World Tour 2008 Review By Atif Aslam

Loving Aadeez
Its been a long time I haven¡t spoke to you on forums but trust me I was really busy and was trying to cherish all of you by being at your places and close to you
Summer beats USA tour was being awaited since winters and this was my 4th Tour to United States but this time it was altogether on a different high level
God was and is always kind as ever to gimme an opportunity to perform at one of the best venues of United States, places where our dream rock stars had been performing
We were a troop of about 35 people including our band kailash khers band,richa sherma, amanat , dancers and the technical support people to perform at 12 diff cities.
Departure
My entire team assembled at the airport at approx 9 pm on May 12th 2008. The Flight to US was a comfortable one. Lots of in-flight entertainment and trust me the food was Good. Go PIA Everyone had plans to sleep on the plane, but I don¡¦t know was it the excitement or what, none of us were able to achieve this particular objective for the entire 18 hours flight.
Chicago. May 16th, 2008 - Odeum Sports and Expo Center- Chicago
This was Our 1st concert on tour. This was the thing we had come for, this was the thing everyone was yarning to be at. The Concert was held on May 16th, 2008 at the Odeum Sports and Expo Center- Chicago. The concert was organized very nicely and we were taken really good care of by Monty, Majid Bhia and all of their team. The concert was a blast. It was oversold, and the audience was awesome. Ironically the Sound was electrifying and the performance went super. The only flaw that I could identify was that although Amant Ali and Kelish Kher were supposed to be there, but due to visa problems and logistics, they could not make it there.
The best thing was, that after the concert when we reached our hotel, almost the entire fan club was standing at the hotel. There were so many people that the hotel receptionist got so pissed off, she had to call CPD Chicago Police Department. I was told later by my band member that I missed the scene as 4 CPD cars surrounded the hotel and it seamed like a scene from some Al-Pachino movie.
May 17th, 2008 Dallas Convention Center
We met a very good friend Mr. Raza at Dallas, who officially was not our promoter, but he took very special care of us. The concert was at the Dallas Convention Center. He made sure that our stay at the Grand Haytt situated in downtown Dallas and it was flawless, and he had deputed his personal fleet of cars at our disposal.
The good thing was that after the first 4 days, we eventually got our First well earned 3 days break. By this time after looking at our eyes, any normal person would immediately jump to the conclusion that we all were heavily on drugs, because all we had on our eyes were red colors (due to lack of sleep) and halkay
Los Angeles May 24th, 2008 (at The Terrace Theater)
Our next show was in Los Angeles on May 24th, 2008 at The Terrace Theater. This show was also organized pretty well. Thanx to Ballah promoter and his family, with whom we I created a flourishing friendship. Just to mention here, it¡s said that everything in Texas is Big. I guess that¡¦s wrong for Texas, cause everything in LA is Big. As I had a few days to relax, for the very first time I went for a shopping spree. I had been having the craving for getting my hands on a new baby. This was meant to happen In LA as it was here, when I purchased a brand new electric guitar of ¡§Gretsch¡§ and surprised all my band members when I pulled it out from its case just before the concert in LA. That was the official launch of my first shopping and that baby sounded awesome when it was plugged in. (p.s im still talking about my new guitar, don¡¦t get any weird Ideas about who the baby is.)
At this time, all of us had the first chance to go meet up with our friends and families which was certainly a blessing in disguise.
It was here in LA that I went to a private party, and there I met up with the winner of American Idol, David Cook. We had a nice conversation with each other, and I told him about the type of music that we make in the East, to which not only was he very interested in but wanted to have detailed account. Not only did I meet David, but I was fortunate to meet up with Randy Jakson and Simon Cowell, the judges of the American Idol Final show.
Houston May 25th, 2008 George Brown Convention Center
Houston show was very energetic. During our tour, we figured out quit amazing stuff on sound checks and rehearsals, and in our concerts experimented a lot with new stuff. The audience response to it was mesmerizing, specially when we did the numbers of Tayray bin, Berre, Dorrie, Rabba, Mayee, and last but not the least Addat. Apart from all these, there was one day that I heard on the Radio a song called Billy Jeans by Michael Jackson, and while we were backstage before our performance, that I so got into that song that I just picked up my guitar, and started to play it in my own way. Suddenly sameer started the base grove and it was so perfect, that we kept on repeating that song. There was only one slight problem. We did not know the entire lyrics. It was only 20 mints left before we were supposed to be onstage, suddenly someone came up with the brilliant idea, to down load the lyrics for any black berry. A black berry with internet connection was found, and guess what, we downloaded the lyrics, wrote it on a paper, and played that song on stage. It was so funny, that I was singing and Sameer had a paper over my shoulder with the lyrics. I think it was not a bad performance after all, considering that we did not even practice is properly once. All hats off to my band, who are always open for new experiments.
May 26th, 2008 Orlando ¡V UCF (University of Central Florida!) auditorium
There was one incident in Orlando, which I would like to quote over here. While I was on stage, and we were almost at our 2nd last song, there was this one girl who somehow managed to come on stage. Not that I mind that, but within seconds I found myself surrounded with I guess 60 people who were on stage. At that time I was playing the guitars and the mic was not in my hand as it was on the mic stand. And suddenly I see that I did not have the ownership of the mic, and there was this one dude with a white shirt, who had successfully taken over ¡K.and to my surprise was singing as well¡K..the rest of the people just wanted to touch me and kiss me. Not that I mind being with my fans, but hellow !!! I think we were having a Professional Concert. There was no security what so ever, and I was rescued by Aly, who just grabbed me and took me offstage. Now that¡¦s what I call a close call.

