Sunburn '10 - Dissected !

                          
After three days of madness, a lot of sunglasses, a lot of shot-glasses, a bunch of fine outfits, psychedelic strobes and lights, heaps of loud music at Candolim Beach, Goa, I'm back in Hyd to rejuvenate.

It has definitely been Sunburn's best year, featuring some top acts and registering numbers of 10,000 + revelers(or should I say ravers). Warming up with the enthusiasts in the afternoon and getting flooded by commercial zombies at night, the artists / DJ's had a packed audience at all times. Great efforts by Percept, Nikhil Chinapa and all the sponsors. Here's my take on it...

As Sunburn gets more popular around the world every year, more people attend it just to update their facebook status to 'Sunburn't', buying VIP tickets thinking they'd be treated like one and just to tell their friends that they experienced it. The fact is, the majority didn't know what they were in for rather didn't know the music. But I'm not judging. There were some stellar sets dished out by less popular folks, the headliners did a normal job, no surprises(except Axwell, more on that later). All in all, definitely happy to have been there.
                        
The early afternoon sessions from 12 PM to 3PM at the Butterfly Bar, saw emerging talents in the scene, some of whom I really enjoyed. Inferno(->VID<-) on day 1 dished out some wacky techno which didn't really please the crowd, but I was digging the sound. Johnny Deep(->VID<-) spun on day 2, got a bit too driving his tech - house set for that time in the day, but got my body moving. He was having a good time up there, really enjoying every track he dropped.

The late afternoon sets started at the Castle stage and the Caterpillar stage(The theme was Alice in Wonderland if you're wondering).  Albin Myers on day 1 was the highlight for me, expected his chunky-bass tunes but didn't play anything of that sort, he just went with the groove, played a funky set with heaps of energy, drove the crowd mad. Sashanti(Alexander Sukhochev)(->VID<-), I saw for the first time and he played just the right stuff for the time, deep tech-house supplemented with live drumming from a friend of his that added a funky tribal touch, good stuff. Riktam & Bansi started at 5:30, finally experienced their set, they churned a 128-129 BPM dark banging progressive house border-lining progressive sound. Sultan & Ned sealed the night with their bouncy happy tech-house set with typical fade outs followed by vocals and the boom of the bass. Nadia Ali joined the crew later. Cheesy-pop stuff I didn't like one bit, but that's just me.
                          
Day 2 saw Anil Chawla & Dale Anderson(->VID<-) bringing out their deep sexy groovy sound that had a few swinging.  Goose bump moment No. 1: when the duo dropped 'Minimalize This'(->VID<-), such a good feel to that around sunset. Jalebee Cartel(->VID<-) were a disappointment, Ash Roy was not hitting the congos or singing, it didn't match their performances in 08' or '09 and I was really looking forward to their set. The night ended with Axwell's(->VID<-) performance. Yeah, performance, that's exactly what it was. I expected him to dish out those typical soulful housey tracks that he's famous for, but no, he really surprised me with his set. Mashing up to 4 different tracks at a time, synth'ish essentially with a rolling bassline and groove every now and then, carefully controlling the energy, and he even faded out the music completely to boost the vibe by cheering the audience. Undoubtedly, the best set at Sunburn.

Day 3 saw big names in the scene. Pearl was up there doing her magic, with Nikhil cheering along side. I didn't dig the set one bit, the bass was way too bombarding for the time so I shifted to Caterpillar stage where Sanjay Dutta was closing. V-Shall followed shortly after that, great job done with the classy tunes he dished out. Goose bump moment No. 2: 'Future Perfect' at sunset, felt so right(->VID<-) ! Hopped again to Castle stage to check out Funkagenda's(->VID<-) opening. Definitely the most random start to a set. There was absolutely no build up. So I went over to check out Paul Van Dyk(->VID<-), who was doing a good job dishing out the likes of 'Time of our Lives' and he managed to fit in some proggy tech towards the end too. Ferry Corsten(->VID<-), the most anticipated act at Sunburn followed soon after with a tech-trance set. I'm not a fan of trance so I fled from there back to the Caterpillar stage to check out Xerox & Illumination (->VID<-) and mind fcuking blowing they were. Essentially progressive psy trance that showcased a lot of sample-heavy tunes. They made sure a track wasn't played for more than a minute, hence blending so many different sounds together coupled with spectacular lights, 2nd best set at Sunburn '10.
                         
Besides the two main stages, there was another one called the Rabbit-Hole, which was an experimental set up for sub-genres like Dubstep, Drum & Bass, Dub Techno, Dub that are emerging in India. I just caught the Reggae Rajahs in action, didn't quite dig the sound, but the vibe was excellent. I didn't attend any of the After Dark sessions, I was way too tired for it, so I missed out on Dave Seaman, John '00 Fleming & GMS. There were so many other artists but I couldn't catch all their sets, that's Sunburn for you, stage hop or stay put and enjoy one set.

Nikhil Chinapa and the entire crew have made a difference by bringing such an event to India. I never looked at it that way, till a friend pointed it out to me. People sitting in different parts of the world watched it streaming over the internet and wished they were there. Just arousing that feeling of curiosity and envy in folks across different countries is an accomplishment. Cheers to a harder, better, stronger SB #2011 !