Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2017 Pune Reveals Day-wise Lineup!

The 8^th edition of the Happiest Music Festival will return to Pune this year!

India’s largest multi-genre music festival, Bacardi NH7 Weekender is preparing to return to the homefront, introducing fans to an all-new venue! The 2017 edition will take place in Pune from the 8^th to the 10^th of December. This years Bacardi NH7 Weekender will take place at Mahalaxmi Lawns, Nagar Road. With its convenient location, the 2017 edition of the fest promises fans easier accessibility. This year, Bacardi NH7 Weekender brings you a stellar lineup of music, as well as a brand-new addition of India’s best comedians!

When the festival had its first edition in Pune in 2010, it set the trend growth in festival programming. This was the first opportunity for independent artists from all across the spectrum to be a defining feature of an Indian music festival. It also brought international talent to India, like celebrated artists Asian Dub Foundation, The Magic Numbers, Susheela Raman and Reverend Soundsystem. Since then, the festival has evolved and taken on a form of its own, becoming one of the most anticipated live music shows and routinely blurring the boundaries of genre and sound to present an exciting mix of new talent and established artists from both India and across the globe! Between 2010 and 2016, the festival saw legendary performances by A. R. Rahman, Flying Lotus, Imogen Heap, Mark Ronson, Mogwai, Rodrigo y Gabriela and even Steven Wilson! Some of the biggest names in Indian music have curated special performances for the festival, which include Shankar Mahadevan’s ‘My Country, My Music’, Karsh Kale All-Stars and Vishal Dadlani’s tribute to Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Through the past 7 years, the festival has managed to stay true to its intent of presenting fresh talent and breakthrough acts that continue to make up for 60% of each year’s lineup. This year’s edition promises more of the same Bacardi NH7 Weekender goodness!

Day 1 of the festival, which will take place on Friday, 8 December, will be headlined by American metal act The Dillinger Escape Plan, known for their experimental style, and Dutch metal icons Textures, both of whom are playing their farewell tours. Textures, who are on the final leg of their Last Miles to the Moon tour, will be playing their final ever performance together as a band on this day, bringing an end to a career of close to two decades. Also performing on the festival’s opening day are British acapella sensations The Magnets, Carnatic Classical musician TM Krishna, Mumbai metal veterans Zygnema, post-rock act aswekeepsearching, Hindi pop band Ankur & The Ghalat Family, singer-songwriter Aditi Ramesh, and blues-rock band Blue Temptation, among others.

Day 2 of the festival, which will take place on Saturday, 9 December, will be keenly awaited by guitar and music lovers alike, as virtuoso Steve Vai takes to stage. After his impressive India debut at the Meghalaya leg of the festival on Oct 28, fans eagerly look forward to another truly memorable set in Pune. There are several other highlights to look forward to on Saturday – including festival veterans and folk rock icons Indian Ocean, Bacardi NH7 WeekenderPune debutant The Ram Sampath Experience (led by Bollywood composer Ram Sampath), a curated special set Blackstratblues All Stars (led by Indian guitar hero Warren Mendonsa), Hindi rockers The Local Train, Urdu rock band Parvaaz , Chennai garage rock outfit Skrat , returning Indian rock band Indigo Children, French rock band Colt Silvers , hip-hop act Bombay Bassment, acoustic guitarist Bhrigu Sahni, and several more.

Day 3 falls on a Sunday, 10 December, on which Indie music fans will look forward to American rock-dream pop collective Cigarettes After Sex, punk sensation Marky Ramone and artist-activist Madame Gandhi, Canadian acts Youngblood and Bad Pop, all of whom will play in India for the first time. Bollywood director and music composer, Vishal Bhardwaj’s first ever live performance, like his films, is expected to be sheer art. The performance will cover his film trilogy, Maqbool, Omkara, and Haider, based on the Shakespeare tragedies. Fans will see several other top artists take to stage, including hip-hop sensation Divine, contemporary Indian folk act The Raghu Dixit Project, singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad, Rajasthani folk musician Mame Khan, comedy rock band Vir Das’ Alien Chutney and ska band The Ska Vengers. Several bands will be performing fresh off the release of their new albums: such as Skrat (Bison), Blackstratblues (The Last Analog Generation) and Prabh Deep (Class-Sikh), all of whose albums have all charted on iTunes India in recent months. Additionally, The Local Train, Kraken & Short Round will be performing music from recent albums. For curated Bacardi NH7 Weekender-only sets, watch out for the NH7 Hip-Hop Collective, The Karsh Kale Collective, and Blackstratblues All-Stars led by guitar virtuoso Warren Mendonsa.

This year,Bacardi NH7 Weekender Pune is also adding a new element to the festival: performances by India’s top comedians! This is the first time a music festival in India has added a strong comedy segment to their lineup of performing artists. The lineup includes well-known and popular artists such as Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kanan Gill, Rohan Joshi, Ashish Shakya, Anuvab Pal, Kaneez Surka, Azeem Banatwalla, Aisi Taisi Democracy, Kunal Kamra, Kunal Rao, Atul Khatri, Sumukhi Suresh, Vaibhav Sethia and many more. Fans can expect a variety, ranging from stand-up, sketch to musical comedy.

“After an immensely successful Meghalaya edition, we’re really looking forward to BACARDÍ NH7 Weekender, Pune,” says Vijay Nair CEO and founder of OML Entertainment, that organizes the festival. “This city obviously holds special memories – this is the place where it all started and it’s been a great journey these last seven years.”

Check out the day-wise schedule of artists performing at the festival below:

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