Goodbye, Park City, and thanks for all the memories.

Back in 1978, when Robert Redford first established what was then known as the Utah/U.S. Film Festival, this modest little affair was based in Salt Lake City; the initial idea was simply to attract more filmmakers to the region. Then, in 1981, Redford moved the fest to Park City, a quaint little ski-resort town where he owned property. And for the past 45 years, that’s where this event — which would eventually be rechristened the Sundance Film Festival, after one of the actor’s most famous roles, in 1991 — took place. Film lovers, industry bigwigs, indie-cinema movers and shakers, A-list celebrities, wannabe auteurs, and legions of corporate sponsors and lookieloo tourists and paparazzi flocked to this small hamlet in the snowy Utah mountains every January to make deals, establish careers, debate the future of the art form and, above all, to see movies. Lots and lots and lots of movies.

Now, with a relocation to Boulder, Colorado, on the horizon, Sundance is ready to say farewell to its longtime home. When the 2026 edition of the festival kicks off on January 22nd, it will be its final go-round in Park City, and its first without its late, great founder. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t a little misty-eyed about bidding adieu to the place where we’d seen so many memorable, occasionally lifechanging films. But damned if Sundance is not exiting its former base of operations without one last big bang. This year’s lineup looks to be one of its strongest in years, and we’ll be reporting on the highs and lows of the fest throughout its 11-day run. But here’s a look at some of the hotter, buzzier titles that seem poised to set Park City on fire (metaphorically speaking). From Charli XCX’s white-hot meta-fiction about Brat Summer to a white-knuckle Ethan Hawke survivalist thriller, a warped midnight movie from an Adult Swim legend to a doc about the life, times, and comeback of Courtney Love — here are 22 movies we can’t wait to see at Sundance 2026.

‘Antiheroine’

Everyone has some sort of opinion on Courtney Love — her history, her artistry, her marriage, her persona, her problems, and the undeniable force of the music she made with her seminal 1990s band Hole. Ms. Love is well aware of what folks might think about her — and she’s ready to set the record straight on a few things. Documentarians Edward Lovelace and James Hall give the former girl with the most cake a stage in which to tell her own story in her own words, covering everything from her tumultuous youth to her early brushes with fame to everything that happened after. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.

‘The Best Summer’

It was the summer of ’95, and Australian music promoter Stephen “Pav” Pavlovic was putting together a traveling down-under music festival he dubbed “Summersault.” The lineup included the Beastie Boys, the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Rancid, Pavement, Beck, and a host of James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax crew. Fresh off of directing the cinéma du Sandler classic Billy Madison, Tamra Davis was following the traveling circus, camera in hand; she’d end up recording a number of performances, along with a handful of interviews with the musicians. Cut to January 2025, when Davis was evacuating her house during the Palisades fires. She happened to come across a box of tapes filled with her old Summersault footage — and now we get this oral history-cum-mixtape of a once-in-a-lifetime fest that captured a moment of Nineties live music in full feedback-soaked bloom.

‘Broken English’

When we were forced to bid farewell (on this plain of existence, at least) to Marianne Faithfull in January of last year, it wasn’t just one more cascade of tears going by — the loss of both a Sixties icon and a genuinely timeless iconoclast felt like a true end of an era. Documentarians Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (no strangers to iconoclasts, having made the Nick Cave portrait 20,000 Days on Earth) revisit the life and times of the singer via something called the Ministry of Not Forgetting, where Tilda Swinton interviews the lady herself and digs into the who, what, where, and when of it all. Nick Cave, Courtney Love, Beth Orton, and Suki Waterhouse occasionally drop by to sing a song or three. Having played festivals in Venice, London and Taipei, this singular take on the music doc makes it’s U.S. premiere here at Sundance. The Faithfull faithful on these shores may now commence rejoicing.

‘Buddy’

The program note for this festival selection consists of a single sentence: “A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids’ television show.” Pretty vague, amirite? And yet! There may not be another movie in Sundance’s Midnight sidebar that we’re looking forward to seeing more than this one, due to the fact that thias comes courtesy of writer-director Casper Kelly, the gent who gave usthose demented Adult Swim Yule Loge videos, the instant classic “Too Many Cooks,” the TV show Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, and a number of other brain-melting, psychotronic shorts. Also check out the cast: Cristin Milioti, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt, Keegan Michael-Key, Topher Grace and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You‘s Delany Quinn. Something tells us this one is going to generate some chatter. And probably some vomiting.

‘Carousel’

Noah (Chris Pine) is a doctor, a divorcé, and a dad who’s determined to make a modest medical practice in Cleveland enough to sustain both a close proximity to his daughter and his sense of well-being. He’s content to be on his own. Then an old high-school flame named Rebecca (Jenny Slate) returns, and suddenly, his carefully constructed life is upended. We’re fans of filmmaker Rachel Lambert’s previous Sundance entry, the oddball Daisy Ridley vehicle Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), so we’re excited to see what she does with a similar story of self-imposed isolation and second chances.

‘Chasing Summer’

Comedian Iliza Shlesinger wrote and stars in this dramedy about a woman who, having found herself unexpectedly single and unemployed, retreats to her hometown in Texas. Once back in the Lone Star state, she finds her past catching up to her and naturally gets caught up in a host of angst-fueled shenanigans. Personally, you had us at “Iliza Shlesinger” — her stand-up specials are a hoot, and if you’ve seen her supporting turn in 2020’s Pieces of a Woman, you know she has chops — but add in the fact that she’s enlisted Jospehine Decker (Madeline’s Madeline, Shirley), and you’ve got something that sounds like more than just another millennial coming-of-age story.

‘The Disciple’

From the moment that heard the Wu-Tang Clan’s seminal debut album Enter the 36 Chambers, Tarik Azzougarh became an instant ride-or-die fan. The Dutch-Moroccan kid quickly put together his own hip-hop crew in his hometown of Tilburg, and ended up slinging verses onstage next to Ol’ Dirty Bastard when the group played in Amsterdam. Taking the name Cilvaringz, Azzougarh would become a Wu “affiliate” and end up booking a world tour for RZA. He’d also began conceiving and producing a project that would eventually be called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, and, well… you know what happened next. Oscar-winning filmmaker Joanna Natasegara chronicles how a kid obsessed with the Staten Island collective ended up collaborating with heroes — and how what was supposed to be a major addition to the Wu legend ended up becoming one of the most controversial album “releases” of all time.

‘The Gallerist’

We remember catching Cathy Yan’s debut Dead Pigs at Sundance 2018 and immediately pledging our allegiance to this sui generis filmmaker (not even a detour into superhero I.P., 2020’s Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, could dampen her sharp wit or her idiosyncrasies). So we’re especially jazzed that she’s back at the fest with one of the most buzzed-about screenings of this year’s edition — it nabbed the prime Saturday-night-at-the-Eccles slot — about a gallery owner (Natalie Portman) trying to catch the attention of an art-world tastemaker (Zach Galifianakis) before Art Basel Miami kicks into full gear. Let’s just say that a corpse becomes a key part of the equation. It’s fair to call this particular satire “star-studded”: In addition to Portman and Galifianakis, the cast includes Jenna Ortega, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Sterling K. Brown.

‘Ghost in the Machine’

No surprise that A.I. is a hot doc topic at this year’s fest, with not one but two different nonfiction takes on the tech that’s causing a lot of deserved existential dread among us flesh-and-blood types. There’s the Premieres section’s The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell’s big-picture look at the ins and outs of artificial intelligence as filtered through the lens of fatherhood. And then there’s this entry in the fest’s more experimental, odds-and-sods NEXT sidebar from documentarian Valerie Veatch (Love Child), which takes a more essayistic approach about the history of human advancement through technological advances, and how the combination of utopian ideology, dystopian nightmares and good old-fashioned exploitation are playing into what could happen next with AI.

‘The History of Concrete’

If you’ve seen John Wilson’s brilliant HBO series How to With John Wilson, then you know this one-of-a-kind documentarian has a knack for turning the mundane into the magnificent, not to mention mining B-roll footage for maximum irony. His feature debut picks up where his TV show left off, with Wilson asking a simple question: what is the history of that substance that paves our sidewalks and provides our structures with a strong foundation? His attempt to find an answer will lead him everywhere from a screenwriting class that teaches you how to write a Hallmark movie to a marathon that requires runners to run around a block for 3100 miles. To say “we can’t wait to see this,” per our list’s headline, is severely underselling our excitement.

‘I Want Your Sex’

He (Cooper Hoffman) is a young Angeleno who just scored a plum gig as an artist’s assistant. She (Olivia Wilde) is his new boss, who’s also decided that her new hire will become her “sexual muse.” Considering this cockeyed explored of intimacy, consent, power dynamics and hot ‘n’ heavy kink comes to us courtesy of director, cowriter and New Queer Cinema icon Gregg Arraki (The Living End, The Doom Generation, Mysterious Skin), we expect a post office’s worth of envelopes to get pushed before the end credits roll. Charli XCX, Daveed Diggs, The Studio‘s Chase Sui Wonders and Scream‘s Mason Gooding costar.

‘In the Blink of an Eye’

Pixar legend Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) has spent the last decade directing episodes of top-shelf TV series (Stranger Things, Better Call Saul, For All Mankind). Now he steps back into the world of live-action features — his first since 2012’s John Carter — with this trilogy of tales that spans the prehistoric era to the present day to our distant future. A family of cave dwellers fight to survive the harsh terrain. An anthropology grad student (Rashida Jones) starts a relationship with a peer (Daveed Diggs) while studying the remains of early humans. And an astronaut (Kate McKinnon) roams the galaxy many, many light years from now, trying to ward off a threat to the ship’s in-house ecosphere. Chances are good that there will be numerous similarities between all of these tales, which will lead folks to believe that time sure passes… well, see the title.

‘The Invite’

Olivia Wilde isn’t just at the festival as an actor for hire (see: I Want Your Sex). The hyphenate is also bringing her new directorial effort, the first since 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling — yeah, yeah, we know, quiet down now, people — which centers around two couples gathered together for what’s supposed to be a nice, civil dinner party. Quicker than you can ask who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, the evening devolves into an airing of marital grievances that that threatens to go nuclear. Wilde and Seth Rogen play one of beleaguered duos; Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz play the other. Very curious about this one, in a sort of Bill-Hader-as-Keith-Morrison-chomping-popcorn-meme kind of way.

‘The Moment’

Remember how Charli XCX and “Brat Summer” dominated 2024? The singer-songwriter is now ready to give you a firsthand look at what it was like to be in the eye of that pop-superstar storm, via a cheeky metafictional comedy! Director, co-writer, and longtime Charli collaborator Aidan Zamiri has described this faux-chronicle of the hitmaker on tour as an “alternate history of the Brat era… if she’d made all the wrong choices.” Alexander Skarsgård plays the hottest director in town, who’s been hired to document everything. Rachel Sennott, Kate Berlant, Rosanna Arquette, Jamie Demetriou, and Hailey Gates co-star. We assume the premiere will shock Sundance like a defibrillator.

‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’

In 1972, the late, great filmmaker William Greaves (Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One) sent out an invite to the last living creators and emissaries of the Harlem Renaissance: come to Duke Ellington’s apartment on the corner of West 157th and St. Nicholas Avenue for a night of cocktails and conversations. Greaves proceeded to document a who’s who of songwriters, authors, poets, theater bigwigs, journalists, movers, and shakers sitting around and reminisced. The footage remained virtually unseen — until now. Thanks to David Greaves, William’s son (and who was operating one of the cameras on that fateful night), we now get to be a fly on the wall as a host of legends detail how they made history and changed American art forever.

‘Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story’

Anyone who has been lucky enough to sample Maria Bamford’s sense of humor — via her stand-up specials, the Comedians of Comedy documentary, her TV show Lady Dynamite, or at a mid-sized theater or club near you — can attest to the fact that she is one of the funniest, smartest, and most unique comics working today. Seriously: name another comedian who would center an entire televised showcase around performing her act live for her parents, and no one else. She’s also had her share of struggles in terms of anxiety, depression, mental instability, and what may or may not be professional self-sabotage (it depends on whether you consider a Target pitch-person talking shit about the superstore to be “self-sabotage.”) Bamford has been long overdue for a solo doc, so thank the good lord that Judd Apatow and co-director Neil Berkeley have not only put this profile together, but refused to play down her issues — or how she’s consistently managed to turn a long, hard stare into the abyss into a tight hour of hilarious material.

