VH1
SUPERSONIC
Three days in Pune turned out to be
extremely exhausting. I know the word
is usually reserved for unpleasant
experiences, but there is no other way
to describe shuffling between four
massive stages at Vh1 Supersonic. It
was impossible to catch every act, and
so you had to shed some tears and let
some artists go.
I went for a carefully considered mix
of constant favourites and curious
novelties. The lineup was heavy on
electronic artists, and for an amateur
listener, it was a great place to find
a taste for that sound. Techno-EDM-
trance sounds a lot better when
accompanied by strobe lighting,
alcohol-fueled dancing and shoutouts
by Nikhil Chinappa.
I’ll start with the Sonic Realm stage. A
monstrous masterpiece that delivered
a visual and phonetic extravaganza
with every act. Even if you didn’t like
Nucleya or Gurbax or DJ ASA, you
couldn’t turn away from the trippy
images swirling on the four screens
or the flawless quality of the sound.
As someone completely uninterested
in Major Lazer or Marshmello, I
was compelled to stay for multiple
songs simple by virtue of the pseudo-
psychedelic picturization.
The Live Stage is the one that
substantiated the promise of a multi-
genre festival. Here’s where you had
Alt-J, who elevated a writhing crowd
to a dreamscape with a setlist that
almost touched the edge of magic. An
eerie silence fell before they began
each song, a split second when all of
us drew in a sharp breath and lent our
voices to their far superior ones.
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Here is also where you had Incubus,
who took everyone back to the days of
discovering rock music on late night
radio and Limewire. From where I
was standing, you could see older
fans choking on the fact that they
were seeing, in the flesh, some heroes
of their adolescence. Newer fans
wondered aloud why they hadn’t heard
much of them before, and by the end
of the set, they swore to devote long
hours to this band the minute they got
home that night.
Sheer perfection was achieved.
The experimental stage, Laborotorie
Supersonique was the abode of
deliciously idiosyncratic sounds. The
Adana Twins, The Midival Punditz,
Raja Kumari, Dj Uri &Rynosax were
among the few that inspired a long
listen and burgeoning interest. Raja
Kumari, in particular, drew a crowd
that took on a face full of the afternoon
sun and sang along to her hits.
For people who liked to dance, the
festival was a phenomenal destination.
From three of the four stages emerged
a constant stream of electronica
and techno-heavy varieties. Three
whole days saw people move to a
combination of curious combinations
of groove-inspired tones, seemingly
unlimited beer, theatrical smoke
and heady visuals calibrated to the
ricocheting sound. The Spectrum by
Awakenings stage did this especially
well, as proved by the fact that many of
the festival-goers spent all of the three
days plopped and/or grinding in front
of it.
To sum up, Vh1 Supersonic delivered
on every one of its advertised
promises. It certainly exceeded
expectations in terms of production,
timing, and security without
compromising on the good time. The
security surrounding alcohol might
have gone a tad overboard, but since
I have zero experience in running a
major festival, I’ll just assume that
the organisers knew what they were
doing. They had to, because it couldn’t
have been easy planning for something
so monumental to finish within just
three measly days.