MUMBAI: Possibly, Mumbai’s most iconic indoor live venue – blueFROG – has shaped and inspired several musicians’ journeys, and the ten-year-old venue’s artist-friendly set-up transformed its image from an ‘intimidating’ stage to the most ‘comfortable’ one in no time. BlueFROG will be celebrating its final few days of existence and success (as a brand) in Lower Parel with ‘FROG Fest’ and the participating musicians/acts have provided their ‘sweet’ moments of performing at the venue.
The first day of the FROG fest will end with a performance from Indus Creed and the legendary band considers the album launch of ‘Evovle’ among the finest moments experienced at the venue.
“”It’s difficult to name a best memory at blueFROG since we’ve had so many good ones. The memory blurs the good times. But the release gig to promote our last album, ‘Evolve’, was certainly one of the more special gigs we’ve done there. It’s always greatly fulfilling to play at a venue that’s been designed explicitly for music performance-and by that we mean acoustically treated and sonically designed-so playing at the Frog was always a satisfying experience for us.”
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It feels a little weird to be heralding the closure of a venue you’ve grown to love. Especially when there’s such a dearth of places for quality live music. So we just hope this is the shutting of one set of doors that’ll open up another-meaning, the hopeful reopening of another blueFROG before too long.”
Gino Banks will accompany Indus Creed as the guest drummer tonight (replacement for Jai Row Kavi), and the drummer is a regular performer at the venue.
“Wow, what blueFROG has been for me is incredible. I have watched and listened to incredible artists, the best in the world up close and personal. I have had the opportunity to play and perform on that stage since the clubs inception with so many amazing musicians through the years. At one point I used to play there almost 2-3 times a month.I have many memorable gigs with all the wonderful artists with whom I have worked and collaborated with. One of the highlight gigs for me was the one with my dad(Louiz Banks), Mike Stern, Sheldon D’Silva and Satyajit Talwalkar. That was special. Also our drumset group – Pulse Conversation – was conceived and launched at the FROG. And showcasing Mumbai’s International Jazz Day has always been a big one for our jazz music community and we couldn’t have done it without the support and help from blueFROG. I have grown so much as a musician and a live performer because of having a place like the Frog to showcase and present my music and my craft.”
?Midival Punditz
“It’s a bittersweet thought when we think about the fact that we are playing our final set at blueFROG Mumbai. We have had some truly magical performances at this venue over the years and it was a no-brainer for us to be a part of the FROGFEST.
It’s one of those stages for which we would usually prepare a little extra than other venues because of the kind of response we have received from the audiences and from the team blueFROG. Apart from just our own band, we have collaborated with so many amazing artists at this stage – Karsh Kale, Papon, Salim Merchant, Baiju Dharmajan, Monica Dogra, Randolph and the list goes on..
Looking forward to the finale show on the 27th Aug for which we have an audiovisual set with an all star line-up that we are very excited to perform at this iconic stage for the last time.”
Sidd Coutto, Zero
“One of my favourite live venues in the country is shutting down. I’ve had the pleasure of performing there with almost all my bands and playing pretty much every instrument I can play on that stage. From album launches to one off tribute gigs to playing weekly cover gigs to honing my improv looper set to guesting with so many amazing artistes, I’ve grown as a musician and performer and lover of the whisky + watermelon megaFROG”
Tejas Menon
I think my best memory at FROG would be doing my first headlining show there. We packed the whole place completely and the best part was when we started our set, I kept thinking “oh man when will everyone leave for their smoke break!”; but literally none of them did. It remained fill right till the encore. It was also the show that I played the songs from my new album for the first time, and people loved it. Not being from Bombay and having heard about the Frog from my friends for so many years I always wondered whether I’d even get to do an early set there. Funnily enough I’ve never done an early set, but pack the Frog for my own show? Check. Great memories.
