As soon as I step onto the concrete floor of Bangkok’s FVTURE hyperclub on its opening night, the bass thrums beneath my feet, while the pulsing flash of LED lights keeps my eyes in a near-perpetual blinking state. Its scale hits as hard as the bass pounding through the L2 and L2D acoustic system, with snaking, labyrinthine levels leading backstage, where a massive LED screen stretches from floor to ceiling. 

Even as hostesses in shiny silver costumes slink past customers jostling for drinks at the bar, the walls remain bare, the ceilings expose hanging sockets, and the whole space has this unfinished, industrial ruggedness that almost feels intentional. And as co-founder Victor Wang points out, it is. “This is not the final version of FVTURE,” he tells Rolling Stone India. “What you’re seeing now is FVTURE 1.0 that everyone can experience in a more raw industrial look and feel.“

Referring to FVTURE as an evolving stage isn’t simply a design strategy. Bangkok, once known for its backpack-slingers, beer pong battlers, and nightlife that thrived on excess and the illicit, has been steadily undergoing an upheaval, one that’s pushed major EDM festivals like Tomorrowland, Creamfields, and EDC to consider it a serious stop in their global expansion plans. As the city grows into its own, FVTURE feels like an attempt to catapult that culture forward without erasing the often unruly, DIY energy that makes its nightlife simultaneously notorious and magnetic.

“We saw a lot of potential and a big gap in Bangkok: a large-scale club to put Bangkok on the world stage of electronic music was missing,” Wang says. The process of building the club, from assessing the market to locking the venue, was fairly swift, likely owing to the founders’ decision to roll it out in stages. 

FVTURE also positions itself as a “hyperclub,” a cross between a high-capacity nightclub and an arena-style event space, interpreting it as a format that uses cutting-edge technology to dismantle the barriers between the artist and audience. “Hyperclubs have their own story, personality, and future, and also have a lot to do with the geographical location,” Wang says. “FVTURE has its own unique story that can’t be associated or compared to any other hyperclub. I think what will define FVTURE is the team, the ideas, and the dedication in the months and years to come.” 

It’s on the dance floor that FVTURE’s hyperclub vision truly materializes. Backstage, opening DJ Axl Stace helms the decks, firing up breakneck jolts of EDM that set the night’s pace. By the time headliners Artbat arrive, the sprawling 4,000-square-foot venue, capable of holding 6,000 people, is packed with ravers ready to be beamed up in the DJ duo’s visual vortex.

Enlisting Artbat, the Ukrainian duo of Artur Kryvenko and Vitaliy “Batish” Limarenko, feels like yet another strategic bet. Known for sensorial performances that play out like an interdimensional interplay of sound and visuals, their humanoid figures and cyber-futuristic avatars move fluidly across FVTURE’s 360° LED canvases as the duo tears through familiar bangers like their remixes of Camelphat’s “Cola,” Monolink’s “Return To Oz,” and Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.” The set ends on a turbulently emotional high, before deck duties are handed over to Thai DJ Nakadia, who keeps the momentum going with her built-for-blast-off techno. 

FVTURE’s roster mixes global dance music heavyweights like Camelphat (performing on Jan. 23, 2026) and Danny Avila (who performed on Jan. 10, 2026), with rising electronic acts, including Spain’s Prophecy and Brazilian‑Italian DJ/producer Nobilee. “Our main goal is diversity in music and sound. We will have a bit of everything for everyone.” From D&B to trance, everything seems to be on the table. “In general, we like to approach music by feeling as an art, not as a science.”

FVTURE doesn’t exist in isolation. Its opening reflects a recalibration happening across Bangkok’s club landscape, where size and production value are becoming just as important as lineups. Large-scale venues and superclubs like Atlas and MUIN have begun cropping up across the city, each leaning into high-impact sound systems and larger-than-life visual environments. Some are even experimenting with multi-format rooms that mirror the logic of festivals. These are spaces designed to hold bigger crowds and multiple moods at once, drawing in locals, expats, and globe-trotting ravers who want something that feels closer to a festival without leaving the city.

In the broader context of Asia, where electronic music audiences are growing faster than the infrastructure built to serve them, this shift feels consequential, especially as global touring circuits look eastward. Clubs like FVTURE feel built to absorb the city’s energy and push it back out with the bass cranked all the way up.

Update: Nina Kraviz was previously mentioned as part of FVTURE’s upcoming slate. Her appearance is no longer confirmed and has been removed from the article.

The post What Bangkok’s New Hyperclub FVTURE Signals for The Next Phase of Asia’s Club Culture appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

For years, music festivals in India existed on the edges: sporadic, experimental, often treated as outliers rather than anchors of the live ecosystem. Today, they sit at the centre of it. Festivals have become the places where touring routes are tested, new audiences are introduced to unfamiliar sounds, and entire cities briefly reorganise themselves around music.

Their growth has been gradual, then sudden. What started as a handful of destination events has expanded into a dense, year-round calendar that stretches across regions, genres, and scales. With that expansion has come influence over who gets booked, who gets discovered, how audiences spend, and what live music in India is expected to look like. Questions around representation, access, sustainability, and scale, now more than ever, are no longer side conversations. They surface with every season, lineup announcement, and sold-out weekend, followed by vigorous online debate.

This moment calls for more than celebration or criticism. It asks for a closer look at what India’s festival circuit is actually building — the communities it nurtures, the economies it fuels, and the structural gaps it continues to expose.

PRO: GIGS & FESTIVALS BUILD ACTUAL ECONOMIES

Festivals have become confluence points for culture, with the same artists, crews, and audiences returning year after year, and in the process generating real economic ripple effects. Large-scale festivals and arena shows routinely pump hundreds of crores into host cities, filling up flights and hotels as well as local bars and restaurants with a buzz that lasts well beyond the festival gates.  

