If I could summarize this entire review in just one word, leave out all the fancy talk and explain to the readers in just one simple word how the MTV Bloc Party was, that word would be ‘Brilliant’ but I must make an attempt to convert that one word into a review that I contentedly would love to write, and so I shall start.

Let’s take it from the top here. It was a month back that we all heard the news that Mumbai would be witnessing their dance music Idols for the very first time, right here in good ol’ Mumbai. When the word Bloc Party came up, the excitement started to build swiftly and dance music fans couldn’t wait for MTV to declare the lineup.

Alesso, Deniz Koyu, Opiuo, Cosmo Klein, Jean Elan, Shovell. It didn’t take an EDM expert to know that these names are some of the finest you can pull out of the field and they were all coming to give us one-hell-of-a-show. Ticket sales went live; live and fast. Before you even knew it, the Early-Bird phase was already sold out, and we had to thank MTV for releasing an Early-Bird phase in this severe time of recession caused by the excessive (not that we’re complaining) amount of gigs in India as of recent.

Then came the venues. Yeah, plural, venues. MTV India knew how to keep us all on our toes, making us a victim of our own curiosities, until the time was right and they announced it was going to happen in the friendly, Bollywood-studded neighbourhood of Juhu. Splendid and they had more to throw at us, the after-parties made this festival stand-out from any we’ve come across. They mentioned that there are going to be not one, not two, but THREE after-parties each night at three different locations. Let’s not run before we can crawl, we shall cover that later in this review.

Team Bangin Beats visited the venue a day early to see how prep work was going, and it was full-steam-ahead. We saw all the various creative elements being implemented into this festival and at that moment we realized that MTV didn’t want to be attached to the herd, but instead wanted to create something new, a new concept. This wasn’t just your ordinary gig in the making; this was something new and different, something that said it was about the experience and memories you took back with you and not just the whiplash.

So we got our festival-face on and we headed down to the venue. Reaching the venue was surprisingly a breeze. No traffic, no jams, no herds of car; it was all good. We saw some traffic assistants outside the venue guiding the traffic and things were going smoothly. As we walked in, crossing two massive pillars proclaiming that you’ve just entered the MTV Bloc Party, we headed straight for the ticket counter where again there was no hassle. We were a bit impressed because ticketing is usually a pain during festivals. As we walked on by, we passed a Nano car being painted by various people and kept on display, so as with other creative items displayed all over.

As we entered, Indian DJ & Producer, Anish Sood had already taken the stage. There wasn’t much crowd initially which was expected considering it was one of the early sets. Regardless, we kicked back and decided to enjoy the music. After Mr. Sood, out came the infamous Nikhil Chinapa.

The crowd started to increase just as the sun started to set and anyone present there would know that this was going to be one of the best sundown’s you could ever attend. After Chinapa’s set, we had him introducing the crowd to the first international act (of many) that they were going to see first at the MTV Bloc Party. It was none other than Berlin DJ, Jean Elan and German singer/songwriter Cosmo Klein.

We’ve been to a lot of festivals, a lot of gigs and have seen a lot of sets, but never have we attended one so unorthodox and extraordinary. The set comprised of Jean Elan on the decks, blasting his beats while Cosmo Klein took over the microphone and provided his finely tuned vocals on top of each track. This proved to be one set no one should’ve ever missed.

Keeping up the magic, which was already building up, it was time to witness the headlining artist of the day who was none other than the immensely talented Turkish-German, Deniz Koyu. If you want to read up more about Deniz Koyu and why we think he’s beyond brilliant, check out our article on him here. Deniz Koyu’s set was absolutely marvelous. Everything about his set was just right. The crowd was the exact right amount, the energy was at peak levels and spirits were at an all-time high. Deniz Koyu dropped some of his usual #bangin tracks like Bong & Tung and then some unreleased tracks like ‘Halo’ with Dirty South and his infamous ‘Rage’ that has been dropped by Swedish House Mafia on their One Last Tour.

As we spoke to Deniz earlier that week, he told us he won’t just be pressing buttons but instead would analyze the crowd and play accordingly, and he did just that. If you are a true EDM fan, you’d have recognized him playing some all-time classics, like ‘Praise You’ by Fat Boy Slim for example. All in all, we absolutely loved his set and so did the crowd. After Deniz Koyu’s set got done, Nikhil Chinapa took over the mic to announce that the party continues at the THREE after-party venues, and that wasn’t it. MTV had hired an entire cab fleet to take you to the after-parties, ABSOLUTELY FREE. We found this to be a brilliant concept and MTV had dressed to impress.

So we headed down and though we’d stroll through all 3 venues. We dropped by at Enigma, which is located at the prestigious JW Marriott hotel. As the night grew older, a number of fans started filling the venue up with time with Pearl being next-in-line at the decks. After a while, we took off and headed to Gadda Da Vida at Novotel Hotel. We saw a bunch of people getting in and Kunal Swamy was on the decks keeping the amazing vibe going. We stayed a bit, danced a bit, enjoyed a bit and then decided it was time to head down to the final venue, BeachComber at The Sun N Sand Hotel. Do note that all these venues were of walking distance if you didn’t choose to take the free cab.