New Jersey May 31st, 2008 Sovereign Bank Arena
NJ concert was also organized in a very big arena, but to our surprise this town was really deserted. We stayed at the Marriott. The funny thing that happened here was that on the first night of arrival, after taking a long flight, we all called it quits for the night and every one had affirmed that they will sleep till late in the morning so that they can wakeup fresh for the concert the next day. But fate was thinking otherwise. At almost 6.30 in the morning everyone in the Entire hotel was JOLTED UP by this loud public address system, and all we could here was, This is not a drill, please EVACUATE the building immediately, do not take your belongings, do not use the lift, this is not a drill, please evacuate the building¡¨ ¡K¡K..on my God this is not happening¡K¡K. was my first impression. By the time I reached downstairs, I could see the entire hotel assembled at a designated area, with long faces and unimaginable hair styles. Some were bare feet, some in their sleeping suits while some in their nightgowns and some in their shorts. Every one had to evacuate without taking their personal belongings as this alarm was a fire alarm. As I looked at the people, I saw this one dude who was in is night suit, but carrying a laptop on his shoulders¡K..hey wait a minute, this guy looks familiar. On closer focus, I found out it was Mobin, our drummer, who in all this panic and frenzy, made it sure, that he did take his newly purchased laptop with him. The common statement that every one was whispering and asking to each other was ¡§ oyee tu room main cigarette tou nahee pea rahaa thaa¡¨ jis wajah say fire alarm bajaa thaa. Later it was found out that some Kid in the hotel had pressed the Fire Alarm lever and it went off. Thanks for running our sleep dude. Yet once again like it happened in Chicago, we saw an entourage of Police cars and fire brigades approaching and encircling the hotel.

