They’re supposed to be celebrations of music and love. But ever since they started going head-to-head in an attempt to become the prime attraction of Goa’s party season, Sunburn and Supersonic – India’s most popular electronic dance music festivals – have waged a rivalry that has become the stuff of local legend.
Since 2013, the end-of-the-year EDM events have been accompanied by allegations that corrupt politicians have kept permissions dangling until the last minute and about the police being persuaded to cut the sound at the behest of rivals when it goes over the prescribed decibel levels.
To those removed from the EDM world, some of the rumours could seem downright comical. Writers on online music portals have joined the chorus, echoing complaints of long queues at one festival or the other, nepotism in involving sons, wives and brothers as DJs, domestic talent being treated badly compared to the overseas musicians, tacky stages and sound outages. In 2013, Sunburn accused its rival of Powerpoint presentation theft and replication.
This year, with both festivals scheduled to run between December 27 and 30, the clamour has erupted again. As Sunburn spruces up its venue at Vagator plateau and Supersonic tests its speakers at Candolim beach, objections have emerged once again.
Local objections
Earlier this year, Nationalist Congress Party leader Trajano D’Mello went to court, pointing to unpaid dues by both festivals towards security arrangements, the death of two women at the festivals in 2010 and 2014, and accusations of drug use. The court earlier this month ordered the state government to recover the dues and increase security checks at the venue. Said D’Mello,“Of what use are the festivals if a private citizen has to go to court to get them to collect dues to the state?”
Some of the state’s hoteliers aren’t very happy either. They would prefer the two festivals – which attract an estimated audience of 200,000 between them – to be held at different times to serve the economy better and to ensure that the state’s narrow streets aren’t overwhelmed by traffic. The Goa government, they say, seems to have ignored the fact that this has been recommended by the committee it appoints each year to issue permission for such events.
“What is going on, that the special committee every year says the festivals should not be held, police say two simultaneous festivals are a security and traffic hazard and yet the minister overrules the committee and permissions are given at the last minute?” said D’Mello.
The controversies have been brewing since 2013, when MTV host Nikhil Chinapa, the face of Sunburn since it had started in 2007, parted ways with festival founder Shailendra Singh of a firm called Percept Live. Chinapa then joined hands with Live Viacom 18 to put together a competing festival. Supersonic chose the same venue and the same dates as Sunburn and were after fans of the same genre of music.
Since then, the competition between Sunburn and Supersonic has made for some bizarre political antics in Goa. Much before the fans arrive, the reverberations are felt in the corridors of the tourism department and the state government, where a single-window clearance committee oversees events that require permissions from multiple state agencies.
Turf war
In 2013, the rivals fought a bitter battle for the venue – a 74,000 sq mt beach-front property in Candolim that was the Sunburn trademark. The owners of the property switched loyalties and leased it out to the new entrants, triggering court complaints of agreement violations and counter allegations of non-payments. In the end, Sunburn was left to find a new venue. It departed for a spot on Vagator plateau, 11 kms away.
On the face of it, Sunburn had suffered a blow by being bumped off the state’s hottest party spot. But it used the larger 500,000-sq-mt venue in Vagator to scale up its act. The organisers jumped up from three to seven stages, using the additional space to introduce other elements such as bungee jumping, artist and fan villages and food courts to create a carnival atmosphere.
But it came with a price. Sunburn was alleged to have told a former minister that it had to pay bribes in order to obtain permissions for the 2012 event. This irked Manohar Parrikar, who was chief minister at the time. He called for further discussion on the matter, arguing that Sunburn was causing traffic snarls and was tainted by accusations of participants consuming drugs. Parrikar demanded an apology from the organisers of Sunburn for alleging that they had to pay bribes to get permissions for the event.
Around the same time, the opposition parties got into the act, accusing the state government of corruption. As a result, Sunburn filed a Rs 50 crore defamation case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Trajano D’Mello, the man who has taken both festivals to court earlier this year regarding their unpaid dues.
