NH7

Day two at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Bangalore saw a heavy metal assault in the form of some very fun sets at the Bacardi Black Rock Arena (report), a lot of happiness at The Dewarists stage (stage report here), beatboxing genius at the Eristoff Wolves Den (read a report here) and some large-hearted performances at the Bindass Fully Fantastic Stage (report), among others. It was a pretty big day of music, and as we walked around the venue at the start of the day, we found Indian Ocean bassist Rahul Ram getting ready for it with a makeover from the girls at the Set Wet Style Bar.

Photo by Naman Saraiya

Bombay metallers Bhayanak Maut took the stage in lungis as the Black Metal Raghu Dixit Project, and proceeded to open up the pits for the day.

The band later told us that lungis are awesomely comfortable to perform in.

Photo by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

The aforementioned pits.

Speaking of mosh pits, #overheard conversation between the stage manager and an audience member during the Periphery set:

"Sir, amp ka volume kam karoge?"
"Arrey aap peeche jao na."
"Hum peeche nahi ja sakte hain, log ek doosre ko maar rahe hain."

Photo by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

The NH7 Home Of Awesomeness tent saw over a hundred crazed fans queue up to get merch signed by members of American prog-metal act Periphery, who played an explosive headlining set at the Bacardi Black Rock Arena later that night.

Photo by Shalaka Pai

The Raghu Dixit Project bassist Gaurav Vaz makes a face for the camera. The Bangalore audience was absolutely delighted throughout the performance, singing along to almost every song in rapture. Read a full stage report here.

Photo by Shalaka Pai

Swarathma's well attended set at the Bindaas Fully Fantastic Stage was definitely one of the highlights of day two. The Bangalore homeboys performed reworked versions of songs off their new record, including a remix of 'Naane Daari' featuring Dualist Inquiry. The band has just released a video for 'Naane Daari', shot while they were on the RestLess Tour of India this year. Check out the video here, and find yourself in the crowd.

Photo by Naman Saraiya

Sometimes, the backstage area is sheer chaos. Sometimes it's deathly quiet.

Photo by Naman Saraiya

Kolkata rockers PINKNOISE played the closing set at the Bindass Fully Fantastic Stage and dedicated it to the memory of their late bassist Gyan Singh. The set included collaborations by Randolph Correia, Susheela Raman, Sam Mills, Bruce Lee Mani, Karan Joseph and Warren Mendonsa.

Photo by Naman Saraiya

Armed with just their mics, Bauchklang's much-awaited set brought some serious groove to the Eristoff Wolves Den (read a full stage report here). The Austrian beatboxers had the crowd bouncing in no time, and their set was easily one of the best of the entire festival.

Photo by Dev Ambardekar

It's pretty clear to everyone by now that Scribe are out to have fun on stage, and are extremely good at it (remember the beach balls at the Delhi edition of the festival?). The entire band strode onto stage dressed in immaculately white bathrobes, and proceeded to play a massive set that included some new tracks, guest appearances, the day's first wall of death, and an excellent impromptu jam.

Pictured: Scribe guitarist Prashant Shah

Photo by Shalaka Pai

Electronica giants Midival Punditz wish the audience good night after a stellar closing set at the Eristoff Wolves Den. Their live set included collaborations with Baiju Dharmajan, Karsh Kale and Papon, among others.

Photo by Dev Ambardekar

They came, they saw, they conquered Bangalore. The American prog-metallers got the audience at the Bacardi Black Rock Arena to create the biggest circle pit in Weekender history, going right around the sound console. Their hour-long set was a massive blast of energy right from start to finish, and the band even came back for an encore, sending the audience into a crazed frenzy. Periphery's set closed the final day of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Bangalore on the highest note possible. That's all folks, we'll see you next year!

Photo by Shalaka Pai