Toronto June 1st, 2008 Hershey Center
The high time came when we had to perform our first show in Canada (Toronto). The moment we landed in Canada it was totally a change of environment for us. The good thing that I remember about Canada was, that after we cleared immigrations and customs, and as we all were walking out, to our surprise, suddenly out of no where, did we started to hear screams and shouts, and camera flashes going on like bazzuk¡K¡Kit was only after a while that we realized that our arrival in Canada was somehow leaked to the masses, and there was a huge fan following who had come to welcome us at the airport. There were people with bouquets of flowers, welcome cards and what not. At this particular point, I would like to take the opportunity to Thank All of those lovely people, who took time out for us to come and welcome us. And what should I say about the real concert. Goshhh it was soooo amazing. It was held at Hershey Center . The concert was OVER SOLD¡K.which means there were more people in the arena then the actual seating capacity. And the audience was so electrifying. I must say, it was one of the best concerts in our entire tour.
But I think the highest point in Canada was, when out of nowhere did Shahzad bhai appear to join us for the rest of the tour. Just because of his presence, the entire pressure which was being slightly felt by all of us, just vanished and we knew that now our team is complete.Though we still missed Shahbaz and Sheraz and had he been with us on this tour, things would have been so totally different.
Next day after the concert Shahzad bhai showed us around the whole Toronto. My team was also very happy to enjoy a party in Toronto after so many days of hectic performance schedule and they also thought that after the arrival of shahzad bhai only now they have felt that they are enjoying their vacation which was hardcore business before. Mubeen and Aly were really impressed with the cleanliness beauty of Canada and specially Gories saying that their beauty standards have been revised.


Aly purchased a new laptop and he was all so excited about it and what ever time he could find, he was always flirting with his new gadget. When Shahzad bhia arrived, he wanted to do some work, so he went to Aly and borrowed his laptop. Next morning, Aly came out of his room screaming that his laptop has been stolen, as it was nowhere to be found in his room. While Me and him were trying to figure out kay laptop kon choree ker saqtaa hia, Shahzad bhia walked into the lobby, and seeing our long faces, asked what happened. I told him that Alys laptop is missing. And very coolly shahzad bhia replied..
Yaar aik urgent email aayee thi shahbaz ki from Pakistan and the hotels business center was not working Socha Aly ki neend khrab na karoun so I got an extra key of alys room to pick up his laptop leaving a written note there which I guess aly ko nahin nazar aaya.
Aly replied to me laughing yar sukar yeh nahee hia kay laptop shahzad bhia kay pass thaa¡K..sukar yeh hia, kay I was alone in my room, warnaa pardais main shahzad bhia say kutt per janee thee¡K.¨
Us k baad shughal men shahzad bhai nay aly k new laptop k 51% rights zabardasti own ker liyay and he always use to say to aly ¡§ yaar yeh email ker dain zara mera laptop use ker k ¡§ Alys face was worth seeing at those times.
A friend of mubeen in Toronto gave us a drive to a shopping mall but he was so excited to sit with atif aslam and his band that he couldnt control his happiness n excitement and missed a lot of turns on highways and ultimately we reached the mall in double time hehehe

San Francisco June 7th, 2008 Oracle Arena
Temperature was pretty low in SF we enjoyed a barbq party by promoter there. We had the longest sound check of our tour on this show with about 3 hours of playing. Shahzad bhai as always carried on with his exploration of new cities n places left us at sound check n had a great city tour with his friends. And after such a long sound check the actual sound of the show was really bad. We didn¡¦t know what the sound engineer did to the settings. This show was a sort of a downer. Well the show went superb, but it was the arrangements that lacked professionalism.
The crowd was really a mess after the show for autographs n photographs particularly girls and we had to quit from the venue quickly. We were made sit in a car which was not having enough fuel to run and was having a reserve fuel light on and still people were following us on their cars. Luckily we managed to escape n found a fuel station after 45 kilometers ļ
Though I must say that the high point was that we did have a chance to go shopping in SF especially at the Great Mall where we bought almost the whole shop of accessories and as the sales girl was very pretty my band members wished she might come with the package
The strange thing was that the Small size of Americans were loose to us like the XXL size of Thailand people were equal to small size of us. so enjoyed finding the right size of clothes for us.