‘Public Access’

Before the World Wide Web, before Wayne’s World, before social media and the era of 24-7 content creators and influencers, there was public access television — a wild frontier of would-be talk show hosts, bon vivants, raconteurs, kooks, freaks, and free-speech advocates with a need to push the boundaries of good taste. When New York City introduced the nation’s first public cable channel in 1971, it not only opened the floodgates to a host of DIY entertainers and marginalized communities — it changed what could be said and shown on the air. David Shadrack Smith’s doc gets into the good, the bad, and the Midnight Blue of it all, filling in a lost chapter of media history that’s crazier than you could imagine.

‘See You When I See You’

Jay Duplass — he of the Duplass brothers, Transparent and Industry acting fame, and director of the recent shaggy-dog comedy The Baltimorons — hits Sundance with an adaptation of Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir. Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth) plays the author’s screen counterpart, a young writer named Aaron who’s trying to find his voice. Then a family tragedy forces him to deal with an unbearable loss, and the idea that humor can help guide folks through the darkest of times. If anyone can pull this off without turning this into quirky indie grief-porn, it’s Duplass. Kaitlyn Dever, David Duchovny, Hope Davis, and Lucy Boynton costar.

‘The Shitheads’

Because what is Sundance without a ridiculous buddy comedy, usually involving various dim and/or down-on-their-luck dudes getting into absurd — and absurdly dangerous — situations? Thank god writer-director-actor Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore) stepped up and gave the 2026 edition its requisite bumbling-idiots road-movie farce. O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Dave Franco are hired to transport a rich teen (The Black Phone‘s Mason Thames) to rehab. Simple enough, right? Before you can say The Ransom of Red Chief, however, he’s turning their lives into a living hell. Also along for the ride: Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Braun, Kiernan Shipka, and Killer Mike.

‘The Weight’

No stranger to Sundance — he’s been a constant presence at the fest since Reality Bites premiered there in 1994 — Ethan Hawke stars as a Depression-era dad who ends up in a brutal work camp out in the Oregon wilderness. But there’s this corrupt warden (Russell Crowe), see, and he has an offer: smuggle a mother lode’s worth of gold through a 100 miles of unforgiving terrain, and if he makes it through, the prisoner can go free. The task is way, way harder than it sounds. This sounds so up our action-filled-1970s-style-character-study-survivalist-thriller alley.

‘When a Witness Recants’

It started with a teenager being robbed and murdered for his Georgetown jacket in the hallways of his high school, during the middle of a school day; the 1983 crime would rock the Baltimore neighborhood in which it took place, causing a generation of kids to feel that they were unsafe in their own community. But it would also lead to a gross miscarriage of justice, in which one of the victim’s best friends was coerced by the police to lie about what he witnessed that day — a decision which would send three innocent teens to jail for 36 years. Documentarian Dawn Porter (The Lady Bird Diaries, John Lewis: Good Trouble) and executive producer Ta-Nehisi Coates revisit the case, and dive into the details regarding the conspiracy that landed the trio in jail, how they were eventually exonerated and released, and the sense of guilt that hovered the young man whose decision cost them their freedom.

‘Zi’

Video artist and filmmaker Park Joon Eung — who goes by the nom de artiste Kogonada — has been one of the major Sundance discoveries of the past 10 years, having shown his extraordinary first feature Columbus at the festival in 2017. He’s back with this elliptical, sci-fi–inflected story of a Hong Kong resident (Michelle Mao) who begins to encounter her future self. Then things apparently get weird(er). Longtime collaborator Haley Lu Richardson and Pachinko’s Jin Ha add to the vibes.

From Rolling Stone US.

The post 22 Most Anticipated Movies at Sundance 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

Seventeen are kicking off their 11th year as a group with another long-awaited sub-unit, this time giving the spotlight to the powerhouse vocals of DK and Seungkwan. The chemistry between the two members is already well known to fans, thanks to their roles in the group’s beloved subunit BSS, where they’re joined by Hoshi. In addition to being Seventeen’s main vocalists, they are often the ones cracking jokes and bringing light-hearted energy on and off the stage. On the heels of the last duo, S.Coups and Mingyu’s CxM (in which both members are part of Seventeen’s hip-hop unit), comes DxS, a pairing of the main vocalists that highlights a different genre and sound, showcasing just how versatile Seventeen is.

The duo’s mini-album, out now, features six tracks, including two solo songs individually contributed by each member. The lead single, “Blue,” which both members cite as their favorite from this project, comes with a music video that features actors Yoo-mi Lee and Steve Sanghyun Noh (of Squid Game and Pachinko respectively) and a storyline that demonstrates the complexities of falling out of love. The two members’ voices complement each other throughout the album, which ranges from pop-rock to ballad to R&B.

In an exclusive conversation with Rolling Stone a week before the release of Serenade, DK and Seungkwan open up about just how personal this project is for both them and how they stayed on the same wavelength as they crafted a tracklist that can meet fans wherever they are to laugh, cry, and feel alongside them.

There are now a handful of sub-units within Seventeen. What to you makes DxS unique and different?
DK: Since we are both the main vocalists, we wanted to place even more focus on the musical elements of the album. We paid a lot of attention to the vocal aspects where we could really show new sides of ourselves, so I think that will feel especially fresh for Carats [Seventeen’s fans].

What was it like recording and preparing as just a duo? How was it different from when you work on Seventeen’s music?
Seungkwan: It can be challenging for us to focus only on ourselves during our wider group activities, so this unit album really allowed us to concentrate on each other and communicate more deeply. We worked towards the goal of capturing the mood and sentiment that only the two of us share by putting a lot of care into expressing the emotions honestly.

You are often the members who are cracking jokes and lifting the mood. Were there any fun anecdotes you recall from the production process?
DK: When we were listening to a lot of different demos in the earlier stages, we decided to share which songs we each like, and then come together to make choices. I was genuinely surprised by the abundance of great songs — there were way more than we had expected. While going through the music, there were songs that made me think, “Seungkwan would like this one” — and those turned out to be exactly the songs he loved. It made me realize how long we’ve worked together as a team and how we’ve come to understand each other’s musical tastes so well.

I’m curious to know if there’s anything new you’ve learned about each other while spending one-on-one time to prepare this mini-album.
DK: From the very beginning — from choosing the tracks to crafting our solo songs — we had so many conversations, and I realized just how many similarities and differences we share musically. Both our common ground and our differences in opinion became the foundation that helped shape the album with greater depth and layers. I think that process allowed us to lean on each other even more and become closer.

Seungkwan: We talked about everything, from the production process to the lyrics and the emotions we wanted to express through this album. Through all of that, I was deeply moved by how sincerely DK listens and how considerate he is. [Smiles.] It wasn’t something entirely new, but it definitely made me feel grateful for him once again. Because we both wanted the album to turn out well, we leaned on each other a lot during the process.

That being said, how would you describe the chemistry between you two?
DK: We’re actually the duo that tears up pretty easily. When one of us starts crying, the other usually follows, and it makes me feel like we’re emotionally in sync.

Seungkwan: That makes our vibes match well. Because we’re both so sentimental, we’ll somehow end up in tears while talking. [Laughs.] Our sense of humor is similar as well, so there’s also a lot of moments when we burst out laughing together.

You both contributed to some of the songs in this project. Are there any specific lyrics that really resonate with you?
DK: Seungkwan and I came up with the line, “The petals that bloom on my way to see you are telling me it’s love,” in “Prelude of Love,” and when we were writing that part, I remember having a smile on my face while imagining the fluttering feeling of love. I really liked how naturally it blended with the atmosphere of the song and how it expressed that sense of excitement.

Seungkwan: In the intro part of “Dream Serenade,” there’s a line I wrote: “Countless goodbyes we exchanged in the same dream/When I open my eyes, all the beautiful days quietly come back to me.” The song itself feels very dreamlike and ethereal, so I wanted the word “dream” to carry two meanings — a dream that you can have while sleeping and also a dream as in a hope or goal. I hope Carats will also try interpreting the line in those two different ways and feel how the layered meanings can come through when listening.

Are there any duos or ballad singers that you drew inspiration from while preparing this mini-album?
DK: Rather than trying to model ourselves after any specific duos, we focused on asking ourselves how we could show our unique colors more clearly, and how we can make fans and the general public feel the distinction between this DxS and Seventeen… That was something we were very mindful of throughout the entire creative process.

I ask because you recently released a cover of “Die With a Smile” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. How did you choose to do that song?
Seungkwan: We prepared that cover hoping to showcase to a wider audience how our vocals harmonize and complement each other. While talking about what songs we had been listening to recently, “Die With a Smile” really stood out as one we had both been playing on repeat.

If you had to choose two other Seventeen members to cover songs from this album, who would they be and why? I asked this question to CxM and they said they wanted to hear your vocals on their album.
DK: Oh, that’s surprising! [Laughs.] I actually think that it would be really interesting if Wonwoo and Dino tried doing a cover together. They both have excellent vocals and very solid tones, so I think they could deliver a unique and refreshing interpretation.

Speaking of your fellow members, have they listened to the music yet? What were some reactions that you remember?
DK: I wanted to share the music with them when all 13 of us were together, so we played it for them recently at our monthly gathering. The members all listened so attentively and offered such warm feedback and encouragement, which made me feel incredibly grateful. It was one of those moments that reminded me how reassuring it is to have the members by our side.

Do you have a favorite song from this project?
DK: I really love “Blue.” It truly stands out as the track that highlights the our vocal synergy. The overall vibe resonates deeply with the cozy atmosphere of winter, making it the perfect choice for this season.

Seungkwan: “Blue” also holds a special place in my heart. It was the very first song that both DK and I immediately selected for the album, and I feel the deepest attachment to it.

And what do you think your fans will like most from the album?
Seungkwan: I really believe we’ll be able to showcase a broader and more diverse spectrum of our vocals than we have previously revealed. Also, more than anything, I believe it’s an album that truly captures our own moods and sentiment. In line with the theme of Serenade, I hope they can listen to it comfortably in the evening after a long day and experience a quiet moment of healing. With the album carrying so much of our sincerity and heart, I really can’t wait for Carats to fall in love with it.

From Rolling Stone US.

The post Seventeen’s Main Vocalists DK and Seungkwan Have a New ‘Serenade’ appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

In his book India Psychedelic: The Story of a Rocking Generation, Sidharth Bhatia recounts how India in the 1960s was pushing against all odds to birth a culture of rock music.  

At Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai, where a band competition called Simla Beat Contest took place, he describes young Indians gathering for a show that was perilously put together. “Electric guitars were almost impossible to find, and amplifiers were even rarer; enterprising musicians managed somehow with tricks that would be laughed at today, such as using a valve radio or even PA systems better suited to public meetings rather than for music. Local guitars, such as ‘Givson’ (whose name bears a close resemblance to the iconic Gibson), manufactured in Calcutta, were available but hardly comparable to the real thing. Very basic drum sets were made in local workshops,” Bhatia writes.  

Inspired by the iconic Woodstock festival of 1969 in the U.S., a music festival called Sneha Yatra was held on the outskirts of Mumbai in 1971. Featuring backdrops of instruments, hippie-like caricatures and typography that was downright groovy, it reflected the Flower Power-inspired aesthetic seen in the U.S. from the Sixties onwards. In 1978, Jazz Yatra came to the front, and later led to festivals like Jazz Utsav. 

Described as India’s first jazz festival, Jazz Yatra was held at Rang Bhavan with generous help from travel partners like Air India, who covered flights, and support by the American consulate and embassy. Through the latter’s push, jazz greats like Sonny Rollins, Wayne Krantz, Larry Carlton, and Stan Getz made their way to India. 

Rolling Stone India Contributing Editor and Jazz Yatra team member Sunil Sampat says the atmosphere at Rang Bhavan was a sight to behold. “People would come with their whole family, it would be like a picnic. One guy would come with an ice cooler, his driver or help would bring that heavy cooler. After a while, the cooler would be opened, drinks would flow, you could have your alcohol. Somebody brought some samosas and pakodas, and you’re just sharing it with everyone. It was a great way enjoy to jazz,” Sampat recalls.  