CON: FESTIVALS TAKE THEIR FANS FOR GRANTED

With multiple festivals all chasing the same weekend dates, everything is being branded as “can’t miss,” making very little actually feel that way. A sense of oversaturation has set in, especially since the purchasing power for most of India’s population has plateaued. This glut has also made some promoters complacent: reshuffling venue layouts, quietly discounting or repricing tickets when sales don’t hit targets, and tweaking experiences on the fly, treating audiences like numbers to be adjusted. 

PRO: REGIONAL STORYTELLING THAT BOOSTS TOURISM THE RIGHT WAY 

The best festivals let the region lead with intent, not merely as decoration. Often working in ways to honor the local texture, terrain, flavors, communities, and culture, regional music festivals have the potential to drive tourism without flattening the local scene. 

CON: LOCAL ARTISTS FEEL THE PINCH FIRST

As festivals grow bigger, local artists quietly get squeezed. Playing your own city’s biggest festival shouldn’t feel so financially impossible, yet these artists are often being subjected to lower fees, tighter set times, or payoffs framed as “exposure.” Meanwhile, audiences, having already spent heavily on headline tickets, are less willing to arrive early or spend more on discovering and supporting homegrown talent.

PRO: SUSTAINABILITY IS GETTING SERIOUS

It’s still uneven, but sustainability has moved off banners and into operations. More festivals are now thinking about things like recyclable glasses, energy-efficient power systems, and better waste management. Audiences are watching closely, and festivals know they can’t fake it anymore.

CON: A BROKEN TICKET RESALE SYSTEM

Ticket resale has become a largely unregulated free-for-all, with little oversight from organisers or platforms. Scarcity marketing and staggered ticket drops often push fans toward exorbitant prices in the secondary market, while recent examples have also seen resale tickets dip below original prices, undercutting both the artist’s value and the live experience itself. 

PRO: THE PROGRAMMING IS GETTING BETTER 

Festivals finally seem to be trusting their audience’s taste. Fewer filler slots, better flow, and lineups that feel considered instead of crammed, with more niche artists being welcomed into the mix, further punctuating how thoughtfully curated the programming has gotten. 

CON: NOT ENOUGH REPRESENTATION ON LINEUPS OR CURATION PANELS

This conversation hasn’t moved fast enough. Women and LGBTQIA+ artists continue to be underrepresented where it matters most: at the top of the bill and in decision-making rooms. While economic realities and ticket-selling logic often underpin these choices, the harder truth is that audiences themselves haven’t yet fully warmed to women or LGBTQIA+ artists as headline draws.

PRO: BUILDING LARGE-SCALE VENUES FROM SCRATCH

Entire festivals are built overnight and dismantled days later. It’s chaotic, impressive, and the reason live music now reaches places it never used to. Many festivals also do this with a whole lot of consideration and care to site-specific conditions, sometimes even folding it into the larger festival experience. 

CON: ROLLOUT STRATEGIES THAT KILL THE BUZZ

Lineup drops are still messy and dragged out. In an era of instant information, unclear communication kills excitement faster than you can say “festival season.”

The post Festival Temp Check: What India’s Music Festivals Get Right and Wrong appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

When Coldplay mounted their Music of the Spheres tour in India last year, the numbers alone were enough to grab headlines. But a moment that truly defined the night came from the audience, or more specifically, from the thousands of LED wristbands strapped to their wrists. As the stadium lights dimmed and the opening chords spilled out, the crowd lit up as one, a rippling galaxy of blinking colors moving in perfect sync with every chorus and crescendo. In videos that have since gone viral, it’s the sight of this pulsing sea of bands that captures the feeling of the night more than any camera pointed towards the stage. The Xylobands, powered by RFID technology, effectively became a dopamine hit that dissolved the space between the artist and their audience, making thousands of passive viewers feel like locked-in participants. 

India’s live music circuit is bursting at the seams, with a steady stream of international acts clamoring for attention in the country’s packed concert calendar, and homegrown heavyweights like Sunidhi Chauhan and A.R. Rahman dialling up their touring production values. With the organised live-events sector growing 15 percent in 2024 and crossing ₹100 billion in value, according to the latest FICCI–EY Shape the Future report, the infusion of technology into the live experience has emerged as one of the industry’s most visible shifts.

Tech is no longer an add-on, but rather the engine driving the scale and spectacle that makes an experience worth the hype and steep ticket prices. Nowhere has that been more visible than in the industry’s break from traditional stage design, from Lollapalooza India’s VerTech modular stage setup, to Echoes of Earth experimenting with sustainably-built dynamic stage structures. 

When Sara Awwad, the Creative Director and co-founder of Studio Majimé, set out to build India’s first 360-degree levitation stage for AP Dhillon’s 2024 Brownprint tour, it was a mammoth undertaking that required a structural reset. Safety protocols, rigging systems, and engineering workflows had to be reimagined and rebuilt piece by piece. And with a 360 layout offering nowhere to hide clutter, cables, or mistakes, every detail needed to hold up. “We had to switch to mesh screens to make sure the weight was lighter, customize rigging clasps, and understand every detail of the security aspect, just to ensure that nothing collapsed during the show,” Awwad tells Rolling Stone India, recalling the months of effort that went into putting together a production of this scale in a country where it virtually didn’t exist. 

Describing the stage as “emotion meeting engineering,” Awwad explained how this format allowed the “Brown Munde” hitmaker to feed off the audience’s energy from all sides, making the show truly immersive. “When you’re designing something like that, it psychologically breaks down barriers, because the crowd becomes part of the set,” she says. She adds that a 360-degree setup also democratizes the experience, giving fans at every price point an unobstructed view. “When you’re buying a ticket, you walk in with a perception of how good or bad your view will be. But with a 360, every category of ticket holder gets the full experience.”

Above the stage, another frontier has opened up. Drone light shows are quickly becoming one of the most in-demand additions to major concerts and festivals, with a rising trend of artists and sponsors tapping into novelty sequences that hover, morph and pulsate in sync with the music, pyrotechnics and lasers. 

