The burgeoning music festival sector in India has in the past few years focused on building experiential events in places off the beaten track. Neon East Fest, the latest addition to the Indian festival calendar announced this week, switches that trend and instead plugs a visible and specific gap to cater to the urban millennial in Mumbai.

Created and promoted by Third Culture, a Mumbai-based talent management agency and events company, Neon East Fest will be held at Reliance JIO Gardens in the heart of India’s finance capital over the weekend of October 12-13.

Most Recently, Third Culture, hosted the debut India tour of American jazz saxophonist, Kamasi Washington complete with his full 9-piece band.

“If you’re a young person, an urban millennial in Mumbai that enjoys left field, alternative music, there is really no large-scale festival format event for you within the city’s limits, and that’s the fundamental premise behind Neon East Fest,” explains Third Culture founder TejBrar.

“The idea is to book contemporary Western artists that are currently popular, and showcase them to an urban cosmopolitan audience. We know there is a market for these artists here, and we think it’s about time we proactively introduce new sounds to an Indian audience,” he adds, underlying his assertion that the time has come for India to promote itself as an international touring destination.

The two-day festival will focus on alternative electronic music – spanning both live acts and DJs – and will be split across two stages, the JIOSaavn Main Stage and the Jameson Electronic Stage respectively.

The festival has called upon some of the world’s most exciting and sought-after acts for its debut edition. Like 22-year-old Mura Masa, who has in the past three years gone from a Guernsey teenager to a Grammy Award-winning producer, and electronic wizard on the wish list of festivals around the world.

The line-up also includes Swedish synth pop, dance soul act Little Dragon well known for making lush ear worms like ‘Ritual Union’ and ‘Twice’. The Grammy Award-nominated band released their first-ever EP, Lover Chanting on Ninja Tune in 2018.

Leading the charge of DJs is prolific producer Mr Carmack, who has racked up a loyal following across the five continents for his inimitable ‘Carmack’ sound and led him to stages with folks like Hudson Mohawke, Just Blaze, Cashmere Cat, and Diplo.

Giving him company isco-founder and art director behind the Los Angeles-based music and artist collective Soulection – Andre Power, who has often shone a light on many an aspiring artist through his diverse and versatile selections. 

Also travelling to Mumbai will be vocal powerhouse and modern soul singer, Fatima, who will be travelling with her full live band; Australian duo KLLO who fuse elements of R&B, UK Garage and 2-step to make their own unique sound; New York-based producer Photay whose feel-good melodies are accompanied by emotional weight and impressive production chops; Thai born, New Zealand raised singer/songwriter, and also Asia’s newest neo-soul sweetheart, PhumViphurit.

Joining themare Delhi-based electronica producer Lifafa who seamlessly merges different musical identities and has earned a dedicated following since the release of his debut album, Jaago; Mumbai’s DJ and producer Zokhuma; Delhi-based DJ and Boxout.fm co-founder, DJ MoCity; Mumbai-based electronica quartet ApeEchoes; prolific teen producer Chrms, who already has 30 tracks to his name; The F16’s frontman new solo project, JBABE; R&B and jazz outfit Kimochi Youkai and Coven Code’s Pia Collada.

Community online radio Boxout.fm will host a pop-up radio station where artists on the festival line-up will play surprise sets, as well as curate a line-up of DJs that include show hosts.

Like most modern music festivals, there isn’t just music to keep attendees engaged and entertained. Invoking the spirit of Oktoberfest will be the big beer tent put up by Budweiser – called the Budweiser Beer Garden – while art installations by prominent Indian artists like will be dotted across the festival site.

It’s not just music where Neon East Fest has kept a sharp ear to the ground, but also other elements of curation like taking additional preventive safety measures for women in consultation with Delhi-based collective Coven Code, using ecologically sensitive production materials and waste management solutions working in tandem with Skrap.

Tickets for the two-day festival are available upwards of Rs 3,000 on Insider.in and more details can be found on http://neoneastfest.com/.