Scaling up
In 2014, in a coup of sorts, Sunburn got permission to continue for a fourth day. It was thrown open to local fans who routinely find themselves kept out of the party happening on their doorsteps because of steep prices – Rs 11,000 for a season pass and Rs 4,000 for a day pass. Local representatives were given passes to distribute to their constituents.
This year, Sunburn is promising its biggest festival yet, with “120-plus artists, 248 hours of on-stage music, 40 experience zones, volleyball, hot air balloon and helicopter rides, zorbing, a flea market, a ferris wheel”. It claims that fans from over 50 countries have already booked tickets to dance to acts like David Guetta, Martin Garrix, DJs Dimitri Viegas & Like Mike, Kygo, Aly & Fila and Bassjackers.
On Saturday, Sunburn organisers put out an ecstatic press release after it managed to get the Goa Tourism Development Corporation, a government body, on board as its strategic partner. With that partnership cemented, Sunburn has stolen a march over rival Supersonic for this year at least.
But Supersonic organisers don’t seem unduly perturbed. Live Viacom 18 Business Head Jaideep Singh said that the competition will benefit both festivals. “It is an evolving space and the market in India is huge,” he said. “The category only grows when you have competition.”
Competitive spirit
According to DJ Aneesh Gera, who worked for Sunburn before switching over to Supersonic, each festival seems to be focusing on different genres, catering to separate music followers and bringing in more variety for fans.
“While one is focussed on the techno genre, and going more mainstream, the other is going more niche, getting in a deep house artist from the UK to headline,” he explained.
This year, Supersonic is positioning itself as a more accessible, fun festival that is safe for women. It is claims to be building domestic talent with DJ contests, and has 15 Goan DJs on its roster. The headlining acts include former Swedish House Mafia star DJ Axwell, English music duo Disclosure, American artist Deoro and Canadian duo Zeds Dead and DJ Zedd.
Jaideep Singh said that Supersonic is focussed on top quality production, bringing new artists for fans “to keep opening up new genres of music”, have diverse genres on stage, and involve the domestic community to “keep the festival unique”.
Ultimately, Gera said, fans tend to split their time between the festivals. He said, “Having two festivals simultaneously favours the fans.”
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Since 2013, the end-of-the-year EDM events have been accompanied by allegations that corrupt politicians have kept permissions dangling until the last minute and about the police being persuaded to cut the sound at the behest of rivals when it goes over the prescribed decibel levels.
To those removed from the EDM world, some of the rumours could seem downright comical. Writers on online music portals have joined the chorus, echoing complaints of long queues at one festival or the other, nepotism in involving sons, wives and brothers as DJs, domestic talent being treated badly compared to the overseas musicians, tacky stages and sound outages. In 2013, Sunburn accused its rival of Powerpoint presentation theft and replication.
This year, with both festivals scheduled to run between December 27 and 30, the clamour has erupted again. As Sunburn spruces up its venue at Vagator plateau and Supersonic tests its speakers at Candolim beach, objections have emerged once again.
Local objections
Earlier this year, Nationalist Congress Party leader Trajano D’Mello went to court, pointing to unpaid dues by both festivals towards security arrangements, the death of two women at the festivals in 2010 and 2014, and accusations of drug use. The court earlier this month ordered the state government to recover the dues and increase security checks at the venue. Said D’Mello,“Of what use are the festivals if a private citizen has to go to court to get them to collect dues to the state?”
Some of the state’s hoteliers aren’t very happy either. They would prefer the two festivals – which attract an estimated audience of 200,000 between them – to be held at different times to serve the economy better and to ensure that the state’s narrow streets aren’t overwhelmed by traffic. The Goa government, they say, seems to have ignored the fact that this has been recommended by the committee it appoints each year to issue permission for such events.
“What is going on, that the special committee every year says the festivals should not be held, police say two simultaneous festivals are a security and traffic hazard and yet the minister overrules the committee and permissions are given at the last minute?” said D’Mello.