“It’s a new technology that people haven’t experienced yet, so they go crazy for it,” says Neha Verma, the communication lead at Botlab Dynamics, which builds large-scale drone light shows for live events. Having curated custom drone shows for the likes of Alan Walker, Arijit Singh, and Karan Aujla, Verma notes that artists are increasingly turning to these spectacles to amplify the live experience in a way that lets audiences fully sink into the moment, especially in an era where everything feels fleetingly engineered for Instagram. 

“When a drone show is happening, everybody is watching that,” she says. “It lasts long enough to tell a story, and watching it live is a different experience altogether.” For artists, drone formations offer something pyrotechnics can’t: a highly customizable visual narrative that takes their stories, hooks and visual motifs to the skies. Verma also points out how these have become a marketing tool for brand sponsors to subtly plug in their messaging without force-fitting it. Especially in an era where every live moment finds a new life cycle online, drone shows give artists a way to command attention, both during the performance and in the media. “Artists can probably explore using drone shows to beat Guinness World Records when they want to get more media attention for an upcoming album or release because it’s fairly easy to do,” Verma adds. 

Even more experimental ideas are beginning to surface. Gesture-powered installations, interactive visuals, and holographic displays are slowly finding their way into Indian concerts. In 2024, Emergence, the crew behind the secret-location rave Those Who Know They Know, built what they billed as India’s first holographic 3D stage. Drawing from the visual worlds of Anyma’s sets and Eric Prydz’s Holosphere, the structure used layered transparent mesh LED screens to create layers of depth, dimension, and a sense of kinetic motion. Co-founder Akash Kothari says this wasn’t just done for ornamental flourish, but as a way to keep the crowd engaged without relying on marquee headliners. “We don’t require a name; What we require is good music,” he says.

In an oversaturated market obsessed with buzzy names, Kothari stresses that an immersive, thoughtfully engineered experience can still be the main event. He adds that while the “technology was always available”, promoters rarely invested in it because of the “low margins and uncertainty around ticket sales.” But as India’s live music market matures, those barriers are finally beginning to get dismantled.

Sustainability-focused tech is also slipping into the mix, with festivals like Echoes of Earth integrating solar-powered stage lighting and energy-efficient rigs into recent editions. The shift reflects a deeper evolution in how concerts are being conceived. For audiences accustomed to streaming and endless digital content, artists know that the live show must offer something irreplaceable. “Artists have now become aware that they need to create a thoroughly designed experience that gives [their audience something beyond what they get from] listening to their songs or watching their music videos,” reiterates Awwad. The visuals, staging, effects and technology must express personality as strongly as the music itself. A concert must become a statement, not just a setlist. 

Moving beyond visual firepower, technology is also rejigging how live-event mechanics work behind the scenes, with companies like Dreamcast reworking core infrastructure such as festival entry and on-ground purchasing. Having worked with Ziro Festival, Bangalore Open Air, and Echoes of Earth in recent years, product head Apoorv Rajawat says the focus is now shifting beyond RFID-enabled wristbands and tap-based touchpoints.

While many large festivals already operate without WiFi or internet to ensure uninterrupted attendee flow, Rajawat says the company is now “aggressively working on facial recognition” as a potential next step. He compares it to the DigiYatra system deployed at Indian airports, adding that similar models can be adapted for live events. “Anybody who’s tech savvy in the Indian ecosystem, there should be a possibility for them to just pass on with the right speed and ease.” As with DigiYatra, however, the shift raises questions around privacy, particularly since attendee data is often stored with festival promoters and event operators. If facial recognition is moving to the forefront, it may be time to read the fine print before buying tickets to your next concert.

Globally, the idea of what a “live” concert even means is being stretched in new directions. ABBA’s Voyage in London uses motion-captured, hyper-real digital avatars to perform without the band ever stepping onstage, while virtual performers like Hatsune Miku have long drawn arena-sized crowds through holographic concerts. Together, these shifts point to a future where concerts are no longer just about sound and sight, but about systems, data, and design working in tandem. India’s rapid adoption of RFID, drones, and immersive stage builds suggests a market quick to absorb these changes, even as it learns to negotiate their trade-offs. As audiences demand more and artists dream bigger, the technology powering India’s concerts may well become its most defining force.

The post The Concert Tech Revolution: Behind the Innovations Powering India’s Live Music Economy appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

When Above & Beyond last came to India in 2018, off the back of their album Common Ground, the country’s electronic music ecosystem was still just a fraction of the behemoth it has since become. Parties were a little rough around the edges, the pickings for international headliners were far fewer, and audiences were largely driven by curiosity rather than any deep-rooted reverence. Even so, India welcomed the progressive trance pioneers with open arms, soaking in their melodic harmonies and luminous progressions as a source of solace.

And when they made their long-awaited return to the country after seven years at Sunburn Mumbai 2025 last week, it felt as though that force field of emotion was still very much intact.

The trio, comprising Tony McGuinness, Jono Grant, and Paavo Siljamäki, have long shared a special connection with India, one that runs deeper than touring routes. 25 years ago, they named their label Anjunabeats after hearing about the free-spirited trance parties that had slowly grown out of Goa’s Anjuna beach in the late Eighties and early Nineties, and resonating with its values of community and transcendence. 18 years ago, they made their first voyage to the country as headliners at Sunburn’s debut edition in 2007. And as Grant and Siljamäki return to headline the festival’s latest incarnation, they admit that while much has changed, the love they receive from their Indian fans remains the same.

“Sometimes, when I’ve been a little nervous about how things are going to go, what I remember from the good nights in India is this feeling that, whatever happens, we’re here for you,” Siljamäki tells Rolling Stone India when we catch up backstage. “There’s a very warm kind of enthusiasm that is here, and it’s lovely,” Grant agrees. 

