The Humming Tree, now a second home for music lovers and musicians alike, celebrated its first anniversary over the last weekend. And if the multi-layered cake wasn’t cause for celebration already, the three days of live music, food, drinks and socialising sure were!

Day one saw the festivities kick off with an opening act by Ankit Ranganathan and Pradeep Gopal.

This was followed by Mumbai-based alternative electronica act ‘Shaa’ir + func’, who were so popular that entry was closed after the venue reached full capacity.

The Saturday celebrations started at noon, with rooftop sets by ‘Blent’, ‘SMAK MahadeV’, Mahesh Raghunandan and Khalid Ahamed to name a few while ‘The Storm Factory’ rendered a beautiful performance with music by Arjun Chandran and visuals by Lost+Found.

On the main stage, the three headlining acts were one better than the other – City-based post-rock band ‘Until We Last’ celebrated its third anniversary, local triphop duo ‘Sulk Station’ were a gripping act as usual and Chennai-based electro-rock act ‘The F16s’ performed their fiftieth gig till date with more energy than most fans were used to.

On day three, a delicious brunch and cocktails by chef Anuj awaited the crowd during the day.

In the evening, the stage came alive once again with the ‘All Stars Open Mic’, which saw acoustic performances by artistes like ‘Space Pixie Overdrive’, ‘Moonbeam’,
Vasudhaa Narayanan, Judy and Ananth etc.

Throughout the celebrations, there were several tables selling various artsy products like band merchandise, caricatures by Shijo Varghese, ‘Psyrays’ and ‘Mechanimal’ among others.

“It was pretty amazing! There were some really good artistes performing and everyone had a blast. The whole concept of having acoustic rooftop sessions through the day was very nice.

‘The F16s’ and ‘Sulk Station’ were phenomenal and the visuals were very cool and made me feel like I was in a trance. But it was very crowded, which I guess is a good thing for the venue,” said Arjun, who attended the event.

Joshua Fernandez, frontman of ‘The F16s’, was all praises too.

“It’s probably the best music venue in the country in less than a year from its conception. They threw the best three-day birthday ever! The venue was packed with people and good vibes. It was the band’s best weekend there yet!” he said.