David Boomah & (below) Michal Menert will perform at the fest

Jethro Tull couldn’t manage a big crowd in 2008. Rock band Foreigner belted out I Want To Know What Love Is live in 2011 but it wasn’t enough. And American rock band Hoobastank decided to play their hit The Reason in Shillong (and not Calcutta!) in June 2013.

But that’s not stopping Calcutta youngsters from planning a December 14-15 date at Ibiza Resort (Merlin Greens), the venue for Bacardi NH7 Weekender’s first outing in the city. This is the first time the country’s most-anticipated music festival will be held here.

“It’s really a very come-as-you-are kind of festival. Just leave behind anything that wouldn’t pass through airport security,” says Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder, the organiser of the show.

Unlike most other Indian music festivals, this one cares little about Bollywood; instead you get to hear some of India’s biggest indie, rock, folk, R&B and reggae acts. And keeping them company are a few popular international acts.

This is not just a music festival but a Glastonbury of sorts. For the Calcutta rounds there will be five stages — Bacardi Arena, The Dewarists, Eristoff Wolves Den, MTS Other Stage and Breezer Dub Station — belting out music, almost simultaneously, from the likes of Indian Ocean, The Raghu Dixit Project, Pinknoise Dualist Inquiry Band, Nischay Parekh, David Boomah, Delhi Sultanate & Begum X, DJ Uri, Reggae Rajahs, etc.

“This festival is the biggest in India in terms of scale; it’s very well organised and will be a great happening for the Calcutta music community. The vibe is unparalleled,”said Nischay Parekh, singer-guitarist, who is playing all four cities of the festival

“It’s our first year in Calcutta. It’s a clean slate. We’ll definitely have a lot of Indian bands performing as Calcutta has never seen them at Bacardi NH7 Weekender before. And most bands curate special sets, or do something different at the festival, so it’s almost always different. And there will be some great international acts as well,” adds Vijay.

Already a big success in Pune, Bangalore and Delhi, the festival has 9,000 tickets to offer Calcutta. “We’ve worked out that it’s the ideal number for us at the moment, where we can focus on providing the best possible experience for each music fan, and that's what we’d like to do, before we scale up. The city has a really solid tradition in music –– from classical to Bangla rock,” Vijay said.

“It’s really nice that NH7 is bringing the festival to Calcutta and I think that along with the erstwhile Pub Rock Fest, first organised by the late Amit Saigal of the Rock Street Journal which saw great success in Calcutta, this too will be an added feather to the cap on the city’s cultural landscape. I am sure the audience in Calcutta will prove again that the true discerning music listeners are here in great numbers and not elsewhere,” said Vikramjit Banerjee, Krosswindz frontman.

Besides music there will be plenty of merchandise available — from tees, sippers, hoodies, button badges to souvenirs dressed in the festival vibe. One of the biggest attractions of the festival is the way lesser-known acts (Indian and international) are given a platform. Last year’s festival gave us acts like The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel, Jinja Safari and Buraka Som Sistema. What about this year? You decide in December.