From the moment they walk into the venue, they appear relaxed and at ease, but never complacent. Even after countless visits to India, they seem fired up with a clear sense of curiosity. Paavo even walks around with a film camera slung over his shoulder, as if trying to take it all in once more. Their faces light up with smiles when they think back to those early days in India and the moments that first forged a bond with the country. Grant recalls, “I don’t know if there’s a single memory I can pinpoint, but just coming over to India is a visceral, holistic experience. And it’s fascinating to see, even just the drive [of the fans]. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the gigs are the gigs, but the experience of being in India, from the food to the culture, the people, what you see outside, is life-changing.” Siljamäki adds, “I remember I was on the balcony overlooking what was going on at the Chowmahalla Palace with Matt Zo, and we were getting goosebumps. I don’t know why, but I literally remember standing there looking down onto the trees and everything; it was such a beautiful night.”

Above & Beyond’s current India run is part of a global tour to take Bigger Than All of Us, their first electronic album in seven years, back to the community it was written for. An excavation of the essence that first defined their sound, working on the album also meant reaffirming what it means to be a group more than two decades in. 

“Obviously, in 25 years, there’s so much life that happens, but I felt like it’s actually nice that [fundamentally] we’re three individuals coming together for a greater cause. And right now, it feels even more like that,” admits Siljamäki, talking about what led them to the album. “There was such a big break between albums, it gave us a little bit of time to have some space and then reconnect with the community rather than just doing the next album and rolling into it without thinking about it,” adds Grant. 

When asked what the audience’s response to the album has been like so far, Siljamäki says, “I think we were at the point where we were playing the old tracks, and it was getting almost a bit scary. It’s like, okay, ‘If we now do something new, is it gonna connect? Is it gonna work out?’ But we’ve had songs like ‘Carry Me Home’ become big sing-along moments at some of the shows. So it’s been really amazing for us to see that there’s a future, not just the past.”

That reassurance carried straight into their set in India, which felt like a reminder of why Above & Beyond’s music has become so therapeutic to listeners across the world (and why their long-running radio show, now approaching its 700th episode, is so fittingly titled Group Therapy). Built on emotional release as much as nostalgic momentum, the performance featured their foundational rolling basslines, slow-burning melodic builds, and effervescent drops, moving fluidly between eras as it folded timeless touchstones like “Sun & Moon” and “Blue Monday” into newer chapters such as “Quicksand,” featuring longtime collaborator Zoë Johnston on vocals, and “Letting Go,” with Malou.

Bigger Than All of Us, released in July this year, also lands at a time when much of the electronic music landscape is dominated by darker, more aggressive build-ups and basslines. Against that intensity, the album’s sweeping range of trance and drum & bass feels soul-baring and optimistically melodic, almost like it was written to be an act of defiance. When we probe if that’s the case, Grant shrugs and points to the very philosophy that is so deeply embedded in this album: “The industry is changing all the time, and we’ve seen it change so many times,” he points out. “From my perspective, there’s too much in the music industry looking at what people are doing and trying to analyze the scene. [People will say] like techno is big this year, and this is big, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t really care what’s big this year or this week or if it’s going to be big next year, because it’s more about the message we want to have in our music, rather than the mechanism and the style. Those are just ways of dressing something, but really, it’s about the ideas and the sentiment behind it, the feelings and emotions behind the tunes, not the production style [that’s trending] this week or this month.” 

This fierce commitment to their vision seems to have paid off. Grant says, “I’m a fan of various bands, and sometimes when they release a new album, it takes time for listeners to really love them the way they did the first album they heard. With our fans, some consider Tri-State the best album because it was their first, or maybe Group Therapy. But it’s nice to see people connect with these new songs, especially when you’ve got that kind of baggage of people being too familiar with a certain era of your music.” 

The post Above & Beyond on Returning to India and the Album That Took Them Back to the Beginning appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

When Sara Landry commands the main stage as the Day 1 headliner of Sunburn 2025, searing synths, industrial kick snares, and high-BPM flares are put through the wringer. It’s a breakneck rhythm that hits the dustbowl of Mumbai’s Infinity Bay like a tornado, sweeping up anyone caught in its dizzying swirl. But those familiar with Landry’s rivetingly dark sound know this chaos has been carefully ordained by the High Priestess of Hard Techno.  

“Every time I play somewhere new, I end up with this intense buzz, this vibration; it’s hard for me to sleep,” she tells Rolling Stone India. Talking to us backstage just moments before unleashing her frenetic brand of techno, Landry is disarmingly warm. Sporting an all-black ensemble and her signature winged eyeliner, she speaks thoughtfully, smiles often, and carries herself with a grounded ease.

On the decks, though, it’s a whole other story. “Every musical experience is an exchange of energy,” she points out, explaining how much of her on-stage persona feeds off her audience’s aura. “It’s like me opening myself and channeling things to the crowd, and then their energy comes back to me. Every place has a different flavor, almost like a different spice blend. It reflects how people are feeling, what’s happening culturally, or how they connect to whatever source energy governs us all.”

Call her esoteric or call her an enchantress, the Austin-bred, Amsterdam-based DJ and producer has gone from cutting her teeth in New York’s underground warehouse circuit to steadily rising the ranks as one of the most compelling names in techno. Characterized by cavernous inflections with a deeply spiritual undercurrent, her high-frequency sound, often referred to as “witchy warehouse techno,” has earned her a spot on some of the biggest festival lineups this year, from Tomorrowland to Coachella. But for the self-proclaimed energy healer, India was always on the radar. 

“I’ve known I was coming for a while,” she says. “I’ve talked to so many people about India, and everybody tells you it just doesn’t compare: how the energy feels here, the people, everything. It feels really special to be here.”

Landry’s inclination towards India is likely a result of her fascination with ritual and spiritual practice, a core belief system that permeates everything she does. “I’ve always been very interested in Hinduism and the culture,” she says. “I think it’s such a beautiful way of connecting with deity and with spirit, and I love the stories that surround the deities of Hinduism. I would love to go and visit the sites and see the temples, and obviously see all of the beautiful monuments that you guys have. There’s so much beautiful architecture and so many beautiful structures here, and I would love to go and experience them in person.”

