LIVE GIG REVIEW: Rohan Verghis | August 11

Rohan Verghis (@rohanverghis) | Stage Creatures | Oak Bar

Photographs: @davedomingo10

I entered the bar and saw a band sound checking and instantly I felt like I was not in a bar but in a packed stadium, waiting in anticipation for my favourite artist to step onto the stage and grace everyone. Rohan Verghis, joined by an ensemble of 7 band members, really enchanted us all with his musical storytelling. Rohan's pre-song narratives and songwriting reminded me of John Mayer, blending humor, truth, love & wit to keep the audience on edge, eagerly awaiting whatever came next. Throughout the evening it was uplifting to witness the love and to feel the presence of everyone in the room truly showing up for the artists on stage, like you would for a family member or a close friend.

A standout moment for me was "The Library Song" with the beautiful illustrations created by Rohan's wife. This song is about how each moment or chapter in one's life is part of their personal library. You can thereby revisit any moment, rewind back to when you were in a particular place, with a particular person at a particular time. Rohan and his band made me feel like I was traversing different parts in my own memory, picking out different pages from different books and reflecting on how things were then compared to how things are now.

Community, family & friends coming together for a musician is always significant and this night is now a memorable part in everyone's library. It reinforced the belief that we grow together, not just as individuals echoing the fantastic quote "if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far, go together."

This night was a prime example of that sentiment. Music bridges gaps we feel as humans, it reveals realities we might not otherwise hear of or think about and it serves as a portal to times, places and emotions, unlike anything else.

Kudos and gratitude to organisers like Stage Creatures for curating a space for opportunities like this, to artists like Rohan and his talented band for creating and sharing their music and to the music lovers that were there and together created and got to be a part of a special evening in Dubai.