Indian Rock Band Girish and the Chronicles Made Adele Heavy Metal On AGT (VIDEO)
Fans can't stop talking about the band's amazing rendition of Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain."
You've never heard Adele like this. Among a number of impressive musical Acts on the second night of Auditions for Season 20 of America's Got Talent, Indian rock band Girish and the Chronicles stood out thanks to their totally unique take on a well-known song. Then again, they're a totally unique band.
Led by singer Girish Pradhan, the hair metal band models itself after the stadium-filling ensembles of the 1980s and has been together for 16 years. They come from Sikkim, India, and flew 22 hours to compete on AGT, calling it "the biggest opportunity of their lives." Right from the start, they made quite an impression, with Judge Howie Mandel quipping, "a lot of hair" the moment they walked on stage. Being bald, he would know.
The audience was surprised as Pradhan showed off his multi-octave range, then surprised again when they realized what song the band was performing: "Set Fire To The Rain" by Adele. So, an Indian band in 2025 performing a British pop ballad from 2011 in the style of American 80s rock? And somehow it works!
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The Judges were rocking with GATC
"The whole audition was on point," Sofía Vergara told the group, who were loving the energy from the crowd. Added Mel B., "I don’t know what it is about you, but I think you’re one of my favorite Acts so far this season."
Mandel summed up the cross-cultural exchange nicely, saying, "you come from the other side of the globe and do something that is so traditionally American...it was so beautiful."
\Simon Cowell agreed, noting that the whole auditorium was on its feet. "You can’t fake the reaction behind us. What we just felt behind us, [from] the audience, was real," he said, adding to Pradhan in particular, "your voice is really, really good, by the way."
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Ever since their big AGT moment, fans online have been rocking out to GATC's performance. One typical YouTube comment reads, "THANK YOU For bringing HEAVY METAL to AGT!!! I'm a child of the 80's so of course I'm a Heavy Metaler at heart and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED your audition!!! So did My hubby when he got home and I played the video for him!! He's now listening to your other great stuff!!"
On Instagram, Pradhan himself commented, "I love it when the audience is louder than us… As it should be! That’s what Rock ‘n’ Roll is about. Thank you @agt !"
