- Sunburn, Goa's much anticipated annual three-day music festival took on a fantastic new avatar with its Alice In Wonderland-inspired theme in its fourth year. As far as the decor was concerned, it was also the closest one could get to the feel of the famous Tomorrowland Festival in this part of the world. Organized by PDM in association with Nikhil Chinapa, who also heads Submerge, one of the best and biggest EDM promoting groups in India, Sunburn is now ranked as one of the top festivals on this side of the world, with a turnout that reached 28,000 in 2010.
The stages echoed the Alice In Wonderland theme. The main stages were called The Castle and The Caterpillar. The Butterfly Bar ran morning till afternoon, while a new experimental stage aptly named The Rabbit Hole was introduced. All of them, barring the morning Butterfly Bar stage, benefitted hugely by the stunning visual setup that the respective visual jockeys skillfully churned out.
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
The experimental stage saw Indian curators championing their own sound by hosting acts they thought fit in with the theme. It was curated for the first two days by Indian dance music veteran Vachan Chinnappa, who gathered everyone with his own brand of industrial drum & bass, and on the third (and final) day by the relatively new audio-visual act BLOT! (Basic Love Of Things), whose dark techno is reminiscent of the Berlin sound.
Giving artists the control over the experimental stage allowed a whole new wave of drum & bass, dubstep and glitch acts to showcase their repertoire, and was a refreshing addition to the trance and house-oriented line up that the festival had supplied in previous years. The Rabbit Hole also effectively united the alternative music heads with the vibe they had each brought. Throughout the festival, indie acts like Mental Martians, BassFoundation, Bay Beat Collective, Reggae Rajahs, Turntablist Uri, Vachan Chinnappa, Boombaba, Kohra and BLOT! all left their mark.
The nightly afterparty, Sunburn AfterDark, brought in exclusives like John '00' Fleming, Dave Seaman and G.M.S, along with a host of other artists. It's not as if people need much of an excuse to party late in Goa, but AfterDark held its own with Fleming's storming psy-interlaced trance and DJ Ankytrixx from Nepal who also provided a no-holds barred energetic psy and trance set. The artist that shadowed over all else, though, was Dave Seaman. The UK-based jock wove a two-hour set of progressive house and techno into a real journey.
Day 1
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
As for the festival proper, though, it was immediately quite clear how big Sunburn had grown from its previous incarnations. Everything seemed bigger, from the branded store with licensed Sunburn goodies to the hefty amount of security to the activities and games that you could play when not enjoying the music. (Volleyball, rock(board) climbing and inflatable jumping houses were all available, something that many festival goers took to with obvious excitement.)
One of the first acts we caught after our delayed entry was DJ Inferno at the Butterfly Bar. The afternoon heat wasn't so bad, thanks to the good folks at Sunburn who installed water sprinklers near the palm trees much to the delight of punters. Inferno kicked things off and pretty much set the mood for our Sunburn experience with a heaving tech house set that had everyone on their feet. Sashanti continued the mood on the Caterpillar Stage, playing a very deep, groovy and progressive sound with live percussion.
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
DJ Ajit, a Goan local that had appeared at Sunburn several times previously, redeemed his rather flaky 2008 set with a tight, bouncy tech set at the Caterpillar stage, which set a great mood for G.M.S. in their psy guise as Riktam & Bansi. We witnessed mad antics and an energetic presence from them behind the decks as per usual, but their new sound suspiciously seemed like an effort to move towards the mainstream, which really didn't do much for us as a set, barring a few great tracks.
Elsewhere on the Castle Stage, Phi Degrees, a Sunburn debutant and live electronic act, played a rather flat set, but we suspect it was the odd time they were scheduled for. The Mohawk-toting Swede, Albin Myers, was up next. He brought a bundle of energy that easily penetrated the crowd with his signature electro kicking things off with his remix of "Tear the Club Up." The driving sound kept the sunset crowd very happy. He even ended up crowdsurfing by set's end. B.R.E.E.D., the dubstep alias of DJ Nasha, a jock responsible for taking dubstep to the Indian masses almost singlehandedly, came on next with a bass-heavy frenzy.
This year was Richard 'RDx' Durand's fourth Sunburn outing, and he did the business. Starting off with a remix of "The Emergency" by the local act Lost Stories, Durand weaved a set of banging techno and trance served up with sing-along, feel good vocals that had the crowd eating out of his hands. Musically speaking, it wasn't one of the better showings, but did some serious damage to the dance floor.
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
Sultan and Ned Shepard were up next with a DJ set at Castle stage, and showcased all the elements expected from them. They layered on the charm with thick dreadlocks and distant smiles by playing favourites and crowd pleasers. Having toured the country before, though, the pair were a little too predictable for some. Nadia Ali, the sultry crooner, joined the duo in the final hour of their 150-minute outing. We were sorely disappointed with what could best be summed up as a lackluster, cheesy pop set that could well have been in a Karaoke bar someplace in Koh Phangnan. Maybe we're being a bit harsh, but with Sultan wielding his guitar, Ned Shepard on the keyboards and Nadia Ali on the vocals, we really yearned for more energy from the performance than we were met with.
