Steelheart plays debut gig in India at ShiRock 2018

American rock band Steelheart enthralled the northeast crowd during the opening of the five-day ShiRock 2018, a rock band competition from Northeast India which is emerging as the most popular destination for international rock bands at Manipur’s Ukhrul town, 84 km north east of Imphal on April 24.

Arizona based rock band Steelheart –the brainchild of its frontman Miljenko Matijevic belted out a good number of songs including the most popular ‘She’s gone,’ I’ll never let you go, My love is gone, We all die young, lips of rain and many more during the show at the small hill town where the second state level Shirui Lily festival from April 24-28 is being hosted.

Shiuri Lily festival aims to spread awareness about conservation of the endangered Shirui Lily and promote the district of Ukhrul as a tourist destination in Northeast.

When sought his comment on why the band chose Ukhrul as their debut gig in India, the front-man Miljenko Matijevic said, “It chose us and I accepted it. When my agent called me for a gig in India I said yes I wanna do it, I wanna connect with people and people,”

On query of why their fans like the band, Miljenko said, “(It ‘cause of) passion, love, freedom I mean all of them I wanna to be close with them do not want to stay far away you know.”

“It was an amazing track deep into India going and rocking deep into the country as I love to go in the area where people needs connection,” he felt.

On query as to why their slow number “She’s gone” so demanding, he said, “The song is so powerful and so real that it touches so many people you know. First of all the passion and the story of it connects with everybody.” “Yes it has a connection with my breakup and lots of lots of break ups,” he quipped.

The present Steelheart line up is Miljenko Matijevic– lead vocals, rhythm and acoustic guitar; Uros Raskovski – lead and rhythm guitar; Rev Jones – bass and Mike Humbert – drums, percussion.

Other good news for the rock lovers during the ShiRock is that Steelheart will be joined by their countrymen and legendary rock band Queensryche which is one of the leading metal band through the eighties and nineties, on the final day of the festival on April 28.

Queensryche received worldwide acclaim after the release of their 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime which is often considered one of the greatest heavy metal concept albums of all time.

Our Correspondent