No long lines, no costumes, no confetti pop ups, no bright lights, no glitter or dancing, but despite the pandemic that has cancelled live music festivals all over the world, many are finding creative solutions. For one, YouTubers are delighted that they can celebrate the annual YouTube Fanfest in a new format.
While each year the Fest provides fans with the unique opportunity to meet their favorite internet heroes face to face, this year would surely be different as the Fest is set to take centre stage in your living room. The Fest will feature over 150 talented creators and artistes from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, India, alongside some of the top global YouTube stars.
All the way from the US, we have hot favourites Veronica and Vanessa, identical twins who are producers, actresses, musicians, singers, and songwriters. Super talented, the multi instrumentalists are known as the Merrell Twins and have three YouTube channels, so expect a high octane session.
Merrell Twins | pic: YouTube
Remember the Kolaveri Di song that created hysteria when it was released. Yes, the man behind it, film composer Anirudh Ravichander will be participating for the first time. From India you also have Harish Beniwal who is best known for his hilarious brother-sister videos.
Fitness fans would know very well the name Ranveer Allahbadia who documents his personal fitness journey through his YouTube channel. Today, he has two brands to his credit — BeerBiceps and Monk Entertainment. Comedian Be YouNick is happy to be a part of the fest and states, “Our comedy is based on our observations, so it’s very relatable to a lot of our audience. It’s a situation we have all been in or know someone who has been in it. 2020 has been life changing for a lot of us. Even though we cannot meet everyone in the flesh, we will make this fun too.”
Bespectacled rapper Emiway Bantai will drop some cool hip hop tracks for his fans. “The hip hop scene is changing fast and we are seeing some great talent in all parts of India. My songs are inspired from real life, real words, feelings and quirks. I express what I feel, through my songs.”
Ranveer Allahbadia | pic: YouTube
Among the other stars on the tab today include Technical Guruji, Flying Beast, Niharicka Singh who is always the one to take up women's issues on her YouTube channel, Karriku — a fun channel for, by and of the quintessential Malayalis. Expect some tongue twisting moments. There’s also comedy shows from Amit Bhandana, YouNick and Indrani Biswas and the duo from Jordindian who comprise two close friends, Vineeth Kumar and Naser Al Azzeh. The name “Jordindian” has association with their respective ethnic backgrounds; Naser is from Jordan and Vineeth from South India, hence Jordindian. The duo is glad to be a part of Fanfest.
Speaking on their lively content Vineeth states, “The objective was simple, to create high quality sketch content that is relatable, humorous and family-friendly. We also bring on fun music videos that are a culmination of everything Jordindian” On that note you must watch their hilarious video Locked up in the Lockdown.
Don’t miss out on other top notch acts like Alex Wassabi, Matt Steffanina, Mike Chen, among many others, that cater to beauty, cuisine, technology, grooming and lots more.
The show will be live streamed on YouTube’s Fanfest official YouTube Channel today at 2.30 pm.
'From the Island' music festival
Titled ‘From The Island’ has got you holed up for the next three months. The online music festival brings together 12 independent acts based out of Mumbai performing on 12 Sundays, streamed straight to your living room. The festival has been organised by musicians Jehangir Jehangir and Clayton Hogermeer who wanted to do something for the artist’s community. “The lockdown has created a setback for many performers, so we wanted to do something for the artists to get on track and give them an opportunity to go back into the music ,” states Jehangir Jehangir of Island City Studios.
Nikhil D’souza | Pic by Shivam Mendiratta
Jehangir and Hogermeer have pooled in all of their resources to reach out to the musical community. They have also taken care to create a monetary framework in place, which would be financially viable for both artistes and organisers.
So what are the artistes we are looking at watching? You can expect the big names from The Fanculos, Nikhil D’souza, Pentagram, Clayton Hogermeer & The All-Star Band, Ankur Tewari and The Ghalat Family, Raghav Meattle and many more. The performances will be streamed live from Island City Studios with standup comedian Abish Mathews hosting the event.
Jehangir shares that each artist would perform for 45 minutes, with a surprise 10 minutes opening act each day. “It’s not a traditional live gig, but a new experience for audiences; you cannot compete with a live concert.” Tickets are available on Skillboxes.com and range from Rs 399 for a solo gig pass to Rs 2999 for an All Access ticket to all 12 gigs.
Here is the full schedule of the festival:
• October 11, 2020 – Clayton Hogermeer & The All-Star Band
• October 18, 2020 – The Fanculous
• October 25, 2020 – Tejas
• November 1, 2020 – Nikhil D’souza
• November 8, 2020 – Ankur Tewari & The Ghalat Family
• November 15, 2020 – The Colour Compound
• November 22, 2020 – Bombay Brass
• November 29, 2020 – Pentagram
• December 6, 2020 – Nothing Anonymous
• December 13, 2020 – Raghav Meattle
• December 20, 2020 – The Koniac Net
• December 27, 2020 – SURPRISE ACT!
