Newest In Niche Travel A Cool Trip To Attend Your Favourite Gig

A growing number of young Indians are traveling abroad to attend concerts, races, and various other kinds of live events

- Niraj Kakade

On March 2, 2024, while Ed Sheeran was performing 'The Shape Of You' at Mahalaxmi Race Course, many attendees struggled with the shape of Mumbai traffic. Some even missed out on the first half of the act. Similarly, in September 2023, Trevor Noah cancelled his shows in Bengaluru after experiencing trouble with the venue's acoustics. India currently stands in a rather contradictory space culturally. Despite having access to first-world talent for various kind of concerts, events, and races, the execution often leaves a third-world aftertaste.

Mumbai crowd at the Ed Sheeran concert

"India is certainly making progress with music festivals, attracting some fantastic artistes. However, there's still quite a gap in production quality when compared to concerts in other countries. It's not solely about our production standards; space constraints also play a role," emphasised Sakshi Rawte, a media professional from Mumbai who attended Coldplay concerts in both Mumbai and Thailand. "For example, I also watched Coldplay when they performed in Mumbai years ago, the Global Citizen one, but that Coldplay and this Coldplay were poles apart in terms of the performance they gave, the lights, the production, everything."

Rawte also highlighted the issue of crowd management, which appears to be a growing concern as more international artistees arrive at Indian shores. The recently held Lollapalooza festival, for instance, was well-managed but packed with audience with underwhelming etiquette. "Everyone was just elbowing each other. I just stood in the background," added Rawte, recalling the Sting performance in January.

Chris Martin in Milan