Shillong: NH7 Weekender, one of the country’s largest multi-genre music festivals, has made its way back to Meghalaya at the beautiful Lad Mukhla in Jaintia Hills district.
Starting on Friday, the two-day festival was once again welcomed by thousands of music fans, who thronged to the state to see their favourite acts and discover new music.
The inaugural day was headlined by the much-awaited Finnish alt rock band Poets of the Fall (on tour with their eighth studio album Ultraviolet), which played to a huge passionate crowd. The day also saw strong performances by guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan who performed with Mohini Dey and Gino Banks, and Israeli psychedelic post-rock act Tiny Fingers.
Some of India’s most popular acts also took the stage, such as Dualist Inquiry, Scribe, Kumail (Live) and Sandunes Live, acoustic folk jam band Fiddler’s Green, singer-song writer Mahesh Raghunandan, fusion act Shadow and Light, and vocalists Abhilash Choudhury and Aditi Ramesh.
A special set was also played by Assamese singer Zubeen Garg as a tribute to Bhupen Hazarika on Friday night.
Speaking of the Northeast, local artistes such as Tipriti Kharbangar and the Clansmen, Summersalt, adL x k.ly and The Other Soul Collective from Meghalaya, The Pirates from Assam, The Twin Effect and Avancer from Nagaland, The Vinyl Records from Arunachal Pradesh shone at the festival.
There was more to look forward to on Saturday — American alternative-rock band Switchfoot, a crowd favourite; the much-loved Bollywood composer Shankar Mahadevan; and carnatic classical musician TM Krishna, rock-electronica act Pentagram and veteran rockers Zero.
