Bengaluru is a city of music, apart from all the beer and wine, and the food, of course. And fortunately, the city is blessed with loads of places that keep hosting live gigs of some sort or the other. blueFROG on Church Street, which is the newest entrant in the venue space, might take some more time to become the go-to place when it comes to live gigs, but it has definitely hosted some of the coolest shows in the past couple of months. From Kutle Khan and Hari & Sukhmani to Swedish DJ John Dahlbäck and Dub Pistols, among others, the stage is always set to welcome musicians who are worth their salt.
BFlat, one of my personal favourites, is a hotspot in Indiranagar when it comes to jazz. With tickets that rarely go beyond Rs.400, the venue hosts musicians from different parts of the country – some seasoned, and some upcoming. It is not exactly a place where you’d go to ‘party’, but if you want quality music, over some beer and bar food, this is the place.
Windmills Craftworks can be quite a drive for most people, given that it is located in Whitefield. However, they are known to bring down some of the most interesting jazz and blues musicians. Their craft beer and burgers seem to be all the more sweet with some decadent music in the background. They’ve hosted: singer and composer Ezio Lunedei and guitarist Mark “Booga” Fowell; ARKA (featuring Selva Ganesh, Karthik, Ravichandra Kulur, Gino Banks, Mishko M’Ba and Santhosh Chandran); clarinet and saxophone player Ken Peplowski; pianist and keyboardist Ehud Asherie; bassist David Wong; and drummer Aaron Kimmel, among others. And their entertainment lists only get better.
Indigo Live in Koramangala was devised to encourage live performances – either by bands or shows by DJs. Not only have they invited international musicians, but they also tend to promote a lot of local talent.
The Humming Tree, again in Indiranagar, is fast becoming a popular place to catch interesting gigs. In fact, the venue pays a lot of attention to music. Their recent show by Mounawar and Vasundhara Vee was quite a hit. Incidentally, theatre finds room in this lovely lounge bar and restaurant as well.
Destination by Salt, which was earlier known as CounterCulture, came back with a bang with some interesting shows, including Agam and Kutle Khan. And they have decent pizzas to go with the music.
And then there is our good old Hard Rock Cafe, which adds a lot of bang to our Thursdays with their gigs. From gigs by international bands, to surprise shows by national bands and even local rock stars – they’ve been giving the city live music for a while now, and we’re pleased as punch.
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Written By
Priyadarshini is an independent journalist from Bengaluru whose life pretty much revolves around food, good music, literature, and cinema. She’s worked with different publications over the past 10 years, and has written about travel, theatre, films, books, music, food and lots of food! She’s travelled wherever her feet and budget would allow, discovering cultures through local palates and social behaviour, and in an ideal world would probably resort to using food and music to resolve any dispute.
