With a heavy heart, it’s time to say goodbye to Jasim Haider and the Pindi Boys from Pepsi Battle of the Bands, as the band was eliminated last night after being in the bottom two alongside Kashmir.
By now, everyone has developed an attachment to their favourite bands and currently, all 4 bands competing in the fifth episode were extremely tight musical outfits and we ourselves didn’t want anyone to leave. But such is the format of the show that every week, we say goodbye to one of the bands but hopefully, we’ll see these bands around a lot more often now that Pepsi has given them the much-needed exposure that will help the bands with their musical career even if they don’t win the competition.
The most victorious band of the evening was Roots, who were the first band to make it through to the next stage. The judges unanimously approved of the band’s creative rendition of the Vital Signs’ track ‘Mera Dil Nai Available‘.
Roots
Badnaam was the second favourite of the evening. Staying true to their love for the fusion of rock music and Sufi elements, Badnaam performed ‘Sham-e-Qalandar‘, a Kalaam by Lal Shahbaz Qalandar that has also been performed by several musical icons of the country, including the late Amjad Sabri.
As Kashmir and the Pindi Boys landed in the bottom two after performing a rendition of EP’s ‘Waqt‘ and Dr. Aur Billa’s ‘Yes Love’ respectively, the judges asked both bands to play another song to compete for the final spot. Kashmir chose to perform an original track, ‘Faislay‘ while Pindi Boys did another cover, “Dil Mein Tum‘ by Bunny. Eventually, Kashmir made it through but the judges made sure to point out all the things that Pindi Boys got right. Meesha Shafi claimed that the Pindi Boys were one of the best performers of the show and Shahi Hasan agreed. So do we!
Also, it was a pleasure to see Zeb Bangash taking the stage to sing her track, ‘Sureela Samundar‘. We can barely wait to see who’ll land in the final two next episode!
Here is the performance that saved Kashmir:
