MUMBAI: There is no doubt about the fact that, the fourth edition of Vh1 Supersonic that took place from 10-12 February 2017 at Laxmi Lawns in Pune, has been the biggest buzz of the year. Not just with the star-studded headliners, Eric Prydz, Macklemore and ZEDD, but also the top-notch, less commercial artists around the world that pretty much shook Pune last weekend.
Presented by Viacom18 Business Head for consumer products and integrated network and solutions, Saugato Bhowmik and curated by none other than Nikhil Chinapa, Vh1 Supersonic that has grown into one of the seminal multi-genre music festivals celebrated its four-year dominance over the musical landscape by shifting to the heart of Pune this year. Live Viacom18’s brainchild outdid its own history with a record in its fourth edition. Here’s why.
Day 1:
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The hype around Sonic Realm stage was justified and how! Everybody wanted to be a part of this wild weekend, which offered a main stage that could entirely match the Jungle Book movie, a cool ‘Super Flea’ market, and obviously good food. First day Supersonic marked an electrifying moment for all music superfans as Eric Prydz enthralled the audience with his superset. Also, the opening act by Raghav Holla at the Sonic Realm Stage and Quistek at the Spectrum Stage brought life to the festival. We also liked the raging momentum by eclectic artists such as B.R.E.E.D, Tarqeeb, Zaeden, Quintino, Pearl and many more hit the beat at their own stages. What magic! What banging sets!
As the most talked about headlining act at Supersonic was Eric Prydz, his tunes boosted up the music aficionados. Mr Prydz brought down the house in India with his closing track ‘Opus’ and the night went etched on our mind by then. In addition, Eric also played at the first of several after-parties at blueFROG, Pune as Cirez D, with the support of two amazing underground artists from India, Pearl and Praveen Achary.
From the fans, we got to know that there were no happy hours on 10 February as liquor came post 6 pm.
Day 2:
Day 2 opened with Collective Frequency at Labortoire stage, fans were still gradually turning up at the venue around 2 pm. While Sonic Realm and Spectrum witnessed the explosive sets of Browncoat B2B Murthovic and Vachan Chinappa. We liked Sequ3l and Diatonik’s B2B sets; also, Henrik Schwarz’s live set. On the other side, at Labortoire stage, South-African music producer Protoculture nailed his one and half hour sundown trance set with his powerful numbers. Trance star Nate Raubenheimer aka Protoculture dropped chartbusters like ‘Gravity South’, and tracks from his album ‘Music Is More Than Mathematics’, which kept the BPMs high throughout the course of his one and half hour ensemble.
About the same time, Ash Roy and Tuhin Mehta’s B2B set highlighted an inimitable mix of minimal techno and tribal-tech at spectrum stage. The pioneer of techno in India, Arjun Vagale, who is known as ‘Asia’s finest Underground Music Exports’ closed the spectrum Stage for the Day 2 evening.
In addition, a hardstyle set by Aly & Fila turned up the energy at the Gionee Stage for the late evening. We were unhappy about the fact that the Supersonic team clashed the Aly & Fila and Macklemore’s schedule. How could you even do that?
Well, we had to head towards the main stage to witness Grammy-winning Macklemore who just took down Trump at Supersonic! The Sonic Realm stage witnessed explosive acts by the legendary headlining act by Macklemore. With Macklemore, the energy of the festival soared higher than ever.
We took the thrill of techno, the tour of trance, and the hype of good old hip-hop to create Day 2 of Vh1 Supersonic 2017.
Day 3:
The exuberant festival continued on Day 3 as headlining act by Zedd, DJ Markey, Joris Vroon, Reinier and Secret Cinema and more. Breaking away from the bog room acts, on day 3, Labortoire by Gionee Stage featured Sickflip, Sound Avatar, Tansane, Nerm and biggies such as Breakage and Supersonic’s first debutant DJ Markey. However, this day also the Supersonic team clashed the timing of DJ Markey and last headlining act by Zedd, again.
Day 3 at Labortoire by Gionee gave an underground vibe to the festival and that’s what we loved.
Jitter and Vinayaka commenced the Spectrum stage, while Sonic Realm and Spectrum witnessed the explosive sets of Curbi, Lost Stories and Blot! B2B Kohra, Joris Vroon. The underground boiler room prodigy &ME stole the show at the Awakenings stage. Joris Voorn was truly the icing on the cake for the attendees present at the Awakenings stage. The Dutch techno producer, possibly, played the best set at the Supersonic so far and nothing less was expected from him. Reinier and Secret Cinema continued with their B2b sets where Vroon left.
Zedd’s electrifying performance did bring life to the Sonic Realm stage, whereas Reinier Zonneveld and Secret Cinema took over the Awakenings stage for one last performance of the night. The revellers had already submerged themselves into the atmosphere, the stage, and act put together.
We believe that Laboratoire certainly lived up to its expectations as the home for some very cutting-edge DJs and, like the other two stages, and that is what makes Supersonic a very balanced festival, in all matters.
According to us, there were so many things really impressive. It goes without saying that the curator, Nikhil Chinapa’s experience in the industry and his understanding to give people the best experience, good artists and their sensible sets, less commercial music, also the special area for differently disabled people, exclusive bar for ladies and more! All these incorporated totally different vision for Indian EDM scene or say multi-genre outlook, hats off Nikhil Chinapa.
Venue Management, sound, security, stages, and lounge spaces everything was at the right place and without any question, the fourth edition of Supersonic was one of the best shows organised so far. We headed back to Mumbai with loads of ‘once in a lifetime’ moments! As they say, “When you do something, do it the best way you can”. Supersonic completely lived up to this quote. Way to go team Supersonic!