He says it didn’t matter so much if people didn’t enjoy the sometimes esoteric, obscure forms of jazz being hosted. Jazz Yatra went on to set a precedent for jazz festivals in New Delhi and Kolkata. More than that, Sampat recalls that the connection between the organizer, the artists and the audience was completely different. “All the musicians were accessible to you as an audience member. Some of them would finish their set and come sit with you in the audience to enjoy the rest of the concert,” he says, noting how any barriers between the two were dismantled.  

Rang Bhavan would cost about ₹800 rupees to rent out in the Seventies and an additional ₹200 would go into renting chairs for a seated audience.  

By 1985, Rang Bhavan became the home of rock in India, mostly thanks to gig organizer Farhad Wadia setting up Independence Rock. It was largely about giving bands a stage and giving audiences a space to watch a band live, which was often where the concert experience began and ended in its initial years. Later, with sponsors coming in and the venue shifting to Chitrakoot Grounds in the 2000s, there was more activity around the festival grounds, including sponsor stalls and the like.  

Among bands like Pentagram, Agnee, Parikrama and more performing, metal band Brahma was active in the Nineties and 2000s, fronted by Devraj Sanyal. Today, he’s the chairman and CEO – India & South Asia of Universal Music Group and runs a wellness label called Vedam Records, but there’s plenty of footage of him and his bandmates at I-Rock editions, alongside favorites like Millennium, Parikrama and Pentagram.

Sanyal recalls performing at I-Rock and Great Indian Rock Festival (GIR), Rock ‘N India and several other concerts across the country, ranging from clubs to bigger stages. “Playing these crowds was the most fun I’ve ever had being on the other side of the music business, and it was always a thunderous, heart-pounding rush,” he says. Bands couldn’t have had it better, even if playing conditions were less optimal for them compared to the international headliners who were walking in with tech riders and demands. He recalls seeing everyone from Deep Purple to Bon Jovi to the Rolling Stones to Iron Maiden and the Scorpions. “As fans, we felt a cacophony of pure energy, and for us diehards, it was always a maelstrom of sound and sweat. And we left feeling richer for having experienced the greats,” Sanyal says.  

Sampat, for his part, recounts the Rolling Stones concert at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium in 2003 as “badly done.” He says, “The concert was done at a venue near the road, so you could hear buses and taxis honking. They had to turn up the volume of the stage sound to counter that.” What was rewarding, however, was the chance to meet Mick Jagger at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), where Sampat was a member. That kind of chance meeting and willingness to spend time with fans is now lost, Sampat laments. “Today, you’re nothing more than a number. You’re taken for granted. It’s also become more of a social event,” he adds.  

By the Nineties, the Great Indian Rock festival became a traveling series across the country. On the other end of the spectrum were beach raves in Goa that birthed the Goa Trance movement and made the territory inextricably linked to electronic music. Where crowds flow, capital usually follows. And it could be argued that that’s where the corporatization of music festivals began with companies like Percept launching their own international-focused EDM festival Sunburn in 2007. Back then, it was an attempt to consolidate the market and give a home for electronic music fans around the country. Promoters like Submerge had already been in action since 2003, fostering electronic music as an underground movement that was about to blow up. Submerge co-founder Nikhil Chinapa, who was festival director at Sunburn, recalls, “The early editions were a lot more about music, because they happened in the absence of Instagram-led FOMO [fear of missing out] and fans came for one of two reasons — either they knew the artists, or they knew that being part of a festival experience was something unique and not seen before in India. They had seen festivals online across the world, and they wanted to participate in the birth of this new form of cultural and community togetherness.”  

As stage production and lineups grew bigger to emulate EDM festivals overseas, promoters like Submerge and Percept got sponsorship backing in a big way, which shaped the way brands came into the music festival experience. Back then, it also helped that artists were willing to waive their fees so that they could come to India. “When I brought Above & Beyond to play at the first edition of Sunburn in India, they charged me no fee and only came for the price of their flights and hotels. They wanted to experience what India was like,” Chinapa says. Interestingly, Above & Beyond headlined the Mumbai edition of Sunburn between Dec. 19 to 21, 2025.  

Chinapa moved on from Sunburn to become a key curator at festivals like Vh1 Supersonic and Satellite Beach Party and is now festival director at Arunachal Pradesh’s Euphony Voyage, taking place on Feb. 13 and 14, 2026 in Itanagar.  

After the likes of Sunburn, Big Chill, NH7 Weekender and others slowly came up, the idea of a music festival had also changed massively from just seeing your favorite artists on stage to a lived experience that you could keep going back to. Social media, according to Chinapa, is a large driver of FOMO-anxious audiences. But there’s another reason, too, for musical festivals finding favor. “While experience is still important, people think or people find that culture and community and their tribe and being a part of that movement together is as important as experience,” he says.  

It’s those intentions that set the tone for the music festivals that have come up around the country today. They were largely accessible in terms of location, offered exclusivity when it came to top-notch artists (who may or may not have returned to India in the decades since), and built a brand value that has turned into legacy. They also likely served as a compass or litmus test, becoming the events that experimented, failed and succeeded in their curation, organization and pricing so that future festivals would navigate with a little bit of knowledge of what has grown from a national music circuit to a concert economy.  

The post What India’s Earliest Festivals and Big Concerts Looked Like   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.

The TV landscape is shifting faster than you can say “Scrubs reboot,” with tectonic pressure from relentless corporate mergers, the specter of AI, and the unsettling fact that no one under 20 even knows what TV is. Nevertheless, creators and showrunners persist. And thank goodness. This year promises another barrage of knockout shows, from prestige dramas to camp comedies. Many of them are packed with stars — or with stars in the making. Some continue stories we haven’t revisited in years; others create whole new worlds we’ve never even imagined. A great TV show can help you escape or connect — sometimes both at the same time. And those are two things we need right now more than ever. Here are 40 upcoming series we can’t wait to get lost in this year.

‘His and Hers’ (Netflix, Jan. 8)

Jon Bernthal. Tessa Thompson. Those two names alone should be enough to whet your whistle for this miniseries based on Alice Feeney’s 2020 novel of the same name. It’s a twisty thriller involving a small-town cop (Bernthal), a TV reporter (Thompson) trying to reclaim her spot as a star news anchor in Atlanta, and a dead body that brings them (back) together. The story reaches back into high-school friendships and marriage drama, and for those who didn’t read the book, chances you know where it’s going are approximately zero. —Maria Fontoura

‘The Pitt’ Season 2 (HBO Max, Jan. 8)

Everybody’s favorite hospital drama (sorry, ER, we moved on with a younger model) is back with 15 new hours of white-knuckle drama. Can it sustain the intensity and depth of Season One? Our bet is yes, and then some. This season sees a new attending physician join the team as Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) prepares to leave the ED on an extended motorcycle trip. Don’t worry: He’s got one last shift to complete before that happens, and we all know how that’s gonna go. Expect the series to deftly touch on more social issues of the day that intersect with our health-care system, from immigration to insurance inequity and more. Paging viewers to HBO Max, stat. —M.F.

‘Industry’ Season 4 (HBO Max, Jan. 11)

Hopefully you took the 15-month break between Industry seasons to brush up on your U.K. finance-speak, because series co-creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay are throwing us directly back into its melee of financial corruption. When this slow-burn prestige drama premiered in 2020, it introduced fans to investment bankers Harper Stern (Myha’la), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), Eric Tao (Ken Leung), and their growing cohort of associates who let lust, deception, and some insatiable cocaine habits rule their actions on and off the trading floor. Kit Harington spiced things up in Season Three, and now, a fresh influx of soon-to-be fan favorites like Max Minghella, Kwabena Bannerman, and Kiernan Shipka arrive to give the show an extra jolt of energy. —CT Jones

‘The Night Manager’ Season 2 (Prime, Jan. 11)

Ten years after its debut, the sophomore season of this TV take on John le Carré’s thriller — starring Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier enlisted to nab an arms dealer — has arrived. Olivia Colman returns as Pine’s foreign-office liaison, assigning him to infiltrate the operations of the new big dog on the international smuggling scene. Soon, our man is in Colombia, mixing it up with Camilla Morrone’s sultry businesswoman, Roxana, and getting into dangerous (and by the looks of this trailer, quite steamy) situations. —David Fear

‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ (Paramount+, Jan. 15)

Or: What if Top Gun took place in space and featured Klingons? The latest addition to the venerable Star Trek franchise boldly goes where it has never gone before, i.e. officers training school. Come, follow a bunch of young recruits as they attempt to find out whether they have what it takes to go into the final frontier! Holly Hunter plays the captain of the USS Athena, the starship that doubles as a campus for these cadets; Paul Giamatti, Tatiana Maslany, and Tig Notaro will be on board as well. Stephen Colbert voices the academy’s Digital Dean. —D.F.

‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ (HBO, Jan. 18)

Readers of George R.R. Martin’s three Dunk and Egg novellas will be thrilled to see that HBO has chosen these Games of Thrones tales, set close to a century before the events of original series, as their latest GoT spin-off. Peter Claffey is Ser Duncan the Tall, a lowly squire who is liberated from his master and goes to seek his fortune amongst the knights. Dexter Sol Ansell is the future Prince Aegon Targaryen, a child now better known by his nickname “Egg”; he’s the underage Sancho Panza to Dunk’s Don Quixote. Expect a slightly less reverent tour through the Seven Kingdoms, though we assume that here be dragons as well. —D.F.

‘The Beauty’ (FX/Hulu, Jan. 21)

The ever prolific Ryan Murphy’s latest series for FX concerns a new wonder drug that causes people to become instantly smokin’ hot. Sounds great, unless you read the fine print (and who ever does that), which suggests users may experience a few… interesting side effects. The show is based on the comic book of the same name by Jeremy Haun and Jason S. Hurley, though if you think it also sounds like the American Horror Story producer doing his own riff on The Substance, then congratulations! You get to advance to the next round. As usual for a Murphy joint, the cast list is bananas: Ashton Kutcher, Isabella Rossellini, Anthony Ramos, Rebecca Hall, Dahmer’s Evan Peters, Bella Hadid, Billy Eichner, Meghan Trainor, Ben Platt, Peter Gallagher, and Vincent D’Onofrio. —D.F.

‘Wonder Man’ (Disney+, Jan. 27)

MCU alumni Daniel Destin Cretton and Andrew Guest — the former directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, the latter was a producer on Hawkeye — take a spin at giving the comics’ on-again, off-again Avenger his own series. It remains to be seen whether they’ll delve into the character’s backstory from the books, which is complicated (to say the least). But we do know that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) is stepping into the suit as Simon Williams, a struggling actor who gets the opportunity to audition for the title role of Wonder Man in a big superhero blockbuster. It seems he may be a little too qualified for the role, however, given his own unique powers. Ben Kingsley reprises his role from Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi, Williams’ fellow thespian Trevor Slattery. —D.F.

‘Shrinking’ Season 3 (Apple TV, Jan. 28)

Grief reverberates in new ways for the Shrinking crew in the sweet hangout comedy’s third outing. Jimmy (Jason Segel) struggles with the pending departure of his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) for college, and with the introduction of a potential love interest (played by Cobie Smulders!). Paul (Harrison Ford) faces the rapid progression of his Parkinson’s (including with the spirited help of guest star Michael J. Fox). Brett Goldstein’s guilt-ridden drunk driver Louis comes to a realization about his future, and Jessica Williams’ Gaby gets a spotlight that brings new emotional depth to her fun-loving sidekick character. A sleeper hit whose audience just keeps growing, this show feels like a big squishy hug in chaotic times. —M.F.

‘The ’Burbs’ (Peacock, Feb. 8)

A suburban resident and several neighbors watch as a new couple moves onto their block, and they begin to suspect something fishy is going on. Naturally, these nosy folks decide to start snooping and get way more than they bargained for. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the plot of the 1989 Tom Hanks comedy of the same name. If you’re tempted to yawn about another cult movie from the Rubik’s Cube decade getting a TV makeover, consider this: The creators of this redo cast Keke Palmer in the lead role. Now you have our attention, Peacock! The supporting cast ain’t too shabby, either: Paula Pell, Haley Joel Osment, Weeds’ Justin Kirk, British stand-up Jack Whitehall, Newhart’s Julia Duffy, and What We Do in the Shadows MVP Mark Proksch. —D.F.

‘Dark Winds,’ Season 4 (AMC, Feb. 15)

The Southwestern noir once again drops Zahn McClarnon’s tribal sheriff and Kiowa Gordon’s former fed turned deputy into the middle of a hot case, this time involving a missing Navajo girl last seen on the seamier streets of Los Angeles. Once they and their fellow law enforcement officer (played by Jessia Matten) head to the City of Angels, things quickly go from bad to worse. Run Lola Run‘s Franke Potente and the late, great Udo Kier join a host of returning regulars in this series we’ve consistently hailed as one of TV’s best. —D.F.

‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’ (NBC, Feb. 23)

Tracy Morgan is back! 30 Rock co-creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (along with one of the show’s writers, Sam Means) have crafted a good old-fashioned network sitcom around the comedian, who plays a former NFL great now on the skids. Enter an award-winning filmmaker (Daniel Radcliffe) who wants to help the sports legend rehabilitate his bad image and win back his family and friends. Get Out’s Erika Alexander and SNL alum Bobby Moynihan join in the fun as well. —D.F.

‘Paradise’ Season 2 (Hulu, Feb. 23)

One of the most bonkers shows of 2025 returns — let’s call this round Paradise II: Beyond the Bunker. When we last left the mountains of Colorado (or their undercarriage), evil-ish bajillionaire mastermind Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), code name “Sinatra,” had been shot by definitely evil Secret Service agent Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom). The president (James Marsden), code name “Wildcat,” was still dead. And our hero, special agent Xavier Collins (the always heroic Sterling K. Brown), was piloting a plane back to what remained of aboveground America to hunt for his wife, who he had reason to believe was still alive. This season, we get Shailene Woodley joining the cast and a whole new batch of eye-popping reveals. Strap in. —M.F.

‘Scrubs’ Season 10 (ABC/Hulu, Feb. 25)

Andy Warhol once said that in the future, every sitcom that had at least nine seasons would be rebooted for at least 15 minutes. (We’re pretty sure that’s the quote.) And so, this Primetime Emmy-nominated comedy — which ended, or so we thought, in 2010 — gets a new batch of eps for nostalgia’s sake. Zach Braff and Donald Faison don the titular doctor duds once again, heading back to the teaching hospital of Sacred Heart for more medical misadventures and, we’re assuming, more voiceover commentary. Looks like J.D. and Turk may finally get that man-date after all! —D.F.

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Season 2 (Apple TV, Feb. 27)

The ongoing Monsterverse saga returns to the small screen with more clashes of the Titans — your Kongs, your Godzillas, your other raging, ginormous kaiju beasties. This time around, something wicked this way comes on the great ape’s home of Skull Island, which brings the various humans chasing these creatures together once again. Oh, and there’s some type of sea monster that’s burst onto the scene wreaking oceanic havoc as well. The Russells (Wyatt and Kurt) are back, as is Shōgun‘s Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, and Anders Holm. —D.F.

‘American Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’ (FX/Hulu, February)

If you are old enough to have lived through the Nineties heyday of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette — their tumultuous courtship, paparazzi-stalked NYC existence, the unfathomably chic wedding at a tiny chapel in Cumberland Island, Georgia — you understand both the fervor and the glamour producer Ryan Murphy is looking to recapture with this dramatization of their relationship and tragic deaths. (The couple, along with Bessette’s sister, perished in 1999, when the plane John was flying crashed into the Atlantic en route to Martha’s Vineyard.) If you’re a Gen Z newcomer who’s just discovered the pair (mostly Carolyn) as style icons of the era, welcome to the story of one of America’s great tragedies. Murphy’s shown he can do great things with historical spectacles like the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Here’s hoping he honors the last vestige of Camelot. —M.F.

‘Scarpetta’ (Prime Video, March 11)

They call her Kay Scarpetta — a brilliant Italian-American forensic pathologist who uses medical science, the latest technical advances in her field, and her ability to rock an autopsy like nobody’s business to figure out whodunnit. Patricia Cornwell’s popular crime novels come to the small screen with no less than Nicole Kidman playing the sleuth with the scalpel. Jamie Lee Curtis is Kay’s sister; Ariana DeBose is her niece; Bobby Cannavale is a former detective and resident complicated hot guy; and Simon Baker is an FBI profiler. —D.F.

‘Imperfect Women’ (Apple TV, March 18)

Araminta Hall’s 2020 novel gets the celebrity-packed prestige-TV treatment with Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss, and Kate Mara playing three lifelong friends known to clink their wine glasses together (see above photo) while hiding whatever jealousies and hurt feelings have bubbled up over time. Then a murder takes place, some secrets come to light, and all hell breaks loose. The book followed a Rashomon-like structure where each woman got a section to delve into her own perspective; no word yet whether the show will do the same. Joel Kinnaman and Corey Stoll co-star. —D.F.

‘Rooster’ (HBO Max, March)

Lately, when we see Steve Carrell on TV, we can’t help but long for his days as Michael Scott. His forays into straight drama often lack the inherent charm he brings to comedic performances. But this series from Bill Lawrence, creator of Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking (hey, three other shows on this list!), and Matt Tarses promises to hit the sweet spot between the two for its star. Carell plays Greg Russo, a famous beach-lit author trying to repair a strained relationship with his adult daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), a college art history professor. The great Danielle Deadwyler plays one of Katie’s colleagues, John C. McGinley is the school’s president, and Phil Dunster (Lasso’s Jamie Tartt) is Katie’s preening estranged husband. That’s a Ph.D.-level comedy ensemble. —M.F.

‘Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair’ (Hulu/Disney+, April 10)

Malcolm fans, rejoice! The beloved Fox sitcom of the early 2000s gets a four-episode update and reunites most of the original cast — notably Frankie Muniz, who played Malcolm; Jane Kaczmarek, a.k.a. Malcolm’s mom Lois; and Bryan Cranston (who sadly never did anything of note after this sitcom, certainly not a drama series with a strong claim to be the best TV show of all time) as Malcolm’s dad Hal. It seems Mom and Dad are celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary in a big way and demand the presence of their son with the genius I.Q. This is easier said than done, apparently. Cue shenanigans. —D.F.

‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ (Apple TV, April 15)

This miniseries adapting Rufi Thorpe’s bestselling novel follows down-on-her-luck single mom Margo (Elle Fanning), desperately trying to raise her baby after an ill-advised affair ends in an unexpected pregnancy. Her estranged parents — mom (Michelle Pfeiffer) was a Hooters waitress and dad (Nick Offerman) a semipro wrestler — don’t have much advice in the way of child-rearing. But when bills pile up, Margo turns her frustration with life into a quirky and wildly successful run on OnlyFans. Pfeiffer’s husband, the legendary TV creator David E. Kelley, serves as showrunner, and Nicole Kidman co-stars, because she is simply not busy enough. —CTJ

‘Widow’s Bay’ (Apple TV, April 29)

Writer-producer Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation) and director Hiro Murai (Atlanta) gin up a horror-comedy starring Matthew Rhys as a small-town mayor who wants to turn an island community off the coast of New England into a touristy hot spot. The locals aren’t crazy about the idea, due to some sort of ancient curse. The mayor ignores their warnings. Bad idea. This sounds like a cross between a Stephen King novel and a Northern Exposure-type sitcom, which, OK, we’re here for it. —D.F.

‘Euphoria’ Season 3 (HBO Max, April 2026)

How do you solve a problem like an overwrought high school television series? For Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, the answer may be granting fans their long-awaited time jump. According to early interviews, Season Three of the blockbuster series — returning after a four-year hiatus — begins five years down the road from where we last saw its characters, pushing Rue (Zendaya), Jules (Hunter Schafer), Lexi (Maude Apatow), Nate (Jacob Elordi), Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), and Maddy (Alexa Demie) out of the schoolyard and straight into the world of adulthood. That means plotlines about Nate and Cassie’s marriage, Rue’s ongoing debt to a drug dealer, and Maddy’s potential involvement with a strip club. The show will also welcome 18 new cast members, including a guest appearance by viral content creator and former exotic dancer Trisha Paytas. If messy is the theme, this season might have it in full. —CTJ

‘Man on Fire’ (Netflix, Spring 2026)

If you had asked us beforehand whether we needed a TV-series version of A.J. Quinnell’s Eighties thriller novel of the same name, which was already adapted into not one but two movies — a 1987 flop starring Scott Glenn and a gritty 2004 nail-biter starring none other than Denzel Washington and directed by Tony Scott — we would’ve offered a hard no. But this unexpected take starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the troubled ex-Special Forces soldier John Creasy, and helmed by Creed II director Steven Caple Jr., is mighty enticing. Bobby Cannavale, Scoot McNairy, and Alice Braga co-star — and keep your eye on newcomer Billie Boullet, who plays Creasy’s young charge. —M.F.

‘Elle’ (Prime, Summer 2026)

What, like it’s hard to make a prequel series based on a beloved movie that came out 25 years ago and spawned two sequels (one still in production) and a musical? Well, yeah. It sounds like it is. But, with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company behind this latest foray into the Legally Blonde universe, we trust it’s in great hands. The new show will follow a young Elle Woods (played by Lexi Minetree, handpicked by Witherspoon herself) on her high school adventures in Bel Air. There’s sure to be plenty of pink, pools, parties, and deceptively adorable overachieving. —M.F.

‘The Bear’ Season 5 (Hulu, 2026)

The Bear may have lost its crown as the series America is most obsessed with (see: The Pitt, another hilarious comedy) but don’t pretend you’re not counting the days till the next batch of episodes following Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) — who’s emerging as the show’s focal point — Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and the gang. Last season ended on a properly big moment: Carmy is turning over the restaurant to Syd and leaving cooking to go deal with his glaring emotional problems (maybe this season he’ll say something other than “sorry” to everyone). How will that decision actually play out? We can’t wait to find out. —M.F.

‘Beef’ Season 2 (Netflix, 2026)

When it dropped back in 2023, Lee Sung Jin’s Beef was as shocking as a slap across the face with a cold slab of raw meat. That’s a compliment, to be clear. The show was original, bold, clever, and shifty — the tone and plot always racing and zagging one step ahead, urging you to keep up. Its tale of dueling revenge schemes — and how they intoxicated and nearly destroyed their perpetrators — was so expertly played by stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, it was tough to shake. As a limited series, we didn’t necessarily expect to see it again; but now it returns in anthologized form, with a new cast featuring Oscar Isaac (!) and Carey Mulligan (!!). —M.F.

‘Blade Runner 2099’ (Amazon, 2026)

After Denis Villeneuve extended and expanded upon the, ah, Bladerverse with Blade Runner 2049, his 2017 sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi cinema game-changer, fans hoped that wouldn’t be the last we’d see of replicants and bounty hunters running around dystopian worlds. Thankfully, this series grabs the baton and fast-forwards 50 years, where it’s safe to guess that androids still dream of electric sheep and the elite law enforcers known as blade runners still track down rogue bots. Details are scarce, but we do the know year in which the action takes place (see title), and that Hunter Schafer, Michelle Yeoh, and Furiosa’s Tom Burke star. Frankly, you had us at “Blade Runner.” —D.F.

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale’ (Hulu, 2026)

OK, so this entry may be an act of wishful thinking — precious little has been confirmed about this reboot — but the Buffy faithful have been engaging in such fantasies for years, so why stop now. Here’s what we can say, based on reports and interviews out there in the world: No, the problematic showrunner behind the original teen-horror series to end all teen-horror series will not be helming this extension of the 1990s classic. Yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar will be returning as Buffy Summers, the worst thing ever to happen to vampires, ghouls, demons, and other creatures of the night. Word is that the OG slayer revisits the place she once called home and finds that things around the ol’ Hellmouth are still alive and kicking. The executive producers include Gellar, director Chloé Zhao, and Dolly Parton — seriously! —D.F.

‘The Comeback’ Season 3 (HBO, 2026)

Plenty of shows take time off between seasons; few take a whole decade. But by doing just that, The Comeback — a mockumentary series starring Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a onetime television It girl — is able to skewer Hollywood’s ever-changing expectations of its female stars. The first season, in 2005, saw a 40-year-old Cherish taking on a matronly character in a network sitcom, while also documenting her journey on the then-nascent platform of reality TV. Season Two, in 2014, had her struggling to find her place within the world of streaming prestige dramedies. Twelve years later, as social media stars reshape the entertainment landscape, where will Cherish fit in? There’s only one way to find out. —Elisabeth Garber-Paul

‘DTF St. Louis’ (HBO Max, 2026)

Does that acronym mean what you think it means? It sure does! This miniseries follows some bored and frustrated middle-America married folks (played by Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour) who wind up in an extramarital entanglement — and then one of them winds up dead. As with much of creator Steven Conrad’s work (like the cult-favorite series Patriot), expect more than meets the eye: This show promises to be quirky, darkly funny, and sometimes just dark. With this cast (which also includes Richard Jenkins as a cop investigating the death), we’ll follow wherever it leads. —M.F.

‘East of Eden’ (Netflix, 2026)

In 1955, Elia Kazan directed a film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s opus that was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Actor for its star, James Dean. Seven decades later, his granddaughter Zoe Kazan has written and executive produced this adaptation for television. Florence Pugh stars as the volatile Trask family matriarch Cathy Ames, who flees motherhood for life as a bordello madam. Christopher Abbott is her abandoned husband, Adam. Mike Faist plays Adam’s brother Charles. But the spotlight will really be on up-and-comers Joe Anders (Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes’ son) and Joseph Zada, tackling the roles of doomed twins Aron and Cal, respectively, and bringing the full weight of this intergenerational saga to bear. —M.F.

‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 (Apple TV, 2026)

When we last left Ronald D. Moore’s extraordinary sci-fi show about an alt-historical space race, Mars colony rebels pulled off a “heist” of a resource-valuable asteroid, an ensuing riot almost left one person dead, and the former head of NASA got marched off to the hoosegow. Season Five should pick up right after the previous finale’s ended, with a time jump to 2012 and the fate of our tenure on the Red Planet secure… for now. Mankind OGs Joel Kinnaman, Krys Marshall, and Wrenn Schmidt are all slated to return for what may (or may not) be the Apple TV drama’s final go-round. —D.F.

‘Half Man’ (BBC/HBO Max, 2026)

After the runaway success of Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer, folks wondered what the writer-actor was going to do next. The answer: an equally intense-sounding drama, co-produced by HBO and BBC, about two brothers with a river of bad blood between them. When one shows up unannounced to the other’s wedding, several decades’ worth of issues bubble up to the surface. Jamie Bell plays one of the siblings; Gadd plays the other, and judging from the early stills, it looks like our guy has been hitting the gym for the role. —D.F.

‘The Hunting Wives’ Season 2 (Netflix, 2026)

In the immortal words of Billy Eichner, let’s go lesbians! Netflix’s campy surprise-hit charting the lives of a group of lying, cheating, murdering, girl-kissing Texas women is returning for another season. This comically entertaining take on the airport-novel thriller puts small-town mysteries mostly on the back burner in favor of seeing its main characters conduct steamy, sapphic affairs in as many scenes as possible. While Season One ended with no fewer than five dead bodies, there are still plenty of questions the writers need to answer — and plenty of new ladies to introduce to the group. After all, there is at least one vacancy. Our only request? Let Malin Ackerman keep her godawful shake-and-go wig. —CTJ

‘Spider-Noir’ (Amazon, 2026)

Remember that film noir-style alt-version of Spidey from Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, voiced by none other than Nicolas Cage? The fan favorite gets his own live-action series, with Cage reprising the role of Ben Reilly, a 1930s private dick who, in his spare time, fights mobsters and criminals as a costumed superhero. Even if you’re not a fan of the comics or those animated Spiderverse movies, this sounds like a retro crime-flick blast. Brendan Gleeson, Lamorne Morris, Jack Huston, Lukas Haas, and Sinners’ Li Jun Li co-star. —D.F.

‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’ (Netflix, 2026)

The Duffer brothers follow up their truly epic Stranger Things run with this nuptial horror series from showrunner Haley Z. Boston, about a bride and groom prepping for their big day. Before their knot can officially be tied, they must deal with a possible derailing factor. What, exactly, threatens their union, you ask? We don’t know, but if the title is to believed — and you factor in that Boston was a writer on Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and this show’s executive producers gave us the Upside Down — let’s assume it’s very, very bad indeed. —D.F.

‘Ted Lasso,’ Season 4 (Apple TV, 2026)

So remember how Ted Lasso‘s third season was rumored to be its last? Apparently the good folks involved with AFC Richmond are ready to get back on the pitch. Apple confirmed that production on the award-winning series’ fourth season was underway via a video that appeared to show Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, and Jeremy Swift filming a scene in an American diner. No word on whether this will now be a transatlantic workplace comedy, though fellow series regulars like Brett Goldstein and Nick Mohammed are said to be returning for this extra-time batch of episodes. —D.F.

‘Vladimir’ (Netflix, 2026)

Rachel Weisz and White Lotus breakout Leo Woodall star in Julia May Jonas’ adaptation of her own 2022 novel, about a college professor experiencing a marital crisis after her fellow-academic husband is accused of inappropriate behavior with students. She then develops a deep fixation on a hot young novelist who has recently joined the university’s faculty. If the limited series is half as suggestive as the book’s cover, we may be in for one of the hornier prestige dramas of the year. —D.F.

‘Yellowjackets’ Season 4 (Showtime/Paramount+, 2026)

Not since Lost have survivors of a plane crash had so many quasi-spiritual, totally confusing experiences in the wilderness — only this time there’s cannibalism, same-sex love stories, grunge-era needle drops, and a slew of 1990s teen stars we’d watch read a phone book (looking at you, Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, and Juliette Lewis). Last we saw the remaining members of the Wiskayok High girls soccer team in the wild, they were pretty sure they’d devised a method to contact the outside world for rescue; meanwhile, their 2020s counterparts were trying to figure out if the mysterious “it” could be passed on to younger generations. This will be the series’ final season, so hopefully showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, and Jonathan Lisco will fare better than that other plane-crash show in tying up the loose ends. —EGP

From Rolling Stone US.

The post The 40 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2026 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.

Live music is the closest one can get to experiencing magic. Time warps gently as light beams bounce off playfully, while the artist controls the crowd with sonic sleight of hand.  

But beyond the glow of dream headliners and specially curated showcases, the real machinery of it all is being powered by an army of on-ground creatives and operators working tirelessly behind the scenes.  

Responsible for the magic we witness on stage, they silently absorb the shocks, fix the gaps, and hold down the fort. Here, chaos is close to second nature: Stylists would be dressing artists minutes before showtime, while production teams are solving last-minute logistical hiccups. Photographers, running on caffeine and adrenaline, are capturing fleeting moments amid the madness, while stage designers respond to client demands.  

Behind every sold-out show and viral festival reel, these are the people driving forward the architecture of live music.  

Aaquib Wani, the Artistic Innovator

While other kids his age were playing with toys, Aaquib Wani was trying to create his own using thermocol and DIY crafts. Being exposed to artisanal intricacies, whether it was his father’s Kashmiri art business or drawing lessons at school, Wani became increasingly fluent in the language of craft. Away from lectures and exams, he was charting his own course, using self-taught techniques to learn the fundamentals of design, craft, and even music for that matter. “I knew early on that I loved creating and completely hated studying. I failed 11th standard twice, and art was always the one place I kept returning to, even though I had no idea it could become a profession. 12th standard was pretty much the last time I properly held a book,” he cheekily added.  
Cut to the present: Wani is one of the country’s most versatile Indian Creative Directors and designers, who has not just set the visual foundation for festivals like Lollapalooza India, but also designed jerseys for the Indian Cricket team.   

Wani’s artistic journey, too, rests on sonic foundations. Surprisingly, he landed his first gig through his own metal band, Phobia. In typical indie artist fashion, he started designing his own gig posters. After that, there was no going back. Graphic design snowballed into spearheading editorial and design projects for large-scale festivals and publications, such as Rock Street Journal. “The energy of that world shaped how I see things; my taste, and my instinct for storytelling, and that influence is still at the core of my work today,” he added.  

Instinct, along with the mystic combination of “right place, right time,” became a driving force in fortifying Wani’s artistic trajectory. More than anything, he was looking to not just helm projects but build worlds along the way. A leap of faith landed him in the larger-than-life field of spatial design. “The scale was overwhelming in the best way. It felt like a playground where ideas could take physical form, where your work could surround people instead of just sitting in front of them. I loved the scale, the chaos, the adrenaline.”  

Building Worlds, Not Festivals

Wani’s style boils down to uncovering the overarching narrative. “Every festival has a world hidden inside it; the trick is uncovering it. I’m obsessed with finding the emotional spine of a space before touching aesthetics,” he reflected. The initial process is almost meditative, where he and his team enter the client’s psyche. “Whys” and “hows” are stripped to their core essence. Visual cues, ranging from typography, motifs, and graphic vernacular, begin to take shape.  

While global music festivals shuttle between clichéd futuristic, chromatic, and glitchy iconographies, Wani and his team look inward into India’s rich cultural tapestry. Built with maximalist hues, craft-laden textures, complex compositions, and geometric motifs, the work makes you pause with intent. Even with its innate grandness, it doesn’t overwhelm but rather invites you to take a closer look. “Design should build a world, not borrow one that already exists,” Wani firmly stated. Bound by the invisible thread of coherence, all the assets are fashioned as jigsaw pieces that complete the main puzzle —the music festival. “The poster, the online ticketing banner, the walkway tunnel, the map, even the reusable cup should feel like pieces of the same universe.” 

Experiential Ecosystems

An avid observer of contemporary festival standards, Wani also noted the evolution of concert production. What used to be just a mainstage with flashing lights has now transformed into an expansive playground of experimentation, integration, and innovation. Think modular designs, tech-infused gear, and sustainable equipment, while theatrics like lighting, visuals, and performances further elevate the mood. Behind the tectonic shift lie brands and sponsors, who, along with designers and artists, are curating culture-first, experiential activations.“India is catching up fast. Audiences here are far more aware and demanding now. The old formula of lights and a big stage is no longer enough. Everyone is participating to give audiences an experience of a lifetime, and that’s what makes this moment genuinely exciting.”  Wani added.  

Backstage Madness 

or the audience, concerts are a momentary spectacle, but what they don’t see is the months of permissions, vendor negotiations, design iterations, last-minute delays, and prolonged onsite work hours that go into it. “People think this field is glamorous because they only see the final output. Spatial design isn’t just about having ideas. It’s about understanding structure, fabrication, safety, sound, lighting, crowd movement, and still making it feel intuitive.” From dealing with last-minute cancellations to learning things beyond your skillset, production is not for the faint-hearted. “When things fall apart, you don’t wait for solutions; you become the solution. You get your hands dirty, take responsibility for things that aren’t technically yours, and make sure the experience still happens,” Wani stated.  

While he has been at the forefront of the Indian music festival surge, Wani urges the system to revisit the basics. Apart from treating staff and crew members well, he also wishes to see infrastructural changes implemented, along with healthier timelines and budgets to be set in place. “The industry is growing at a rapid pace, but the systems around it haven’t caught up. I’d love to see the ecosystem become smoother, more collaborative, and more future-focused. India’s live entertainment scene is bursting with potential; it just needs the right support to truly thrive.”  

Nikhil Udupa, The Festival Orchestrator 

Nikhil Udupa’s journey did not begin in boardrooms or client meetings, but on festival grounds. Former marine engineer, full-time fan, Udupa savored the adrenaline surge while headbanging to underground metal and punk gigs from the audience. He also made lifelong friends through festivals and online forums along the way, who continue to thrive in the music industry even today. An avid admirer of the scene primarily, he still carries that unbridled passion with him. “We were all kind of outcasts and misfits. We were fans before the internet, social media era, or, you know, everything.  I think that’s what kind of drives us.” Switching from PR and marketing to finally entering events, Udupa is the director and co-founder at 4/4 experiences, an entertainment think tank that focuses on building music and subculture-led IPs for brands, along with production and show running services for live music experiences. 

