of the actual vocal performances.

Of course the highlights of the show began when A.R Rahman took the stage for the unforgettable track "Dil Se," which brought the entire house to their feet, singing and chanting along as Rahman knocked out all of the high notes with ease.  Getting the crowd this rowdy must have been the plan, because following that number, beloved singer Sukhwinder Singh took the stage alongside another female vocalist (not featured in program) to perform the classic track "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from the same film, and this was by far the standout performance of the night.  Sukwhinder was able to sing the track with such grace, changing the timing of words here and there, transforming the performance into his own vocal exhibition, while playing to the crowd's delight.

Another standout performance of the night belonged to drummer/percussionist Sivamani, who for almost 10 minutes played an electrifiying drum and percussion solo.  Beating on drums, congos, cow bells, bass drums, cymbals, the performance was absolutely amazing and what upset me the most, is that throughout the entire performance, I noticed many people in the audience un-moved by Sivamani.  Many had their heads in their hands, and I thought to myself, if what this man is doing does not enter your body and make you feel any different than when you came into this building, why the hell are you here?  Sivamani's performance showcased his amazing talents as a musician, however only drew a half-hearted applause from the audience, something I found highly un-comforting.

With all of the standout performances, there were problems as well.  For the first time, the Patriot Center had decided to serve alcohol at this event, a decision I must admit was the wrong decision.  Throughout several Rahman performances, loud chants and rants could be heard coming from across the building, obviously from individuals who had too much alcohol in their systems.  These outbursts were so obnoxious that Rahman actually stopped before he played "Pray For Me Brother," and yelled back at the audience:  "Can I talk now?  This is a very sensitive issue to me so please be respectful."  Those words had no effect whatsoever, as the obnoxious yelling could be heard all night.

Overall, the concert was a great experience and I found each of the co-singers amazing as live vocalists.  The lighting backdrop which played synchronized lighting effects was a great piece to add to the artist's performances, and playing such hits as "Dil Se" and "Chaiyya Chaiyya" brought electricity to the arena.  Even with all of the mishaps, the concert was truly an amazing musical experience, and I must say that A.R. Rahman has done his best with the cast of the "3rd Dimension" Tour.