BIG69 Mumbai Review: TOTAL EPICNESS

On 2015 January 17 – 18, as the word speaks for itself, it is perfectly justified why it was BIG69 with 20 bands from India and 4 International headliners. The dreams of thousands came true, seeing their favourite bands, many finding their new favourite bands and we found our favourite Metal Festival in this very fucking country.

The Lights,Sounds,crowd and bands at BIG69 was something else altogether. Venue was nothing better than the best! It wasn't just a concert for the Metalheads but a Party, a Huge Metal Party.......Metal was a sentient, breathing and alive entity every single moment of the fest. What a neck-breaking weekend. Loved each and every bit of #BIG69. Looking forward for the next epic edition.

Day ONE

Steals the Show:Fire Breather

HALAKUH kicked off the ceremony of creating a new history on the Mumbai and Indian metal scene as the crowd was just showing up to the venue the destruction was already been kicked off in the death metal way to gather the rhythm for the whole night and the day after.  Albatross were powerful engine starters to metal heads on the, starting out to a low crowd ended up having a quite good crowd which was propelled by tight songs and crowd pulling attics by the frontman Biprorshee Das and proved they are kind off powerhouse to the Redbull tour bus. PLAGUE THROAT was ramming the stage as their usual way starting with powerful way kicking off the mosh culture breeding inside the crowd and each creation by band was a perfect death metal creation to ground shaking experience. Chronic XORN started their set if PLAQUE THROAT were ground shakers, they were ground breakers with powerful riffs and vocals both ripping off the ground, energy levels were quite high by band and their music, raising dust of the ground as it breaks. GUTSLIT were the body slammers with every song they got harder and harder they were first to have a perfect moshpit everything was good from sound management to band’s tightness. Demonic resurrection was the starters for ripping the main stage off with their time of the set, increasing the power to the depth. They are metal pioneering band which gave a quite best performance to their hometown; the roof of the venue was quite strong to bear the punch. Musician ship to dedication was seen in their set as their guitarist Nishith Hegde had  back pain he bear with not a single complaint. DEVOID were brutal as ever was a wrong way to describe them its increasing in intensity with every performance, they are defining the whole new time of their life with power and every song they played has new power renewed with vigor.  INNER SANCTUM released the chaos and took the REDBULL BUS with full horsepower to give everyone a badass ride. The rawness and badass attitude was filled in the atmosphere by this band even to make a calm soul to disintegrate into powerful volcanoes. Fleshgod apocalypse were demigods in human outfit with the technicality with symphonic touch the crowd was mosh-bowing in front of the demigods to respect and a case of dedication as the drummer had high fever, fainted during the set and  played a cut shorted list. KRYPTOS were literally sucking out energy from the crowd as it seemed every song had a renewed punch with more power. They were different from the rest of the bands till their set to give a straight bullet to your head every second. Carcass was gods if FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE were demigods. Be it their music, style, crowd interaction, stage presence, they defined perfection! Whole crowd was waiting for them to kill everything in their reach, as the crowd mosh-bowed to them even after 5 hours of continuous rampage, ripping off the whole Richardson and Cruddas to make it weak , I think people responsible should give the venue to check out the maintenance.

Day TWO

Welcome Home Buddy: Lost In Paradise

GRAMMY WINNING EFFORT started the day 2 with powerful punches all in the atmosphere, warming up the crowd for the ruthless time ahead with every song.  Elemental was the monster out there, suggestions to weak-hearted do not loiter around you will die. Every moment and each song had a raw attitude to its best giving it hard time to stand still for the crowd. Escher’s knot was hard time to mosh to if you are a new comer to the metal, you may end up getting injured such powerful was the music. Music was intervened by cops for some reasons in middle of the set. Noiseware  for this time was a bit weak in start but ended up having a good rhythm and power in time ahead during their set. Underside were burning everything to CORE , this was a perfect set for them to kill the hate aroused around the core music scene. Providence had very nervous moments just before the gig the vocalist quit the band , they appeared with their old vocalist who kicked off the dust in quite a good way for them. Undying inc took the time to shake the stage taking the energy to the sky high level with heaviest heavy tunes kicking one after the other. Zygnema was the crowd puller performing in their hometown doing what they do perfectly ripping everyones ear to the fullest. Joint Family did join after a break it can be said its going to be the rebirth of a new career with every member putting off the best on stage to redeem the souls of the crowd. Bombay metal project with the biggest stalwarts of the industry in their line up no words can describe the power they gave to the whole crowd. They give a hardest time to the walls of Richardsons and Cruddas with every song they are renewing and slashing all the power on the stage. Hacktivist, the Djentlemen knew how to get a crowd going even if the crowd is new to tunes , they perfectly used their set to take redbull tour bus to full BHP ride for whole crowd. Perfection was ruled by them as we saw most number of wall of deaths in their set. Sikth was the last headliner for the day as the fest they were brutal as dead , moving the crowd to fullest , ripping every second of their set to the ruthless release of the energy making a whole dust to rise and cover the whole venue.

Never felt so much like Home

Hats off to all the organizers and sponsors who perfectly melted out their mettle to bring out the metal of whole of the Mumbai and give them best time. I kneel down to the 3 stages to bear the brutal brunt of the power and ruthlessness HARMAN LIVE ARENA, REDBULL TOUR BUS, PEPSI MTV INDIES STAGE.