American Synthwave Band The Midnight to Make India Debut in February 2024

California-origin synthwave and electronic act The Midnight will be on a four-city tour of India starting February 15th through February 24th.

The band’s singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and producer, singer-songwriter Tim McEwan are slated to perform in Bengaluru on February 18th, followed by shows in North East India including Aizawl on February 20th, Dimapur in Nagaland on February 22nd and the Bloomverse Festival in Meghalaya on February 24th.

Best known for songs like “Los Angeles” and “Sunset” from the EP Days of Thunder (2014) and the album Endless Summer (2016) respectively, The Midnight’s debut India tour is put together by the platform Skillbox. It marks not just one of the first instances of an international synthwave artist coming down to India, but also a tour that’s focused more in the North East cities of India, a programming decision that is likely driven by looking at streaming stats for The Midnight in India.

The Midnight, whose members Lyle and McEwan met at a songwriting workshop in California and wrote songs like “WeMoveForward” and “Gloria” as early as 2012, most recently released their album Heroes in 2022. They’ve followed it up with a live album titled Red, White and Bruised: The Midnight Live in September this year.

At the core of The Midnight’s music is the escapist, nostalgic and dreamy aesthetic that synthwave and chillwave has been known for as a movement. Although there are elements of rock in the mix as well, the band’s success has arguably been due to their need to evolve the synthwave sound rather than pander to what already exists.

In an interview that goes with their biography, Lyle states, “As we become aware of where our sounds are and why people stick with us. We want to do two things: make sure there are enough comfortable moments, and we also want to push the sonics and the songwriting into new worlds as we create a bridge for listeners to come along — rather than just dropping them into it without a map.”

The Midnight’s India tour announcement comes at a time when India’s live music circuit is plenty buzzing, right from guitar hero Steve Vai touring India in December to metallers TesseracT returning in April 2024 and everything in between.

The Midnight India Tour February 2024

February 18th – GYLT, Bengaluru

February 20th – AR Ground, Aizawl

February 22nd – Noune Resort, Dimapur

February 24th – TBA, Meghalaya at Bloomverse Festival

Tickets for The Midnight India Tour will go live on Skillbox on December 1st, 12 pm onwards