Elsewhere, India's veteran psy export, FreeAtmah, was rocking the crowd at The Caterpillar stage. It really made up for the dismal performance on the other stage, bringing the night to end on a high note, especially for those who chose to seek out the other side.
Day 2
Photo credit: Samir-Saurabh Attarde
Local act Lost Stories had come into their own over the past two years and, judging by the turnout that had gathered around the Caterpillar stage, were all the rage. While some software glitches ensured the set was a little messy, they managed to play out a few of their mash-ups and own productions and ended the set on a high, closing with their new track "Ashna." Given their stellar productions and the buzz they are generating, it'll be nicer to see them play out sets that display a lot more of their prowess than just putting together sounds.
Tuhin Mehta, AKA Brute Force, followed, showing off his versatility with a complete change of sound from when we'd seen him last. The only thing that remained the same was his trademark energy. The overall journey was realized masterfully and ended with his collaboration with Gareth Emery, "Arrival," which had everyone entranced when the flute sample kicked in. We did have moments wishing for a little more depth to the set, though.
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
At the Castle Stage, Anil Chawla and Dale Anderson were tapping into a beautiful, deep, downtempo vibe. Their chemistry and track selection was spot on, and ensured a raving good time on the beach in the middle of the afternoon. It was truly one of the better sets at Sunburn, and had flashes from Anil Chawla's last solo outing in 2007 when he was just a newcomer.
Axwell, one-third of the Swedish House Mafia, headlined day two at the Castle Stage. Playing the sweetest house set we've heard in some time, the producer proceeded to capture everyone's attention as soon as he dropped Cirez D's "On Off" mixed with his own classic "Feel the Vibe." Working with four decks and digital samples, we even spotted the rare chin strokers moving their feet. The moment of the night, however, was a mashup of "Pjanooo" and "Watch the Sunrise."
Day 3
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
Day three had the heaviest Indian lineup. It was also the day when the festival management went awry. Due to the increased attendance, the road to Sunburn hosted a massive traffic jam, while the festival site itself was riddled with incessant midday lines.
Things started to look up, though, with Nawed Khan scheduled to play at the Castle Stage. Having seen him deliver master sets before, we were both curious and surprised given his early afternoon scheduling. Nonetheless, he dished out another smooth set. Pearl was up next, and while smashing out a great melodic progressive house set, it seemed to be in limbo throughout the first half. It was great to see her back in her element in the latter half of the set, though, with some great progressive and psy sounds. Quite clearly, these two formidable acts were slotted wrongly, but given the populated lineup that Sunburn had on its hands, it's not surprising.
One of us made their way to watch the legendary Paul Van Dyk play at the Caterpillar Stage while a surrey of bouncers carried bags of equipment to the stage, and the sound engineers spent 30 minutes setting up controllers, two MacBooks and other effects mixers.
Van Dyk stepped up and, from the moment he started, launched a blitzkrieg of powerful sounds and basslines. Murmurs of an evident comeback, given his recent reputation for commercial cheesiness, were afloat. He played to an absolute packed crowed that overflowed well into the VIP section while chants of "PVD," "PVD," "PVD" rang out. It was perfect set with a track selection that hit revelers spot on. The crowd bounced to tracks like "Time of Our Lives," "New York City" and "For an Angel." He closed with a small two-track encore that left most people with a big smile on their face.
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna
On the Castle stage, riding high on a string of heavy touring and generating the interest of the twitter massive with his effervescently punk persona, Funkagenda arrived to much applause. From the set's beginning to its end, the energy hardly dropped. It was quirky and layered with an unmistakable Funkagenda flavor, full of huge mash-ups and classics like "Astana" and "Man with a Red Face."
On the other main stage, Ferry Corsten had arrived 40 minutes late as a result of the traffic jam. Corsten started off surprisingly with "Festival," and then took it his own direction with the electro and trance sound he's known for. While a great time was had, the set was hugely disappointing to festival goers who were used to huge closing sets, and most made their way back to Xerox & Illumination who provided a more traditional headlining finish. It was definitely not Corsten's best day, delay or not, but the fact that Corsten kept the crowd waiting didn't help his cause either.
Overall, Sunburn 2010 was a heady mix of sights, sounds and people. Tickling our fancies was the addition of the new stage, bringing different sounds to the festival. While Sunburn had ironed out quite a few issues that come with a festival of this magnitude, the arrangement, especially crowd handling, left much to be desired. On the final day, the general chaos and the huge lines left hopefuls missing out on an act or two. Hopefully the technical and management issues are sorted and fully ironed out next year and that the logistical team is better equipped to handle the massive turnout that Sunburn so rightfully attracts.
Photo credit: Prmod Bafna