Gig Review: Budweiser Presents What’s Brewing In Delhi

Budweiser, in its bid to shape the electronic dance music culture in India, has continued delivering some of the most memorable and exciting experiences for fans in the country. Be it bringing some of the world’s most renowned dance music entities to the country (Sensation, Don’t Let Daddy Know, Tomorrowland UNITE, and now EDC) or their own music properties, MADE Stage and MADE Sessions, Budweiser has ensured that the brand becomes synonymous with dance music in India.

The Club Stage

Bringing their global music property that keeps in sync with their recently launched ‘Always Brewing’ campaign, Budweiser launched ‘What’s Brewing’ their global property for the 1^st time in India at the capital with a stacked line-up, that saw some of the finest electronic music acts in the country play at one single venue. Set over 3 floors, with 3 stages, ‘What’s Brewing’ brought the millennials of the city together under one roof, with something for everything. Hosted at one of the hottest venues in Delhi, Hauz Khas Social, What’s Brewing saw the ground floor turned into THE CLUB, which saw commercial EDM, with AntiSOCIAL turned into the UNDERGROUND, seeing acts such as Paraphoniks, BLOT, FRAME/FRAME, while Social Chhath was turned into THE GHETTO, with Anushka + AGENT and Sickflip taking to the console.

The Underground Stage

The Ghetto Stage

Kicking off the proceedings at the respective stages, the contest winners warmed up nicely for the upcoming acts of the night. THE CLUB  stage then saw Delhi’s Progressive Brothers take over, who spun a thumping set, dropping hits after hits, with the highlight of their set being their remix of Mike Posner’s ‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’, which also saw support from Andrew Rayel at Tomorrowland back in July. Paraphoniks at THE UNDERGROUND stage brought their surround sound show to the fore, with an 8.1 surround sound system, coupled with their brand of live electronic music that left the audience spellbound. Anushka + Agent at THE GHETTO stage gave bassheads a masterclass with a set that transcended from hip hop to trap quite effortlessly, building up the momentum for the night quite mellifluously.

The finale of the night saw two of the hottest producers on the Indian dance music scene, Zaeden and Kerano, go B2B at THE CLUB stage for a memorable set that left people asking for more, while BLOT took to the UNDERGROUND stage, and bass wunderkind Sickflip arrived at THE GHETTO stage with his arsenal of varied sounds. While Zaeden and Kerano dropped hits after hits during their set, BLOT spun a hypnotic and spellbinding set, completely in tune with their own brand of melodic techno that had everyone grooving along. Sickflip, playing at THE GHETTO, delivered a high intensity set, with booming and aggressive basslines, featuring his original music that left the crowd asking for more.

The visual production for the show was on point, with Social getting some never seen before stage designs that left the crowd in awe. THE CLUB stage, with confetti blasters and incredible stage lighting, stayed true to the essence of commercial EDM, while THE UNDERGROUND stage followed a minimal approach, with antiSocial’s dark room vibes, and an incredible stage design, which saw LED lights in front of the console, and a LED wall behind. However, the best stage design was reserved for THE GHETTO stage, which was built out of LED panels made to look like old television sets, with a ‘What’s Brewing’ in-lit text right in front of the console.  The audio setup, as usual, dished out clear sound at all the three stages, making sure that the experience of the patrons at the gig was unmatched in all the areas.

Budweiser yet again showed why it’s so well renowned for its hospitality with the launch of ‘What’s Brewing’ in Delhi, and if it continues like this with well curated line-ups and immaculately executed gigs, the beer giant is all set to revolutionize dance music in India further more with properties like this.