Respect few. fear none. Those four words kept popping up in conversations as party-goers made their way out of Sunburn Festival on day one. As they trudged downhill from Vagator—towards beachside shacks and slick afterparties—everyone kept talking about how the French hitmaker William Grigahcine aka DJ Snake lived up to the words emblazoned on his black t-shirt. Sun B.
The Grammy-nominated composer, who was headlining the event, had stopped his performance midway to speak to the thousands gathered at the mainstage.
“I love you India…the whole world is watching you. No matter where are you are from…whether you are from the East or South…no matter what your religion is…just be together and stay united. Do not listen to TV, radio or what any politician is saying. Just spread love and peace,” said the musician, as he hoisted the Indian National flag.
Power trip
Truth be told, a large portion of the festival attendees did not hear DJ Snake cleverly urge people amid the ongoing nationwide unrest over the Citizenship Amendment Act. Neither did they see him play trap/future-bass bangers like Magenta Riddim atop the 350 ft large stage, even though it was lit up by over 50,000 sqft of LEDs complete with pyro FX, and confetti. They were off discovering various forms of dance music booming from five other stages, intelligently spread across the hilly landscape.
Some clubbers were moving to the hypnotic rhythms of Laughing Buddha and Belik Boom at the Psychedelic Circus overlooking the Arabian Sea. Others shimmied to Bollywood-infused commercial electro churned out by Progressive Brothers and Blackout at the ZEE5 stage. During all three days, the festival’s lineup had a tentacle in every corner of the dance music chart. That, according to us, was the real highlight of the gathering: the ease of access to every major electronic sub-genre and the fact that the biggest names who champion those soundscapes helmed the stages. A brief glimpse at day two’s billboard revealed the same—from lesser-known vinyl phenoms like IggyTheBastard and Berlin’s techno mainstay Oliver Huntemann to young homegrown superstars like RitViz and Sequ3l. As for those few who couldn’t find what they liked sonically they ended up taking a Ferris Wheel ride; snapping selfies beneath the huge neon ‘Live. Love. Dance’ board; or zip-lining across the venue.
Lasting impression
Despite being touted as the largest Asian music festival, with attendees from over 52 countries, Sunburn was not without its hiccups. And we’re not talking about the overpriced beer, poor network connectivity, cornucopia of corporate branding kiosks, and the two-hour-long post-gig traffic jams!