Explained: How Independence Rock was much more than a rock festival

Thirty-six years ago, you couldn’t imagine an air-conditioned ladies’ toilet at Independence Rock. Heck you couldn’t dare dream of a single regular ladies’ toilet there. The Rang Bhavan that spawned a musical movement which laid the foundation for the “scene” as we know it today, was decidedly testosterone-driven and drenched in sweat, adorned with the remnants of shattered bottles, discarded needles and tied condoms.

But within all that sludge and grime, saw the germination of a modern Indian rock fan, creating a venue and audiences for the modern Indian rock musician. Independence Rock was so much more than a rock festival; it was an outlet, a means of identity, expression and belonging for youngsters through rock. Being a rocker meant anything from acceptance within a community and defiance against another, and I-Rock the ultimate rite of passage.

A deluge of black rock print t-shirts would swarm the venue as the cheeky, impatient crowds would chant slurs at mothers and sisters, sway in unison as the sweet smell of marijuana and clouds of nicotine would fill the air. There was a strong sense of fraternity that overrode all the logistical inconveniences; one that kept the genre relevant among the youth in this country.

After a 9-year break, all this returned with a heady dose of nostalgia as Independence Rock found a home at the picturesque Bayview Lawns, in an upgraded, sanitised avatar over the weekend. With an enviable lineup that showcased the biggest names ever in the scene and the most breakthrough contemporaries, there was so much more than just nostalgia on which this edition of I-Rock rode.

Started in 1986, in defiance of a strict St Xavier’s College principal’s authoritarian diktat about rock music on campus, I-Rock became synonymous with Rang Bhavan. What began as a largely covers festival increasingly saw original music and over the years taught its audience to embrace the idea that the genre needn’t necessarily be English-heavy.

As long as it fit within the loose confines of rock (noisier the better!), this was a stage that saw Indian musicians dabble with the tabla, flute and violin for a raging crowd that’s headbanging anyway. For music has been the ultimate leveller in a city notorious for its North-South divide.

Until, that is, a court case on noise pollution drew the curtains on the best years of I-Rock. Farhad Wadia—the megamind behind Independence Rock—has been no stranger to controversy, battling permission issues and needless puritans each threatening to pull the plug. From the iconic venue Rang Bhavan to Chitrakoot Grounds in Andheri, Wadia got the festival moved and persisted until he couldn’t anymore.

By 2013, the youth’s hitherto association with rock had changed. Music preferences had changed, sustaining local talents became a very hard economic pursuit, and most importantly, many tinier imitations of I-Rock had already created a sense of redundancy in a festival that remained fairly rooted in its 1990s prime.

This, and the need to create music festivals on par with those around the world, led to the creation of multi-genre, multi-stage ones like the NH7 Weekender where rock fans could still find a space to headbang and kickstart moshpits. Perhaps for a decade or so around the noughties, Mumbai saw an increase in performance spaces of scale but today without Hard Rock Café and Blue Frog, we’re back to a situation where the solution is to hire a large ground and prop multiple stages and create a carnival-like atmosphere so a minuscule segment can listen to rock.

Organisers today have the luxury to do that because festivals like I-Rock and subsequently Great Indian Rock and the IIT cultural festivals have over the decades, given space for some of the biggest names in the scene to come to the fore. Rock Machine, Indus Creed, Pentagram, Freedom, Indian Ocean, Agni, Parikrama, etc. Getting a chance to play at I-Rock meant everything for fledgling bands and assured wide audiences for the more established bands from across the country and Wadia was the mentor with a keen ear for talent.

Experiencing this new version of Independence Rock has been surreal with the warm, fuzziness of nostalgia. Rock fans have been so used to inexpensive local gigs compared to their EDM counterparts who have grown more accustomed to shelling out for entries to related events (F&B notwithstanding), that the pricing for I-Rock 3.0 may have seemed needlessly steep.

But the festival-goer today expects a certain degree of care taken with the food and beverage department, security, parking spaces and production values thanks to their global exposure. Today, it isn’t out of the ordinary to find yourself a beer at a mega musical event; two decades ago that wasn’t the norm. So, paying 1990s rates would seem extremely hypocritical for a target audience that has unwittingly evolved with the times.

Wadia’s festival found a brilliant partner in Hyperlink Brand Solutions (the erstwhile Fountainhead Entertainment and Oranjuice) and the finesse with which they have organised the festival finds roots in their experience with slickly put-together events like the Mahindra Blues Festival. Where giving the option for more privileged seating and treating women patrons to an airconditioned toilet that is regularly cleaned are simply acts of inclusion and sensitivity.

The timing to bring Independence Rock back to the Mumbai calendar is crucial. Over the years, indie musicians who blend genres have gained significance and found mainstream (read Bollywood) as filmmakers and composers have widened the sonic palette for a cinematic experience. The likes of Prateek Kuhad and Ankur Tiwari are packing in the crowds, where two decades ago that may have been near impossible.

The Independence Rock weekend saw a good deal of 40- to 60-year-olds who were reminiscing about the Rang Bhavan days, many of whom had brought their children to experience what a true-blue rock festival should be like. The well-behaved front rows where people actually gave space to each other, the fangless moshpits and the absence of that youthful rage that has long defined the genre and the festival, made I-Rock seem so grown up!

Rock isn’t only the preserve of the collegegoer anymore and the organisers have taken pains to acknowledge that. Reflected in this outing is an important lesson for organisers in the country: they don’t need Bollywood for a show to sell out (although Farhan Akhtar inexplicably found his way on stage); they don’t need to expect things to be PC and you don’t need to cater to every kind of audience in one festival.

Rock audiences can be both rowdy and reasonable because there truly has been more to rock that being just a genre; it’s been a way of life. And Mahindra Independence Rock just reminded us what it is to be alive and present to that.

Senior journalist Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri has spent a good part of two decades chronicling the arts, culture and lifestyles.

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