"The police, especially the officer-in-charge (Sukumar Chakraborty), were very prompt and helpful, and thanks to them, we can now leave for Mumbai in one piece," Kamal Ahuja of Performance Audio, the company which provided the sound for the Satriani show, told Metro on Monday afternoon.

A traumatised Ahuja, however, vowed he'd never bring his stuff back to Calcutta again. "It was a revenue dispute between CMG and Opium, and we were caught in the crossfire. At least 40 armed goons came in a convoy of cabs, attacked my men, and threw our gear all over the place," he alleged.

The show partners were busy trading charges of payment default.

"Opium owes us Rs 9.5 lakh and the only way we hoped to recover the money was by holding the truck back. Later, when we found a guarantor, we let them go," said Bhaswar Goswami of CMG, denying any violence or cop action.

Cyrus Gorimar, director, Opium Events, when contacted in Bangalore, venue of Satriani's last stop in India, rubbished the CMG claims. "On the contrary, they owe us in excess of Rs 35 lakh from ticket sales, and this is after we transferred Rs 6.6 lakh to their account. We are suing them for default and also for manhandling our sound contractors and damaging equipment," he said.

The concert-cut short-and then the cash conflict combined to sour an event touted as a litmus test for Calcutta as a venue for mega music shows.

Abeer Chakravarty, who, as part of action group 'Cause Calcutta, had tried in vain to steer the Rolling Stones into town, hoped "too much" wasn't read into these glitches and that Calcutta would still get a fair crack at hosting such concerts.

Omer Haidar of Showhouse was less optimistic. "Word spreads fast on this circuit," he warned.