It was a night to remember, I knew it would be. It was the final leg of the Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards featuring the Rolling Stone Tribute to Guitar Gods. It all began in November 2008 at the Hard Rock Café in Mumbai with the Beatles tribute; then the Jim Morrison tribute in Delhi and the Pink Floyd tribute in Kolkata. And then finally on February 12, the stage was set for the final show, the musical extravaganza that was to set the night on fire. I was there to host and roast the night that featured Indian guitar legends and my friends, paying tribute to some of the greatest international guitar gods that have ever lived.

The night began with the band for the evening Hipnotribe opening their set with four originals from their as-yet-untitled upcoming album. Paresh and Naresh Kamath’s side project also features Kurt on drums, Abhijit on keys and Shanks on various other instruments. Post the four originals, Paresh announced his tribute to his guitar gods, Paul Scofield and Prince. With Naresh on vocals for ‘Purple Rain,’ Paresh played a mean solo that would have done Prince proud.

As ‘Purple Rain’ ended, it was my cue to kick off the awards ceremony that was to honour some of this year’s scintillating rock talent from India, and believe me the choices were difficult to make. Ranvir Shorey and Konkona Sen came in to present the evening’s first award that went to the Best Producer of the Year and the Best Live Venue (details elsewhere in the magazine). And after that it was time for our first guest of the evening, Randolph Correia, who played the hell out of the Beastie Boys’ ‘We Gotta Fight For Our Right (To Party)’ and was immediately followed by Rex Vijayan, the soft spoken guitarist from Kerala rock band Avial who played a hard ass tribute to Angus Young with AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black.’ Another couple of awards later, one of Mumbai’s underrated guitarists brought a new life to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Frank Gambale: The flying fingers of Floyd Fernandes began the blaze that was to follow.

Up next was the man who is a legend in Kolkata and was all set to unleash his fury on Mumbai, from Skinny Alley and Pink Noise, Mr Amyt Datta. He led from the front with a song by an obscure but brilliant band called the Screaming Headless Torsos whose guitarist is the brilliant David Fiuczynski. Amyt then bowed to ‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix, and the audience bowed to Amyt.

Dhruv Ghanekar is no stranger to rock in India and has always been a champion of the cause of original music. His first solo album is testimony to his belief in the power of great songwriting and superior musicality, hence his choice of tributes reflected the very same. A John Mayer/Paul Scofield version of a Ray Charles song was as sublime as was his playing. And when Dhruv chose to not put on a red light on ‘Roxanne,’ the whole room turned red hot anyway.

Although it’s not my thing to put labels on anyone and anything, I have still no choice but to call him the King of the North-East Blues. Rudy Wallang has been a bluesman for the past 20 years and has unflinchingly played his ‘blues mind’ and heart at every occasion. This night was no different, yet it lent a whole different aura to the proceedings. Playing original music and dedicating it to Buddy Guy was a unique way of highlighting both their geniuses.

One can’t have a tribute to guitar gods and not pay homage to one of my all-time favourites, Jimmy Page. So with enormous help from Hipnotribe, I launched into my versions of a Led Zeppelin medley that featured ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love.’ Oh and Paresh did all the playing while I tried to warble out Robert Plant to the best of my ability.

The night ended with the much anticipated all-star jam with all guitarists getting up on stage and playing the hell out of the blues, one by one ‘and’ all together!! A fab night at the Hard Rock Café, guys. All you who missed it, missed it! Till next year then, rock & roll baby!!