JOIN USMany bands play at Nandi Hills festival
The introduction of Beantown Backyard Festival is a great addition to Bengaluru’s music scene, say artistes.
Held near Nandi Hills on October 27 and 28, the inaugural edition of the music festival had performances from more than 30 Indian and international acts.
That included Bengaluru rockers Parvaaz, who headlined on Sunday night after a weekend of music, food, beer, and adrenalin-inducing activities. The four-piece band, comprising Khalid, Kashif Iqbal, Fidel D’Souza and Sachin Banandur, has been playing for 10 years. They have an EP and album under their belt.
Vocalist Khalid Ahmed was impressed by the organisation of the festival, as well as the sound quality of the music stages.
“It was a fantastic experience; these kind of festivals hardly happen in Bengaluru,” Khalid said. “It was really good. I’d hoped more people would turn up but this was only the first edition. I hope it grows and becomes bigger.”
Khalid added the festival was a great opportunity for them to grow their audience base and noted that the increasing number of music festivals shows the growing appetite for concerts in India.
“People want to see live music performances but there are limited options,” he rues.
It is a feeling shared by Harshan Radhakrishnan, keys player for The F16s.
Along with improvements in the country’s lack of music venues, it’s great to see an increase in music festivals, Harshan says.
“The Indian music scene is definitely picking up and it is growing fast. There are a lot of festivals I don’t even know about,” he says.
The F16s formed six years ago after meeting through mutual friends. The alternative pop band from Chennai, which also includes Joshua Fernandez, Abhinav Krishnaswamy, and Shashank Manohar, played on Saturday afternoon at the festival. Harshan described the experience as “good fun”.
“Beantown is nice in terms of getting away from city life in a big open space with lots of smiling people and dogs. We really enjoyed playing there.”
Being a first-time music festival, he expects it to take two or three more editions before it finds its space.