Vh1 Supersonic 2023 and the Continued Pressure of Music Festival Lineups

On the Monday that all the news from the Grammys was pouring out of publications everywhere, Vh1 Supersonic went ahead and released the second phase of their international and Indian artist lineup.

Blurring out names on the lineup poster for the first announcement is an approach that the festival has taken before, it didn’t stop the rumors from swirling about big-draw names and the second international headliner joining U.K. pop artist Anne-Marie on the billing.

So no, U.K. rock favorites Arctic Monkeys aren’t coming to India as part of their Asia tour starting February 28th. Neither are electronic music trio Above & Beyond or any of the other rumored international acts. Nevertheless, there are influential acts revealed to be coming to India for Vh1 Supersonic as of Monday – American hip-hop artist Tyga (who also performed in Mumbai in 2019), Electronic duo Bob Moses playing a club set and British DJ-producers CamelPhat.

There’s much that audiences may not know about the inner workings of booking international artists and how it led to an unending wait for the full lineup being revealed just three weeks before the festival, but none of that discounts the underwhelming feelings that came around once the announcements were made.

Expectations run sky-high for a long-running multi-genre festival like Supersonic, especially in its comeback edition after three years away. Given their past lineups have brought in everyone from Incubus to Machine Gun Kelly to Bonobo, Illenium and Eric Prydz, one way to look at the Vh1 Supersonic 2023 lineup is that they’ve not matched prior lineups in terms of diversity.

Another, simpler perspective is that the festival is relying on its electronic music credentials – curator Nikhil Chinapa scores here – to bring in powerful electronic artists to India with a few notable global names to boot. Techno-influenced artist Innellea aka Michael Miethig will be bringing a 3Dimensional set to the festival, with the likes of Luke Slater, Hannes Beiger, Ida Engberg and more make their way. The topline belongs to Anne-Marie and Nigerian singer CKay who are making their India debut.

Among Indian artists, they’ve picked live electronic-informed composer-producer and composer/producer-singer OAFF and Savera to make their first-ever festival appearance on the back of solid, major label releases including the Coke Studio Bharat song “Udja.” New Delhi producer FILM aka Sanil Sudan also performs under the moniker Tyrell Dub Corp at Vh1 Supersonic.

Vh1 Supersonic has been maligned for sticking with bankable, crowd-pulling artists like Prateek Kuhad, DIVINE, Anuv Jain and Farhan Akhtar, but it’s still serving up a good measure of Indian electronic and indie artists like Stalvart John, Anushka, OX7GEN, plus Chennai’s Sunflower Tape Machine, Bengaluru’s hip-hop/pop duo RANJ x Clifr and others.

By now, lineups are fairly divisive every time they’re out and festivals have to be used to some backlash. We’ve seen a changed public perception of mainstay festivals Vh1 Supersonic and Bacardi NH7 Weekender over the years because of the legacy they’ve built up and now struggle to live up to, for myriad reasons. Vh1 Supersonic undoubtedly has invited the ire of festival-goers new and faithful alike for their lineup, but you can’t please everyone. The festival, on paper, looks like a party waiting to pop off nevertheless, expectations be damned.