By Abha Anindita
BHOIRYMBONG, Nov 19: Sunday saw two finales at the RBDSA Sports Complex at Madan Kurkalang, Bhoirymbong, in Ri-Bhoi: the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival and the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup final between Australia and India.
While the former brought festival-goers much joy, happiness, and celebration, the latter caused some festival-goers to experience some heartache.
The main stage, the second stage, and the DJ dome were the three areas designated for their respective target audiences. People of all ages were bustling through the mushy field, looking their best.
The event began with Rhem-Hoap, followed by Garo band Rokpante. Da Minot then encouraged the crowd to sing along accompanied by cries of Hoi Kiw.
Subsequently, The Blue Temptations emerged with their thrilling guitar tunes, captivating the hearts of music aficionados.
This was followed by the legendary Lou Majaw working his magic as usual. “We love you Lou,” the Majaw fans could not contain their excitement.
But as the second inning of the India versus Australia final was coming to a finish, the crowd increased there and watched the match while continuing to dance to DJ Zethan’s powerful remixes. However, they left disheartened because India had lost.
Though there was obvious disappointment, they quickly got back into the spirit of music, racing to the main stage where Ronan Keating was primed to rock Shillong.
The main act on Sunday, Ronan Keating, who is visiting the city with his spouse, performed in front of a packed house, with the audience singing along to his songs as if they were well-versed in them.
Keating performed a combination of his solos, vintage covers, and some of his Boyzone hits during his set. He claimed that the crowd responded to his best-known song, When You Say Nothing At All, in ways he had not anticipated. Expressing gratitude for the audience that had come to witness his live performance, he exclaimed, “Wow, what a Sunday this has been.”
Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh and Tourism Director Cyril Diengdoh were also in attendance.
Due to the postponement of the event’s first day on Friday, the indie-pop group SANAM, who was the headliner, was finally able to perform on Sunday. The audience was treated to a delightful performance of English pop by Ronan Keating and moving covers of Bollywood classics by Sanam – The Band.
Sanam’s performance, as they had previously stated, ended with a full set that included a combination of their original songs and renditions. However, they arrived on stage later than expected, and the band claimed that they wanted to perform longer but were cut off by the organisers because of the time constraint, leaving them somewhat upset.
They, however, hoped they would be return to Shillong and get to perform to their full potential.