The lineup of India’s first Lollapalooza is out and people have mixed views

When the first edition of the Lollapalooza India was announced back in July, we reported on how musicians and managers had their hopes and apprehensions with the American music fest’s debut. Now, with Lolla’s Indian lineup revealed, the hype doesn’t seem to be as much as expected.

Who will be performing? With a mixed bag of foreign and local artists, the biggest names to dominate the lineup include American rockers Imagine Dragons, Greta Van Fleet, and The Strokes along with Canadian-origin Punjabi rapper/singer AP Dhillon and American DJ and producer Diplo. 

Other big foreign names include American electronic producer ZHU, Korean-American Michelle Zauner’s pop indie band Japanese Breakfast, American alt-pop singer Alec Benjamin, and Hong Kong rapper-singer Jackson Wang. 

The Indian artists include mainstream names such as Prateek Kuhad, Divine, The Yellow Diary, AsWeKeepSearching, The F16s, Kayan, Tejas, Bloodywood, Madboy/Mink among others. 

How are people reacting? It was obvious that not many independent under-the-radar artists could make it to the lineup given the immense pressure on the sponsors for an ambitious fest like this. But even the foreign lineup isn’t enough to attract everyone.

The comments section on Lolla India’s Instagram and Twitter alone would show you several responses that go like “Is this it?”, and “Mid”.

Some of the artists are just too common: The inclusion of regular Indian music fest acts like Prateek Kuhad, DIVINE, and The Yellow Diary are making some on social media to even remark how Lollapalooza just seems like an ordinary college fest in an Indian metropolitan city! With the tickets starting from Rs 8999, some feel the lineup is not worth the price. In fact, many are even selling their advance tickets online!

Diplo also adds to Lolla’s lack of surprise element given that the DJ (who once even stayed in India for the early 2000s) has been regularly touring the country since 2013 either as a standalone artist or with his crew Major Lazer. 

Even Cigarettes After Sex, the dreampop band known for their breakout hit Apocalypse, have performed twice in India in 2017 and 2019 respectively. 

International hip-hop is significantly missing: While Imagine Dragons, Strokes, and Grace Van Fleet would surely have their dedicated fans in a densely-populated country like ours, it is rather surprising that not any foreign hip-hop act was invited (Jackson Wang is an exception but he often mingles between pop and rap).

Just a few weeks ago, Dreamville (J Cole’s record label) alumnus JID was announced as a part of this year’s Pune NH7 Weekender lineup (for November 25-27), a move that came as a pleasant surprise for Indian rap aficionados. In fact, with tickets starting at Rs 2299, Weekender's lineup led by The Lumineers and JID seems to be more cost-friendly. 

Just two days ago, it was also announced that Migos member Offset would be performing in Bengaluru in December as a part of the Steppin Out Music Festival. 

In the wake of such announcements, the lack of a major hip-hop artist is strange. With that being said, Indian rappers are still present with the likes of Mumbai’s heavyweight Divine and Bengauluru-based multi-lingual rapper Siri and T.Ill Apes (the funk/rap project with rapper Hanumankind as one of its members). 

Hope for fans of the debutants: All being said, diehard fans of specific acts in the lineup will still be impressed. For artists such as the frontlining bands Imagine Dragons and Grace Van Fleet, and the electronic duo Kasablanca, the Indian-origin American experimental pop artist Raveena, this would be their first-ever performance in India. 

The two-day fest will be held at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Race Course on January 28th and 29th, 2023. Tickets start at Rs 8,999 and are available on BookMyShow.