Building Visions from the Ground Up 

Primarily driven by a community-first approach, Udupa laid out the arduous process sans the frills and hype. “It’s actually a mammoth logistical exercise which needs to be held together tightly; it takes a fucking village,” he said. Booking an artist is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s only after the date and venue are locked that the real grind begins. Like levels in a video game, each expedition comes with its own challenges. Client expectations are scattered across spreadsheets and endless vendor calls, while design elements, standard stage builds, and tech packs are finalized in parallel. As festival formats continue to evolve, so does the thinking around how audiences move through, engage with, and visually experience these spaces. “People have started preferring open designs (i.e., different positions, multiple smaller stages), where there’s a lot more focus on visibility. We see the artists using the stage mostly as a backdrop.” Side by side, on-ground operations, consisting of housekeeping, ticketing, security, and F&B, are also laid out in detail, while marketing and communications keep the seamless flow of information going across channels.  

Being a silent witness to live music’s transformation into a lucrative ground for content creation, he reflected upon the cyclical, short-lived nature of such trend cycles. “This is the sign of our times,” he stated.” In our age, we pirated, but we are freaking proud about it. Each generation has its own thing. Social validation is what drives people right now; there is no right or wrong thing about it. As long as it leads to a better concert and experience, I’m good.” 

Community Over Clout 

Undeterred by the gloss of hype-driven markets, he urged a serious shift in focus for delivering well-rounded audience experiences. Highlighting his personal observations, he stressed certain infrastructural loopholes, such as overcrowded fan pits, long queues, compromised safety, and more, that have become recurrent bottlenecks in the Indian context. “I think that our infrastructure needs to catch up with our ambition. We take people who work on events for granted far too easily,” he reflected.  

Unfazed yet passionate, Udupa rarely sugarcoats. “The event business is merciless and heartless; I’m going to tell you point-blank.” Despite the ups and downs of on-ground chaos, Udupa says his commitment towards his crew remains consistent. “Where we come from, our first philosophy is to protect those people and do as much right by them as possible. In terms of security and how our people are treated, we try to stay off the hype wagon. We are not promoters. We are more of a head down and work and not compromise on that work.”  

Crew Code

Udupa also points out how the ground staff are the underlying backbone, working without recognition or applause. “The stage guys are the last to leave and first to come in, always,” he pointed out. Amidst multi-stage scenarios, Front of House management and artist well-being, an orchestral symphony of chaos unfurls, one that is silently absorbed by the crew. “Human interaction between crews is something that people don’t really understand. Communication is often overlooked, and that’s actually the most key part of most of the festivals.” Building on that sentiment, Udupa vouches for execution over exasperation, stating: “Never get enamored by the artist, be enamored by the art.”  

Kartik Kher, The Eagle-Eyed Snapper 

One look at Kartik Kher’s feed, and you’re immediately envious. Right from international heavyweights like Central Cee and Travis Scott, to I-Pop icons like King and Armaan Malik, he’s captured them all, up close and personal. One of the country’s most sought-after photographers, Kher is no stranger to the media pit. The founder of XO Visuals, his team has redefined visual imagery not just for the Indian live music scene, but also sports, lifestyle, and fashion. 

Accidental Pathways

Even with all the flashy accolades, however, his actual journey began casually with a borrowed DSLR, on a family vacation. “I actually was rejected from my school photography society; they thought I wasn’t qualified enough,” he chuckled. Things took a turn for the better once he began college. 

Joining Delhi University’s photography club, he not only found other equally passionate creatives but also learnt the facets of videography. “With video, you can tell a story,” Kher said. “You have more creative freedom.” Armed with a humble, ₹2,000 flash external flash bought from Chandini Chowk, he became a regular at campus events, slowly making his way into locking paid gigs at local clubs, DJ gigs, and student parties. Side by side, he was also covering events for the coveted student publication, DU Beat. It was also here that he photographed a music concert, featuring Armaan Malik, for the first time. The chaos of light and sound, all while the crowd surrendered to the music in unison; it was Kher’s first taste of festival frenzy. Amongst the many firsts was also his breakthrough moment: getting recognized by Armaan Malik, who not only dropped him a message of appreciation, but also credited Kher on his official account “I freaked out,” Kher admitted. Having his work get recognized, even amidst a sea of professionals shooting that event, flipped the switch for Kher.  

Behind The Lens 

From shooting club gigs to visually chronicling artists like Badshah, Kher was slowly finding his musical footing, one capture at a time. What followed was a life of touring, shooting, and crafting visuals not just for musicians, but even for global stand-up tours. Aside from location scouting and sound checks, he stressed the importance of developing a rapport with the artist, “They have called me into their world; they need to be comfortable with me shooting them.” 

Like a chameleon, he adapts. Studying the artist, venue, and setlist thoroughly, he charts out all the onstage possibilities, right from–beat drops, confetti fires, and crowd interactions, to signature moves, mic drop ragers, and more, developing an almost telepathic camaraderie with the stage along the way. “It’s like a muscle memory thing of sorts. With King (Indian artist), I think I can shoot him blindly,” he laughs.  

Beyond The Fan Pit 

Not to be swayed by the allure of live music, he candidly opened up about the unspoken realities of touring. “It’s a tough life; there’s no routine to it.” Behind those money shots lie endless rounds of hectic tour schedules, erratic sleep, adrenaline-fuelled work hours, and an unhealthy diet that contributes to poor mental and physical health. It’s the readjusting to the stillness post a gig, however, that’s most jarring. “Once you go on tour, it’s very hard to connect back with reality,” he added. 

The current live music scene is also a cut-throat battleground, with job insecurity embedded into the system. Yet, Kher possesses a certain tranquility that is almost admirable. Having seen both sides of the coin, be it shooting for free or finally setting up charges that justify your craft, he chooses to let his visuals cut through the noise. “This industry is going to poach you pretty badly,” Kher reflected, “someone else is going to come do a better job than you, charge less, and then you’re gone; nobody is going to hire you.”  
Along the way, however, he’s created a loyal clientele that seeks his specific vision; a potent blend of the artist’s iconography and onstage theatrics. Unfazed by industry gatekeepers and naysayers, he remains committed to the long game: “I don’t need to be called Rory Kramer part two. Everyone has their own identity in the industry. You should know your worth and what you’re capable of. Don’t hold back if someone tries to get you down.” 

Rushi Honmore, The Sartorial Conjurer

There’s never a dull moment when Rushi is on set. With his all-time classic black boots and eclectic silk scarf, the Mumbai-based stylist and art director looks straight like he popped out of a Tyler, The Creator music video. A sartorial visionary, Honmore has styled onstage ensembles of sonic bigwigs like Aditya Rikhari, KR$NA, NAV, Reble, and Yung Raja. Best known for his boundary-pushing combinations, he goes for subtle eccentricities —textured patterns, disproportionate sleeves, asymmetrical cuts, and more.  

Dressing the Sound 

Having grown up in Miraj, Maharashtra, beside his dad, a tailor, stepping into the world of fashion felt almost instinctive. A fashion design dropout, Honmore chose to step away from theory and dive into the industry guns blazing. Aside from cultivating homegrown aesthetics driven by vintage sensibilities, what sets Honmore apart is his stylistic intuition. Although traditional celebrity styling gave him room to grow, he finds solace in putting together looks for musicians. “Most of my clients are from the music industry. Indian musicians, especially, are pushing the bar that nobody else has so far. Rather than looking polished, they want to try new things,” he reflected.  A self-proclaimed “music gatherer,” his playlist, consisting of hip-hop tunes, also becomes a reference point. Think baggy silhouettes, 90s R&B swagger, and accessories that scream “drip.”  

Substance Over Microtrends 

Breaking down his process, Honmore takes his homework quite seriously. Everything, from head to toe, is accounted for. By the same token, his team also deconstructs the artists’ taste, setting aside outfit combos along with backup options. “I always try to push the artist a little out of their comfort zone,” he said. Research is another integral cog. “People think styling is just sourcing from a Zara or an H&M, it’s quite the opposite.” Glued to his phone most of the time, Honmore is always on the lookout for Indian brands that are breaking the patterns of conventionality. “Rkive City, Almost Gods, and Aesthetic of Résistance are my top picks at the moment,” he added.  

As the looks take shape, fittings and courier coordination are added to the mix. Improvisation is a part of the job. Amidst rejections and last-minute revisions, Honmore recalled how it’s important to maintain composure. “There have been times when I’ve had to think of an ‘option 2’ on the spot. Yeah, it’s glamorous. You can attend the concerts and award shows. But it’s hectic work,” he admits. 
 

Stage Stories 

Among his standout projects, styling NAV, the Canadian hip-hop heavyweight of Indian origin, in a Chrome Hearts ensemble for Rolling Loud India stood out by a mile. “I used to listen to his songs in 2019, and this year, I got to work with him,” he cheerfully mentioned. While the rapper had certain preferences in mind, Honmore managed to convince him to take fashion risks. The trick? Kindness, patience, and dressing for the job: “My usual trick is to make the artist comfortable, be nice, and show them multiple options. And as I always say, if you’re a stylist, dress like one on set too. Your clothes speak to the artist before you do.” 

Another highlight was working with KR$NA for Rolling Stone India’s cover, where Honmore handled both editorial styling and art direction, as well as projects with King, including a sold-out Mumbai show that required three rapid outfit changes backstage. “King was coming offstage, changing outfits, going back out—it was chaos,” Honmore recalls. “But it was a dream.” 

Despite his growing résumé, Honmore is candid about the industry’s long-standing nepotistic roots. For people coming with zero connections, it’s a difficult ladder to climb. But he refuses to give up without a fight. “These people are running a monopoly, and you have to break that by continuing to do good work.” Community is also a close second. “You need to be surrounded by crazy, creative hustlers–photographers, stylists, models, art directors, designers, and more– to grow, and I’m thankful to have my circle.”  

On the ground, Honmore has watched festival fashion evolve in real time. Cowboy boots, statement belts, experimental denim, stone-studded pieces; microtrends, albeit ephemeral, move at breakneck speed thanks to social media. Still, he hopes to see 2026 as the year of coloring outside the lines. As for what’s next, his wish list remains unapologetically ambitious: NBA YoungBoy, Central Cee, Drake.  

The post Front Of House: The Backbone of Indian Concert Culture  appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

It’s been 10 years since Bruno Mars‘ seminal record, 24K Magic — and now, his highly anticipated fourth solo album, titled The Romantic, is finally ready.

On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Mars revealed the album’s Feb. 27 release date, as well as its cover. He also said new music would arrive on Friday, Jan. 9.

Mars confirmed The Romantic just a couple days after revealing that he had completed his upcoming record. At the time, he shared few details about the LP to come, writing only on X: “My album is done.”

While this will be his first solo album since the 2016 classic that featured hits like “That’s What I Like,” “Versace on the Floor,” and “Finesse,” he also linked up with Anderson .Paak to form Silk Sonic and dropped the 2021 duo LP, An Evening With Silk Sonic.

24K Magic was unequivocally one of the most successful modern albums, winning the star seven Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for the title track, and Song of the Year for “That’s What I Like.” The Silk Sonic record also received acclaim, especially with lead single “Leave the Door Open,” which won both Record and Song of the Year at the 2022 Grammys, along with two other trophies. (The duo decided not to submit the album itself for consideration, despite being a top contender. “We thank the Grammys for allowing us to perform on their platform — not once but twice — and awarding us at last year’s ceremony,” Mars told Rolling Stone at the time. “We’d be crazy to ask for anything more.”)

After the Silk Sonic era, Mars returned with several massive duets including “Fat, Juicy & Wet” with Sexyy Redd and “Die With a Smile,” the smash hit with Lady Gaga, which won a Grammy at the 2025 awards show. He also linked up with Rosé for “APT” at the end of 2024 and the collab gained three Grammy nominations at next month’s awards show, including Record and Song of the Year.

This story was updated 1/7/25 @ 3:30 p.m. ET after Mars revealed the cover, release date, and title for The Romantic.

From Rolling Stone US.

The post Bruno Mars’ New Album ‘The Romantic’ Will Arrive in February appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

Foo Fighters are set to return to the road this month, but they’ll be without guitarist Pat Smear, who found himself on the injured list not from rocking out too hard, but what’s apparently the second greatest threat to rock stars everywhere: mishaps in the garden. 

