For EDM fans across the country and even globally, Bacardi Enchanted Valley Carnival is an event to look forward to with much excitement. It’s our very own version of a 3-day camping festival; music and people being the heart and soul that keep it alive. The 3-day hoopla is the best time for dance music lovers to fulfill their dreams of watching their favorite artists live. While some like to dance away the night, some other prefer to keep it mellow and kick back with their drink. Whatever it is you like, Bacardi EVC has it all.
This year, EVC was sponsored by Bacardi and was on a larger scale than ever before. While we absolutely loved it as usual, we do think everything has its pros and cons. Here is our take on the hits and misses at Bacardi EVC.
1. Visual Production
If there is one aspect of live music where EDM has done well in 2015, it is definitely the visual production. With significant improvements in every concert, Bacardi EVC just reached a whole new level. From on stage visuals consisting of trippy snippets and patterns, to the use of laser lights, confetti and pyrotechnics during performances, everything was top-notch. Obviously the Sci+Tec Stage with visual superteam Wolves at hand had some of the best on stage visuals we’ve seen this year. The grand ending of the festival with Tiesto saw fireworks lighting up the sky and mirroring the joy of those on the earth as it is in the sky.
VERDICT: HIT
2. Stages
With international biggies like Full On, Soma, Sci + Tec and our very own Saavn, the stages this year were the best yet. Of the 4 stages, the Pyro stage really stood out because of the sheer design, again, a wonderful concept by Wolves. Every stage perfectly suited the acts which were going to be performed on it, Pyro being dominated by electro on Friday, Trance on Saturday and Techno on Sunday, Akva was dominated by Soma acts, which was predominantly psy influenced, Cosmos by big room acts and Terra by laid-back Indie music.
VERDICT: HIT
3. Sound
Lately, we’ve been disappointed with the sound at most festivals. While we know its a situation it is difficult for organizers to prioritize aspects of production, we think sound is a no-compromise zone of live music. We’re glad that the people at Bacardi EVC agreed with us. The sound quality was outstanding despite the fact that the stages were pretty close together and the ground itself was quite huge.
VERDICT: HIT
4. Camping
With sparing benchmarks in the Indian industry to compare camping at a music festival with, Bacardi EVC has done a pretty good job at camping. However, compared to the first edition, when White Collar Hippie held the reigns to the camping experience, the last 2 have failed to live up to the mark. Where the first edition won over everything in terms of camping, was the fact that by the second day, everyone within the campsite knew each other because of the several dozen activities, workshops, camp layout and placement of community tents. Each community tent had a round table with charging points, so making conversation was absolutely essential. Additionally, the placement of the tents, made it feel like it was more of a refugee camp rather than a festival.
With lazy hygiene services, lack of communal spirit/feeling, and over-priced food and beverage within the camping area, it left a lot to be desired. At several times throughout the festival, the camping/check-in kiosk was left completely unattended, especially for campers who wanted to leave after the after-party on the last day.
VERDICT: MISS
5. Artist Curation
The line-up as we all know was superb. However, we’re unsure of why so many artists went the commercial route instead of owning the sounds they are so well known for. While overall the music was enjoyable and no EDM fan would ever get bored, a festival is a place to discover music as much as it is to listen to it. We would’ve liked it if we could’ve heard the real sound of some artists. However, the line up for the silent parties and the Sci+Tec and Full On Stages, stayed true to their roots and truly delivered power-packed sets in their respective genres.
That being said, it is truly a commendable task, getting some of the biggest names and legends (see: Fatboy Slim, Shpongle, Dubfire, Ferry Corsten) in the industry today, whether it was from the commercial/big-room side, the trance side or the underground side, all coming together for a festival only 3 years in existence. The curation was perfect, making sure the entire spectrum of audience was completely satisfied. However, we do wish the timings of day were taken into account when artists were given slots. We’d love to hear sets that complement the sunset or matched with the dusk.
VERDICT: Mostly A Hit.
6. Crowd
The fact that it was a camping festival on a valley in a remote part of Maharashtra, the festival saw an absolutely fantastic crowd! Having built a niche and futuristic reputation over the years, the festival was crowded with genuine fans of different genres. And of course as with all camping festivals, everyone came together in this experiment we call life. Though it wasn’t as crowded as we would expect, and the number of under-age revelers were astounding, we love it when there’s so much more space to dance!
VERDICT: HIT
7. Event Organisation
With Bacardi and JustDial coming on board, amongst many other partners, we would, to be honest, expect better organization at the event. The festival went bigger than any other year this time. However, the organization was quite mismanaged – from the hygiene arrangements to the coordination between the partners regarding the flow of things, there were small things which seemed to prick a lot, considering the day and age we live in. Among other issues, there were minimal dustbins across the ground, WiFi quality was quite poor, shuttle transportation was not in sync with the event information disseminated earlier. Communication between teams like organizers and security was mismatched, with each end often providing completely contrasting information.
VERDICT: MISS
8. Location
Amby Valley is a great location to hold a music festival, no doubts there. Most of the artists would agree with us too. Granted it does take quite a long trip to get here, but once you arrive at the destination it is utterly breath-taking. With the Western Ghats in the backdrop, and the colourfully vibrant sunrises and sunsets, it makes the perfect backdrop for listening to great music. However, we do wish the natural beauty of the surroundings were taken into account and made full advantage of when the layout of the entire festival was being designed. If that was considered, it could have been astounding.
VERDICT: MOSTLY A HIT
There it is. Our list of hits & misses. Think you’ve got something to add? Share & mention it in the comments!
Article By: Surbhi Mittal & Shule Puri
Image credits: EVC Facebook
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