In July this year, Landry went viral after dropping a remix of the garba track “Nagada Sang Dhol” during her set at Serbia’s EXIT Festival with Indira Paganotta. But while she often layers chants and mantras over her ricocheting basslines, she made the conscious decision to veer away from that during her three-city India tour. 

“I love those tracks, and they mean so much to me,” she says. “But I didn’t want to do anything that could be offensive or feel disrespectful. So tonight, I chose not to play those tracks, just to be culturally respectful.” Still, it hasn’t stopped her from experimenting with regional textures to curate a more conscious quality to her live set. “I like to sample local sounds, local noises, just to feel the place more deeply,” she adds. 

When asked how she feels about techno and psy-trance evolving from underground, ritualistic spaces to more mainstream festival stages like Sunburn, she is quick to point out that she doesn’t like to put labels on things. “The sonic culture moves of its own volition,” she shrugs. “I can’t really control where it goes. I just know what sounds and energies I enjoy, what feels special. A lot of that lives in psy-techno, psytrance, and hard dance. I don’t really care what it’s called. I just want to make things that feel new and forward-thinking.”

For Landry, performing in India is also deeply personal. “Every show, I always have Indian fans asking, ‘When are you coming?’ With my schedule, we hadn’t made it here yet. But to headline a festival alongside acts like David Guetta and Above & Beyond, whose music I was listening to long before I was in a headliner position, feels very special. It’s nice to hold that torch, inspire other women, and share my music and energy with so many wonderful people.”

Between a near-constant global touring schedule with her Eternalism live show, high-profile festival takeovers, the release of “GIRLBOSS”, a confrontational, self-authored single that marked her first foray into vocal performance, and clinching the highest-ever spot for a hard techno artist in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs, this year has cemented Landry’s shift from an underground force to full-fledged cultural figure. The pace has been unforgiving but deliberate. In 2026, she says, the focus is on a hard reset. “I’m about to have two months off, so I’ll be writing another album, which is exciting. I’m looking forward to pushing my solo headline show for Eternalism, expanding those ideas, and deepening the creative vision for everything we have planned. It’ll be nice to spend more time being creative, which I don’t get a ton of while on tour.”

The post Sara Landry: ‘It Feels Really Special to Be Here in India’ appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

You can tell a lot from a person’s Google and YouTube search history, and boy, did 2025 show that we’re not just chronically online as a nation, but may be just a little unhinged in our internet consumption, too. 

From the “Saiyaara Virus” sweeping the nation to the collective euphoria over the women’s cricket team lifting the World Cup, 2025 had us oscillating between peak-wholesome and peak-chaotic moments across pop culture, entertainment, sports, celebrity drama, and more.

While Indian gaming creators were busy localizing Italian brainrot AI slop through snackable gaming streams, YouTube stalwart Mr. Beast optimized his content for pan-Indian audiences by creating subbed versions of his content in seven Indian languages, landing him 47 million Indian subscribers this year. 

All of this paints a fascinating picture of India’s online obsessions, but the numbers tell an even better story. Strap in to see how you’ve contributed to these insane metrics, as Rolling Stone India spotlights some of the most unexpected, intriguing, and absurd search trends from 2025.

Dating Lingo

Another year, another bizarre dating buzzword. “Floodlighting” emerged as the #1 dating search trend, according to Google. Characterized as a manipulative tactic, it involves doing just the right amount of oversharing and trauma-dumping to create a false sense of shared intimacy. So the next time a 6 ft, matcha-hoarding, Clairo-listening man talks about how he has mommy issues, please swipe right. 

Meme Mania

Drum Roll for this one: Arjun Kapoor winning something was not on our 2025 bingo card. Beating the likes of the infamous Gen Alpha brainrot meme  “67,” which came in second place, the Bollywood actor emerged victorious in the great Indian meme conclave. Who knew that all that criticism of his soulless acting would result in him giving the performance of a lifetime, leaving behind a pop culture relic as a by-product? Following it up was the iconic “Vishal Mega Mart Security Guard” meme. From people creating fake reaction videos to listing the position as their dream job, the retail chain’s extensive campaign for security personnel transformed into a humorous testament to Gen Z’s unemployment crisis this year.

The ‘Saiyaara Virus’ Reigns Supreme

A moment of silence for the theater staff that had to witness the shirt-ripping and spontaneous proposals that erupted during Saiyaara screenings. Starring debutants Ahaan Pandey and Aneet Padda, the film triumphantly bagged #1 in the movie search category. 

It even showed up in the ranks for  “near me” searches, ranking at a respectable #9, edged out by people searching for “Chavva Movie near me.” And though Ahaan Panday seemed to dominate our screens and streaming charts, he was beaten by Saif Ali Khan, who claimed the top spot as the most-searched actor. And speaking of edgers, while Ranveer Allahabadia didn’t come first, he did rank #3 following the India’s Got Latent backlash. 

Pickleball Mania Continues

Apart from worrying about the worsening AQI, we were also immensely concerned for, wait for it, “Pickleball near me.” Ranking at #6 in the “near me” search category, it even narrowly beat out “Garba Night near me,” which ranked at #7.

Bigg (Final) Boss Fandom

Like the cockroach that perseveres through nuclear wars, Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss managed to survive the waves of relevancy and surpass the Aryan Khan directorial Bads of Bollywood and even the acclaimed K-drama, When Life Gives You Tangerines, emerging as #3 in the TV show search category. Turns out our love for shock-value inducing reality TV shows remains resolute, even with the barrage of multicultural media that came out this year. 

Trending Search Questions

In classic scroll-and-search fashion, 2025 had us googling everything from the meaning of “mock drills” (#2) to “pookie” (#3). Meanwhile, the controversy that gripped the nation by a chokehold led to the term “Latent” ranking #9. Lastly,  “Incel” and “Nonce” stood at #8 and #10, respectively, probably as a result of the viral success of the Netflix TV series Adolescence.

