Since the establishment of TPiMEA back in 2016, our scope has certainly expanded as the live events market in the region grows and matures. The most obvious example of this is Saudi Arabia, but another country that is growing in stature on the international stage is India. While India is of course in South Asia, the country’s live events industry is linked closely with the Middle East. In fact, our previous edition’s cover stars, Coldplay, following their Abu Dhabi performance, paid a visit to India, as the next stop on their world tour.
As well as becoming a common stop-off for artists pre and post Middle East shows, India is also developing its own thriving festival market. This was demonstrated most recently with the successful running of the third annual Lollapalooza India, hosted in Mumbai and featuring more international acts than ever before, including the likes of Green Day, Shawn Mendes, Glass Animals and Louis Tomlinson. The growth of this festival and the greater appeal to larger global artists is an indication of the maturing of this market.
Discussing this trend was Chris Palmer from Rock-it Cargo. Having been at the coalface of moving equipment in and out of India for several years, he has an in-depth knowledge of the changing nature of the country’s live events space. In fact, Rock-it recently announced its growing establishment in the region through a collaboration with Buhariwala Live. Having worked in partnership with Rock-it for over 10 years, the family-run, Mumbai-based business has now rebranded its live touring arm to Rock-it Cargo India.
“Having been in the industry for over 20 years, I’ve worked in India a number of times and I think it’s safe to say there used to be so much trepidation taking an artist into the region,” began Palmer. “Somewhere between the bureaucracy and red tape often made putting on shows difficult.” He continued to express that when he first was pitched the idea of Lollapalooza India, he thought it was going to be tricky.
However, the landscape of India’s events market has altered recently with the adoption of carnets. Acts wishing to travel to India previously had to pay a bond based on the value of their equipment, which might not be released for several months. “It did not make sense to include India as part of a global tour,” stated Palmer, explaining that the government has now added ‘professional equipment’ to the list of things that are able to be accounted for via a carnet.
Speaking specifically on Lollapalooza India, Palmer commented that, “the event was incredibly well organised, they had all the infrastructure in place and by the time we arrived on site, all the equipment was already backstage, in locked trucks in the secure area.” He also commented on how the changing lineup he’d seen over the years was a real indicator of the growth of both the event and the overall region. “In its first year, the line-up was 50:50 between international acts and local performers, whereas this year it weighed far more with US and European performers.”
As for Rock-it’s role in the production, Palmer explained it was very much business as usual for the freight company. “All the kit came in via our agent who had the carnet in hand and the customers cleared all the goods, and they delivered to the festival. In fact, in some ways, it was smoother than other events due to the sheer number of stagehands on site who could aid in unloading trucks and moving flight cases around. It was all pretty flawless.”
Palmer spoke optimistically of the future of the events industry in the region. “It was clear from comments we heard that a lot of the attendees had travelled to the festival and as such were a slightly older demographic than you might find at a Western festival. But there was certainly a big reaction from the fans, which is understandable as both Green Day and Shawn Mendes had never played in India before. The reaction was phenomenal.”
Due to the size of the production, Palmer noted how many international suppliers were brought into the production, including Solotech and Star Live. “This meant that we didn’t see as many local suppliers, but I think this shows that the festival is looking to build something for the future,” he stated. “As the festival builds year on year, I suspect we’ll be brought in to help as the production’s values grow.”
With India’s live events industry continuing to grow and with large equipment stocks in the Middle East, the likes of Rock-it are sure to be kept busy moving equipment between the two regions.
Photos: Rock-it Cargo