The band shared the news on Instagram with a fake tabloid cover featuring a photo of a grinning Smear hoisting a middle finger while being carried away on a stretcher. “Pat Smear Bizarre Gardening Accident!” reads the headline (The issue also promises “Aliens Spotted Warming Up for Spring Training!” and “2026 Fried Chicken and Champagne Diet Tips.”) 

“In the classic tradition of rockstars having bizarre gardening accidents, Pat Smear has apparently rung in the new year by smashing the shit out of his left foot,” Foo Fighters wrote in the caption. How exactly Smear smashed his foot remains unclear, though the band said he was left with multiple broken bones.

Smear will miss “a few shows” while he heals, the band continued, adding: “We’ll miss our beloved Pat as much as you will, but we want him fully healed and back on his feet as soon as possible.” Smear’s temporary replacement will be Jason Falkner, who’s played guitar with Beck and St. Vincent.

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As goofy as the group’s fake tabloid cover was, there actually is a weird history of “bizarre gardening accidents” in rock music — some fake, some real. On the fake side, there’s the famous Spinal Tap bit where the metal band’s first drummer, John “Stumpy” Pepys, died in a “bizarre gardening accident” that the authorities said was better left “unsolved.”  

On the very real side, Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro actually did die while spraying insecticides in his yard in the early Nineties (though the coroner ultimately ruled that he died from a heart attack caused by cocaine use, not an allergic reaction to the pesticides). And in May 2020, Queen guitarist Brian May ripped his gluteus maximums “to shreds” in what he called “a moment of over-enthusiastic gardening.”

The Smear-less Foo Fighters have a handful of shows scheduled this month, including gigs in Mexico, Los Angeles, and Tasmania. It’s possible Smear will be back when the band plays Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida in May, or he may rejoin by the time the band kicks off a European and U.K. tour in June. A North American run is scheduled to start in August.

Foo Fighters appear to be gearing up for a new album after releasing two new tracks, “Today’s Song” and “Asking for a Friend,” last year. The band’s most recent LP, But Here We Are, arrived in 2023.

From Rolling Stone US.

The post Foo Fighters’ Pat Smear Is the Latest Rocker to Suffer a ‘Bizarre Gardening Accident’ appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

To say 2025 was the year India’s music festival circuit hit its all-time peak would be an understatement. From Lollapalooza India bringing down global icons like Green Day and Louis Tomlinson, to Rolling Loud making its long-awaited debut in the country with a roaring lineup featuring Central Cee, Don Toliver, NAV, and Karan Aujla, it’s been a watershed moment for the live music market. But India cementing its place in the global festival circuit has been decades in the making.

Building steady momentum since the early 2000s, independent trailblazers like Ziro Festival and NH7 Weekender have been laying the groundwork for today’s explosion, while fledgling efforts are finding a new footing in cities that move beyond the metro bubble. The music festival circuit has evolved into a network of formats, scales and intentions that coexist across the country, each serving a different purpose within the live ecosystem. Some festivals are designed to operate on a global level, drawing in international touring routes and large-scale productions. Others are rooted in place, culture, or community, building something slower and more intimate. A few sit somewhere in between, evolving year after year as audiences and scenes change around them. 

In a hyper-saturated concert economy, it’s harder than ever to tell which festivals actually matter and which will vanish into your Instagram archive. Our writers and editors scoured through lineups, fished out old wristbands, excavated photo storage folders, and debated over Excel sheets to put together a definitive list of festivals that cut through the noise. Each entry is shaped by how consistently the festival has delivered, how clearly it understands its identity, and how well it has earned the trust of its audience. Curation, production, cultural relevance, and long-term impact all factor into how these festivals stack up, especially in a market that is expanding as quickly and unevenly as India’s. 

Here are the top 25 music festivals in India, ranked.

25. Cherry Blossom Festival 

Cherry Blossom Festival has long positioned itself as Shillong’s bid for a place on India’s touring circuit, and while the intent is commendable, the execution has increasingly leaned toward spectacle over substance. Early editions struck a more considered balance between international headliners and the region’s deeply rooted music culture, but recent lineups have pivoted heavily toward familiar, big-ticket global names like Jason Derulo, The Script, Akon, and Boney M. While regional artists remain part of the programming, they receive little of the spotlight, scale, or consideration given to the global acts, leaving them eclipsed rather than meaningfully showcased. Their presence now feels more token than foundational. As India’s festival ecosystem grows more discerning, the lack of a clearer curatorial identity and a stronger commitment to the Northeast’s own musical legacy becomes harder to ignore. Cherry Blossom’s place at last on the list reflects that tension: a festival with undeniable potential, but one that risks becoming another touring stop rather than a destination with a distinct voice. – Shamani Joshi 

24. Sunburn 

There’s no denying what Sunburn once meant. At a time when large-scale electronic music festivals were virtually nonexistent in India, it played a foundational role in shaping the country’s early EDM culture. It brought down global heavyweights like Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, and Above & Beyond as far back as 2007, and introduced an entire generation to the idea of destination-style dance festivals. That legacy still carries weight. Over time, however, repeated issues around crowd management, entry and exit bottlenecks, logistics, communication, and on-ground coordination have chipped away at that goodwill. The conversation around Sunburn today is less about discovery and more about endurance: how long the lines will be, how congested movement might feel, and how exhausting the overall experience can become. In a festival ecosystem that has matured significantly, these shortcomings are more visible than ever. Audiences now know what well-run festivals look like, and they expect that same standard from a festival of Sunburn’s scale. Its ranking at No. 24 reflects that growing gap between legacy and lived experience, and the hope that the on-ground reality can still rise to match the ambition that once made Sunburn so pivotal. – Peony Hirwani  

23. DGTL India

DGTL India brought clean, industrial sounds and aesthetics lodged at the fringes of electronic music to a bigger spotlight. Since the festival’s India debut in Bengaluru in 2020, its editions across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru have followed the global blueprint of modular stage design, art‑forward installations, and a roster of international artists like Solomun, Maribou State, SPFDJ, Ellen Allien, Yotto, and Hector Oaks, alongside cult-favorite local names like Sickflip, Anyasa, Parallel Voices, and Kollision. For India’s electronic loyalists, it has become the go-to space to experience international-quality production and underground sounds, presented with restraint. In recent editions, however, its growing scale and broader appeal have softened some of the grungy energy the festival was founded on, a dilution that places DGTL at No. 23 on the list. – S.J. 

22. Udaipur World Music Festival  

While Rajasthan has always had music festivals catering to different demographics, the Udaipur World Music Festival is a prime example of what a free music festival can do for the city’s spirit. Hosted since 2016 and conceptualized and produced by event company Seher, in the past, they’ve had morning sessions that give you a view of the iconic Lake Palace and evening sessions that take place in the heart of the city. Whether it’s hip-hop from Cote d’Ivoire or Yemeni folk or Portuguese folk rock, these acts have been presented alongside Indian favorites like Karsh Kale, Farhan Akhtar, Shaan, Kutle Khan, and others, making it a wide-ranging curation that leads the way when it comes to free music festivals for all.  – Anurag Tagat 

21. Outrage Festival  

After the Great Indian Rock Festival, there hasn’t really been a gathering for heavy music in the capital city of Delhi, and Outrage Festival steadily built itself from indoor club editions that shook up several venues to finally going open-air in the hopes of larger gatherings. They are 11 editions in, and while it’s not been without challenges — tech-death metallers Cryptopsy did not play their headline set owing to local authorities shutting down the festival earlier than anticipated in November 2025 — Outrage has definitely given metalheads in the capital a lot to look forward to in otherwise parched times. The likes of Bloodywood have got their much-anticipated homecoming gig, while Bhayanak Maut, Kryptos, and Gutslit marked their rare appearance in the capital, alongside local rock and metal acts who don’t always find a stage.  – A.T. 

20. Jazz Weekender  

The Jazz Weekender has slowly evolved into India’s most interesting jazz-adjacent melting pot, even if strict purists might look elsewhere. The fourth edition, held this October, leaned fully into jazz as a connective language rather than a closed genre, turning the festival into a live crossroads between hip-hop, R&B, electronica, funk, and improvisation. That philosophy peaked with Gujarati rap phenom Dhanji’s blistering 13-piece jazz-funk ensemble, an audacious, loose set that felt completely at home on this stage, alongside Mark de Clive-Lowe’s shape-shifting live remix performance. By framing jazz as a living, adaptive form rather than a museum piece, the Jazz Weekender has become one of the circuit’s most forward-leaning experiments, and a proper showcase for some of India’s finest live performances of the year. – Sharan Sanil 

19. Hornbill Festival 

One of the earliest instances of the state government getting involved in promoting Indian independent artists has arguably come from Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival. What started out as the Hornbill Rock Contest and then became Ticket To Hornbill became a launchpad for bands ranging from The F16s to Yesterdrive, Joint Family, Underground Authority, and Perfect Strangers since 2006. Kohima and its nearby town of Kisama threw their doors open for guests from all over in a cultural showcase like few others. The music is at the core of this, with evening performances from international and national stars alike, ranging from folk to rock to metal at the Naga Heritage Village. Nagaland has led with soft power for decades, and Hornbill is their annual blowout, packed with new discoveries as well as seasoned favorites on the lineup. – A.T. 

18. K-Town 3.0 

One of the few festivals in the country that has consistently tapped into India’s massive Hallyu wave, K-Town 3.0 comes in at No. 18 on this list simply because of the way it has managed to deliver a large-scale festival dedicated entirely to Korean music and culture. Renowned for bringing global K-pop heavyweights to the country, its past editions have featured names like BamBam (GOT7), Xiumin (EXO), Taemin (SHINee), and SUPER JUNIOR-D&E, alongside R&B and rock acts such as B.I, Bang Ye-Dam, Jey, and ONEWE. 

While the festival touts itself as bringing the best of K-culture, including food, beauty, and lifestyle, under one roof through meet-and-greets, official merchandise, pop-up karaoke, and photobooths, what truly gives it its warmth and spirit is the way it also doubles as a community that brims with fandom spirit. You’ll find attendees exchanging photocards, strangers vibing at impromptu flash mobs, and people headbanging to artists they’re probably hearing for the first time, emphasizing the long-standing power of community within the live music ecosystem. K-Town Fest has not only satiated the desi audience’s insatiable appetite for authentic, immersive experiences but also established itself as a platform for musical discovery. – Sharanyaa Nair 

17. South Side Story 

Red FM took an ambitious call when they decided to host a South India-themed music, food, and culture festival outside of the region itself with South Side Story. Then again, perhaps the whole idea was to call on the South Indian community that had settled in cities like New Delhi and Mumbai for a celebration of all things Malayali. Spearheaded by Red FM’s Kerala-origin chief operating officer and director Nisha Narayanan, South Side Story was launched in 2019 to mark Onam festivities. So you can come for performances by bands like Agam, Thaikkudam Bridge, and rapper Arivu, but stay for the sadhya (traditional and wholesome Kerala meals served on a banana leaf). Each edition sees attendees come out in their best lungis and white sarees, also becoming a draw for anyone who’s curious and happy to celebrate South India. – A.T. 

16. Bollywood Music Project  

One of the loudest efforts to take Bollywood tunes from cinema halls to the live stage, the Bollywood Music Project, now eight editions strong, has become a living archive of the genre’s enduring appeal. The festival has showcased legacy powerhouses like Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Usha Uthup, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Salim-Sulaiman, while also holding space for names like Dino James, Nucleya, Priyashi Shrivastava, Divine, and more. In doing so, it has carved out a space where generations of listeners converge, offering Bollywood loyalists a live experience steeped in nostalgia, collective memory, and a shared sense of pride in the music that has shaped popular culture. – Veer Mehta 

15. Orange Festival of Adventure and Music, Dambuk  

Whether you were flying in by helicopter or crossing a seasonally dried-up river bed, or perhaps taking a ferry across the Brahmaputra from Dibrugarh, getting to the Orange Festival of Music and Adventure in Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh, is, well, an adventure. Infrastructure like bridges have made the festival much more accessible for anyone to come for the orange orchards, river rafting, and off-road 4×4 events on the sidelines, but stay for the music. OFAM has hosted the likes of American rock act P.O.D., guitar great Yngwie Malmsteen, rock guitarist Richie Kotzen, rap-rock act Flipsyde, Indian stars like Divine, Ritviz, When Chai Met Toast, and more since 2016. It has quenched the thirst for rock in the Northeast but also now moved into a space of curating national stars, making sure OFAM has evolved for Arunachal as well as the rest of the region.  – A.T.  

