Bilal Maqsood revisits Vital Signs concert that marked a turning point for Strings

For Bilal Maqsood, one of the most memorable moments from Strings’ early days came not during one of the band’s own performances, but while they were sitting in the audience at a Vital Signs concert.

Maqsood recently revisited the memory on Instagram, recalling a time when Strings was still a new band and he and his bandmates attended Vital Signs shows simply as fans. They had never met Junaid Jamshed, Salman Ahmad or any of the other members of the band.

In the caption accompanying the post, Maqsood wrote: “Strings was a brand new band. And this was the concert where, for the very first time, we were noticed and appreciated by the Vital Signs!”

According to Maqsood, the clip now circulating on Junoon’s Instagram and Facebook pages is actually from a Vital Signs performance from 1989.

“The four of us were sitting in the audience and they had no idea who we were. We had never met Junaid, Salman or any of the members. We were simply there as fans of the Vital Signs and at that time, a music channel was also airing a few episodes of us,” he said.

At one point, the music stopped and Junaid Jamshed addressed the audience. Maqsood remembered the singer speaking about a relatively new band whose music the group had recently heard.

“The concert is happening and in the middle, the music stopped and Junaid says, ‘We heard a band recently named Strings and their music is so great and we really enjoyed listening’. And we are literally sitting in the audience watching them and started screaming from the joy,” he said.

The moment was followed by a conversation between Maqsood and Jamshed. “And then later when we spoke to Junaid, he said he really wanted to perform their song Jab Se Tumko Maine but they did not have time to practice,” he added.

The concert took place during a period when Pakistan’s contemporary music scene was beginning to develop a distinct identity, with a new generation of bands emerging alongside established acts. “This was a time in Pakistan where a new chapter of music emerged. A new era was starting,” he said.

Strings would go on to build a lasting legacy of their own, while Vital Signs became one of the defining bands of the period. Other groups, including Junoon, Awaz and Barbarians, also emerged around the same time, although many of the bands formed during that era eventually disappeared from the scene.

For Maqsood, the memory remains tied to a much earlier stage of that musical journey, when Strings were still finding their footing and attending concerts as listeners rather than performers.

Decades later, the recollection offers a glimpse into the excitement surrounding Pakistan’s emerging band culture — a period when young musicians were beginning to find their audiences and a new chapter in the country’s music scene was taking shape.