MUMBAI: Vh1 Supersonic 2018 held at Laxmi Lawns (Pune) on 9-11 February 2018 turned out to be a big ‘win’ for Viacom18. As the organizers raised the bars this time settling in for the best ambience and electrifying performances. The 35,000 sq. ft did not fail to impress its audience and turned out to be a treat to all the music and non-music lovers as well.

Vh1 Supersonic made it a point to let one forget where they were from the very beginning with banners everywhere.  But, it was map that kept one off all the trouble at this massive music festival. The fest was branched into Sonic Realm, Live Arena, Spectrum and Laboratoire, four stages while last year the crowd witnessed three stages. Vh1 Supersonic gave its audience a wide exposure to music with headliners like Marshmello, Major Lazer, Sean Paul banging at their time slots. In terms of music tastes we all differ right? But what if we get out of our comfort zone and listen to a different sound. Well this did work well at Supersonic. Here’s a check through to what Vh1 Supersonic had put forth.

Day 1

Day one started with electrifying performances of Gurbax at Sonic Realm , Komorebi, Bullzeye b2b Arsh and SPRYK. Alt –J , Parekh and Singh, Nucleya, Sound Avatar that made the audience drool over their music. At Spectrum there was Kohra, Christoph and Adana Twins who gathered the crowd with their techno beats. While at the Live Arena it was Alt-J, Curtain Blue and at the Laboratoire Supersonique there was Midival Punditz and Levelz , Vachan Chinnappa who kept the heat on.

People were eagerly waiting for Major Lazer’s performance, but then he started off with Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai which was a big ‘turn down’ for his fans. While there were high expectations set there were some unexpected tracks like Ladki Kar Gayi Chul and a few more Bollywood tracks. Overall day one performances were great but fans were startled to see these slight bloopers.

Day 2

Well day 2 started with One & One at Sonic Realm, The Stage Collective at Live Arena, Jitter b2b Shift and Johnny B who kicked off with their respective stage performances. The Spectrum witnessed some big bang performances like Ash Roy hits High Kite, Elemopee, Acid Coctail, Tuhin Mehta who after his leg injury made it to Vh1 Supersonic. Joseph Capriati with his signature songs like ThisThen That, Always Forever, Basic Elements and Enrico Sangiuliano with Moon Rocks and X-Pollination set the music on fire with those stage effects and techno beats. Laboratoire witnessed some star gazing performances especially Grzly Adams, DJ Uri and Rynosax and Raja Kumari’s tracks like Meera, Believe In You, City Slums which did turn on the energy levels at Labortoire. 

The Live Arena played a major bang with some of the band performances like Bombay Bassment known for their hip/hop. The band paid a tribute to their original African routes. The Ska Vengers amazed the audience with a track dedicated specially for people who are Jasoos and also addressed Arnab Goswami in it. There was band Fanculos who unveiled the name of their upcoming track called Gangster TV.

The evening was setting in and people were all in a fit to witness Marshmello’s performance. Marshmello’s opening act was almost similar to that of Major Lazer as both of them had Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai. But Marshmello had no other Bollywood tracks in between, overall his performance had an amazing turn over.

Day 3

It was the last day at Laxmi Lawns but not for the people who had piled up their energy levels. The crowd had charged up to groove to Incubus, Seven Lions, F16s, Pentagram.

Zaeden’s known to surprise his fans, last year he proposed his girlfriend and this year he made his singing debut. Also, Jason Ross unveiled Ocean, a collaborative track with Seven Lions. On the other hand, the Spectrum stage had Dax J, Arjun Vagale, Truncate and Browncoat who charged up audience’s energy levels witnessing a whole-hog of people.

Here comes the major part where the audience seemed to eagerly wait these three days for this megastar to perform, yes, we talk about the headliner of Day 3, Sean Paul. People started filling in really quick to witness the Jamaican rapper. However, all the enthusiasm dropped in no time as his arrangement of the tracks wasn’t great. 

“We thought he would start up with Temperature or one of his apt tracks,” remarked a few. There were also talks about his wear, which did not go well with the phrase ‘Orange is the new black’. While amongst all the odds he did win hearts of many. 

With phenomenal line-ups and performances, there were mind-blowing stage effects like smoke puffs, flames and multi-colour lights. The Sonic Realm stage gave a 'Disneyland feel', also there were people wearing Marshmello head gears posing and dancing just the way he does.

Apart from these incredible performances there were many hang-out places, Budweiser’s beer garden to chill with some beer and Reggae music. There were many activity zones, food trucks, happy hours, a women’s bar and rejuvenating foot massages at the ‘De-Stress Tent’. The major highlight amongst the diverse cuisine were the Chicken Seekh Kababs, Burgetron, Biryani, Shawarma’s and Chaat. While there was a slight disappointment when it came to basic hygiene, the washrooms weren’t maintained.

Security at the fest chalked themselves up the second and third day, also there was a team of women guards at the festival.  Tuck shops to provide you with a few basic essentials like footwear, wet-wipes and other necessities.

To sum up, the festival turned out to be a perfect musical getaway with all those power pack performances which did make space in our hearts forever. Also, a big ‘Thank You’ to the organizers, crew and the PR team who brought out the best for us and made Vh1 Supersonic 2018 an ‘unforgettable one’.