When the schedule for this year’s Lollapalooza music festival was announced six months ago, the common question was: “Why are they having it in March, when temperatures will soar?” After hosting it successfully in January in the first two years, the new dates seemed unreasonable. Still, the early bird tickets were picked up quickly, with music buffs excited about popular band Green Day and singer Shawn Mendes.
The recent heat wave in Mumbai didn’t prevent large numbers from flocking the Mahalaxmi Race Course grounds on March 8 and 9. In reality, though the afternoons were bad, specially for those walking from the not-so-near Mahalaxmi railway station, the evenings were breezy and pleasant. The two days had some great performances too, with Green Day and American jazz-rock guitarist Cory Wong topping the list of favourites.
Aurora |
Unlike last year, where some older folks came to see the legendary Sting, this year’s crowd was younger. Some came for the music, some for the beer. Some came to display latest in fashion, others for the selfies and Insta stories. Some came for Green Day’s 35-year catalogue, others for only one song by Kerala rapper Hanumankind. Some knew who to hear, others had no clue. But they all agreed, “Yeah, we were at Lollapalooza, bro”.
In terms of smooth flow, variety and overall quality of music, organisers BookMyShow Live did a good job. Yet, at a festival spread across four distantly-separated stages, it is difficult to satisfy everyone. Some events are bound to clash. On day 1, Punjabi star Talwiinder played around the same time as singer Aditi Saigal aka .Dot. Though their individual styles are different, they are both followed by fans of Indian ‘indie’ music.
Even worse was the opening day clash between British band Glass Animals and birthday boy Cory Wong, who played some high-quality avant garde jazz-rock with his hyper-talented band. Anybody who saw them would agree that this was one of the most energetic and musically brilliant gigs in Mumbai over the past decade. The same people had no idea how the parallel Glass Animals show was, and those who enjoyed the latter missed something out-of-the world from Wong.
Let’s go to the finale. Hundreds of folks had specially come for Green Day, and knew songs from their albums Dookie and American Idiot. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong charmed the crowd. In another corner, American DJ John Summit was spinning his ware. Though he is a big name in his field, attendance to his segment was naturally affected by the simultaneous presence of a legend. It would make more sense to give stand-alone slots to someone of the stature of Sting and Green Day.
Shawn Mendes |
While the time-slotting was a crib area, the fest had its pleasant surprises too. One was floored by the reaction to British band Nothing But Thieves. There was a kind of hysteria when vocalist Conor Mason arrived, and everybody seemed to know the opening song Welcome To The DCC. Norwegian singer Aurora, best known for her hit Runaway, attracted some new fans with her flowing red dress, blonde hair and great stage presence. For his part, Shawn Mendes invited sitar player Megha Rawoot and tabla exponent Shrutisheel Uddhav for a guest appearance on his track Youth.
Green Day |
Some popular performers were scheduled too early in the day. Singer Raghav Meattle has a sizeable following in the indie community, but people had to brave the blistering Sunday sun to be there at 2.30 p.m. to hear him. Likewise with Niladri Kumar, who began at 3.45 p.m., though it was heartening to see many pop fans pay serious attention to the zitar, the electric sitar he created.
There were the regular Lollapalooza practices too, with audiences screaming joyously whenever the artiste either said namaste or dhanyawad, or used an English expletive. Bored folks suddenly woke up when fireworks invaded the airspace. The only things missing were competitions for best Insta reels and maximum expenditure on merchandise. Maybe that will happen in future, to boost the much-discussed ‘concert economy’.
