Asia’s first Lollapalooza festival rocks India in biggest music event since the pandemic
- Around 60,000 people are expected at the festival taking place in Mumbai over the weekend
- The Strokes, Diplo and Imagine Dragons are the headline acts at the inaugural concert
One of the world’s longest-running festivals kicked off in Mumbai on Saturday for the Indian financial hub’s biggest music extravaganza since the end of the pandemic.
Lollapalooza’s arrival in Mumbai is the first time the festival has been staged in Asia after branching out from its American origins in the past decade.
Crowds thronged the Mahalaxmi racecourse near the centre of a city that, before the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, was increasingly becoming a popular tour stop for leading international artists.
“I think it’s huge – it’s the first major American festival to come to India, I couldn’t miss it,” Narayani Anand, 29, said.
“The live music scene is really bouncing back”, she said. “It’s almost like signifying the end to the dark days”.
Not everyone was impressed by this year’s line-up, despite months of anticipation, when the festival’s Mumbai debut was announced last year.
The Strokes, Diplo and Imagine Dragons headline the inaugural concert and Binjal Shah, 30, was among those who decided to skip it.
