The Chakkar with Bangalore’s Live Music Scene
Photo Courtesy: Anurag Tagat / The Humming Tree
How Bengaluru’s iconic live music venues are trying to survive in changing times
Some time just about a year ago, in November, I trekked from south Bangalore to the suburb of Whitefield (via a cab of course) for a gig and was surprised it took me less than an hour. What was even more surprising, and certainly more of a jolt, was showing up to be told that the gig for the evening was canceled.
In the year that’s passed since then, we’ve seen venues like Take5, BFlat’s Indiranagar mainstay and The Humming Tree shut their doors due to increasing license issues related to live music.
I hung around and tried to see if it would get salvaged somehow, but this was quite a bolt from the blue for the artists, too. The venue – BFlat’s short-lived Brookefield outlet – had all its permissions in place but we were told a certain senior police authority didn’t want any gigs to take place. It seemed like a dim, utterly stupid situation.
In the year that’s passed since then, we’ve seen venues like Take5, BFlat’s Indiranagar mainstay and The Humming Tree shut their doors due to increasing license issues related to live music. The issue is a contentious one because the clampdown by authorities of music venues started by earnest petitions from the Indiranagar Residents Welfare Association. To them, whether it was a DJ or a band, pubs and clubs invited a completely careless crowd that created a ruckus in their area until the wee hours.
It wasn’t just about loud music blaring out, but also alleged lack of safety regulations in buildings and the fact that these establishments created traffic woes and more. This leaves Bangalore’s live music scene with fewer options for club venues than ever before. The mainstays are now Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined (which also faced a fair share of complaints that led to a few canceled gigs, including Chennai rock favorites Skrat), Hard Rock Café and Skydeck at VR Bengaluru. BFlat’s founders, for their part, have begun curating gigs at a hotel venue.
Photo Courtesy: Anurag Tagat / BFlat
Of course, the DJ gigs continue more or less without much of a dent at venues like Pebble, but the city is also slowly adapting to the fact that there won’t be noisy bars and distracted patrons at their performances. That’s not a bad thing at all. Newer spaces that host live music in an intimate setting now include The Courtyard, Lahe Lahe, The Blue Room and Shaale. Auditorium and theater spaces such as Jagriti and the Bangalore International Center too have started seeing more concerts, while the Alliance Francaise’s music programming also continues.
All this means that there’s been a silver lining, and some would daresay it was a necessary push. After all, most pubs and clubs affected by the live music license issue were flouting some rule or the other according to authorities. Maybe bribing your way through licenses and hosting gigs would only take you so far before the law finally caught up, rulebook in hand. This sort of enforcement will perhaps see new venue owners and promoters proceed with caution and play by the book when it comes to hosting live performances. Until then, we can venture to these smaller, cozier rooms and discover artists in perhaps a never-before-seen light. That’s a win for now.
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Anurag Tagat is a Bangalore-based music journalist who is a senior writer at Rolling Stone India. He also contributes to publications such as Variety, The Hindu, Firstpost, India Today and Red Bull India about India's independent music circuit.
