Since the student-led July-August Uprising, large-scale open-air concerts in Dhaka have been put on hold until Friday night’s much-anticipated concert “Magical Night 2.0” at the Army Stadium featuring Pakistani singer Atif Aslam.
While the musical experience was enthralling for fans and admirers of the beloved singer, who was accompanied from his motherland by fellow young and popular Abdul Hannan, Bangladesh's own heartthrob Tahsan, the Kaaktaal band, and Bangladeshi EDM and DJ duo Aperuss, the overall experience of audiences and other stakeholders did not match.
The main act of the concert began with the young Bangladeshi band Kaaktaal’s performance, who amped up the gradually increasing crowd with their songs like “Rokto Gorom Matha Thanda” and more. Abdul Hannan took the stage at around 7 pm, greeting the crowd by saying, "I am so overwhelmed with your response. This crowd is my biggest crowd so far."
Besides his regular songs such as “Iraaday,” he performed Harry Style's "As it was" and his recent collaboration with popular Pakistani band Kaavish at this year's Coke Studio Pakistan, titled "O Yaara."
Tahsan, started at 7:42 pm with the song "Ekhono," followed by his fan-favourite numbers such as "Prem Tumi," "Kotodur," "Chhuye Diley Mon," "Prematal," and concluded his act with "Alo."
After his enthralling performances, the recent documentary on the July Movement was then showcased at the event. The documentary, with Miles’ popular song “Polashir Prantor” penned by Latiful Islam Shibli as its background score, brought the festivity toned down a bit for its heavy and heartfelt narratives - which brought out the chief guest of the night, the Adviser of Youth and Sports Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, also one of the major faces behind the revolution.
Greeting the awaiting admirers and saying “Bangladesh always feels like my second home,” Atif jumped on putting on a truly magical night for his fans by performing his massively popular Bollywood, Hindi, and Urdu tracks one after another for almost three hours, including “Dil Diyan Gallan,” “Tera Hone Laga Hoon,” “Pehli Nazar Mein,” “Tere Liye,” “Doorie,” “Jeena Jeena,” “Woh Lamhe,” “Taajdar-E-Haram,” “Kuch Is Tarah,” and more. He also performed a medley of some popular Bollywood songs including “Aaoge Jab Tum Mere Sajna,” “Kun Faya Kun,” “Pehla Nasha,” “Ek Pyaar ka Nagma,” and “Mere Piya Ghar Aya,” tributing other respected artists.
