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At around 10.30pm on Sunday night as I was finding my way to the exit gates, all I could see around were emotions with faces on them, from hysteria to trance to pure joy and that in a sentence was the 2015 edition of Bacardi NH7 WEEKENDER Kolkata. The two day party saw some stellar acts by bands covering a wide range of genres from Metal to Alternative, Folk to EDM. Spread across 5 stages and 37 acts, there was music that catered to every taste and the City of Joy lapped it up with overwhelming zeal.

The venue.

There has been a lot of complaining when it came to the choice of Aquatica as the venue for this year’s NH7. Rajarhat is at a far flung corner of the city and to further add to the woes, transportation to and from this spot is nightmarish to say the least. Although once in, it offers a pretty decent amount of space for 5 stages to operate while minimising sound bleeding from one stage to the next.

The weekender vibe

The music loving Kolkatans were in a mood to party and that they did. Where Day 1 saw a crowd of more than 8000 by the evening , Day 2 broke all hell loose. There was an eclectic blend of audience from college goers to grey hairs, from localites to people who flew down from neighbouring countries even just to catch the show.

Lineup

37 acts across 5 stages covered a whole plethora of genres. Megadeth and the wailers being the biggest names, the 2 day festival saw some inspired performances by Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate, Kailasa, Nucleya, Shaa’ir + Funk , Papon , Zygnema and a host of other musicians. Frankly there was too much to soak in and too little time for it all.

Activities

There was a whole lot of stuff going on to keep one enthralled and the first one to catch my attention was the Straydog jamroom in the centre lawn. Get in, pick an instrument and start playing, and that’s what budding musicians did to loud cheers.

There were miniature race car arenas to DIY tee shirt counters to makeover salons but what would really catch your attention while you’re around checking what’s what are the drones flying around and every once in a while they’d put up a show where they’d make the quadcopters do crazy flips to a much amused audience.

The NH7 merchandise counters had on sale from band tee shirts to badges, masks and capes and many like me picked up a tee shirt after they heard a band and loved it.

Saavn had their stall which featured artists for a meet and greet and got their podcast going and while you could ferry around from one stage to another, you might as well stick around for a few selfies with your favourite artists.

Food and drink

There was a whole lot to choose from when it came to food, from barbeques to burgers to Chinese to shawarma rolls, you wouldn’t go hungry but the prices were on the steeper side.

The alcohol like every year continues to miss what everybody wants at a music festival, BEER. Bacardi made sure one got drunk but the choices were limited. There were counters adjacent to each stage so one needn’t miss any music while getting a mug. Flair bartending kept us entertained every once in a while. Worth mentioning was the Live Life in Colour counter next to the centre stage for its sheer visual appeal, lit with led tubes, it had to be the trippiest corner in the entire arena.

Management

Security was top notch, checking on ones person with CIA like efficiency, the amount of marijuana confiscated could get the whole city stoned. With an on call ambulance at hand, security personell lurking around in every corner and not to forget the quadcopters, this box was checked.

Production and stages

5stages in all, one would say the Bacardi Arena and The Dewarists were the best on the face of it. After speaking to a few of the artists, sound engineers and photographers, all seemed to concur to the above. The Moto spotlight was one of the smaller stages but many found the lighting in there the most appealing. Overall the production was a big Yay.

The music

That’s about enough with the foreplay, let’s start with the music already. The 2 day festival saw an eclectic mix of genres and there was enough for everybody and more. While it’s all a bit maddening to hop from one stage to another, I’ll try to list down chronologically the Ten best moments that brought out the flavour of the Kolkata leg of NH7 Weekender 2015.

1 PARVAAZ- The Moto Spotlight laid out the stage for the events to come with this incredible act. This Bangalore based Rock outfit played its heart out to a full crowd hogging all the attention away from the overlapping performances. Very few could actually sing along but these guys definitely et the bar pretty high for the rest to follow.

Meanwhile Prateek Kuhad played to a relatively smaller audience but was just as good. It was a nice change of pace after performances by Baiju and colliding with that of Parvaaz. With a nice blend of acoustics and then a bit on the alternative side, his was a fresh new sound that got a lot of attention.

With 8000 odd people in Aquatic by now, things were really heating up and running from one stage to another was proving to be tedious but spoilt for choice has always been the best dilemma to be in.

