If you think keeping music shows a secret will make the country's elusive bands inaccessible, you are wrong. With MySpace India launching the secret show concept in India, get ready to be pleasantly surprised now and again
Music gets 007 spin
If you think keeping music shows a secret will make the country's elusive bands inaccessible, you are wrong. With MySpace India launching the "secret show" concept in India, get ready to be pleasantly surprised now and again
It may not surpass the thrill that Londoners have experienced by showing up at a neighbourhood cafu00e9 or the
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Cochin-based progressive-rock band Motherjane |
BBC building's rooftop to catch U2 live, but secret shows in India will enjoy their own advantage, no doubt. A concept introduced three years ago across countries, it was deployed to keep the excitement around live performances alive.
It's a gig that's exclusive to MySpace users, where the artist who is scheduled to perform is declared in advance but the location is revealed just a day or two before the event. It can even be the other way around, and sometimes, an additional surprise element can be thrown in: The way pop icon Lily Allen decided to create a London Underground fancy dress theme secret show at the last minute.
With the first MySpace India secret show scheduled for this Friday at Bandra's Amphitheatre, Country Manager of MySpace India, Hari V Krishnan is hoping to reintroduce Indian music buffs to performance music. "It will be a chance to catch the 'next big thing', a current big name, artists you don't get to watch regularly or those based in other cities," he says.
Black and Scribe who are performing this time around are Mumbai-based, but the headlining act Motherjane is Cochin-based, a group Mumbai fans rarely get to watch. The only criteria for picking an act is that they need to be active on MySpace and that they must be a smashing stage act. "We can do secret shows around Pentagram and Parikrama but there would be little or no surprise, since they have performed excessively around the country," says Hari about trying to match the U2 and Neil Diamond variety of secret shows.
These shows will span genres like Electronica, Jazz, Pop, Classical and Sufi and will be held at unknown, unexplored venues like mill lands or top-secret indoor venues. The shows will not follow a calendar-of-events format; they will be organised as and when the team at MySpace thinks it's time to stir things up once again.
Since it is the first Secret Show, this Friday's line-up and the location have been declared in advance.
To attend the show, you have to be a registered MySpace user. For Friday's performance, you will be allowed to register at the venue, but entry is on first-come-first-serve basis. Log onto www.myspace.com/secretshowsindia
Catch MySpace India's first Secret Show this Friday, May 29.
Time: 6.30 pm
At: Bandra Bandstand Amphitheatre, next to Taj Lands End, Bandra (W).
Line up: Motherjane, Scribe and Black
