It has been an year to rejoice as we saw a lot of good things bloom right in front of us !
We had festivals curated to showcase the best music and it found the support of millions of festival-goers as well as some of the biggest names in music over the country. What a year it has been! The spectacularly bizarre 2016 is nearing its end and all of us can collectively agree that we have been through a lot this year as a community, right from the terrorist attacks all over the world to the US Presidential Election and Indian demonetization that we are still recovering from.
At the same time, we have been witnessing the exponential growth of festivals, EDM and rave-worthy beats in the country. So, let’s count 9 first-time-evers in the history of the Indian music scene.
1. Global Citizen Festival India
Credits: globalcitizen.in
The whole world saw the enchanting and grand debut of Global Citizen Festival in India at MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai on the 19th of November. This musical extravaganza saw a horde of Bollywood A-listers such as Amitabh Bachchan, A.R. Rahman, Shah Rukh Khan, Freida Pinto, Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha as well as global performers like Demi Lovato, Jay Z and The Vamps. But the moment every attendee was looking forward to was Chris Martin and his band Coldplay who performed for nearly two hours and left the audience asking for more. An estimated 80,000 people attended Global Citizen India and established something historical.
2. Electric Daisy Carnival India
Credits : http://india.electricdaisycarnival.com/
From the vivid colors of the day-time to the night’s neon dreamscapes, our imaginations came alive in the otherworldly domains of the first year of EDC in India. It took place on 12th and 13th November where globally-renowned and Indian-bred EDM and techno artists performed their hearts out at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida. The three stages – kineticFIELD, circuitGROUNDS and neonGARDEN and the star-studded line-up were reasons enough for it to be remembered as iconic.
3. Budweiser x Boiler Room What’s Brewing In…
Credits : Kaushik Thanekar
It has been a good year to be an independent musician and, even more, a music lover in India. Fortunately, we have brands like Budweiser who brought leading artists like Actress a.k.a. Darren Cunningham, _RHL, Oceantied and Sandunes under one roof, or in this case, underground! Budweiser x Boiler Room What’s Brewing kicked off in antiSOCIAL, Mumbai on 1st December 2016 for the first time and we couldn’t have asked for anything better.
4. Amsterdam Dance Event
Credits : https://www.amsterdam-dance-event.nl
ADE took its global platform to Mumbai for the first time and what we cannot forget is the astonishing musical line-up from 7th to 10th of April in 2016. ADE Global Sessions Mumbai hosted interactive Q&A’s with top DJ’s, discussions, networking sessions and strategy meetings. We loved every moment of it.
5. Bollywood Music Project
Credits: bollywoodmusicproject.com
Shockingly, for the first time ever (why didn’t we have one before?), we saw Asia’s Largest Bollywood Music Festival hosted in Mumbai. It was a music festival for music lovers by the artists themselves. Musicians such as Arijit Singh, Badshah, Papon, Hariharan and more, ranging from different genres like experimental, alternative, studio, contemporary, folk , hip-hop and dance, came together and celebrated their musical diversity in a rhythmic manner.
6. Marshmello at Sunburn Arena
This year marked Marshmello’s debut performance in India at the Sunburn Arena in Hyderabad and Mumbai on 8th and 9th October 2016. We found peace in this trap and future bass anonymous musician and were brimming with energy through and through.
7. Steven Wilson at NH7 Weekender
Credits : https://insider.in
Yes, Steven Wilson really did come to India this year. Those who attended the NH7 Weekender in Shillong and Pune were whopping with joy and others were lamenting over it! The English musician, king of “prog rock”, guitarist, singer, songwriter has been nominated for Grammy Awards four times and we had the opportunity to see the Porcupine Tree legend perform live!
8. Don’t Let Daddy Know (DLDK India)
Credits : dldk.com
One of the world’s best EDM scenes headed to Dome@NSCI Stadium in Mumbai on May 27th 2016. With its mind-blowing visuals, stage production and a perfect line-up of artists such as Arty, Sem Vox, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano and many more; DLDK India rocked our world!
9. Sensation Hyderabad 2016
Credits : http://www.sensation.com/
We cannot wait to welcome the coming year with more beautifully-diverse headliners and groove to the universal beat of change in India! 2017, indeed, has big shoes to fill.