Atlanta June 8th, 2008 Atlanta Civic Center
Aly lost his bag on atlanta airport and he called me saying ¡§yaar men sab ka saman smbhaltay smbhaltay apna guma baitha houn¡¨. Luckily he found his bag on lost n found counter at airport aur phir us ki jaan men jaan aayee werna pehlay tou us say bola bhi nahin jar aha tha.
We had a gud city tour with Mr. Paracha a decent guy who was also a promoter and was translator
To Nusrat fateh ali khans interview at CNN. Saw the CNN and Coke Headquarters in Atlanta
Had a wonderful evening in a beautiful Italian restaurant where some live musicians were playing . I was mostly the dj of the team while sitting in front seat of every car so they had to bear my choices hehehe¡K..but I think I did a good job, because I NEVER played the requests of my accompanied passengers.

Edmonton June 13th UOA (University of Alberta), Jubilee Auditorium
Edmonton was the coolest place of our tour in terms of temperature. It was about minus 4 there with windchill that night. Edmonton had great clouds n weather plus shopping was really nice there
The Jubilee auditorium was a beautiful newly constructed venue with amazing sound n lighting.
Got a great response form the crowd Alhumdolillah and every thing got completed in a decent fashion.
Meddison Hotel was so big that we were simply tired of walking in the corridors as our rooms were not close by .The hotel contained more than 100 rooms each floor.
Next night Me, Aly and Shahzad Bhai went to restaurant at 3am in the night when there was pindrop silence every where but the restaurant front desk manager got so scared, She thought we are some dacoits, and immediately pressed some security button and suddenly out of no where did Her colleague came out from the kitchen seeing in camera the situation of her They told us they are close and we came back enjoying their expressions

Vancouver June 22nd Opera house theater downtown Vancouver
The Boston show was cancelled because of the passing away of the promoters mother there, which was the only major setback in our entire tour.
Before our last show of Vancouver which was on the 22nd, we rushed back to USA as we had another upcoming tour in UK, and we had to get our visas stamped. The UK promoter, told us that he would send someone to NY to get our visas stamped. But it was a blessing in disguise, as we found the opportunity to stay in NY for a longer time. We were booked in a hotel in Downtown NY Manhattan on Lexington Avenue. This was the first time that we did some serious shopping and pretended to be a tourist. We dined out at some cool places and our center of attraction was Times Square, and the shops around it. Expensive, but worth it, specially the outlets of Boss, Gucchi, D&D and DKNY. We had to fly back to Vancouver for our last concert, but the downside till this point was, that we had not gotten our UK visa.
The Show was in Opera house Theater, and it was scheduled at 8.00 pm and if I remember correctly, till 5.00 pm the equipment and the sound people had not reached the venue. This was the last show on the tour and we felt pretty relaxed after the successful completion of North American Tour. After the show, we had Dinner at the Desi Junction restaurant downtown Vancouver and stayed at the Marriott Richmond. Where every one congratulated each other along thanks.Hum nay apnay main promoter Rocky ki aala kisum ki nakal bhi uteri the way he use to behave in hours of stress due to local promoters.
His pet dialogue was ¡§ I lost my stupid 50 Dollars ¡§ heheheh
Ofcourse the figure of 50 kept on changing


THE UNFORGETTBLE VISA TRIP
It was that when we were in Vancouver that we found out that we need to go back to NewYork and then off to Pakistan to get the visa for UK. The Good news was that we were going to UK for the shows. Imagine going back to Pakistan, and not being able to go back home, but stay in Islamabad for 8 hours, get the visa stamped and hop on the Next BA flight to UK.
The UK embassy prioritized our Visas. It was there while we were sitting in the embassy that we figured out the new song which was all about the USA immigrations and Securities that we had to pass through in the last 40 odd days. We titled the song I-Churanway¨ which was based on that I-94 Immigration form to be filled in at every airport. The song was hilarious and really depicted our position.We got our visas by 4 pm and we ate hallem¨ and rotte¨ in the embassy.Luckily found some fans in embassy staff which allowed us to order food from embassy. This hallem and rotti was the best we had had for quite a while.
Last year on Royal Alberts show we had the visas one day before the show same like this and had the flight to UK on the day of the concert like now.But God is always kind to make the things move in right direction.

