This is the 4th edition of Lollapalooza India, and the 4th time I’m attending it.
Things that will stay the same (aka festival advice from me who has attended ~7 music festivals now):
This edition was surprisingly rock/metal heavy - generally Lollapalooza tries to be a little more genre-inclusive. This edition also hit my personal preference of having acts that are fronted by women, so I had a particularly good time in terms of music discovery.
BRILLIANT indie alt pop vibes. Indian girls can make pop music!!!! The performance was a vibe and a half. Reminiscent of Kayan from a few years ago. Def listening to the new album.
Very rock metal, we only heard the last ten minutes. Fronted by a woman, so they’re going on my playlist.
Alt/rock/folk, TWO front women (and a frontman). We stayed for the first thirty minutes of their set, which included a song that started with the lyrics
I wear women’s underwear
And then I go to strike a pose in my full-length mirror
I cross my legs just like a queer
But my libido is strong when a lady is near, yeah
What defines a straight man’s straight?
Is it the boxer in the brief or a twelve-ounce steak? Nah
I’ll tell you what a woman loves most
It’s a man you can slap but can also stroke
Um, HELL yes. They’ve been around for twenty years (!) but seem to be especially popular gen-z music (whatever that means). They’re a little too folksy to be on my regular rotation but I can see that I’m going to have to pick out a few pieces to go in there. Their energy on stage was chill and fun, perfect for the 4pm slot, getting us ready for the rest of the festival.
From the homework I’d done for the festival, I was looking forward to his performance. His album felt like pop from the mid 2015s, which is not far enough away from us that we’re nostalgic for it (yet). He is a very good looking man, but his movements felt like he was still learning them, like they didn’t come naturally. I was expecting him to come with backup dancers like Eric Nam from Lolla India 2024 - it definitely felt like the performance was choreographed that way. Nonetheless, he put on such a show! The crowd contained a large number of people from the Japanese diaspora living in India, which was really nice to see. It looked like they had mostly come to see him!
Men from SEA are often mocked (especially in India and other locales with a prominent chauvinistic masculinity) for being effeminate. Fujii took that one step further - the man is NOT afraid of his hip gyrations. This was not appreciated by the set of young 20somethings next to me - they said some pretty homophobic stuff and walked away. I’m glad they told on themselves - more space for me! This didn’t seem matter to the crowd at large, they were charmed and here to enjoy themselves. The crowd for Fujii Kaze was already pretty strong - maybe 30k? I was suprised by how much of the crowd sang along with every word of his set!
They were opening for Playboi Carti on the main stage because they’re his labelmates. We didn’t listen to them, because a friend and I had decided to stay on to try and get to the front for the next act, but in the silence between sets we heard some incredible energy and the kind of hip hop I would have enjoyed live. I probably won’t listen to them again but I would like to catch them live.
I decided to prioritise his set purely on the basis of watching his grammy nominated performance of Changes where he played with Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme fame.
Extreme headlined for Bandland in Nov 2024, and is quite possibly the best live performance I have ever seen. They are a very classic rock band. I spent ages 15 to 19 listening to classic rock (I was in my pick-me era). I have since learnt about my own tastes, and don’t waste my time listening to rock, but I do catch it live where I can. There is something about the magical combination of electric guitar, bass guitar, and a classic drum kit that can just take over my body and let me forget myself. Extreme is not the classic rock that the boys I hoped would pick me embodied - they’re the kind of classic rock that pushed the boundaries of genre. They grew long hair, wore make up and sequins. They danced about on stage. They were earnest about the music they wrote and created. They were (I am told) the antidote to the rigid masculinity I’ve grown up with and associated with rock. Also, they’re hot, and they know it. The way rockstars play with their audience is a sight to behold. There is a banter in it that I can’t help but me charmed by, even as I know what is happening.
Yungblud is such a rockstar, except he’s from MY generation. For two straight hours, the man’s energy propelled what grew to be 70,000 people (!!) to sing, scream, and sway with him. One man’s energy pushed us to forget everything except the body we inhabited, the people around us, and the music. Did Yungblud get his start as a cover artist? I’m not familiar as to how he can perform songs that don’t belong to him (what his belonging in music, really?) but his traditional setlist seems to contain a bunch of classic rock songs (fleabag, changes, I was made for loving you) that is designed to endear him to any crowd and showcase his chops as a pure performer. On social media, Yungblud feels authentic, charming, hard working, and embodies a lot of the values rockstars should[1].
I knew from Olivia Rodrigo and Aly & Aj that I could enjoy rock on its own merits. I know from Yungblud that there’s some ways to go before I will let rock die.
Honestly Day 2 was fine. Yes I had fun, but after the high (and tiredness) of yungblud I think I just made it through the day and enjoyed myself nominally. I’ll fill up this section if I ever feel the need to revisit this day.
Zokova
Callum Scott
The burgers at that stall
Bloodywood
Kehlani
Linkin Park
Haleem and chai at Good Luck Cafe
Breakfast at the versova place
Breakfast at Bombay Journal
Dinner at Eddy’s
Breakfast at Cafe Irani Chai
The very first time I came to Bombay in any meaningful way was also for the very first Lollapalooza. Since then, I’ve been here in Bombay seven or eight times, all with Anu. It was very hard doing this festival, and this city, without the person whose context I know it most in. I didn’t stay in Bandra this time (and I regretted it) - but in some ways, I was glad to be staying elsewhere because I wasn’t confronted with the memories that every single sidewalk held for me. I did finish the festival and enjoyed myself, and now I can go back to Bandra. Shout out to Shruti, the OG Bambai girlie whom I called at least forty times over the course of those four days, who made sure I didn’t have to think one whit about meals and transportation, and reminded me that Bombay doesn’t stay in the past. I grow and the city has space for me and all the rest of the life I have to live.