June 11 morning the same year. The sun rose radiantly behind the massive Baruni Ching. After resting awhile on the deep-red eastern horizon, the luminous ball rapidly moved up the blue skies where cotton clouds rolled around gleefully. The clock seemed to tick faster than the normal speed. Dawn to noon, noon to afternoon, members of Yaishkul Athletic Club (YAC) were speeding up installing the stage where Tapta was to perform live for the first time. And then everybody waited for the hour: 6 PM (IST). In the meantime, tech crew from Kanglie Ima Sound Service (KISS) kept on checking their sound system and the equipments.

In all probability, YAC ground was to witness for the first time a teaming crowd of thousands of screaming fans in a single concert. 50 percent of the concert tickets were sold out a month in advance. However, on the eve of the concert, an unexpected crowd of more than what the organisers expected was pouring in for on-the-spot tickets. It was simply rush hour at the ticket counter before the day of the concert. When the clock struck six and Tapta began singing, there was a stampede in all the entry points to the grounds. More people began swarming the venue. “We were helpless as sea of fans began tearing the karnat² and other enclosures. We ran out of tickets and it was a full house show. Despite telling the crowd that there were no more space, the fans insisted that they were willing to buy passes just for a standing space. So the management decided to sell extra passes on plain papers with only YAC stamp on it”, reminisces RK Sushant who was one of the volunteers of the show. “We could not control the crowd and finally we had to declare the concert free entry”, Sushant recalls.

Tapta was the first non-Imphal based artiste who rattled the city. On the day of the concert, the fans made him the new icon of popular music in Manipur. Love at first sight; first impression lasts forever, Tapta thought a lot on the day of the concert. Just a few hours before the show, his associates suggested him to get his hair done so as to look larger than life and attractive. “As my hair style was not like that of popular Korean stars, the parlour ibemma³ changed my look and I felt I looked horrible”, Jayanta (Tapta) recalls. Before rushing on to the stage, Tapta was tensed because of two reasons: first, it was the biggest show he performed in life; second, his new hairstyle. But the latter did not make any difference to his fans. Whether in good or bad, long or short his mane were, all that the fans wished to behold on that evening was just Tapta.

The over packed crowd initially rattled him. His concert was opened by prominent artistes of the region who rendered their unforgettable classic numbers before him. The well spirited crowd who were restless to witness Tapta for the first time in their lives gave no attention to those respected artistes of yesteryears. However, there was a big applause for Nongmaithem Pahari who stole the pre-Tapta show with his evergreen number Ahingda Khongbi Tamna. Tapta, who was still standing behind the stage thought he should pay respect to the King of Melody, Nongmaithem Pahari and wished to touch the feet of the legend before climbing up the stage. He, however, could not get that chance.

Just as the anchor of the show announced, “Here comes Tapta for you!”, he jumped up on the stage and opened the session of the historic concert with his popular number Baby. The frenzied crowd went mad as everyone sang along with him, word by word. The crowd screamed like never before. With the Cannibals’ former drummer Momocha and popular lead guitarist Praveen of the then Phoenix fame doing the music back up, it was a perfect ten for Tapta that night. The passionate crowd calmed down immediately after Tapta belted out his sentimental ballad Hairamdana in the midsession of the concert. Following the YAC Live concert, Tapta began his tour all over the state in 1997.