Weekender Returns

Soon,however,the late announcement of the Pune event was acknowledged as a prank by the organisers and last week,the line-ups for the Delhi and Pune events were released. A majority of the artistes who have performed in Pune over the last two years will play in Delhi this year,while a number of Weekender first-timers will play in Pune. The Bengaluru line-up remains unannounced.

The decision to not repeat acts in Pune was restricting as far as choosing bands went,but it was fun nonetheless,says Vijay Nair,CEO of OML. “As far as Delhi and Bengaluru are concerned,we had more options with programming bands,” says Nair,adding,“With Pune,it was a lot of fun to look as far out as possible to help curate the best list of acts from India and across the world.”

Headlining the Bacardi Black Rock Arena — the stage for rock and metal acts — in Delhi is Megadeth,a band considered one of the pioneers of metal. This position in Pune will be filled by Karnivool,a progressive rock band from Australia. On The Dewarists Stage in Delhi are Anoushka Shankar and Shafqat Amanat Ali,formerly the lead vocalist of the Pakistani alternative-rock band Fuzon. A fourth headlining international act in the city — at the Eristoff Wolves Den,the stage for dance and electronica music — is Kaiserdisco,a Hamburg-based duo that plays house and techno. In Pune,among the other international acts are Seun Kuti and Egypt 80,Michal Menert and The Aston Shuffle. Another hugely popular part-Indian act that will play at The Dewarists Stage in Pune is ShriLectric and Vivek Rajagopalan.

Among the acts that will be missed in Pune this time are Reggae Rajahs,Midival Punditz,Dualist Inquiry and The Raghu Dixit Project. Sahej Bakshi of Dualist Inquiry,who played in 2010 and 2011,says,“Most such festivals the world over don’t repeat line-ups.”

This year will also see a new stage,Fully Fantastic Stage,which will feature popular bands along side those that the organisers believe are “quickly rising new bands”. Among these in Pune are Adam and the Fish Eyed Poets from Chennai,The Lightyears Explode from Mumbai,The Supersonics from Kolkata,Das Racist,a hip-hop act from Brooklyn,and Peter Cat Recording Co. from Delhi,who will also play at the Delhi edition. Also playing in Delhi are Shaa’ir + Func,Ankur and the Ghalat Family and Blackstratblues.

Other notable acts include Susmit Sen (of Indian Ocean) and Raffael Kably’s (of Bay Beat Collective) solo projects at The Other Stage and Dub Station respectively in Pune. Kably’s solo project,titled Mode 7,is something he likes to call “an experimental playground”. “Dubstep used to be really fresh,grimy and dirty and I felt like over the years it has been losing that,” he says. This project,therefore,attempts to experiment with those sounds,while still being easy flowing,ambient music.