14. Ocha Festival  

Ocha Festival is less a conventional music festival and more a cultural convergence point for Kerala’s youth. Fiercely genre and language-agnostic, it reflects how Malayalam rap, English bars, and bass-heavy EDM coexist without hierarchy, mirroring a scene that values intent and authenticity over rigid categorisation. What sets Ocha apart is its culture-first approach. The festival prioritises community, energy, and scene-building rather than spectacle, allowing audiences to engage deeply with the music and the movements behind it. Watching thousands rap along to SA’s English verses or respond with equal fervor to Malayalam hip-hop underscores how “local” here is expansive, not limiting. This year’s highlights included Tamil rapper Asal Kolaar, the OG English rapper and crowd favorite SA, and rising artists such as Lil Payyan and EFY, alongside appearances from Dabzee and Vedan, while forerunners like Thirumali and Thudwiser anchored the lineage of Kerala’s hip-hop journey. Ocha stands out as a festival that documents a scene in motion: rooted in culture, confident in its identity, and unconcerned with external validation. – Srishti Das 

13. Goa Sunsplash

Goa Sunsplash feels like stepping into a reggae utopia carved out of sunshine, community, and impossibly good vibes. Rooted in the ethos of peace, unity, and sound-system culture, this beachfront gathering, founded by Delhi reggae collective Reggae Rajahs in 2016, rolls out a steady pulse of roots, dub, dancehall, and Afro-Caribbean grooves. Mornings ease in with yoga and wellness, afternoons drift into bass-heavy bobbing, and nights belong to massive sound systems shaking up palm trees under starlit skies. What sets Sunsplash apart is its sincerity: there are no gimmicks, just a deeply global yet distinctly Goan celebration where music and community float together on the same warm tide. – S.J. 

12. Bangalore Open Air 

Starting out in 2012 on a college campus, event organizer Salman U. Syed’s bullish bet on giving India a regular metal festival has led to 12 editions of Bangalore Open Air (BOA) in the Garden City. From Suffocation, Kreator, Rotting Christ and Mayhem to In Flames, Animals As Leaders, Alcest and several more, BOA has always been focused on bringing international acts to India. Where production challenges and cancelations have been nagging at them for years, the ship seems to have steadied with recent editions, with the 2025 outing bringing in Ukrainian metallers Jinjer and prog legends Cynic. Metalheads in India haven’t exactly been overrun with options but BOA has been that no-bullshit gathering they can look towards for quality international acts alongside Indian heavy-hitters. – A.T.  

11. Mahindra Kabira Festival, Varanasi  

Endeavoring to put forward the teachings and life of Kabir “in every sense,” the Mahindra Kabira Festival set up in the tourist hotspot and holy city of Varanasi to add a meaningful musical dimension. From sunrise sessions that take you on a boat ride on the Ganga for a ghat-side concert, to storytelling-led city tours and power-packed evening concerts, Mahindra Kabira Festival is the tourist-friendly gateway to Varanasi, but with music curation at its core. From Shubha Mudgal to Indian Ocean, The Raghu Dixit Project, Ranjini-Gayatri, Kaushiki Chakraborty, and several more, there’s a sonic diversity that makes you overlook the fact that artists often draw from the most popular Kabir couplets for their compositions. You might hear a lot of “Moko Kahan” and “Udd Jayega Hans Akela,” but there’s a new soul injected by varied artists. Working with New Delhi’s Teamwork Arts also brings forward theater performances and literary discussions to offer a more holistic deep dive into the poet-saint’s life and work. – A.T. 

10. Rolling Loud India 

Rolling Loud India earns its place on the list because of what it represents for hip-hop in this country. As the Indian edition of the world’s most recognizable rap festival, its arrival marked a turning point — a signal that Indian hip-hop had grown large enough, visible enough, and commercially viable enough to host a format built almost entirely around the genre. The ambition is undeniable: Rolling Loud India brought global hip-hop framing, scale, and intent into a scene that has largely grown from the ground up. Its strength lies in that statement alone, that rap here deserves dedicated infrastructure, headline treatment, and festival real estate without being boxed into side stages or genre silos. At the same time, its ranking reflects a festival still finding its footing locally. The challenge ahead is depth: building stronger continuity, sharper curation, and a deeper connection to India’s regional hip-hop ecosystems beyond the marquee moment. As a first chapter, Rolling Loud India opened the door. What it becomes next will decide how far up this list it climbs in the years to come. – P.H. 

9. NH7 Weekender 

Billed as India’s “happiest music festival,” NH7 Weekender is one of the OGs of India’s modern festival scene. Weekender always felt like a sprawling, communal reunion, whether it’s Pune’s warm afternoons spilling into electronic-charged evenings, or drum ’n’ bass, or pop, hip-hop, and metal sharing the same grounds in Shillong’s hills. It’s the place where college kids discovered their first indie favourites and where artists like Prateek Kuhad, The Local Train, When Chai Met Toast, Parekh & Singh, Lifafa, and more found their earliest festival-stage highs. After the 2024 Pune weekend was cancelled hours before gates opened due to law-and-order concerns, the festival is now toying with a multi-genre one-day festival format, touring in cities like Jaipur, Indore, and Noida while grasping onto the same indie spirit that made it so memorable. – S.J. 

8. Sacred Spirit Festival 

Sacred Spirit Festival earns its place by doing something very few festivals in India attempt, let alone sustain: slowing down. Set against the backdrop of Jodhpur, the festival has carved out a space that prioritizes spiritual, folk, and indigenous music traditions, creating an experience that feels intentional rather than overstimulating. What sets Sacred Spirit apart is its curatorial clarity. The focus isn’t on chasing trends or ticket-selling headliners, but on building a programme that foregrounds cultural exchange, heritage, and context. Performances feel rooted, often immersive, and closely tied to the setting, allowing audiences to engage with music that exists outside the mainstream festival circuit. Its ranking reflects both its strength and its specificity. Sacred Spirit is not designed to be everything to everyone, and that’s precisely why it works. By staying true to its ethos and audience, it has become one of the few Indian festivals where the experience extends beyond the stage, leaving a lasting impression that goes beyond a weekend of live sets. – P.H. 

7. Mahindra Blues Festival  

If the blues have a home in India, it’s the Mahindra Blues Festival at Mehboob Studios in Bandra, Mumbai. It’s really that specific, down to the venue and the locality, and not just the city, because Mahindra Blues has been doing this since 2011. From Buddy Guy to John Mayall, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Keb Mo, and others, the 2026 edition brought back blues veterans like Shemekia Copeland and Eric Gales. Repeating acts could be a negative at most festivals, but with blues, you know you’re getting an electrifying performance every time, and the Mahindra Blues Festival seems to have cemented their audience on the basis of that, among other aspects like just running a well-organized and limited capacity event that’s meant for blues lovers. Along the way, they’ve even continued to spotlight Indian blues acts like Soulmate, Blackstratblues, Kanchan Daniel and Arinjoy Trio, who wouldn’t get a dedicated festival stage otherwise.  – A.T.  

6. RIFF 

The Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) transforms the majestic Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur into a world-music cauldron, marrying centuries-old Rajasthani traditions with global sounds. Taking place during Sharad Purnima under full-moon skies, the festival welcomes folk ensembles, fusion groups, and international collaborators from far edges of the world into its stunning open-air courtyards. Workshops on instruments like the kamaicha and khartal sit alongside Kalbelia and Ghoomar dance performances, while its UNESCO recognition and Mick Jagger lore draw artists and audiences from around the world. A folk celebration with roots deep enough to touch every genre it embraces, its most standout moment is the RIFF Rustle, a one-of-a-kind, all-artist improvisational finale that feels completely electric. – S.J. 

5. Echoes of Earth   

Among Bengaluru’s mainstay music festivals, sustainability is in the DNA of Echoes of Earth, and that’s always been executed without compromise. From upcycled materials for stage design modeled on India’s wildlife, psychedelic art installations that mirror Burning Man, as well as workshops, film screenings, and plant-based food options, there’s been a consistent vision with Echoes that has been both intertwined with music and also existing alongside the performances from Indian and international artists. Often having a bent towards electronic artists as well as genre-agnostic acts, Echoes of Earth’s animal-backdrop stages have featured fungi-obsessed oddities like Modern Biology to Tuareg desert rock act Tinariwen, groovemasters in the Yussef Dayes Experience, Indo-American experimentalist Sid Sriram, and more. The electronic stage involves a walk deeper into the woods near Embassy International Riding School, making the experience of techno and house (among other styles) hypnotic and enveloping. – A.T. 

4. Ziro Festival

In action since 2012 in a verdant valley in Arunachal Pradesh, Ziro Festival is as much a showcase of emerging and established talent from Northeast India as it is for alternative acts from the rest of India and the world. Ziro Festival has been home to international artists ranging from post-rock giants Mono, guitar great Lee Ranaldo to rock experimentalist Damo Suzuki, mainstream hitmakers Kailasa, Lucky Ali, Farhan Akhtar and Shilpa Rao. The stages are built from bamboo, there are traditional folk dances to welcome attendees and ever so often, there’s rain, mist and fog that makes the festival grounds in the town of Biirii like no other music setting in the country. Home stays have grown, as have hotels and campsites, proving hod music festivals can support local economies even as Ziro carefully select their partners each year, making sure Ziro is a place you escape to, not just for the music. – A.T. 

3. Bandland  

Coming up to its third edition in February 2026, Bengaluru got a rock music festival it could call its own after long thanks to Bandland. Still experimenting with lineups that have ranged from Deep Purple to Avenged Sevenfold to The War on Drugs and soon, Muse and pop band Train, Bandland runs a tight ship when it comes to production, crowd management, and tasteful but not clichéd design. Setting realistic ambitions is key for any festival to survive, and Bandland seem to be doing just that. So far, it’s not been stuffed with brand activations, and that makes it a bit more unique, perhaps because it’s trying to build a home for everyone, from parents and their children to new listeners wanting to discover the diverse world of rock and metal. – A.T. 

2. Magnetic Fields 

Ranking as the runner-up, Magnetic Fields has earned its spot for being one of the most forward-thinking festivals to pop up in the country. One of those hush-and-wink secrets you just have to be part of to truly understand, the festival established itself as a sensorial, intuitive escape where underground electronic and avant-garde sounds collided with immersive art, virtual-reality escapes, and wellness sessions like breathwork and stargazing. Previously set against the backdrop of the 17th-century Alsisar Mahal, ravers lugged suitcases through sand dunes, stumbled into secret dungeon stages, floated through palace hallways at 4 AM, danced their way through the biting desert chill, and woke up to the sound of khartals and sarangis. Over its decade-long run, it has hosted artists like Four Tet, DJ Koze, Khruangbin, Young Marco, Peter Cat Recording Co., and Ahadadream, while also carving out space for Rajasthani folk collaborations. While it skipped this year’s edition, it’s now evolving into Magnetic Fields Nomads and is set to re-launch in February 2026 at a new Rajasthan site. And if its past curation is any indication, revellers can hopefully expect late-night raves done right, a lineup with taste, and an atmosphere that can’t really be manufactured. – S.J. 

1. Lollapalooza India 

Lollapalooza India sits at the top of this list because it represents a clear shift in how India is positioned within the global festival ecosystem. It isn’t just a franchise landing on Indian soil, but a large-format event that has proven, in real terms, that India can sustain international touring schedules, headline-level production, and multi-genre programming at scale. What sets it apart is consistency and intent. The festival understands exactly what it’s meant to be: a gateway between global touring circuits and Indian audiences that still makes room for domestic artists across stages and genres. Its curation balances pop, rock, electronic, and hip-hop without feeling scattered, and its production standards match what audiences expect from the Lollapalooza name globally. More importantly, Lollapalooza India has shifted perception. It has helped move India from being seen as an optional stop to a serious market within global touring conversations. In doing so, it has raised the bar not just for international-format festivals, but for the entire live music circuit that now operates around it. – P.H. 

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