2 Reggae rajahs- The Breezer beat camp played host to one of the best acts of the night in the form of Reggae rajahs. These guys owned it with their Caribbean flavour. One of India’s oldest reggae sound systems, everything they did hit the spot. From waving giant Rasta flags to getting the crowd scream out in favour of marijuana legalisation, this was the moment of the night up until then.

3 Arka- This was one band everybody had to check out, playing out to a more mature audience Arka played at a different level altogether. With Selva Ganesh on percussions and Gino Banks on the drums, their reputation preceded their act. The defining moment had to be Mishko m'ba’s bass solos and George Brooks on the saxophone. This performance did it for the jazz enthusiasts.

4 Nucleya- This guy poached the crowd from adjacent stages onto the Bacardi Beat camp. One of the earliest proponents of Dubstep in India, his genre defying beats got the otherwise reticent Kolkata crowd to get their dance on. Tracks like Bass rani and Bangla bass and Nucleya dhamaka got the crowd inane. It was safe to say, Nucleya ruined it for any other edm artist to follow. Worth mentioning were the whacky gif’s in the background( Darth Vader swaying to edm, now that’s fun).

5 Kailasa- Day 1 came to a befitting end with Kailasa weaving its magic on the Weekenders. Playing their biggest hits such as Bam lahri, Love sex aur dhoka, Dhol wajda and Saiyaan, their performance moved. A visibly inspired city based musician standing next to me exclaimed how he felt Kailasa was the best band we have in the country but we already feel something along those lines don’t we!!

6 Underground Authority- Day 2 started off to a crowd favourite. Underground Authority is a Kolkata based alternative rock / rap rock band that enjoys tremendous popularity and a dedicated fan following and they dint disappoint. Proven hits such as I can lead a nation with a microphone and Where the streets have a name got the crowds singing along, cheering and pretty much dancing to their tunes. The mood was set really early in the evening for the rest of the night to follow.

7 Papon and the East India Company- This was one act that nobody missed. The Dewarists stage played host to one of the most anticipated performances of the evening and Papon played one hell of a show. There hadn’t been a lot of folk music up until then but an inspired performance made up for all of that. A diverse mix of Assamese and Bengali and Punjabi folk hogged all the attention and rightly so.

8 Zygnema- This heavy metal band from Mumbai really got the temperature soaring. From the growls to the drum rolls to the guitars, this one did the trick for the metalheads. The first sightings of moshpitting kept me to a safe distance but one could feel the heat generating in the Bacardi arena.

As the metal aficionados stayed on for Undying inc. on the same very stage, we made our way to The Dewarists for one of the most anticipated bands of NH7 2015 Kolkata, The Wailers.

9 The Wailers- TheWailers for me was the defining moment of the 2 day carnival. There’s something about reggae that’s inexplicably overwhelming. More than the nuances of music, it’s the sheer joy you squeeze out of it and that’s what a sea of dancing bodies witnessed. Timeless hits like Buffalo soldier, Get up stand up and Every little thing is gonna be alright got each one of us singing along. And dancing, don’t forget the dancing. While No woman no cry got thousands of people joining. Meanwhile, Papon taking the stage for an improv. with The Wailers got the crowd hysteric .

With a message of peace, tolerance and emancipation, The wailers left stage only to lead us to the Bacardi Arena for the last and final performance of the night.

10 Megadeth- The metalheads were there, the jazz lovers were there, the edm enthusiasts were there, as were the bangla bands, in simpler words, every music lover was there. For a whole generation that has grown up headbanging to the music of Megadeth, seeing them live in person was nothing short of a dream come true. Dave Mustaine was every bit of what we had imagined and so was Chris Adler. The hysteria in the centre stage lasted well over an hour as they played on from Peace Sells to unreleased tracks from their upcoming album Dystopia. Witnessing this was one box checked in the bucket list of thousands of music lovers in this corner of the country.

Other notable performances that caught ones ears were-

Cactus- One of the pioneers of Bangla rock, Cactus played to a huge crowd enthralling the audience with proven hits such as Mon and Holud Pkhi.

Spud In The Box- With a heavy alternative sound, this Mumbai based band earned itself loads of fans. The keyboardist should find a special mention.

Anish sood- this one took up the mantle for all the electro/techno/edm enthusiasts on Sunday evening.

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