Pune gears up for the tenth edition of Bacardi NH7 Weekender

EE News Desk Nov 26, 2019

Bacardi NH7 Weekender turns ten this year, and it’s been a long and wonderful journey since the happiest music festival was conceptualised by OML in 2010. Mahalakshmi Lawns, Nagar Road is about to see India’s biggest multi genre music festival from 29 Nov to 1 Dec 2019. With a lineup featuring some of the biggest names in music from across the world and country, a diverse lineup of comedians, art showcases, and a variety of interactive experiences on-ground, this very special tenth edition is about to be one for the books.

Artists such as Nick Murphy fka Chet Faker, Opeth, Kodaline, A. Hariharan, Wadalis, Raja Kumari, Dreamville Showcase’s Earthgang and Cozz, Kokoroko, and Indian Ocean are among those performing at the festival, giving their fans a variety of genres and styles of music to choose from. The festival this year features big names from the UK, Ireland, Israel, USA, Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sweden and a whole lot more along with a host of artists from the four corners of India. Hip-hop dance is being featured for the first time as well, with the winners of India’s biggest hip-hop dance festival ‘Breezer Vivid Shuffle’ also getting a chance to showcase their skills at one of the country’s biggest stages.

All attendees will have access to 6 spectacular stages — BACARDÍ Arena, Casa Bacardi, The Doers’ Club by Dewar’s, the Breezer Vivid Stage, The Gaana Stage and the 5 Star ke Lolstars comedy stage - a stage dedicated to comedy for the first time in the festival’s history, which will feature comedians from all over India like Zakir Khan, Urooj Ashfaq, Kanan Gill, Supriya Joshi, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Sumukhi Suresh and more. It will also feature three Australian comedians from the Melbourne Comedy Festival as well as a mentalism act by Suhani Shah.

While in between performances, attendees can indulge in some shopping at the bustling bazaar or head to the food stalls for a variety of delicious food and snacks. There’s a lot planned - an art showcase, featuring memories from the festival over the years as well as work by talented visual artists, the signature ferris wheel, and more. There are also a variety of different activities by the festival’s partner brands. BACARDI has a host of innovative drinking experiences planned - with happy hours, pop up bars with special drinks and limited edition variants from the Bacardi portfolio. At the Gaana Studio, you can relax and lounge around between sets, get some artist interviews, meet & greets and photo ops. You could also head to the CRED lounge - where CRED members can get exclusive benefits. Tinder is back at the festival with Camp Tinder - a zone in which people can relax with fun activities during the day and after the performances on stage end, fans can flock to Camp Tinder for some special acoustic sets every night. And last but not least, people can take a break with the 5 Star zone with a classic game that will delight every festival goer.

The festival is supporting many initiatives, including the Paper Bridge Project, that aims to build libraries in the remotest corners of India, giving attendees a chance to donate a book for a good cause when they come over to this happiest music festival. It is also actively looking to be more inclusive this year by partnering with The Humsafar Trust and 6 Degrees to make the space LGBTQ friendly, with a safe space on-ground to counsel anyone in need, gender neutral bathrooms and frisking lanes at security, and information being distributed to increase awareness about gender issues.

Continuing the green initiative the festival successfully launched in Pune a few years ago, BACARDÍ NH7 Weekender is ensuring that the festival generates as little disposable waste as possible by partnering with Skrap. In 2018, over 90% of the waste generated was recycled or reused, and the festival is looking to increase that number year on year. In furtherance of this, fans are urged to reuse their cups to get a discount on their next drink. Plastic straws have been banned at the festival and now replaced with paper straws, and drinks will be served in rice husk glasses. The food stalls will also all serve food with compostable cutlery. In furtherance of this, fans are urged to reuse their cups to get a discount on their next drink. A partnership with Butt Ballot is also in place, to ensure proper segregation and recycling of cigarette butts. The festival is also working with Cupable to provide drinking water for festival goers with a system that’s environmentally friendly, to replace disposable plastic water bottles. People can purchase one recyclable cup and get unlimited water refills for all festival days.