As we approached, we saw huge crowd outside, all waiting to get in. We walked in, and the crowd kept increasing as we reached the venue. Definitely the energy was absolutely brilliant. On the sets were Anish Sood & Lost Stories doing a B2B (Back to Back) set together and it was just magical. The crowd was let loose as they danced off the night on tables, on chairs, on the floor and whatever surface they could find. Anish Sood & Lost Stories also decided to incorporate a new upcoming genre into their set, Trap. They played a few Trap remixes of Dada Life and other #bangin hits as the crowd went berserk. We stayed till the last 10 minutes and thought let’s see what’s happening back at GDV. As we entered, Jean Elan and Cosmo Klein were on the decks doing a freestyle set and there was a little surprise, standing beside the deck was Deniz Koyu himself, enjoying a drink or two. We went up, spoke a bit with Deniz and enjoyed the music whilst at it. Cosmo was absolutely brilliant making impromptu lyrics to whatever Jean Elan would play. All-in-all, we loved Day 1 and couldn’t wait for Day 2.

We woke up in the morning, still glowing from the after effects of Day 1. After a good healthy breakfast, we headed down to the venue again, this time a little earlier, for The Pint Room experience. Here we had 3 rock bands playing live, Safar – Goddess Gagged – Sky Rabbit, starting from 2pm. It was a bright pleasant day and we were chilling to some beer and some grooves, a little change of mood before we kickstart with our EDM acts ahead.

First off we had Willy at the decks. The crowd started to enter earlier today, and we were certainly expecting a higher number that day for reasons we all knew. Up next was Simon Dunmore & Shovell. Now if you haven’t seen Shovell live yet, you’ve definitely not been for many gigs in your life. We’ve seen Shovell’s sets multiple times and it’s always as entertaining as it always will be. Simon Dunmore was on the decks while Shovell took over the percussions, adding that extra beat to every track being delivered. Shovell also took a little time off to talk to the sun, yup, you read that sentence correctly. It’s always fun staying for an unorthodox set, and we were given just that.

The next artist to come on stage is one who absolutely needs no introduction. Indian’s very own wobble maverick, B.R.E.E.D who had come on stage, this time sporting his famous headwear that resembles a roadkill. Without a doubt, B.R.E.E.D. slaughtered the crowd and had them jumping and wanting more. With driving bass going through the crowd, we felt the same energy we always feel at a festival, and it was splendid. We also had a little chat with the man himself which you can read by clicking here.

MTV decided not to let the genre change so soon, rather, just let it smoothen out a bit. So Opiuo came on stage, and his Indian fans welcomed him with a great shout and cheer. Glitch-Hop being a rather newly discovered genre in India didn’t stop it from being enjoyed thoroughly by the fans. Dropping some sick face melting bass and some off-timed beats, Opiuo seemed to enjoy as much as the fans were. We were glad to see a new budding genre being welcomed so beautifully at this festival.

After Opiuo was done working his magic it was time for the one person everyone was waiting for, the one person that lives in everyone’s iPod from Mumbai to Ibiza to take stage. As the crowd saw Alesso and Nikhil Chinapa on stage, they kept roaring, roaring till the point he dropped his first beat. MTV gave fans the works with Alesso; from smoke machines, to string drops, it was all magically displayed! The talented Swede played all his chart-toppers, new and old. He threw at the marveled crowd all he had, from his remix of Pressure to his latest release, Clash mixed with some fantastic ID’s. After 2 hours of what can only be described as a mind-blowing set, Alesso went on to drop his last song, which everyone sang along to, Calling. As the set ended, everyone was quite satisfied with big smiles on their faces and perhaps the epiphany that the party had not ended there yet brought about an extra joyous facial expression onto them.

Alesso’s set left everyone with so much surplus energy that had to be channeled out somehow, and that’s where the Day 2 after-parties sink in. We decided to stick with the same order we followed on Day 1, so we left for Enigma. The crowd this time was much more than the previous day and we anticipated that. As we entered, we had Matthew Charles on the deck spinning some of his beats. A little after, we left for GDV to see what Arjun Vagale & Tuhin Mehta had to offer. As we entered, Arjun Vagale was dropping some techno alongside Brute Force (Tuhin Mehta). It was a good change of genre and we enjoyed grooving along to it.

After a while, we decided to make a move to BeachComber to witness B.R.E.E.D. and his final after-party set, and boy-oh-boy B.R.E.E.D. played  an insane set! Further on we thought we’d like to see Nawed Khan & Nikhil Chinapa end the brilliant day we were having, so we headed back to Enigma to check them out, and they closed it beautifully.

To conclude, we thought MTV did an absolutely brilliant job in organizing it’s very first Bloc Party in Mumbai and we have to mention that they’ve definitely set the benchmark incredibly high. All we can hope is that MTV continues to organize Bloc Parties more frequently as we surely look forward to it.  PS: A little birdy told us that the Bloc Party will be back this year! Watch out for details on The Bangin Beats!