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Why Bengaluru won't lend the stage to internatinational music artists

  • International music artists would perform in Bengaluru earlier but this trend has now changed.
  • The city's poor infrastructure isn't conducive to large performances.
  • In addition to this, local event organisers haven't taken enough effort to bring down commercially famous artists.
inetrnational music artists performance bengaluru

Bengaluru is known for having an active music scene. There was a time international acts like Metallica, Opeth, Lamb of God and even Norah Jones enthralled fans in the city. But its been a few years since any international solo artiste or band has performed live in Karnataka's capital. That Bengaluru has failed to catch the interest of artists like Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and The Chainsmokers is surprising and for music lovers in the city, a worrisome trend.

While there are many factors that contribute to this, organisers in the city feel that a lack of proper infrastructure is one of the main reasons why international musicians don't opt to play here.Ever since Palace Grounds shut its gates to music performances in 2012, concerts have been held at other venues which are few and unfortunately, outside the city limits. Accessibility to these locations becomes a huge problem and in any case, they aren't big enough to hold a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000 concert goers.

A Times of India article claims that seeking permission from the relevant government authorities is another impediment. An event organiser told the publication that even though Bengaluru doesn't have a strict procedure to get permissions, it's still quite difficult. "The irony is, in Maharashtra, there is an additional State Home Ministry approval — the Mantralay permit — which is the most important permit that decides the fate of the concert. This enables promoters to get other permits such as police, fire, entertainment tax, etc. Here, we do not have any tough procedure like this, but still fail to execute something worthy," he said.

These factors have made organisers skeptical of investing in international acts. They follow what one organiser put it as 'weird investment' model. Event planners approach artists and pay only the booking amount at the time of signing. They depend on ticket sales and sponsors to pay the rest of the amount. This approach wards off artists from performing in Bengaluru.

But organisers feel that even if they change the way the approach international celebrities, the average Bengalurean isn't ready to dole out a huge amount for such concerts. DJ Rohit Barker said, "In Bengaluru, people are reluctant to buy tickets priced over `1,500-`3,000 per person; it's a kind of a financial mental block. The Global Citizen Festival or the Justin Bieber concerts had exhorbitantly-priced tickets, but people took it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it was the 'experience' that drove them to buy it." 

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