Eighteen bands to perform non-stop

Cry Freedom, a 12-hour long show, will take place live on September 4.

Music lovers in Mumbai have a lot to cheer for next Sunday. Come September 4 and the city will witness one of the longest concerts ever held. Called Cry Freedom, the show will be held at Hard Rock Café (HRC), starting at 12 noon and wind up at 1 am the next day. The concert was earlier scheduled to be held at Valhala in Churchgate, but was shifted to HRC due to space constraints.

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Shom Jagtiani of Indigo Live, the organisers of the concert, says, “The concert will celebrate the freedom to learn, freedom to struggle, freedom from disease and freedom for living. These are issues that India stands for.” As part of the concert, 18 bands will play a set each of 30-40 minutes. Some of the bands and solo artistes performing for the do include Indus Creed, Gary Lawyer, Luke Kenny, Hoodwink Circle, Salil Bhatt, Blackstratblues, Jazz Mac Duo, D-Company, Jishnu Guha, Ramone Ibrahim, Adil & Vasundhara, Boomerang and Afflatus. Says Uday Bengal of Indus Creed, “We will be playing some new songs from our upcoming album as well as old favourites.”

Orissa’s renowned sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik will also carve sand monuments on a glass table that will be lit from below. A camera above will display the projected art on a screen. UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has also tied up with the organisers. Adds Shom, "UNAIDS has an ongoing programme for AIDS prevention and they will use the concert as a platform to spread awareness about the disease." Tickets for the gig are priced at Rs. 500 and it will be webcast across all HRC outlets in India.