The Enchanted Valley Carnival that took place last weekend, at Aamby Valley City was nothing short of a debut success.
Venue
We’re aware that everyone raving about the festival venue must get a little tiring, but The Sherp must indulge in bit of squealing of his own. What can we say? Situated about 20 km away from Lonavala and off the airstrip of Aamby Valley City lay the Enchanted Valley Carnival. The Sherp arrived on day 1 at around 3 pm, the sun was out in full force but the air still held a nip. The venue was sprawling Β and consisted of three stages. Two massive stages – the live stage and the mainstage and a smaller stage 2 – that catered to the more underground electronic artists. Decorated my quaint windmills (that lit up at night), two hot air balloons between 2 stages, a very colourful flea bazaar, chill out zones and of course – bars.
The campsite was situated a mere 10 minutes away from the venue – which was clean and very well laid out.Β While the days were windy and sunny, perfect from Instagram filtered pictures – the nights got pretty chilly – down to an 11 degrees even. The campsite came fully equipped with food stalls, bars and chilling zones. Much to the campers pleasant surprise the portable loos were relatively clean and were attended to quite often. Shuttle buses were available to take campers back and forth from the venue.
The line up
Sixty artists and 3 stages over a span of three days. That is a whole lot of live music to witness. EVC had something for everybody, with each stage representing a certain kind of act. The Live stage or Stage 3 featured a lot of Indian Indie music – the highlights of which were Dualist Inquiry, Shaa’ir + Func, The Raghu Dixit Project, Swarathma, Kohra and Indian Ocean over the three days. Shoutout to Sound Avtar for absolutely killing it during his drum ‘n’ bass set on day 1.
Stage 2 was where a lot went down. Day 1 saw techno gurus Umek and Ankytrixx tear the place up.
While Jody Wisternoff’s progressive house set brought in the sunset beautifully, on day 2. The stage also featured a brilliant closing set from Chicane, the same day. On day 3, stage 2 had packed in the most enthusiastic crowd especially during Pryda Friends duo – Jeremy Olander and FEHRPLAY’s back to back progressive house sets. Those sunset sets set in the mood for trance artist’s Super 8 and Tab’s performance, topped off my Gabriel & Dresden’s intense (and we mean INTENSE) closing set.
Stage3 or the mainstage was seemingly the most popular particularly because of all the big dance acts it featured. Day 1 saw Myon and Shane 54, Day 2 saw our favourite homeboys – Lost stories x Anish Sood really pick up the energy just in time for Cosmic Gate and Emma Hewitt.
ATB closed the stage that day and judging from the cheering crowd he was pretty damn good.
Martin Garixx, Taio Cruz and Bassjackers were performances to look out for on Day3 at the mainstage. Catering to a lot of popular dance music enthusiasts, Taio Cruz DJ’d as well as sang which was quite impressive.
Management
Right from checking into the campsite, to buying tickets and general security – the festival could not have been pulled off more smoothly. The venue was big enough for packed stages and also big enough to leave ample space to move around from stage to stage. Their were also bars and food stalls to satiate festival goers. As mentioned before the loos were quite clean, something not expected of a large-scale festival. Travelling to and fro to the venue and after parties was made easy by Party Hard Drivers.
Production
Stage production, lights and visuals were pretty top class and lived up to expectations especially for the artists they were featuring.Β However, stage 2 and the main stage were Β too close to each other, that lead to an uncomfortable clash of sound.Β The organizers had the brilliant foresight to include an abundance of confetti during performances especially the closing sets – like ATB, Taio Cruz, Martin Garix, Bassjackers and Β Super 8 & Tab. That was a beautiful and thoughtful touch to the experience.
After Parties
Even though the festival venue shut right after the closing sets, that was no end to each days music. Allowing a slight break for attendees to get some nourishment and drink, the after parties (held inside Aamby city) were off the hook and went on till 3 am every. Mainly featuring some bangin’ performances of techno and nu step gurus like Arjun Vagale, Umek, Anil Chawla and BLOT!
Experience
The Sherp is more than impressed by the way the Enchanted Valley Carnival was pulled off. Apart from the music and production, it was obvious a lot of thought went into giving the festival goer a great experience. The flea market had photo huts,Β accessoryΒ stalls, lots of good food Β and ample space for people to takeΒ breaks in between all that dancing. The Hot Air Balloons added to the beauty of venue and coupled with the chilly weather, great music and people – We would say the vibe was perfect.
(Images courtesy : Instagram, The Clique Photography and EVC)