Festival Review: Life In Color 2018, New Delhi

The EDM paint party featured stellar performances by electronic forerunners like Diplo, DJ 4B, rapper Divine and more

- David Britto

Ambience (the re-al-world kind, not the genre) is always pivotal to festivals, whether they want to be a start-to finish rager of a party or a specifically curated buildup of the senses. This past October we attended EDM festival Sensation Rise in Hyderabad where a sea of people dressed in white were moving to their favorite electronic tunes. Last month at the debut Indian edition of EDM fest Life in Color in New Delhi, while the music was glaringly similar to Sensation, there were a lot more colors, literally, thanks to the gallons of paint sprayed onto attendees from the stage.

Smokey and Ritviz get the crowd warmed up

We arrived at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium towards the end of Mumbai-based drum & bass artist Smokey’s set. The DJ had all the right mixtures flowing with her trap electronica sounds coupled with bass drops. The highlight of Smokey’s performance was her remix of American rockers Linkin Park’s “In The End” with the crowd singing along to the late Chester Bennington’s vocal parts.

Next, Pune DJ/producer Ritviz brought his bass heavy and high energy sonic elements to the table. The DJ thrilled the New Delhi audience with his hit track “Udd Gaye” (which featured on last year’s Bacardi House Party Sessions), as well as material from his upcoming full length debut album VED! such as the dubstep leaning “Jeet” and club friendly “Barso.”