The UK TOUR: 26th June- 29th June
Shahzad Bhai left us in Pakistan due to some pending issues in Lahore n sheraz and shahbaz
Joined us for UK Tour. Sheraz was as usual up to his pranks with everyone. I heard there was a pillow fight in the back of the plane, which indulged Sheraz on one side, and every one else on the other, and the aero plane crew were¡Kwell no comments. Sameer and Sarmad had already flown direct to UK from USA as they didnt need visas cause of UK being their home country.


LESTER

Landed in UK, and went straight to the sound check. The first concert was in Lester and to be honest, It was totally mismanaged There was no proper sound or lighting and everyone was tired as hell.We missed our promoters in USA who managed much better than this.

WEMBLEY AREANA LONDON
Wembley is considered as one of the best venues in Europe to perform in and it was an honor to perform there. It was my first show in London after Royal Albert Halls successful show last year.
We also felt a pressure because people had loads of expectations from us after Royal Alberts Concert.
This was the show we all were excited about, as we were performing in Wembley Arena. We did our sound check, which went well, and the show was superb. We were lucky to get extended time as one of the artists who was supposed to perform did not perform and her time slot was given to us, so we continued playing for almost 2 hours.
Alhumdolillah this show was successful as well n we enjoyed our performance.
The best thing happened at the show was the entry of SKJ
She worked in my album meri kahani in one song and than she left for UK for her family reasons
I was not having any contact with her on this tour and we decided to play the song KAPKAPI¨
On the concert I dedicated the song to her saying Miss SKJ if u r listening to this song I would say u did a fantastic job
To the biggest surprise of our whole tour when I was performing KAPKAPI song I saw the real SKJ coming out from the crowd to the stage
I was pleasantly shocked cause I was really not knowing she is in the audience
I asked security guys to let her come on stage n she made the evening more beautiful with her beautiful voice. I ll admire her confidence as she performed well controlling her excitement and after completing the song she disappeared again in the crowd.

After the show an unfortunate incident took place, when my laptop got stolen. And this time it was really stolen. The hotel was not at all accommodating in this regard, and we had to eventually contact the police and file a report which recovered the laptop in the end.

Manchester
As we had to move on to our next show the very next day in Manchester, and that too by road, we packed our stuff in the cars and were off to our 4 hours journey. The trip by road was actually really very nice, as we saw a lot of scenic beauty of UK on our way.
The show was a success too, and that being our last show of the entire North America / UK tour, it had a feeling of both pleasure and sadness. We played our hearts out for the crowd and had a phenomenal response. The sound was amazing and so was the response from the crowd.
Next day we travelled back to London, and decided to spend 4 extra days in London before heading back home. We took a hotel in Oxford Circus, which is actually Central London. This time, we shopped our hearts out and did a bit of site seeing as well. UK gave us a good relaxation time after the successful concerts ALHUMDOLILLAH and we did nonstop fun and shopping for 5 days

Friendships
We made a lot of friends on this tour, and I would like to name a few people here. First of all our international promoter Rocky with whom we had a habit of having a scuffle on a daily basis, but he was so nice, that he just listed to us and tried to do what possibly best he could.
It was an extremely tough task to manage such a huge team in a place like USA for 45 days and about 15 airports. But our promoter Rocky did a gud job.
Then there Was the great Kalish Kher. This guy has a voice which touches directly to your heart. But I think his best trait was his character. I have yet to see a more down to earth, fun loving and caring person yet. Not only Kalish Kher ji is to be mentioned here, but also his entire band. Those people rocked majorly and were really the most chilled out bunch I¡¦ve eve met. Kailash got an excellent memory .
Then there was this entire crew of dancers who were performing with kalish ji and Richa Sharma. Danny was their crew leader and with their impressive costumes and precession cerography¡¦s they delivered an awesome flawless performance throughout the tour. The best thing that I liked about these performers were, that once they were done with their acts, they would go and change, and then they would come and stand front of stage, and for the entire time when I was performing on stage, I could see those people head banging the entire concert. Gosh these people had stamina.
There was Rosouvelt and Zarina, who were handling the Lights and stage effects, and if any one of you will see the videos on UTube, u will have a slight Idea of how awesome the show went with all the ambiance and the laser lights¡K.good job Zarina and Rousavelt¡K..our friends from India. All those lasers and lighting effects were done by them, which no doubt took the shows altogether to a different level. Tehjo was our sound guy, and after the initial 2 or 3 shows, he got the feel of what we really wanted, and he delivered very professionally.

