Bacardi NH7 causes a jam on day one

Living up to its reputation of being the most well organised music festival in the country, the Bacardi NH7 Weekender also delighted attendees with the spectacular venue. Vibrant flags and stretches of green grass...

Living up to its reputation of being the most well organised music festival in the country, the Bacardi NH7 Weekender also delighted attendees with the spectacular venue. Vibrant flags and stretches of green grass and a scenic lake and an island bar — amidst which stand the six performance stages — greet you as you walk into the venue, Amanora Park.

HT Image

‘The Dewarists’ stage saw a special set by some of Mumbai’s freshest talents — Ankit Dayal and Rohan Rajadhyaksha from pop-rock band Spud In The Box, Rachel Varghese and others — aptly christened ‘NH7 The Future’, performed covers and stole the show with their infectious energy. Musician Clinton Cerejo invited a bevy of guest artistes for his gig, culminating the act with crowd favourites Vishal Dadlani and Sonu Kakkar. They sang ‘Madari’, inarguably one of the most popular songs from the Coke Studio season two repertoire.

Audiences who gathered to catch Swarathma on ‘The Other Stage’ were in for a surprise as the folk-rock act jammed with death-metal band Bhayanak Maut’s vocalist Vinay Venkatesh on ‘Koorane’. Multi-instrumentalist Sri joined them on a couple of tracks, playing his handcrafted bass in his inimitable percussive style as well as the flute.

Across the lake, Pentagram jammed with friends Monica Dogra (Shaa’ir + Func), Siddharth Basrur (Godess Gagged), Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy (Scribe) and others on ‘The Wolves Den’ stage. Sasha Perera of electronic act Jahcoozi kept everyone hooked with her histrionics on the ‘Dub Station’.

Even though Raghu Dixit’s performance suffered due to slight hiccups, he made up for it by going a notch up in his showmanship. The musician brought two humongous effigy-like Chanpattna Dolls that danced along on his song ‘Mysore se aayi’.

While the well-organised bazaar and food-court are popular, one thing that most attendees complained of, was that you aren’t permitted to take your drink outside.