Iron Maiden, Valentine's Day and AngryGirl Gear!

Maybe looking at the title of this entry some of you may wonder "what the...?" at the seemingly random combination. Not so random, and not so bizarre if you know me for the oddity I am, though.

When planning my latest (and sadly over) trip to India this past February, Gaurav and me realized there was a Maiden gig in Bangalore on the 15th, so we thought it'd be a great idea to go to Bangalore for the weekend, spend Valentine's Day there, and have a blast the next day at the Maiden gig, before leaving for a few days in Goa.

I've never been the biggest fan of Valentine's Day, and I've never been one to ask for the traditional roses and chocolates, the bigger the better, or to ask for expensive gifts (I'm not sure why we decided to celebrate that an early Christian pastor was killed for marrying people in secret, if we are to believe the legend...), so I decided that I'd get us both a present in the shape of an AngryGirl Gear Not So Innocent Corset, in a very Valentine's Day colour, hot pink! I can assure you the corset was a great hit for our evening in Bangalore, after our Valentine's dinner at Cinnamon, a really cozy restaurant close by to our hotel (where they must have thought we were some sort of journalists doing a review of the place due to Gaurav's L1, which in turn got us huge helpings of food and extra niceness from the staff).

Since the corset is more naughty than nice, Gaurav decided to get a bit artistic taking pictures, so here you can see the one that we deemed the most PG-13 safe of them all. The corset is her regular Innocence corset, with a fishnet bodice, instead of the regular cotton one.

On the next day Gaurav managed to surprise me with some amazing red roses, and the cutest lil stuffed puppy. I still don't know how he smuggled them both into the room without me noticing!

After being lazy as hell during the morning and most of the afternoon of the 15th we finally decided to head towards the Palace Grounds, where the Maiden gig was to take place. This time it was not just a Maiden concert, but more of a small festival-style gig (small compared to the festivals in the US or Europe, but still a huge thing in India!) that was done in a very good way. For what was probably the first time in India, being sponsored by Romanov Red, there was a bar selling all sorts of booze, a tattoo shop, a bungee jumping area, and the regular stands for selling merchandise.

We missed a lot of bands that played before Maiden, cause we arrived just one hour before they were due, so we only saw Lauren Harris, an Italian band trying to be HIM and butchering Queen of the Damned songs, and Parikrama, an Indian band both me and Gaurav are really getting to like.

After them, Maiden came to stage, and what a gig! People might say they're a bunch of old guys, but I'd like to see many younger singers to try and hold a candle to Bruce "God" Dickinson singing and working the crowd on stage. They played a similar set to the one in Mumbai the year before, but added Phantom of the Opera and Children of the Damned, which were really nice surprises. This has been my third Maiden gig, and it was a total blast! I just can't wait for new album and new tour!!

I had expected the weather to be a bit more cool since it was February, so I took my Angry Panda hoodie with me, but the weather was pretty damned hot in Bangalore, and even more in Goa, so I just dragged the poor thing with me. I only used it once we were back in Delhi, cause even if during the day it was positively warm, in the evenings it got cool enough for me to wear it, to Gaurav's delight, he kept saying "I has a panda" everytime I wore it!

All in all, it was the most amazing Valentine's Day celebration I could have wished for!

All photographs courtesy of Gaurav S.