Even as David Guetta's Hyderabad show will continue undisrupted after the last minute cancellation in Bengaluru, an industry insider laments corruption and red-tapism that surrounds the process of procuring permission.
Close to the heels of David Guetta's show in Bengaluru being cancelled on Thursday over concerns of "law and order", the French DJ-electro music producer's Mumbai gig, scheduled for Friday, fell through last minute. However, late on Friday night, Harindra Singh, Managing Director and Chairman, Percept Limited, the media and communication agency behind the event, announced that the Mumbai show has been rescheduled for Sunday, January 15.
An industry insider connected with the wildly popular Electro Dance Music (EDM) festival Sunburn, revealed on condition of anonymity, "The late shift in venue to JioGarden in Bandra Kurla Complex, was responsible for the debacle". The source, along with tweets from the Cyberabad police's official Twitter account (@cyberabadpolice) confirmed at the time of writing that the show in Hyderabad, Guetta's next stop in a four-city tour, is set to take place on Saturday.
"The process of gaining permission for any large scale event is complex, as the final go-ahead is not granted till the authorities get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the venue, after the entire set has been pitched. In this case, we could not get the NOC from the local police who hold the jurisdiction of the final venue," rued the DNA source.
Bengaluru, on the other hand, was a slightly different story. Our source shared that the law and order situation correlates directly with the Bengaluru 'mass molestation' fiasco on New Year's eve last year. "Whatever the reason, it's money down the drain for the organizers, as Guetta's payment, which runs into crores, is made in advance."
The event franchise has been plagued by controversies since Sunburn was shifted from its parent location of Vagator beach, Goa, to Pune. "Goa was a favourite with the crowd, the shift didn't go down too well with the audience; but the situation was helpless" shared our source. This helplessness, the source confesses, was on account of extreme corruption on part of the Goa police authorities. "It had come to the point where people were happy to cough up money for the police taking bribes outside the venue to gain last minute entry," said the source, adding that local hoodlums in Goa had also added to the chaotic situation. In an immediate contrast, the source admitted to cooperation from Mumbai and Hyderabad police being the highest, while "Delhi and Bengaluru are tricky affairs, the latter "becoming notorious by the day".
The source went on to share that usually, there are no defined rules for the police bandobast, an essential part of the procedure, and organizers are often at the mercy of the authorities". Trouble for the agency right now would be pacifying thousands of Guetta fans whose ire has hit social media since Thursday, and ensuring the rescheduled show takes off without glitches. "Unfortunately, whoever is at fault, at the end of the day, a canned Guetta show means brickbats for the organizers, not the authorities," the source informed.
Ticket prices for the show, subject to demand-based fluctuations, range between an average of Rs 2,500 for the general category and 5,000 for the VIP category. Anupam Ghosh, who was hoping to attend the Bengaluru event, said, "For a city like Bengaluru, where international performances are quite common, this is shocking. Of course, I was upset, as were many others who had high expectations from an event of this scale".
Guetta, who had earlier taken to Twitter to express his disappointment over the Bengaluru cancellation "completely out of (my) control", is yet to react on the succeeding developments.
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