The AI Algorithm

In the era of “is this real or AI,” all of the top trending searches this year were, in one way or another, AI-related — from the Gemini trend, where people kept recreating their childhood photos, emerging as the top winner, to the viral craze of turning themselves into action figures at #5. One trend that truly ignited debates was the infamous “Ghibli trend” (#2), which had people generating visuals in the distinct art style of Hayao Miyazaki, almost like a gateway into the AI-slop ecosystem we now live in. 

The post Decoding India’s Most Chronically Online Moments This Year appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

Global techno heavyweight Carl Cox is set to return to India early next year with a three-city tour, marking his first shows in the country since 2007. The British DJ and producer, widely considered one of the most definitive figures of the genre, will perform in Delhi-NCR on Jan. 16, followed by Mumbai on Jan. 17, 2026, as part of the Tuborg Sunburn Arena tour. He will wrap up with a set on Jan. 18 at Bengaluru’s The Lalit Lawns, promoted by District.

Ahead of his India return, Cox said in a statement that the country’s electronic music community has long held a special place for him. “India has always had a special energy, and every time I’ve played here, the crowd has given me something truly unforgettable,” he said in a statement. “To return in 2026 feels like coming back to a community that lives and breathes the music just as deeply as I do.”

Cox rose out of the U.K.’s Acid House explosion of the Eighties, breaking into the mainstream with his single “I Want You.” The founder of the underground-driven Intec label, the techno pioneer’s historic 15-year residency at Space Ibiza is still regarded as one of the most successful club runs in the island’s history.

Even as a legacy act, Cox continues to evolve. His 2022 Wembley Arena launch for his fifth studio album, Electronic Generations, reinforced his reputation as an artist still intent on breaking new ground.
He’s headlined some of the world’s biggest stages, including Tomorrowland, Coachella and Ultra, as well as played landmark sets at places like Stonehenge, Berlin’s Love Parade, and the Pyramids of Giza. In 2023, he received DJ Mag’s Outstanding Contribution Award.

Cox’s return also arrives at a moment when India’s live-electronic scene is rapidly expanding, with upcoming festivals like Circus Festival, Circoloco, and more helping cement India’s position among the fastest-growing EDM markets globally.

Tickets for the Mumbai and Delhi shows are now available on BookMyShow. Tickets for the Bengaluru show are expected to go live on Dec. 8, 2025, on District.

This article was updated on Dec. 5, 2025. A previous version stated that this was a two-city tour. A third city has since been added, and the article has been updated accordingly.

The post Carl Cox to Return to India in January 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

Shillong’s Cherry Blossom Festival has long been more than a pretty backdrop for pink blooms. Starting out as a tourism experiment in 2016, it has today evolved into a defining cultural moment for the region, a wager that Meghalaya Tourism is making to transform “India’s Rock Capital” into a broader, more culturally diverse creative hub. 

While previous editions have hosted artists like Jonas Blue, Boney M’s Maizie Williams, Magic!, and Akon, this year’s lineup, too, is stacked with international heavyweights, including Jason Derulo, The Script, Diplo, Tyga, and Aqua, alongside crowd-pullers such as Nora Fatehi, Zephyrtone, Girish and the Chronicles, and more. Yet even as it brings in nostalgia icons and chart-topping names, the Cherry Blossom Festival continues to build on the foundation it started with: to amplify the region’s own voices and strengthen the ecosystem for homegrown talent through initiatives like the Meghalaya Grassroots Movement Project, a state-backed program supporting emerging artists.

In keeping with that, we’re moving beyond the marquee names to highlight some of the regional voices. Whether they’re flying under the radar or making national waves, these are all the artists you need to know if you’re attending the festival this year.

Khasi Bloodz

One of the most definitive names on both the Northeast hip-hop circuit and the national radar, the Shillong-based crew has been pushing culture since 2009. Fusing their local Khasi tongue with English, Khasi Bloodz is known for searing verses that layer themes of identity, politics, and pride over everything from old-school hip-hop to soul and R&B. Their recent trilogy, Blood, Sweat & Tears, marks both a comeback and a creative leap, reaffirming why they’re often seen as cultural flagbearers for the region. On stage, they’re all fire and intent, the kind of act that reminds you why representation in rap matters.

Finding Mero 

Producer Gillian Kharshiing, who goes by the stage name Finding Mero, is among Shillong’s most forward-thinking electronic artists. His lush, emotive soundscapes, featured on labels like Qilla Records and Billboard’s 2021 Electric Asia VA compilation, stretch from ambient chill house to more cinematic synths and textures. Having had his releases appear in global gaming titles like Rocket League, his music balances the introspective inclinations of artists like Jon Hopkins or Tycho with a distinctly local, atmospheric edge.

Walter Wahlang

One of the most magnetic voices to emerge from Meghalaya’s contemporary hip-hop scene, Walter Wahlang has built his name on spitfire verses and a commanding stage presence. His bilingual flow has made him a fixture across both the Northeast’s festival circuit and some of the country’s buzziest live venues, from Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival to Delhi’s Record Room. Having opened for acts like Dino James and Shah Rule, Walter channels the pulse of Shillong’s streets into an urgent, unfiltered energy that feels built for bigger stages.

Meba Ofilia

One of Shillong’s brightest exports, Meba Ofilia has grabbed her spot in India’s R&B and hip-hop landscape with silky vocal textures and self-assured bars. She first pulled global attention with her single “Done Talking” with Khasi Bloodz, which won Best Indian Act at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards. Her debut project, untitled.shg, which released in 2022, saw her digging into themes of identity, resilience, and artistic evolution, mixing gospel‑inspired tones with R&B grooves, jazz influences, and rich storytelling. Her sound is a catchy blend of emotion and attitude that’s part Jorja Smith, part Little  Simz, and she’s set to deliver that signature mix of soul and swagger on the Cherry Blossom stage.

G Hill’s Finest

Emerging from Meghalaya’s Garo Hills, this duo is carving its own lane in Indian hip-hop. Their bilingual verses capture the rhythms and realities of local life, all packed with punchy, wry wordplay. Singles like “Poppin’ & Shoppin’” highlight their precision and creative flair, while their live sets are slowly building a reputation for their energy and crowd-ready charisma, making them a next-generation force to watch out for in the region’s rap scene.

