Mumbai: Lollapalooza India 2023 attendees sailed through the music festival, with rock fans headbanging to The Strokes, rap fans vibing to Divine, and K-Pop fans enjoying Jackson Wang. Diplo’s beats were also featured. Many were engulfed in the poetic warmth of Cigarettes After Sex and Prateek Kuhad.
Lollapalooza India’s inaugural edition witnessed a footfall of over 60,000 across both days, kickstarting the Asian run for the multi-genre music festival spread across 50 acres of festival grounds at Mahalaxmi Race Course that was all about music, culture, community, sustainability, inclusivity and accessibility, produced and promoted in India by BookMyShow, India’s leading entertainment destination.
With international and homegrown artists setting the stage on fire, fans traversed from one stage to the other as a beautiful and striking play of light and sound brought the heart of the city alive like never before. The crowds were filled with enthusiastic audiences, jumping tall, cracking into some killer dance moves, a sea of cellphones lit up in the air, some fans camping much in advance of their much-awaited shows for their favourite artists and many catching the Lollapalooza artistic and creative vibe of popping colours into signs they held up to speak to the artists.
The final day witnessed more performances from Indian and international talent. Adya was the opening act for the day. This set the stage for homegrown artists. Parimal Shais, contemporary Indian instrumental band Bombay Brass, Siri, The F16s, Raveena, Tanmaya Bhatnagar, Tejas and Kavya kept the crowds entertained.
Prateek Kuhad’s fans were up for a treat with a set of his radio hits, including ‘cold/mess’ and ‘Kasoor’ even as Divine sent the crowd in a tizzy with raging energy across some of his best hits ‘Apna Time Aayega,' ‘Mirchi’ and ‘Chal Bombay’.
The Wombats performed, followed by Jackson Wang, who made his debut in India with Lollapalooza. Fans turned up in large numbers keeping up with the K-pop star’s moves and energy warming up for closing beats with Diplo’s special ones for India including ‘Lean On’ and ‘Where are you now’ even as he followed it up with the Punjabi number ‘Mundian tu bach ke’. Headliners The Strokes were the unparalleled finishers for the debut edition of the festival performing their evergreen songs including ‘Last Nite’ and ‘Take it or leave it’ even as they joined Mumbai in its SRK fever drawing inspiration from the blockbuster Pathaan drawing a mention at their performance during the festival.
Also seen grooving at Lollapalooza India 2023 were actors Aditya Roy Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor, Aadar Jain, Sussanne Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Rajkummar Rao, Patralekha and Huma Qureshi amongst others, in the crowds cheering for their favourite artists.
Lollapalooza India had room for all across both days with accessibility remaining front and centre enabling those with physical disabilities to move in and out of the festival with ease through wheelchair support, risers and dedicated areas marked out. Sign language interpreters helped carry the music for the performances of Imagine Dragons, The Strokes, Prateek Kuhad and The Yellow Diary.
The festival took the baton of #LollaForChange led by BookASmile, the charity initiative of BookMyShow in full swing as a minimal waste festival zone, managing food wastage and increased sustainable measures were at the core of Lollapalooza India.
Keeping to its ethos of creating entertainment-led experiences in Art & Music amongst other genres for the lesser privileged, BookASmile, collaborated with the Aravani Art Project, an art collective of people from the transgender community along with Mumbai-based artist Suparna Jashnani to bring to life The Wall of Inclusivity in Expression at Lollapalooza India 2023. The 100-foot landscape was created by the collective’s Trans-women members.
The organisers added that Lollapalooza India 2023 was a visual treat with colourful, vibrant installations lining the Mahalaxmi Race Course including the festival’s themed Wall of Rotating Blocks that were neon rotating blocks that move with a single touch and the 16 ft Lolla Rubik’s Cube - a mix of vibrant colours and grey matter all in one frame adding to the vibe and leaving attendees wanting more! The giant Lolla Ferris Wheel offered the best bird’s eye view for the fans as they captured some of their best moments soaking in the vibe and music from these spots. The Lollapalooza India Inflatable welcomed all festival fans, hoisting the India flag along with the seven other countries that the festival has globally travelled across.
Featuring over 60 brands across four specially themed zones or lanes, the Lolla Food Park saw different themes and various cuisines spread across the Mumbai Local Lane, Lolla Around The World lane, Lolla Grub Shub lane and the Lolla On Wheels lane. To top it all, every single food brand whipped up a special ‘Lollapalooza’ dish exclusively created for the festival in line with the vibrancy and melange of its music that is not available on their menu otherwise.
There were BudX, Walkers & Co., Nexa and the Perry x Budweiser Beats stages.
BookMyShow is spearheading Lollapalooza India as the festival's promoter and co-producer for its Indian edition, along with global producers Perry Farrell and C3 Presents.
