Five months ago, as a massive crowd stepped out from their first extravagant concert experience in Hyderabad, it was clear that this city is ready and wanted more. Since then, a little ‘’music revolution’’ of its own has begun in Hyderabad, more and more people are stepping out every week for not just amazing food but also to enjoy some quality music that the city has to offer as more artists(national and international) are flying in every week keeping things fresh and exciting! With the dance music movement at its epitome around the world, Hyderabad as a city is slowly catching up with it .Without a doubt, true music lovers in the city are not scarce but the number is only increasing with growing concert culture. So when news about Sunburn On Air 50 celebration weekend came along, Hyderabad was all game! With a full-fledged Sunburn experience on cards and the big boys of the industry Willem van Hanegem & Ward van der Harst better known as W & W headlining the night, it was just the experience Hyderabadi’s were looking forward to.
And so the evening of the gig arrived, as the parking of this huge indoor venue filled up, the view at sight was nothing less than that of a festival. We showed up in style all prepped to be enthralled by the bigroom madness of the Dutch duo who have been touring and making bangers past seven years and are still fresh form having played a stellar set at the Ultra Music Festival main stage in Miami recently.
THE STAGE
Stage set up and sound are some of the most crucial aspects of a concert .Sunburn has always proven to be the best at setting up some of the most beautiful, intricate and monumental stages . On entering this huge arena one could easily be overwhelmed by the lavish display of LEDs and flashing lights, mind bending visuals complimenting the music and artists throughout the gig, lighting the place up at the right times synchronized to the dropping beats .The fact that it was closed a venue made the overall view exuberant . The energy of the stage always brings the crowd closer to the artists and this stage was a perfect setting.
THE ARTISTS
An appropriate line-up awaited the concert goers inside the arena. Opening for the night, the very talented Hyderabad duo NineFX kicked things off with a groovy deep house set to bring in the vibe. They played some fresh melodic tunes making the gathering crowd sway and keeping everyone who entered on their feet from the very beginning. The perfect tempo was set for India’s adored DJ and host of “Sunburn On Air” radio show Anish Sood who took to the deck duties next. Having performed at sold out gigs all year he had no difficulty feeling the pulse of the crowd and smoothly bringing in heavier tunes to progress the night taking it up a few notches, blending his signature style with high energy tracks and some of his own creations he easily fueled up the place with more excitement and anticipation.
By the time (S)haan hopped onto the stage, crowd was almost to the brim cheering him on as he immediately took to playing some straight up bangers ! Connecting to the younger crowd easily this DJ complimented the build-up to the main act impeccably. He went on to play tracks like ‘Kensei‘ by Ummet Ozcan, ‘Ready’ by Suyano to name a few. High frequencies zoomed through the arena as the dance floor became a tight knot of people all eagerly wanting more.
As the stage went pitch black everyone figured what was now coming! It was time. The energy under the roof was palpable as the much awaited W&W made quite an entrance popping out from behind the console to a roar like none you’ve ever heard. Every last person walked right in to it. As they began spinning their eargasmic big room mixes, all one could see around was a sea of music lovers, fans, enthusiasts alike enjoying each track to the fullest. As they played all the most awaited tracks both from their older productions like “Shotgun” , “Lift off” to their more recent chart topping collaborations like ‘Don’t stop the madness’ featuting Hardwell & Fatman Scoop, ‘You(W&W remix)’, ‘Rave after rave’, ‘We control the sound (Headhunterz,W&W)’ and many more. Those tight bass lines made the speakers sweat and Hyderabad jumped higher in unity. They whisked out some of the most popular remixes such as the famous Fatboy Slim’s ‘Eat sleep rave repeat (Calvin Harris remix)‘, ‘Lethal industry‘ as well as Armin Van Buuren‘s grammy nominated “This is what it feels like”(W&W remix)’. Having excited artists equally feeling the crowd and enjoying themselves together was a sight that could elevate the spirit in anyone .Willem and Wart easily made everyone move like they never did before.
THE VIBE
At 5 in the evening when you find all cars around you eagerly heading towards the same destination, the vibe for the night is pretty much sorted . Young fans and music enthusiasts came out in hordes and some of them for their fix of classics by the artist. With gigs in Hyderabad having minimal stereotyped inconveniences surrounding a big concert, people partied at ease. Ample parking space where you could see excited faces, a colossal arena where all hands were in the air, negligible traffic jams, all amenities provided , and a well curated line up made for a perfect Sunburn experience. Inside the venue all one could see was a swarm of people jumping simultaneously with infectious smiles screaming out their favorite lyrics absorbing in all the dance-music goodness. As the gig came to an end ,content faces were seen walking out from the venue , helping each other out , some still singing .When the pre and post gig atmosphere is this immense one does feel proud of their city and its people. Hyderabad is definitely crossing over to mainstream and how!
Congratulations to ‘Sunburn on Air‘ & Anish Sood, for completing 50 episodes on air, feeding India and the world with some quality music and spreading love. Thank you for making Hyderabad a part of it. Kudos to the entire management team of sunburn and everyone behind the scenes for putting together such a well-executed show for us. Here’s hoping the music culture in Hyderabad and India only gets bigger and crazier with each gig. Cheers!
Review by : Kavya Komna
Edited by: Hamed Khalidi
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