It was truly a night to remember for music buffs in Thiruvananthapuram. Not only did they get to see a rocking concert by Irish musician Bob Geldof, but there was also a surprise singer waiting in the wings rock icon Sting!

By 7 p.m. the Nishagandhi open-air auditorium at the Kanakakunnu Palace was already filled with fans; all of them brimming in anticipation of hearing Geldof and his Boomtown Rats in action for the grand finale of the Hay Festival in Thiruvananthapuram. After all, the band was performing in India after a gap of 32 years. Suddenly young Tao, a musician himself, got up and yelled We love you Sting! Huh? There was a frisson of excitementThe Sting in Thiruvanananthapuram? No way.But there he was, sitting in the audience with his wife, Trudie Styler, and enjoying the atmosphere, just like any other ordinary fan. And until the band came on to the stage, a lot of us sure got a lot of cricks in the neck trying to get a glimpse of the legendary singer. Credit goes to the audience for not pestering him for autographs or handshakes. A few of them did manage to get pictures, though, after the singer gently requested them not to use the flash.

Then by about 7.30 p.m. Geldof and Co. blazed onto the stage and set the floor rocking with their first number, itself. Almost immediately most of the young members in the audience jumped up and started dancing to exuberant Irish folk tunes that are part of the Rats repertoire.

Authors William Dalrymple, Sonia Faleiro, Tishani Doshi and Miguel Syjuco, all participants of the Hay fete, were seen shaking a leg.

Although, most of the audience were not very familiar with the Rats songs, it was a great example of how music transcends language all of them moving in unison with the beats of Banana Republic, I dont like Mondays and so on. For the next one hour or so, the band sang one song after another non-stop, often alternating between rock numbers and melodies. Geldof even took the time to introduce some of the songs (peppered with a few choice expletives, of course). One such song was Scream in Vain, which he explained he had written in the late1990s while sitting in front of a hut in Ethiopia while he was campaigning for famine victims in Africa. Its slightly weird, he said, with a shrug before he got on to a high voltage rendition of the rather moving song. In between Geldof also got the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to one of his band mates.

The first set was over and the band walked off the stage with a goodbye and the light went off. Soon we saw Sting disappearing into the back stage area. The audience started screaming We want Bob! We want Sting! Geldof and the band then came out, to much cheer. Said Geldof: Today we have a special guest, my friend who flew down especially from Bombay [Mumbai] and viola Sting joined him on stage! The crowd simply went berserk. Together the duo sang a rousing rendition of the rock number Everyones got a home to fill. As Geldof and Sting took a bow, a few of lucky fans pressed up against the stage got handshakes from the two. Though, Sting did not perform anything more, the band went on to perform for half an hour or so. The concert ended with Geldof requesting the audience to sing along to a tune, even stopping the music until we got it right. What an incredible night, indeed!