Bandland Festival 2023 Review: Rock Ruled with Goo Goo Dolls, Deep Purple and More

Our indicators of gauging first editions of music festivals have often varied in the past – from one-off editions to hurriedly put together last-minute events to the ones that lacked the right promotional backing.

In recent times, however, music fans in India have been eagerly looking out for anything new and clutter-breaking. The two-day music festival Bandland in Bengaluru – which took place on December 16th and 17th – got added to the gig calendar with exactly that intent. Sure, they didn’t have a very different Indian band lineup at all, but the international draw remained – headliners included U.K. rock legends Deep Purple, American alt rock veterans Goo Goo Dolls, plus newer, acclaimed bands like psych-rockers The War On Drugs and Australia’s punk act Amyl And The Sniffers.

Without a title sponsor in sight – an anomaly for a lineup this big, considering we’d just seen an independently-run music festival like SPXCEJXM come together and fall apart earlier in the year – BookMyShow Live produced and promoted Bandland for a solid debut edition with little complaints from over 10,000 in attendance across two days.

Was Bandland a response to the recently resurged Mahindra Independence Rock, in a way to show that live rock bands can, in fact, be a big draw amidst hip-hop, singer-songwriters and electronic artists dominating most conversations around Indian mainstream music? It’s hard to say but the fact that there weren’t any usual sponsors also meant that Bandland took place more or less without the pretension that comes with marketing, like influencers preening for photos and pointlessly garish installations in the name of “activation.”

Taking place under the chill, overcast skies of Bengaluru from 4 pm onwards on each day, Bandland became a space to celebrate rock as a uniting force. Plenty of people across ages, some parents with teenaged kids or older taking in the music together, while younger kids perhaps formed core memories of air guitaring with their parents to Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water.”

Day One: The Goo Goo Dolls’ Nostalgia Lives Up to Expectations

Bengaluru-origin, Mumbai-based The Earth Below had the distinction of being the first band to perform at Bandland, setting the dark, slithering and noisy pace to start, much inspired by the likes of Soundgarden.

Over on the mainstage, local heroes Parvaaz treated their home crowd to the hits, bookending their set with two different movements within the 15-minute rendition of “Baran.” Songs like “Gul Gulshan,” “Soye Ja” and “Marika” showed their might, being the best in the business.

Chennai’s rock trio Skrat – who also brought on former bassist Satishkumar Narayan aka Sat to bring the energy – had the dance-punk sound with an edge that turned harder and heavier at the drop of a drum hit. Although slightly rusty, their energy was plenty for the crowd to absorb.

American band The War On Drugs – six members in all, with bandleader Adam Granduciel rocking out from within a circle of pedals arranged around him – took Bandland on a trip like no other with their hour-plus set. From “A Deeper Understanding” to “Red Eye” to “I Don’t Live Here Anymore,” it was a euphoric performance that was punctuated by the band’s excitement about an India debut. Granduciel proclaimed, “Happy Bandland!” to cheers, with soul-satisfying solos and extended jams featuring baritone saxophonist Jon Natchez. They even shouted out their connection to headliners The Goo Goo Dolls from Buffalo, New York. Granduciel said the band was “truly honored” to be India, where they’d been for a “mind-expanding couple of days” before their performance.

Just as The War On Drugs saluted Bandland, the city’s rock veterans Thermal And A Quarter led their performance with vocalist-guitarist Bruce Lee Mani declaring, “Bangalore is Bandland and Bandland is Bangalore!”

The versatile act put together a spacey, heavy set with songs like “Godrocker” from their album The Scene and a bulk of the material from their prescient 2020 album A World Gone Mad. “Distance,” “Where Do We Gotta Go Now,” “NFA” and “Unbelong” and more made for a heavy, indulgent diverse penultimate set on day one, which sated the regular fans and likely impressed anyone who were seeing them either for the first time or after a long gap.

The Goo Goo Dolls were high on everyone’s list to watch, but some of us were perhaps keen to see what a full-fledged 90-minute performance would offer to occasional listeners of the band from Buffalo, New York. Vocalist-guitarist John Rzeznik and bassist/vocalist Robby Takac took turns leading the crowd into songs from across the last two decades, including “Slide,” “Big Machine,” “Black Balloon,” “Everything You Are” and “Over and Over.” Between establishing their arena-rock cred to digging into slower renditions like “Sympathy” and “Run All Night.” Songs like “Life’s A Message” and “Broadway’s Dark Tonight” kept the energy high even as the band acclimatized to India. Rzeznik called their show once in a lifetime, but hoped that it wasn’t their last time either. “It’s a freaky scene for a guy from Buffalo. It’d be an equally freaky scene for you in Buffalo,” the bandleader told the crowd.

