KAILASA

The big act of the first night (October 31) had the audience doing everything from bhangra to ballroom to bhashan dance. The crowd couldn’t get enough of songs like Rang deeni and Love, sex aur dhokha, and couples even got close dancing to the soulful Saiyaan and Teri deewani. The epic fangirl moment? When frontman Kailash Kher invited a few lucky ones to dance to Joban chhalke on stage. “Jo socha tha wahi hua, Calcutta has great talent,” smiled Kher after the girls went crazy. Yes, the setlist was a reminder of Kailasa’s 2013 edition of the Calcutta Weekender but the crowd wasn’t complaining. Before the gig Kher had casually told t2: “Our music has grown in our fans’ hearts and minds. So today we are more confident and strong in our thoughts; we only follow our hearts. No question of compromise.” They sure didn’t compromise!

 

CACTUS

Bangla band lovers united in front of the Bacardi Arena on Saturday and boy, did they have strength in numbers! When Cactus took the stage the ground was chock-a-block and even the Bacardi viewing gallery had no space left. Fans headbanged when the band played Raja tor kapor kothay and swayed to the melody of Holud pakhi. Everyone knew the lyrics and sang along, breaking into cheers, claps and whistles when the numbers ended. The band, in turn, thanked the fans for their love. “I can’t believe Megadeth will perform on the same stage that we are playing on today,” said Cactus frontman Sidhu. Later, t2 caught up with him: “Being the only band to represent Bangla rock at Weekender (this year), we had a huge responsibility and we had rehearsed like never before. We knew we had to be on a par with international acts and had done 18 rehearsals. The response was phenomenal and we were surprised to note that even non-Bengalis loved our music.”

Prateek Kuhad 

When he broke into Oh Love, the crowd broke into a loud cheer. Prateek returned to the city after two years to deliver a killer gig. “We owe our relationship to Prateek Kuhad and his songs. Our favourite number is Flames but despite how loudly we screamed the name, he didn’t play it,” said Aishani Laha and boyfriend Devroop Basu, both students of St. Xavier’s College. Prateek just couldn’t believe how big a fan base he has here. “I do get fan letters from Calcutta... I wish I could return more often,” he told t2 before legging it to Nischay’s gig.

Nucleya

Udyan Sagar aka Nucleya’s gig partly overlapped with that of Kailasa. Who won? 50:50. His new EP, Bass Rani, which was recently launched at a Ganpati visarjan in Mumbai, got a complete play and the crowd lapped it up. If his previous EP Koocha Monster was a bit aggressive, Bass Rani is a bit more groovy and futuristic. Our favourite from the new EP? Laung Gawacha.

Swarathma

Suddenly he is on stage. Suddenly he is dancing with the crowd. That’s the group’s frontman Vasu Dixit. The high points of the most colourful performance of the day included songs like Naane daari (which group member Jishnu said was about staying young) and Haste rahe.

Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate

4.30pm at the huge Bacardi Arena stage. And the group that filled it up was Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate, thanks to its killer frontman. If you liked their rousing version of God’s Own Country, wait for their new album.

Parikrama 

“Thank you for coming in such great numbers.... Calcutta, now let’s make some noise!” beamed and boomed vocalist Nitin Malik. And the crowd roared in response. Parikrama performed their best-known numbers like But It Rained, Vapourise and Tears of the Wizard (yes, a nod to Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings). They did an acoustic take on Sare jahan se achha and their violin solos received huge ovations. Group member Subir Malik later told t2: “Calcutta is always an amazing experience. I love the old-world charm of the city and the people here love music. We have a video of the crowd singing and they’ve sung so beautifully that it’s giving me goosebumps!” And what did the people have to say? “This was the best performance of the day. Parikrama was flawless!” said Romit Bose, a software professional, in between headbanging.

Zoo

The band drew crowds early in the day with their genre of electro rock. They kicked off with Ride On, signed off with (their new song) August (they have been rehearsing it for a month and thought Weekender would be the right debut platform), and through their set sent out chillax vibes as well as an adrenaline rush. “The vocals by Tanya Sen are amazing,” said Satadal Dhar, who was seen running towards the stage when the music began. “The drummer (Rohit Nandi) is good too. I play the drums myself and have been air drumming along with their songs.”

PINKNOISE 

The versatile electronic-experimental act from our city performed a set of killer numbers. Drummer Jivraj was in top form, making his second appearance of the day after performing with Nischay Parekh, and the audience got to hear songs like Dollar Science, Old Bad New Good. “There’s a lot of music going on at Weekender but I came to the PINKNOISE (stage) to listen to their lyrics, which always have a deep meaning,” said Arunabha Hazra, an emcee, in the audience. After the gig, vocalist Jayashree told t2: “Jivraj had created a visual display (a collage of videos and images) to go with our music and it has become a part of the music. Our band never chooses a set based on the audience, it plays what it plays and we mostly went for songs from our album The Dance Of The Diaspora.”

Sukanti & Anushree 

The duo played folk songs from around the subcontinent... jazzed up to give a contemporary feel. Besides Anushree’s vocals and Sukanti on the guitar and console, listeners also saw a guest appearance by EPR (of Underground Authority) who rapped his way into Kattey, a Rajasthani number. “All these songs are featured in our new album Centurion Relay,” said Anushree before plunging into Jugni Ji. 

Nischay Parekh & Jivraj Singh 

Audiences trickled in to catch soft soulful numbers (like Sunbeam, Be Something and Evening Sun from the duo’s new album //) in their signature style, even singing along to songs like Ocean. “My favourite song of theirs is I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll and I’m glad they’re singing it,” smiled Aranya Adak, a Class XI student of Calcutta Boys School, joining in the chorus. In the crowd was Jayashree, Jivraj’s mom. “I’m the wrong person to comment on Jivraj and Nischay as they are both my children and I shall always be biased towards them. But they’re experimenting and leading music to a new direction,” she said.

The giant Bacardi bucket, offering a bird’s-eye view of the beautiful venue, was one of the popular spots 

 

 

Pictures: B. Halder & Arnab Mondal
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