‘Heard melodies are sweet,Unheard melodies are sweeter!’
You can either go to a concert of a familiar artist and accept the expected or land up at a completely unknown environment and be blown apart.MTV Indies Spiro was the latter one!While one can controversially debate on headlining artists like the Grammy-nominated Pretty Lights & the American trio of Glitch Mob being touted as ‘unknown’,their fan following and musical endeavours have no limits.Though it was the underground and up beat Indie souls of the city which rose to the big occasion with equally supportive reactions from the audiences.
The 4 day Urban Takeover of MTV Indies Spiro brought the best of cinema,stand up comedy & music under one banner.As the takeover spanned all over different parts of Mumbai in the initial days, Day 4 saw everything converge under one roof at the Mehboob Studios in Bandra.From Aqua Dominatrix, Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator to ALT stage Artists like Prateek Kuhad and the two headliners,here’s what went down at the Spiro.
The Venue
One enters Mehboob Studios at Bandra and often wonders why this place is so underutilised for major events in the Bay.3 Indoor stages and possibly a 4th one in the open provides everyone with enough options with the cool breeze blowing across from the sea which is just a block away from the venue.The ALT Stage was mainly taken over by Indie and Rap artists from the likes of B3:Battle Bars Bombay to Suleeimani Keeda while the main stage was reserved for the headlining acts and their opening artists.No conflicting timelines meant one could have a taste of both worlds.No Indoor smoking policy made sure that the smoke in the studio was only by the Smoke guns and one could have easily mistaken the Open bar for a live stage.
The Music
Though the proceeding’s were started by Static Insight and the B3 rap boys at the ALT stage things got really going when the Glitch Mob started with their synthpop & electrogaze at the main stage.A set which lasted over a hour and half saw the boys blast tunes from ‘Drink the sea’ to ‘Love Death Immortality’ with their remixes of some familiar tunes like the ‘Seven Nation Army & Breathe’. With their Lemur boards and the musical element known as ‘The Blade‘ they ended it on one of their own EPs ‘We Can Make The World Stop’.
As a part of the crowd you know you will have fun when the artist performing up there is having immense fun himself. Calling Mumbai one family under one roof for one Night, Derek Vincent a.k.a. PrettyLights blended the tunes with every song connecting the other one. There were times where one felt maybe he was just playing one song since eternity. Mixing his soul and trip hop with a few ODESZA mixes he really got things ‘Hot Like Sauce’ out there while the cooling in the arcade made everyone feel like the ‘Summers Gone’. Keeping his best for the last Derek teased and pleased the crowd with his conversations as he dropped ‘I know the truth’ before he left the console to meet his fans as he always does after his gigs.
The most significant segment of Pretty Light‘s set was his Display of lights which cannot be expressed in words or a HD video for that matter. It’s a visual treat and a experience you need to grasp first hand itself.
The Vibe
The crowd gathered steadily as the tunes and artist lineup reached its crescendo. There was enough room to allow amples space for everyone to groove and dance around,even right up in the front rows. With the majority of the artists being Underground and not much heard of,the crowd inside the Studio was pretty supportive and those open minded souls accepted every scratch,beat and drop thrown to them. The ‘Takeover‘ was certainly Urban and it was nice to see many a Indie Artists of the likes of EZ Riser, Subsystem & many more given the Big stage and audiences.With the kind of variety it offered in a matter of 4 days the MTV Indies Spiro concert is something this city needs on a yearly basis.Big ups to the organisers!
Picture Courtesy: MTV Indies Spiro
Review by: Akshay Naravane
Edited by: Hamed Khalidi
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