Tiredness, weakness, a feeling of being unwell, depression, paranoia and messy mood swings are some of the side-effects associated with speed (methamphetamines). The country’s music scene is in danger of falling prey to these very symptoms the day after it gets its biggest metaphorical hit of speed. Ever. In exactly 100 days from the time you read these words, the Invasion festival will be upon Mumbai and Bengaluru (and later Delhi), and will play host to the fieriest live act to ever visit these shores... The Prodigy.
The six-legged group — led by composer Liam Howlett — from Braintree in Essex, England has always been impossible to pigeonhole. Ask older fans and they’ll call The Prodigy a rave act. Ask younger fans and its big beat. Ask Wikipedia and you’ll get the phrase “electronic dance music”. Like The Matrix, however, no one can be told what The Prodigy is, you just have to see it for yourself. But who in the right mind would bring an explosive live act like this to India?
“Quite a number of bands and artistes play extremely well-planned and elaborate gigs in other countries, but with the exception of Iron Maiden’s Somewhere Back In Time tour show in Mumbai in 2008, they bring a very stripped down show for our audiences,” says Vijay Nair, founder, Only Much Louder and asks, “Why should India get a second rate show?”
Questions like these drove Vijay to talk to Vishal Dadlani (Pentagram, Vishal-Shekhar) about what could be done to set things right.
“We don’t really have any major music festivals in this country to speak of. There’s been a lot of people who’ve put events together haphazardly and in other countries, the view is that the scene here is a little shifty,” rues Vishal and adds, “So we decided to own our own property (Motherswear Entertainment), which would let us turn the event making process a lot more current (most of the acts that come to India are the classics) and professional.” Speaking of professional, he soon caught the eye of 15-year veteran of the music industry, Zak Biddu, CEO, UKNY Music.
“I’ve never had a chance to do any shows in India and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, both in terms of creating a new live music platform and on a personal level. My father (Biddu) is Indian. Also, some of the proceeds from Invasion will go to the charity my parents work with — Calcutta Rescue,” says Zak. In January 2009, while working
with the British Council, he was given a few contact numbers for local people in the music biz. “There were around 10 meetings I had already had that day and by the time I got to the end of them, I had come across no one, I was remotely interested in working with. That’s when Vijay walked in for the next meeting,” recalls Zak. “We met at the Sun ‘n’ Sand Hotel in Juhu,” says Vijay and laughs, “It really is one of the best places for these sorts of negotiations.” The UKNY boss was pleasantly surprised and relieved to finally find one person who had the same idea and attitude that he did. Zak elaborates, “We agreed that we needed to create an exciting festival experience in India that had a strong identity of its own. It had to be something that was on an international level and rooted in Indian culture.”
Vijay also points out that many festivals start up with the right idea in India, but die out in a couple of years. Or they go on and shoot themselves in both feet... and perhaps even the head... with an AK-47 no less, like a festival in Bengaluru, whose identity shall be
withheld. He also believes that Invasion should be about knowing what the fans want and giving them just that, from affordable tickets to ample parking and merchandise that they’d want to buy. Case in point, the festival’s logo took three painstaking months to create and perfect.
“After talking to people in India — sponsors, organisers, artistes and fans, we realised that from a roster of nearly 50 acts that we could have brought to India, The Prodigy had the potential to evoke the strongest reaction,” says Zak. After laying down preliminary
discussions, it was time for Zak to head back the Isles to see if The Prodigy would in fact (to quote the Commonwealth Games and The Offspring) “come out and play”
“I returned to England and was walking through London when I decided to text Keith Flint (vocalist/dancer, The Prodigy) and ask him if he wanted to go to India,” says Zak and adds, “My phone returned to my pocket and in around 10 seconds, Keith replies saying, “YES YES YES!!’.” He’s clearly a man who chooses his words carefully.
The Prodigy has always been renowned for its crazy live shows with tales of Keith rolling around the stage in a giant hamster ball, a war of words with the Beastie Boys at the Reading Festival 1998 and frighteningly hyperactive stage presence.
However, the fancy stage props are now a thing of the past. As Keith Palmer (better known as Maxim Reality, the MC, beatboxer, songwriter and third member of The Prodigy) tells The Asian Age, “We don’t do those things anymore. They were more gimmicks and enhanced our show in our earlier days. We’ve realised now that it’s more about the rawness of the show that matters and that those shows are the best ones. We’ll bring tremendous amounts of raw energy to our gigs in India.”
In addition to Maxim stalking the stage with more than an air of menace and Keith gnashing and convulsing as he sneers at the audience, The Prodigy’s stage light show is still one of the best in the business and the good news is that it’s all coming here. “I can’t
confirm that we have got 98 per cent of the ideal rider for the shows and will be able to provide our Indian audiences with exactly what people from other countries have seen,” says Zak reassuringly.