Christmas, it would appear, came early to Pune this year... And twice, no less. After the three-day carnival that was the Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Seagram’s Fuel Great Indian Rock rolled into town on Friday to shake Koregaon Park out of its slumber once more. A phalanx of music aficionados who were in the audience at either of these events will be quietly confident that this won’t be the last time either.
The history of Pune as having been the centre of power of the Maratha Empire for a while, the hometown of a young Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the city closest to the National Defence Academy is well known. However, it’s extremely difficult to pinpoint just when this sleepy college city slowly began its transformation into western India’s rock capital.
North India has Delhi, while Bengaluru is still the premiere rock destination in South India. Travel eastwards and one reaches Kolkata. Further east and Shillong is the one-stop shop for all rock (and roll, if one desires) needs. That’s all well and good, one might say, but what makes Pune Rock City the western capital? Pentagram, Indian Ocean, TesseracT, Asian Dub Foundation, the Raghu Dixit Project, Zero and a certain Swedish band called Meshuggah playing in Pune within the space of a week is the reason this city poses the biggest threat to Mumbai’s crown.
“Where are you going to play in Mumbai?” Only Much Louder CEO Vijay Nair had asked rhetorically once and added, “There’s simply no space. That’s why we’ve got to move to Pune, which is close enough for the Mumbai crowd and yet has acres of room to put up a show.” Despite showcasing a number of great bands and artistes, venues like Blue Frog and Hard Rock Café are essentially restaurants. Rang Bhavan is a part of history now. That leaves only B69, an upcoming underground music venue in Andheri. What about MMRDA Grounds and Bandra-Kurla Complex, one may ask and suggest there’s surely enough space to perform there. After all, didn’t Iron Maiden play there and isn’t Bryan Adams set to perform there in 2011 too?
The organiser of a metal show in Bengaluru had told this correspondent a few years ago that there was absolutely no way he would organise a show in Mumbai. “First of all, you’ve got to pay for dozens and dozens of licences to get all the necessary clearances for your show. In Mumbai, there’s always a hospital or school or court or some government building everywhere you turn, so you’ll never find open space,” he thundered and added, “In addition, even after you’ve paid around 10 or 15 times as much as you would any other city to get everything in place, the local politicians need absolutely no excuse to just send their goons or the police in and shut down the show on a whim.”
Koregaon Park’s Elysium Lawns and Raga Lawns provide the ideal venue with sprawling green fields that can easily house a few thousand each. Over and above that fact, there isn’t a school, major residential area, hospital, court or government office near enough to be affected by the sound and light. Aside from the highly exploitative autorickshaw drivers just outside the area (A demand of Rs 100 for a measly two-kilometre journey is one such preposterous example), there are enough three-wheelers available and so, public transport is also not a major issue here.
As with the NH7 Weekender, a number of people had made the trip to Pune from Mumbai for GIR. Roy D’Souza, who had made the trip with six companions chipped in with another reason for Pune slowly inching ahead. “This place has the perfect weather for an outdoor rock show or festival. It isn’t too hot or humid, so getting into the moshpit isn’t as life-sapping as one would imagine. Plus it isn’t too cold, so you can roam around in just a t-shirt. It’s just right,” offers Roy before trying to shove his way into the brutal Meshuggah moshpit at GIR.
While handily demonstrating the drawing power of alternative music, the massive turnouts at GIR and the Weekender (overall) also pointed out one more thing: Pune is the new epicentre of rock in western India and the pun(e)ters love it!