Coming back on stage for “Tattered Edge/You Should Be Happy” and their seminal hit “Iris,” the set indicated that the Goo Goo Dolls were a band who’ve stayed true to their sound whether it keeps them on or off the charts, earns them new fans or relevance in American mainstream music like before. They still fire on all cylinders and that’s what counts.

Day Two: Deep Purple’s Fire In The Sky

Among a few notable T-shirts spotted amongst local and out-of-town Bandland attendees was Rush and of course, Deep Purple.

In some feat of strength, Pacifist vocalist Sidharth Raveendran was on stage and managing things at the festival as part of the BookMyShow Live team. Their 45-minute set ran through songs like “Pedigreed,” “Resolve,” “Reactionary” (both of which got the moshpits going), “The Bridge Between Us” and some mor new material. Bengaluru is Pacifist’s stomping ground and stomp around they did.

Aswekeepsearching took over the bigger mainstage to start and the mostly-instrumental set’s star was arguably violinist Ajay Jayanthi, who took centerstage magnificently alongside vocalist-guitarist Uddipan Sarmah, bassist Bob Alex and drummer Sambit Chatterjee. With some new material that’s part of an upcoming album, aswekeepsearching’s tunneling, grandiose sound justified why they’re on big stages. Sarmah looked back at his college days in Bengaluru jamming in a shed somewhere to now reaching big stages and hoped that more bands continue to fly the rock flag in India.

Their peers in Chennai indie rock band The F16s were likely in agreement. With songs like “Sucks To Be Human,” “My Shallow Lover” and “Amber,” to kick off their set, the band were wavy, dancey and irreverent as ever. Vocalist-guitarist Joshua Fernandez even did a bit of banter suited to the rock crowd. “This is my first time wearing a leather jacket and the last,” he said in a way that’s either sincere or richly ironic.

The other rock veterans on the Bandland lineup were New Delhi’s Parikrama, so the crowd went from from the new school of The F16s to old faithful Parikrama. With songs like “Rhythm & Blues,” “Tears of the Wizard,” “Demons of Time” and “Am I Dreaming” and an acoustic version of “But It Rained,” there were a few fusion excursions with tabla, sitar and flute in the mix. Nitin Malik wore a Manipur t-shirt in support of the ongoing crisis in the state, but wasn’t all that somber, making sex jokes and ultimately telling the crowd, “What you’re giving us is what we live for.”

Australia’s Amyl and the Sniffers closed out the BMS Live stage, with vocalist Amy Taylor warning everyone to “get ready” as she jumped around in what must be a typically Aussie way, spilling the beer she held in one hand and the mic in the other. In true punk rock spirit, in between their fist-pumping songs, Taylor made a joke about Australia winning the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup against India in the finals, which drew a few boos until she clarified her stance – “We wanted you to win,” Taylor said with a laugh. With songs like “Got You,” “Security,” “I’m Not A Loser” and “Guided By Angels,” Taylor and the band were headbanging, dancing around, hopping and writhing around on stage, even as Taylor was trying to learn a local expletive, flexing her muscles like the badass she is. “Thanks accepting our weird mullets and all that,” she said as she began signing off.

While it may not have drawn too big a crowd that was perhaps more interested in Deep Purple, it was a novelty for some and antidote for the punk fans.

With two stages at Bandland, one band started when the other was done and it was more or less the case with Deep Purple kicking off with their instantly recognizable “Highway Star” from 1972’s Machine Head. It set fans running across the food court to hurriedly catch a glimpse of the British legends who shaped rock, prog and even a bit of metal with their songs.

Vocalist Ian Gillan, at the age of 78, took a few expected breaks in their hour-plus set, and he remained ever the dependable frontman. While Don Airey was unable to come down, Adam Wakeman filled in on keys, alongside drummer Ian Paice (also a powerhouse behind the kit at the age of 75), bassist Roger Glover (ploughing away, also at age 78) and guitarist Simon McBride.

Having visited India with different lineups and eras across decades, some were savoring the fact that they could watch Deep Purple even today, belting out “When a Blind Man Cries,” “Anya,” and of course, “Smoke on the Water.” The encore included “Hush” and “Black Night,” with thousands shouting along for the last three songs. Deep Purple didn’t let the energy flag, making Bandland fulfilling from start to finish. Here’s hoping that sponsor or no sponsor, the spirit of rock has found another home in Bandland.