Final Words
When I reflect back on the tour, I guess I would give it an 8 out of 10. The venues selected were very nice, the response of the audience and fans was immaculate and I thank ALLAH for this blessing. The Sound in most of the concerts was at par with our requirements, though we did have our ups and downs there. We developed a lot of new friendships and we hope to maintain them and cherish them for our lifetimes.
On 4th July we took our flight back to Islamabad thus completing a very successful, enriching tour with memories unlimited. The love of the fans, audiences and our organizers will always be respected and remembered and Thanking Allah on being so kind to us for all the blessings that he has showered on everyone, and bringing us back home without any mishap. We landed at Islamabad and there was a delay in our flight to Lahore and we couldnt resist coming back to home on car leaving our flight in Islamabad hehehe

The day we left Pakistan we never had our gud sleep back
Sometimes it was jet lag Sometimes it was a tension that we have to take the next flight in time
Sometimes it was due to the thought why are we relaxing n y we don¡¦t have any further task to compelte hehehe
54 days,25 flights,18 airports, Each airport use to have about 5 security checks so 18*5 =90
We learned how to sleep at airports with our sleeping bags for even 15 minutes .American Airports are as big as a complete city particularly Atlanta. We always had a competition that whoever ll be doing the security check at the earliest ll be the winner. And after last flight we thought of writing a book named ¡§ AMERICAN AIRPORTS¡¨ heheheh
Every hotels management was sick of our noise which we use to make in lobby while jamming or doing nothing. Thanks to gud Vi Fi which kept us connected all the times at our laptops in our rooms
Food was nice at sanfrancisco Great Mall,Chandani Restaurent Atlanta ,taj Mahal Toronto, etc
Cause each one of these places offered some really gud desi food which remind us of homes atleast for that particular time. Whenever we ordered room service in hotel we selected Alys room to dine in cause his nose was sensitive at smell and than he had to clean his room all the time . Each one of us had stomach problems one after the other, Fever one after the other,Flu as well and exertion And in the end we were like we are travelling since our birth heheheh

Millions of me memories are there and a lot of them were captured in still as well as movie cameraz
You can see this beautiful photography by shahzad aslam and sheraz aslam

It has been agreed by all touring members, that they don¡¦t want to see each others faces for the next 20 years.
But still I love my team and would like to thank them in every possible way
Mubin showed up as one of the most responsible person in terms of travel management and he rocked with his drumsticks
Sameer was handling the sound check issues really brilliantly and he was totally in the mood of his own during performance and people loved his style
Sarmad was Rocking with his hairstyle and guitar
Aly took great care of me in terms of stage management and security issues as well as after the concert autograph sessions and he was pretty active particularly when the girls were there
Together Aly, Smaeer and Mubin smoked 19832187364298347629837462938746298342.... Cigarettes on the tour making the whole north America polluted than ever before.
Shahzad Bhai was handling the management and the main promoter Rocky. Also as usual he was pretty good on still and video photography.
Shahbaz Handled the UK Concerts Brilliantly and showed us loads of venues for shopping
Sheraz is always the best company and i had a great time with him n our cousins while shopping in Manchester

After recovering form our jet lags n all most of us still feel
Yaar life kuch slow nahin hay yahan??
And its still there in the conscious that
Aaj koi flight tou nahin hay?
Aaj checkout tou nahin kerna?
Aaj security registration k liyay tou nahin jana?
Aaj concert tou nahin hay ?
Mayraa I-94 kahaan hia !!!

Hehehehe........


Love u all n Eid Mubarak
Atif

Originally Posted At: Atif Aslam's Official forum www.aadeez.com