If you are asking, what happens when the king of the Indian music festivals meets the queen of the Indian Indie music scene? Well, there are thunderstorms, lightning and heavy rains! That’s exactly what happened when NH7 Weekender returned to Bangalore this weekend. I am guessing the mighty Zeus got so intrigued by all the positive reviews that the Pune NH7 Weekender got that he decided to give the Bangalore leg a visit, bringing with him unstoppable rain. Luckily he just decided to stay for the 1st Day and did not bother anyone on the 2nd day. Below is what happened in the fest:
What went horribly wrong:
1. The MTS other stage and the Red Bull Tour bus, being open roofed stages, had to be shut down after it started raining cats and dogs. This meant the cancelation of The Dualist Inquiry Band among other promising acts. We also got to know that Mekaal Hasan Band won’t be playing in any of the fests because of Visa issues. They were replaced by Winit Tikoo who did not disappoint the crowd with his blend of Kashmiri Sufi Rock.
2. Where there is rain there are electric shocks, so a lot of guitars decided to give it back to their owners on stage. One of the guitarists from So I Watch You From Afar got such a bad shock that he had to leave the stage, though the other band members played a crazily energetic set to a receptive crowd who fought the rain to see them in action. Their set will definitely be a highlight of Day 1. (Here’s an interview we did of the band)
3. I was really looking forward to Lucky Ali’s gig on Day 1 not because of him but because of his bassist Mishko M’ba who had a beautiful six string custom bass in his hands but I was hugely disappointed by the sound as nothing sounded the way it should. The Violin, the vocals, the flute, the guitars, the bass all sounded weirdly off, it was like watching a live gig video on the laptop speakers.
4. There were a few organisational glitches too, like us not getting the festive booklet on the 1st day, announcements not happening at the right time etc thus causing a little bit of a confusion. Well, I put this point because the same event in Pune, was immaculately organised thus coming to Bangalore, things did feel a little off.
What went awesomely right:
1. It was heartening to see people standing close to the stage to listen to music even when the rains tried dampening the spirits of the artists and the audience alike.
2. Day 1 saw some stern performances with Dualist Inquiry, Kailasa and Inner Sanctum belting out a good number of crowd favourites. I was also lucky enough to see my favourite metal band Bevar Sea open the Bacardi Arena. This was my first Bevar Sea gig having heard their amazingly doomish debut album. This is one band that can floor anybody with their massively heavy, perfectly slow and uberly groovy riffs. Their setlist consisted a mix of new material and songs from their debut album, including the crowd favourite Abishtu (when I lost my voice and neck). Day 1 also saw The Manganiyar Seduction closing the Dewarists stage with a mesmerising performance. In a nutshell, it’s a theatrically produced show of 43 Rajasthani folk musicians from the Manganiyar community playing Rajasthani folk music. Well, watching them was an experience like none before. The whole thing is impeccably produced to give viewers a visual treat.
3. Talking of visual treats, Day 2 had its own share of visual treats with The Raghu Dixit Project putting up an elaborately produced show for their album launch. The show had a carnival feel to it with dancers from the Nritarutya Dance Collective performing to Raghu’s songs. The gig also had the song Yaadon Ki Kyaari with Hand Shadow Puppeteers Prahlad Acharya and Poornima Acharya working their magic to deliver an endearing visual narration. The whole show was so elaborately done that it will be difficult to experience something like this again.
Day 2 was also the day of choices – “Should we go for Nucleya or stay for Skrat, Should we go for Papon or stay for Swarathma or go for Raghu Dixit” were the usual statements that were floating around. One band which I was definitely not going to miss was Skrat. A high energy performance atop the Red Bull tour bus made sure that the audience got the grooviest hooks from this highly talented band from Chennai.
Day 2 also saw The Fender Benders consisting of the best guitarists in India from Warren Mendonsa to Rudy Wallang making sure that the crowd got some high dosage of good ol’ rock n roll mixed with some bluesy and jazzy licks.They were ably backed by Loy Mendonsa on Bass and Jai Row Kavi on drums. Papon & The East India Company also played a hugely receptive set with the crowd singing the birthday song as soon as Benny Dayal, who was invited to sing Tauba Tauba, announced that it was Papon’s Birthday. Papon had the crowd going with favourites like Banaao Banaao and ending his set with Bihu Naam.
I was unfortunate not to see Swarathama in action as their slot on the Red Bull Tour Bus clashed with that of The Raghu Dixit Project at the Dewarists stage. The day ended with The Karsh Kale Collective playing to a packed crowd. Karsh Kale ended his set by making sure all the artists who have performed are on stage to the delight of the audience. The day also featured a secret acoustic set with Prateek Kuhad, Baiju & Nischay Parekh playing to a small receptive crowd.