Dappest & adL

Shillong’s Dappest & adL are a duo defined by the interplay of their individual strengths: Adiel Massar (adL), the producer, draws on R&B, neo-soul, Afro‑rhythms, and experimental electronic textures, while Dappest, a vocalist and lyricist, brings falsetto hooks, melodic versatility, and hard-hitting lines. Their 2022 full-length debut, At Your Service, captured this chemistry, featuring genre-fluid arrangements with compelling songwriting that earned them the top spot at Meghalaya’s government-backed Mega Music Contest. On stage, the dynamic is clear from the get-go: adL anchors the sound in textured drops and subtle production flourishes, while Dappest commands the mic with precision. Together, the duo seems to be signalling that instead of simply staying rooted in place, Meghalaya’s music scene is reaching outward with intent. 

Catatonic

The Shillong-based rock outfit Catatonic has rapidly made its mark with a brutal yet emotionally charged blend of post‑hardcore and melodic metal. Their 2025 EP Metanoia (and preceding Gardenia) explores themes of loss, identity, transition, and resilience through crashing riffs, jagged melodies, and visceral vocals. On stage, they are a force of catharsis and release, representing the enduring spirit of Shillong’s rock legacy.

DaLa‑Riti

One of Shillong’s most distinctive voices, folk fusion band DaLa‑Riti, led by singer‑songwriter Dalariti Gratel Kharnaior, was formed in 2018 to mix Khasi folk traditions with Western influences. Their repertoire spans original folk-fusion songs and reworked classics like “Shad Pynnang” and “Sier Lapalang,” preserving cultural heritage through a contemporary lens shaped by modern instrumentation and songwriting. Having collaborated with artists like Vasu Dixit on The  Pada Project in 2022 and performed at festivals such as WAVES 2025 in Mumbai and the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, DaLa‑Riti will bring their lively, folk-driven sound to the Cherry Blossom Festival stage.

Bending Waves

Shillong’s Bending Waves are making their mark on India’s alternative rock scene with a sound that pairs melodic hooks with punchy, guitar-driven energy. Their debut single, “Medicine,” and follow-up “Feeling Good” quickly earned them widespread attention, with lyrics that channel resilience and hope without ever losing their edge. Known for live sets that shift across moods and genres, the band’s live performances are an unpredictably compelling experience. 

Larger Than 90

Larger Than 90, a seven-piece outfit from Jowai, Meghalaya, have built a reputation on their genre-defying sound, melding soul, rock, and groove-heavy rhythms into a funk-laced sound. Their self-titled debut album introduced listeners to tracks like “Into the Wild”, “In Our Life”, “Aunty Next Door”, and “Beaches”, while their latest EP Caught the Funk pushes their funky, high-energy approach even further. Having played festivals, fundraisers, and clubs across the state, and even completing a four-state mini tour in 2023, the group is set to bring their infectiously energetic live show to the Cherry Blossom Festival. 

The post 10 Must-See Acts at Shillong’s Cherry Blossom Festival 2025  appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

I first saw Armin van Buuren live in 2015, when he brought his A State of Trance world tour to Mumbai for the first time. A decade later, I witnessed the Dutch trance pioneer unveil his audiovisual experience The Orb at Tomorrowland this year, and the shift in energy was palpable. While his earlier shows were tightly engineered productions of frenetic synths, rolling basslines, smoke, and lasers, his sound now felt darker and more complex. Yet, the showmanship and scale that have always defined van Buuren stayed the same. As a glowing sphere floated above the stage and he dropped his track “Heavy” with the force of artillery fire, it almost felt like a statement: he wasn’t here to reminisce, but to keep pushing the envelope of what an Armin van Buuren experience can look, feel, and sound like.

Now, he’s blowing up that boundary even more with Piano, an all-acoustic album which sees the electronic music icon step into the role of a classical musician on record for the first time. A collection of 15 self-composed and self-produced tracks featuring both piano and strings, van Buuren charts new sonic terrains alongside his piano instructor, Geronimo Snijtsheuvel. Released on Oct. 31, 2025, the album brims with van Buuren’s signature cinematic sweep but distills it into its most pared-back form. Recorded in seven one-take sessions at the ConcertLab studio in Utrecht, Piano finds van Buuren at his most curious and unguarded, whether he’s messing around with mic’d drones on “Clouded Window,” tapping into his proclivity for anthems on “Sonic Samba,” or drifting into waltz rhythms with ¾ time signatures on “Soaring Kite” and “Ballerina.” 

“Lately I’ve been finding myself playing with things like ¾ time signatures or progressions that don’t really fit into the world of dance music,” van Buuren tells Rolling Stone India, explaining how working on the acoustic record helped him unlock new layers to his decades-long sound. “Piano gave me the space to explore those ideas and let them be heard in their pure form, without having to adapt them to the club.”

Van Buuren’s renewed fascination with the classical form began five years ago, when he started taking piano lessons during a particularly emotionally draining period. Working closely with Snijtsheuvel, a classical, jazz, and conservatory musician, van Buuren used his composition classes as a launchpad for fresh ideas, a much-needed creative reset that would eventually lead him to Piano. But it’s a sound that’s always been anchored in his DNA. His father, Joep van Buuren, was himself a pianist and first sparked his love for the instrument, laying the foundation for his melodic sensibility. “I’ve always started writing my songs at the piano, so in a way this record feels like coming full circle,” he says. In fact, returning to the piano medium has also trickled into his creative process as an electronic artist. “Understanding harmony and movement on a deeper level gives me more freedom when I’m producing,” he says. “I can build tracks that feel more intentional, because I know exactly what emotion each chord or transition can create. It’s made me so much more aware of what I’m actually doing in the studio.”

That sense of intention seems to be what’s carried van Buuren through his most creatively charged year yet. And as the electronic music trailblazer continues to venture into new sonic universes, it’s clear he’s pursuing something far deeper than pure propulsion.

