Strumming in the rain

If you were driving down the airport road, toward Embassy International Riding School for NH7 Weekender, you would have seen boards like ‘Caution: Crazy dance moves ahead,” or “Get ready to mosh!” That must have set the mood for the music festival, but coming along with the people were dark dooms-day like crowds.

But what most bands that performed on Day 1 said was, “Nothing can stop good music and rock and roll eh?” On the first day, Kailasa and Shaa’ir + Func knew exactly how to woo the crowd! Kailasa’s "Saiyyan" had the crowds waving their hands in the air while Monica Dogra’s groovy music, had the crowd dancing unstoppably.

Lucky Ali, who performed live after ages, seemed to retain his charm as he played "O Sanam" and his other classic songs.

The Manganiyar Seduction lived up to expectations as the theatrical performance seduced souls of everyone. “It was the best non-genre-specific music festival in the country. Dancing to tunes in the middle of a torrential downpour, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience," says Jayaram Kasi, who goes every year to the event.

On another stage, a math rock band from Ireland called And So I Watch You From Afar seemed to steal the show, even as Inner Sanctum’s music gave rise to insane mosh pits. But the metal heads met with some bad news when Tesseract, a progressive metal band from UK, refused to perform due to safety hazards.

Raghu Dixit, who launched his new album Jag Changa, with several performances to colour each songs and add life to it, was the high light of the second day, and so was Swarathma.

“It was our first perfor mance at the NH7 Weekender in Bengaluru. The entire stage set up was very exciting and we loved performing," says Sanjeev, the violinist of Swarathma.

Post their performance, they tweeted, “Even a cyclonic depression cheers up the happiest festival!” Tony, from Hey Geronimo, an Indie Pop band from Brisbane, seemed to be in love with India.

“India is really really amazing. It is our first time here and the gig at Bengaluru was excellent. It was a completely new experience,” he says.

The DJ arena was packed with dancers, who rain danced tirelessly to Kate MillerHeidke and Rob Garza’s magical performances. ?

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