Live it up

Not Just Jazz By The Bay has been serving live music along with their popular continental dishes for years. In 2006,Hard Rock Café had revelers cheering for rock bands. But,it’s in the early 2008 that Blue Frog—with its excellent acoustics and finely designed space—made live performances an integral part of the city’s nightlife. The venue also introduced plays,impromptu performances and comedy nights which the audience lapped up and other places adopted.

The hectic and vibrant nightlife has many resto-bar owners smiling. Ashutosh Phatak,co-founder of Blue Frog,says,“We’ve had packed houses even for lesser known performers.” And with almost every night promising to be fun,revelers were happy too. “The number places hosting live acts has gone up. There are definitely more bands in the city and more music is being produced,” says artist manager Neysa Mendes. What she is thrilled about is the growing number of venues holding regular music events. In the suburbs Gadda Da Vida,Il Terazzo and Aurus play host to live gigs regularly while Bonobo,Bandra,and Zenzi Mills,Lower Parel,cater to yuppie crowds. “Now,I have to pick and choose which gig I want to attend on a particular day. That’s fantastic,” she gushes.

Big bands like Parikrama,Outlandish,Zero and The Midival Punditz chose to perform at city bars. What’s heartening is that new bands like The Supersonics,Something Relevant,Medusa,The Mavyns,Shkabang and Rosemary too drew crowds. Does this mean that upcoming artists are getting a big push? “That’s definitely a yes. There are more venues. That means there are more platforms to play,” adds Mendes.

Kris Correya,head of music at Zenzi Mills,agrees: “It isn’t just the conventional gigs anymore. There are musicians exploring sounds,coming up with new ideas and putting together different bands.” Crowds are now very keen to experience different kind of music. “There was a time when every band had to play mostly covers to get the audience interested. And then,maybe they could sprinkle a few originals. Now,we have people playing only originals,” Correya justifies.

Stand-up comedians like Vir Das have had a great year too. “Earlier,we used to be part of a show with other artists or bands. Now,we’re standalone acts and have had packed houses at places like Blue Frog. It might be because of the lack of good non-live entertainment this year,” says Das,who has started the Hamateur Nights at Blue Frog which gives a chance to young stand-up comedians to perform.

Though the city is catching up with the global trend of live entertainment,most believe that we’re still lagging behind. Amit Keswani,VP Marketing,Hard Rock Café,“In a place like London or New York a single person is ready to go by himself to a restaurant to enjoy the performance. We haven’t reached that stage as yet.”