The controversies have been brewing since 2013, when MTV host Nikhil Chinapa, the face of Sunburn since it had started in 2007, parted ways with festival founder Shailendra Singh of a firm called Percept Live. Chinapa then joined hands with Live Viacom 18 to put together a competing festival. Supersonic chose the same venue and the same dates as Sunburn and were after fans of the same genre of music.
Since then, the competition between Sunburn and Supersonic has made for some bizarre political antics in Goa. Much before the fans arrive, the reverberations are felt in the corridors of the tourism department and the state government, where a single-window clearance committee oversees events that require permissions from multiple state agencies.
Turf war
In 2013, the rivals fought a bitter battle for the venue – a 74,000 sq mt beach-front property in Candolim that was the Sunburn trademark. The owners of the property switched loyalties and leased it out to the new entrants, triggering court complaints of agreement violations and counter allegations of non-payments. In the end, Sunburn was left to find a new venue. It departed for a spot on Vagator plateau, 11 kms away.
On the face of it, Sunburn had suffered a blow by being bumped off the state’s hottest party spot. But it used the larger 500,000-sq-mt venue in Vagator to scale up its act. The organisers jumped up from three to seven stages, using the additional space to introduce other elements such as bungee jumping, artist and fan villages and food courts to create a carnival atmosphere.
But it came with a price. Sunburn was alleged to have told a former minister that it had to pay bribes in order to obtain permissions for the 2012 event. This irked Manohar Parrikar, who was chief minister at the time. He called for further discussion on the matter, arguing that Sunburn was causing traffic snarls and was tainted by accusations of participants consuming drugs. Parrikar demanded an apology from the organisers of Sunburn for alleging that they had to pay bribes to get permissions for the event.
Around the same time, the opposition parties got into the act, accusing the state government of corruption. As a result, Sunburn filed a Rs 50 crore defamation case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Trajano D’Mello, the man who has taken both festivals to court earlier this year regarding their unpaid dues.
Scaling up
In 2014, in a coup of sorts, Sunburn got permission to continue for a fourth day. It was thrown open to local fans who routinely find themselves kept out of the party happening on their doorsteps because of steep prices – Rs 11,000 for a season pass and Rs 4,000 for a day pass. Local representatives were given passes to distribute to their constituents.
This year, Sunburn is promising its biggest festival yet, with “120-plus artists, 248 hours of on-stage music, 40 experience zones, volleyball, hot air balloon and helicopter rides, zorbing, a flea market, a ferris wheel”. It claims that fans from over 50 countries have already booked tickets to dance to acts like David Guetta, Martin Garrix, DJs Dimitri Viegas & Like Mike, Kygo, Aly & Fila and Bassjackers.
On Saturday, Sunburn organisers put out an ecstatic press release after it managed to get the Goa Tourism Development Corporation, a government body, on board as its strategic partner. With that partnership cemented, Sunburn has stolen a march over rival Supersonic for this year at least.
But Supersonic organisers don’t seem unduly perturbed. Live Viacom 18 Business Head Jaideep Singh said that the competition will benefit both festivals. “It is an evolving space and the market in India is huge,” he said. “The category only grows when you have competition.”
Competitive spirit
According to DJ Aneesh Gera, who worked for Sunburn before switching over to Supersonic, each festival seems to be focusing on different genres, catering to separate music followers and bringing in more variety for fans.
“While one is focussed on the techno genre, and going more mainstream, the other is going more niche, getting in a deep house artist from the UK to headline,” he explained.
This year, Supersonic is positioning itself as a more accessible, fun festival that is safe for women. It is claims to be building domestic talent with DJ contests, and has 15 Goan DJs on its roster. The headlining acts include former Swedish House Mafia star DJ Axwell, English music duo Disclosure, American artist Deoro and Canadian duo Zeds Dead and DJ Zedd.
Jaideep Singh said that Supersonic is focussed on top quality production, bringing new artists for fans “to keep opening up new genres of music”, have diverse genres on stage, and involve the domestic community to “keep the festival unique”.
Ultimately, Gera said, fans tend to split their time between the festivals. He said, “Having two festivals simultaneously favours the fans.”