Reflecting on the importance of evolution and risk-taking, he firmly believes the need for carefully labelled and clustered genres is now becoming increasingly obsolete. “More recently, [even genres like] trance and techno have been fusing more and more often,” he points out. “That would have never happened in the early 2000s. Back then, genres were much more walled off, and stepping beyond those zones was seen as incredibly risky. But the past decade has shown that people have opened their minds.” He likens this revelation to the way forward for his trance music persona as well, emphasising that rather than revolving around a bpm or fixed sound elements, A State of Trance continues to celebrate trance without being confined by old-fashioned standards.

Another surprising move this year was his cross-cultural collaboration on “Ishq Hai (This Is Love),” with composer Anurag Saikia and U.K. R&B mainstay Craig David, which bridged trance, R&B, and Indian classical melodies into one heady collaboration. “What really surprised me was how naturally those different worlds could come together once we stopped thinking in terms of genres,” he says. “Indian classical music has such a deep emotional core. It’s about expression and spirituality, which is something trance has always shared. Working with Anurag and Craig opened me up to new rhythmic patterns and melodic phrasing I might not have explored otherwise. It reminded me that music truly is a universal language: you just have to listen and let it guide you.”

India, he adds, has long held a special place in the global electronic music story. “While it took a little longer for mainstream electronic music to gain a foothold in India, people often forget that Goa Trance is part of its heritage,” he says, referring to the electronic music movement born on the beaches of Anjuna and Vagator in the late Eighties, a mixture of acid house, psychedelic rock, and spiritual motifs, that birthed psy trance and cemented India’s place in dance music history.  “That legacy has built such a strong foundation for where the scene is headed now,” he adds. “You can see it in the crowd — they’re passionate, curious, and eager to embrace new sounds. I can’t wait to see how it develops next.”

Having witnessed the evolution of electronic music from the days of vinyl to the streaming era, van Buuren remains optimistic about where the genre is heading. “I’ve seen formats change, genres rise and fall, and trends come and go,” he says. “But dance music has always been tied to technology and innovation; that’s what keeps it alive. Expect a fast-paced scene that can change in the blink of an eye. And I, for one, love that.”

Still, not everything needs to evolve. For van Buuren, one thing has stayed constant: his refusal to chase trends. “The moment you start creating just to fit in, you lose your connection to who you are,” he says. “Melody, emotion, and energy—that’s the core of what I do and what I love. I’ll always evolve, but I’ll never force myself into a sound just because it’s popular.”

The post Armin van Buuren On His First Classical Album ‘Piano,’ Reinvention, and Relationship With India  appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

When Enrique Iglesias ascended the stage at Mumbai’s MMRDA Grounds on Oct. 29, 2025, for the first of two India shows, the roar that rippled through the crowd felt more like the excited screeches of a reunion with a long-lost friend. Almost as if he was privy to this information, the Spanish hitmaker belted out turn-of-the-millennium anthems like “Bailamos,” “Hero,” and “Escape,” fully leaning into the sentimental discography that once soundtracked an entire generation’s CD players. Consciously swerving away from any of his more recent releases, Iglesias posed, pouted, and lip-synced his way through his first performance in India in 13 years, but the crowd went wild anyway. The show felt more like spectacle than substance, yet it was a testament to Iglesias’ star power as a seasoned showman who knows how to wield his legacy. 

And maybe that’s the cultivated instinct of an artist who’s seen pop music evolve from MTV and CDs to TikTok and AI: to know how to read the room. Speaking to Rolling Stone India ahead of the show, the Spanish icon pointed out what’s kept him curious and motivated through so many eras of reinvention: “The love for music never changes — I just keep learning and adapting.” At 50, Iglesias has been named one of Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time Latin Artist,” and racked up more than 40 billion streams worldwide. He’s one of those rare millennial-era icons who’s managed to keep the momentum going. Perhaps that’s because his songs still feel so gut-wrenchingly relatable, whether he’s pining after lost love on “Heartbeat,” or going full fuckboy on “I Like It.” When asked whether the emotional graph of his music reflects a deeper understanding of love or simply an acceptance of its contradictions, he admits, “A bit of both — love keeps teaching you something new every day.”

While the singer-songwriter may still be catching up to the complexities of love (and in 2025, it’s as complex as it gets), he clearly has no qualms about showing it to his fans. At his Mumbai show, produced by Eva LIVE in partnership with BEW Live and promoted by District, that energy was on full display. Iglesias made heart gestures, blew kisses, folded his hands in awe, and even dropped to his knees at one point. After all these years, he remains the eternal heartthrob.

While much of the sonic force of the evening came from his tight backing band, Iglesias remained its charismatic conductor. He knew exactly how to work the crowd — gliding between the mainstage and the runway, locking eyes, and making sure every section of the audience felt seen. That kind of connection sits at the core of his performances, and in India, it feels amplified. “The fans in India are truly remarkable,” he says. “There’s a profound appreciation and admiration for music there. The crowds at my Indian concerts are truly special. The atmosphere is electric. I’m thrilled about meeting the audience.”

Another exhilarating sight at his concerts is watching fans sing along to every lyric, even those who don’t speak a word of Spanish. Admitting he’s always in awe when the audience starts singing louder than him, Iglesias says, “It’s magical — music truly has no language when it comes from the heart.”

India, in many ways, is still in its nostalgia era, as seen in the packed arenas for the likes of Bryan Adams and the Backstreet Boys, and acts like Blue and Pitbull next on the country’s concert slate. It’s a country where pop history keeps finding new life onstage, and where fans come for the memories as much as the music. Iglesias might represent the peak of this wave, but he’s also very much a part of its evolution. Beneath the confetti, the pyros, and the sing-alongs, it’s a reminder of India’s voracious appetite for live music in all its forms, whether it’s built on the comfort of familiarity, driven by discovery, or somewhere in between.

The post Enrique Iglesias’ Mumbai Concert Showed How Nostalgia Can Carry a Performance appeared first on Rolling Stone India.