PUNE: While the first day of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender saw a light line-up, the second day started with a bang. Mumbai Hindi rock band Coshish kicked off the second day of the music festival on the Red Bull Tour Bus. The Bacardi Arena stage and Red Bull Tour Bus, positioned next to each other saw a continuous stream of acts playing one after the other on both stages. Calling Red Bull Tour Bus a stage is probably not right, since it is the only stage that ‘comes' in.

The line-up for that area saw a power-packed series of performances, making up for not being active on the first day of the festival. While Red Bull hosted bands like The Down Troddence and Zygnema, Bacardi Arena featured Providence, Fear Factory and undoubtedly the best act of the day – Skyharbor. It was a great day for metal-heads, with all the bands keeping moshpits, head-banging and chanting of abuses going. Skyharbor, who performed in the country after two years, saw all its band merchandise sold out by the end of the day, including the latest album ‘Guiding Lights' vinyl LP records. While the prog rock band saw an attendance in large numbers, the headliner of the day – Fear Factory had a disappointing attendance. This brought into question why the organisers chose a band like Fear Factory to headline the arena, and not Skyharbor.

The Dewarists stage also saw its share of great performances in the form of American indie pop rock band Motopony and Mumbai based folk rock outfit Neeraj Arya's Kabir Café. Another move by the organisers that was a little unclear was the entry of Bollywood into the line-up. ‘Dev D' famed music composer Amit Trivedi's performance was attended by all kinds of people at the festival – both Bollywood and indie music enthusiasts. While even steering through the crowd was impossible in front of the Dewarists stage, Fear Factory, which was playing at the same time, barely looked like a headliner. Similarly, Mickey McCleary aka The Bartender, was greeted by a cheery audience, dancing to his remixes of old Bollywood songs, proving that NH7 is slowly, somehow, forgetting its initial principle of promoting independent music.

That aside, Thermal and a Quarter and Luke Sital Singh on the MTS Discover stage gave brilliant performances to an audience that was pumped-up to watch Amit Trivedi; which made them a not-so-deserving audience to be treated to good live music. Nucleya, this time under the moniker Duke Nucleya, ended the day with dance electronic music, getting the crowd to dance till their feet hurt.

In comparison to a heavy second day, the third day saw better folk/fusion/classical acts on The Dewarists stage. With big names and legends like Selvaganesh, Raghu Dixit and Indian Ocean performing on the stage that stood for ‘Live True' as its motto, the line-up was a well paid respect to the stage. Throughout the day, the stage had a loyal attendance, the kind that have been following the indie scene for years and love it for what it has become now.

Meanwhile, the MTS Discover stage had one good act- A Mutual Question, the only post rock band from the entire line-up. For a festival that promotes all kinds of genres, post rock has been overlooked in the five years since its inception, which is why the inclusion of A Mutual Question probably made it special and appreciated. Comedy outfit All India Bakchod, who have been working with OML for quite a while now also made their way into the line-up, singing spoofs and mocking singers like Himesh Reshammiya, making them an immediate favourite for attendees.

Reggae Rajahs, who played on the Micromax stage, have been a regular at the NH7 Weekender, and it is perhaps time for the organisers to let them go. Red Bull Tour Bus again saw a variety of decent acts like The Ganesh Talkies, Alo Wala and cover bands Voctronica and Bombay Punk United. Superfuzz and Skrat killed it on the Bacardi Arena, albeit to a smaller audience than expected. UK indie alt rock band Dinosaur Pile-up was tight and edgy and smashed the stage, in spite of being only a three member outfit. However, headliner of the festival - The Vaccines disappointed a lot of festival goers, with pop sounding commercial music. Again, the question of why the band was chosen to be the headliner arises, when the opening act was much better.

In all, this edition of the festival was undoubtedly a success with a vast variety of genres, an almost fitting line-up and an attendance which accounted for 40 thousand people over three days. The next stop for this years' Weekender will be Delhi which will be held on 29-30 November and then go on to host its first ever edition in Shillong, Meghalaya next February.