GOA: This past weekend saw the very first Vans New Wave MusicFest take place at the Verna Go Karting track in Goa. With more than 60 Indian and Asian music acts performing on three different stages- Vans Off the Wall stage, The Stupidities stage and the Pepsi MTV Indies stage, the festival saw not only prominent names, but also a few up-and-coming acts. For any music lover, New Wave MusicFest promised a variety of great music, and it did deliver, but not without a few glitches.
DAY ONE
The first day of the music fest, 15th November 2014, got off to a slightly slow start. Kicking off, perhaps a little too early, the day saw acts like I Am Bliss, Castles in the Sky, A Mutual Question, Punk on Toast, Run It’s the Kid, Street Stories and several others perform. Initially, it seemed unclear whether artistes were running through their sound-check or actually playing their sets. Fortunately, things picked up a little later in the day, when the venue started to fill up a little. Despite a rather small audience, there were some stand-out performances by Live Banned, Spud in the Box, Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Cafe, Street Stories, Madboy/Mink and Sky Rabbit.
DAY TWO
Sunday, 16th November, the second day of the music fest saw a better turn out in terms of audience and looked to be going much smoother than the previous day. It saw performances by Space Behind the Yellow Room, Frame/ Frame, The Koniac Net, Hoirong, Bombay Bassment, Tritha Electric and many more. However, a few acts like The Supersonics, ViceVersa, French band- Success and Malaysian punk band- Kyoto Protocol wowed the crowd with some great performances.
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Along with showcasing some of the most popular names in the Indian independent music scene, the New Wave MusicFest brought a few international acts like Little Fox (Thailand), The U93 (South Korea), Point of View (UAE) and Shonen Knife (Japan), all of whom were performing in India for the first time.
OVERALL
In addition to the music, the festival had an add-on in the form of a half-pipe skateboard ramp, allowing anyone interested to try their hand at the sport. There were also plenty of options for food and drink.
While the line-up was certainly awesome, the organisation could have been a little better. Although the fest offered three stages, it meant making a choice between several different music acts at the same time. It also resulted in a clash of music from the three stages, particularly the Stupidities stage, which was set up in between the other two. Over the two days, the festival was expected to see around 3,000 people, but perhaps it could have done better had the venue been easier to get to.
There is much to be learnt from the first edition of the New Wave MusicFest, but there is no doubt that it can become bigger and better. However, one thing is clear, by introducing local and foreign music acts to a wider audience; this can become the ultimate music fest, especially for rock and alternative music fans that are often left in want of a live music festival which caters to their music preference.
