Last evening after a sumptuous meal at One Step Up, we headed out to Some Place Else. By sheer coincidence Hip Pocket was playing. They play on Wednesdays and Fridays. My previous visit was last Friday and I witnessed the signing off performance of Samidh & Rishi with the Band. So was glad to be here to see & hear Hip Pocket in its new avatar. The replacements were Ben Wesley on vocals and Bumpy on bass. Sumit was still missing nursing his hand, which will keep him off the stage for another 2 odd weeks I heard. So Dabbu was filling in. Anyway they got off to a shaky start, vocally I felt and Ben seemed to lack the stage presence that had been built by Samidh. I guess the confidence will come over time, a glimpse of which came out when he did a rendition of Bad Moon Rising. But thereafter it was back to his eyes being peeled into the song sheet in front of him. Bumpy already created his presence with his cowboy hat and playing style. The rest of the band, especially Nondon Bagchi chipped in their support vocally taking some of the pressure of newcomer Ben.
I think over time, regulars at some place will begin to appreciate the band again, especially after Sumit gets back on board.
So here’s the new line up of
Hip Pocket:
Ben Westley - lead vocals
Sumith Ramachandran – guitar (Dabbu still filling in though)
Som Dasgupta - keyboards and backing vocals
Nondon Bagchi - drums and vocals
Bumpy - bass guitar
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