{"id":2111723,"date":"2025-10-24T01:22:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T01:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2111723"},"modified":"2025-10-24T01:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T01:22:18","slug":"jam-session-why-a-train-or-a-church-may-be-the-hottest-new-music-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/jam-session-why-a-train-or-a-church-may-be-the-hottest-new-music-venue\/","title":{"rendered":"Jam session: Why a train or a church may be the hottest new music venue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s one thing to walk into an elevator and hear Fatboy Slim. To walk into one and actually see them perform? Gosh, what a ride! Elevator Music, an American digital music platform, got the English musician and DJ to perform a one-hour set at the company\u2019s own private elevator in Chicago last year. We\u2019re guessing that everyone at the company made Right Here, Right Now jokes, so we won\u2019t. But we will tell you that music\u2019s biggest flex at the moment is getting bands and artists to play at unconventional venues.<\/p>\n

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Elevator Music got Fatboy Slim to play a one-hour set at the company\u2019s own private elevator. (YOUTUBE\/@ELEVATORMUSIC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2021, Switchfoot livestreamed themselves performing their hit, Float, while riding a hot-air balloon over San Diego. In India, Crab Culture, a music events and creative agency based in Gujarat, got a DJ to play a hip-hop set on a Mumbai train between Borivali and Bandra in October last year. They also organised a set inside the trailer of a moving tractor.<\/p>\n

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DJ Dhiraaj Doriwala played on the Borivali-Bandra train last year. (INSTAGRAM\/@CRABCULTUREE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor years, DJs made money mainly through performances at nightclubs and other venues,\u201d says Dhiraaj Doriwala, founder of Crab Culture and the DJ who played on the Borivali-Bandra train. \u201cWith digital streams opening up, a video of a session in an abstract location gets me followers and views.\u201d That, in turn, leads to real money once brands get involved. \u201cA portable speaker company might want to integrate its product into the kind of abstract sessions we do, as our audience is their target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Picking the right edgy venue, however, is only the first step. Musicians are slowly finding out that unusual venues come with unusual challenges too.<\/p>\n

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DJ Tanishq, aka Tanishq Audio, made coffee raves popular in India. (INSTAGRAM\/@TANISHQAUDIO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The where is the why <\/b><\/p>\n

Coffee raves sit squarely in the centre of this trend. Young people would rather queue up for a matcha latte than get drunk at a nightclub, anyway. So, when Tanishq Gaikwad, aka Tanishq Audio or DJ Tanishq, saw people grooving to a DJ in the middle of a coffee shop in London last year, he recalls being \u201cblown away by the energy just music and coffee can create\u201d.<\/p>\n

He returned to his hometown, Nagpur, tied up with a local roastery and played a set in December last year. \u201cIt was equally packed and had a similar energy,\u201d he says. \u201cIt convinced me that people want to party and enjoy performances in spaces outside of nightclubs and bars.\u201d The raves were popular enough for District, Zomato\u2019s event and ticketing arm, to team up with him on a 10-city tour of coffee shops earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bengaluru\u2019s Kempegowda International Airport is planning to build a permanent wing for live music, comedy, dance and other performing arts. One space, The Quad by BLR, outside Terminal 1, already hosts performances for fliers and ticketed customers. At T2, two more open-air stages are being built. \u201cBy next year, we will have three stages that can host larger festivals, weekenders, farmers\u2019 markets, and more,\u201d says Hari Marar, the airport\u2019s MD and CEO. \u201cOf course, marquee events and partnerships do create commercial value. But our intent is to make BLR Airport a destination that is as much about connection and community as it is about travel.\u201d So, you needn\u2019t have to catch a flight to catch a gig (though you must be willing to brace Bengaluru traffic).<\/p>\n

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NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk Concert has hosted big names such as Harry Styles. (NPR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stage right<\/b><\/p>\n

To know how to do it well, tune in to NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk Concerts, a video series of live concerts performed by various artists at the desk of music journalist Bob Boilen in Washington, DC. The gigs \u2013 NPR has been doing them since 2008 \u2013 make the most of the intimate space and receive some 45 million views a month.<\/p>\n

In India, gigs have been held inside Delhi\u2019s Tihar Jail (ska band Ska Vengers and the hip-hop group SlumGods performed for inmates there in 2012). We\u2019ve held live music events inside Mehrangarh Fort, by the banks of the Narmada, inside caves in Himachal Pradesh and on the steps of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. There have been candlelit concerts inside Mumbai\u2019s Afghan Church and Goa\u2019s Aguad Port and Jail Complex.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to looking for unlikely venues, we\u2019re just scratching the surface, says Nikhil Chinapa. The DJ and former MTV VJ runs his own music events company, Submerge, and co-founded the Sunburn and VH1 Supersonic music festivals. He\u2019s seen how audiences have responded to music over the last few decades. \u201cThere are spaces in every city that have the potential to be reimagined as art, culture and entertainment hubs,\u201d he says. \u201cThey already have the infrastructure, connectivity, power, water and security.\u201d So, it makes sense to include them into a city\u2019s cultural and social map.<\/p>\n

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DJ Nikhil Chinapa says there are spaces in every city that can be reimagined as music hubs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Change of scene<\/b><\/p>\n

Chinapa is currently trying to integrate DJ sets into sporting events such as pickleball, and is consulting with the Bengaluru Airport. Crab Culture is hoping to organise gigs in skateboarding parks. They\u2019ll likely run up against that old villain in India\u2019s live-music story: Bureaucracy. When Doriwala organised the train gig in Mumbai, he was slapped with a fine for filming on Indian Railways property without permission. Rules for commercial performances at elevators, skate parks and prisons are hazy at best.<\/p>\n

Chinapa says, \u201ca single-window clearance for permissions would go a long way\u201d in making this easier to organise, and the city to earn revenue from too. Gaikwad says he charges less than his usual club fee when he does his coffee shop gigs. And most creative folks are excited about performing somewhere that\u2019s literally out of the box.<\/p>\n

Besides, India has one advantage over Elevator Music. We may not have had a concert inside an elevator yet, but if the Jio World Centre in Mumbai were to slide open the doors of the world\u2019s largest elevator, it could host about 200 people. The lift moves slowly when it\u2019s full \u2013 all the better for performers and audiences to savour an unusual experience.<\/p>\n

From HT Brunch, October 25, 2025 <\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Follow us on www.instagram.com\/htbrunch<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n