On Tuesday t2 broke the news of legendary Canadian singer Bryan Adams set to perform in Calcutta on December 8 this year at Aquatica. Since then, the city has been abuzz with the news that has excited people across age groups. Earlier Bryan Adams had announced his five-city India tour as a part of his So Happy It Hurts world tour on July 26, and to the disappointment of his fans, it didn’t feature Calcutta. But how did things change and who made it possible? t2 caught up with Rajdeep Chakraborty of Whats in d Name Live, Anshul Chauhan of Rhythmbox and Kinjal Bhattacharya of The Festival — the guys who managed to put Bryan's Calcutta concert as the opening gig of his India Tour.

Bryan Adams

This is huge! Congrats on such an achievement. How did it happen?

Anshul Chauhan: In a city like Calcutta, which has been starved for years, been ignored and neglected for years of international talents of this level, it was a goal for all of us as event organisers, to provide an event that actually brings this entire city together. That was the motivation behind it and yeah, I guess we somehow manifested it, the opportunity came our way and of course, the partnership worked and we aligned it together.

How did you feel after you guys went live with the news? How has the response been?

Rajdeep Chakraborty: It’s just gone crazy because Calcutta was not there when the India tour was announced about 10-12 days back... everyone messaged, I’m not exaggerating... about 120-200 people probably messaged just saying, 'Thank you'. So it just makes you understand how much this meant to people, because you need to understand here we are not talking about just an artiste or a generation... I think even what we call the millennial crowd today, when they go for, let’s assume, a New Year’s Eve party, they listen to Summer of ‘69! It is played without fail. So you can understand the kind of emotions associated here. And for the first time ever something like this has happened to me... the 60-year-old fathers of my friends have contacted me and have started enquiring about ticket prices and stuff like that... it just shows you the entire age group Bryan Adams caters to. It is so varied.
Kinjal Bhattacharya: The feeling is still sinking in!

Rightly so... I think it is also because you have been trying to get Bryan Adams since 2006...

Kinjal: I was a second-year engineering college student, a die-hard Bryan Adams fan. I made one of my friends send out an email to him on April 26, 2006... that was the first time I professionally reached out to Bryan Adams... after a couple of email exchanges I realised that the city does not have any infrastructure to make this show in real life. In 2006, nothing really existed in terms of events... may be apart from one Bangladeshi band and one Pakistani singer. Nothing remotely existed. At that point in time, we were amateur fools. We had no clue how to do it, how much money is required, but we were that bunch of, you know, fans.

So I kept on doing my research about this gentleman and I tried to figure out how he had such an influence... I had even heard a rickshaw puller and taxi driver have Summer of ‘69 as their ringtone! So, from there to here, we made several attempts... in 2017, we were this close to getting him. As in, he had already made out the teaser post that he had uploaded but then deleted later. Calcutta was not yet ready psychologically to make it happen at that point in time. The local ecosystem was not ready. I have been speaking with Rajdeep about this since 2016.

For the first time, three major events companies dealing with rock (The Festival), EDM (Rhythmbox) and Bolly-EDM (Whats in d Name Live) have come together to make an event so big. How did this unison happen?

Anshul: The entire process of Bryan Adams from stage one was initiated by Rajdeep. He got in touch with us. Of course, he (Kinjal) has been putting in the work for years. So obviously it was his baby and Rajdeep also had the offer on the table. I think they spoke and then he got in touch with Rhythmbox and offered us a meeting saying, 'Let’s talk about it'. We heard about it and yeah, one thing led to another. We kind of discussed the pros and the cons of the event, the ins and outs.... then we calculated our commercials and most importantly I realised that it’s a good team, it’s a strong team and we don’t clash in our genres... and the main motivating factor was Calcutta!

But hasn’t there been any clash of ideas, rivalry or clash of egos?

Anshul: Nope. That happens when your market is massive and you’re fighting over the market. Here in Calcutta, the market is not massive so it requires us to come together, and grow the market and maybe someday it will be very big enough where you know we will be able to do our own individual Bryan Adams show and we won’t need each other.

What made you say 'yes' to Bryan Adams? You have a history of getting big EDM artistes like DJ Martin Garrix, DJ Snake, Afrojack...

Anshul: Within the first three minutes of my conversation on the phone with him, I knew that I was joining him and it was only a matter of how to convince my partner (Dhruv Todi).
Rajdeep: It’s very simple you know, the reason I started doing events in Calcutta was very different. In 2016 I was going to Goa to attend a festival in December, where airfares, stay, and ticket prices were sky-high and on that flight, I saw a half of Calcutta travelling, so I thought, why can’t we do something in our own city? That time we had a partner with us on board and of course that person motivated us, did all the hard work to get us the first show (Armin van Buuren)... the majority of it of course is my partner’s credit and after that, further events have been done successfully.

For this, I didn’t put my head into Bryan Adams until the Bryan Adams tour was announced. When I saw that Calcutta was missing out, my whole purpose of starting to do this was for Calcutta. With Calcutta missing it went again to the thought of why every city gets a taste of an artiste but not Calcutta. Everyone who lives in Bengal is so musically inclined and talented. An artiste like him deserves a concert in Calcutta. For example, if you do a Dua Lipa it’s going to be very tricky... but Bryan Adams, being the daddy of music, initially was not coming to Calcutta. And then I got in touch with Davis Cup legend Jaidip Mukerjea who put me through to Mahesh Bhupati who has the rights to the India tour and things followed.

After I got the confirmation from Mahesh, I went to Anshul, and then I called up Kinjal and told him to meet me as I had a surprise for him. I told him that this was from one Bengali to another... because I knew what he had done and tried. 'Here you go, I have the confirmation, we are bringing Bryan Adams to Calcutta!' (smiles)

Kinjal: Yes, that’s true! (smiles)

He is 64 and still going strong. What do you think makes him relevant even now?

Kinjal: He is still coming up with one album after another every two years. Even though he is 64, he is physically much more active than others. His lifestyle is completely different. He is one of the best in portrait photography as well, which is why he is so relevant. Even though he is 64, the kids are also listening to him. His music is also evolving with the generation.

Rajdeep: I think the most important thing is music. Summer of ‘69 released in 1985! His music is soulful, timeless and lyrics-driven. Everyone can connect to his songs. And because of the love the artiste has, it’s more like generations passing it on. Grandfather to father and the father’s child is listening to him, so it goes on...

Anshul: His music will never get old. Generations will come to hear it, and couples getting together and forming new relationships, will be listening to his love songs. They don’t make love songs like that anymore, they don’t make rock music like that anymore. Everything has changed now. So it’s something that’s always going to remain sacred to people. And they have formed their memories with this artiste, which you can’t fight. Memories are something you can’t fight. Nostalgia is something that you can’t fight. So there’s been huge nostalgia value. So I’d say a mix of the nostalgia and the classic timelessness of his music makes him relevant.

What can Calcutta expect on December 8?

Anshul: We are talking about an artiste of this magnitude... there is going to be a production that you have never really seen for a live show. This will be the biggest event in the history of Calcutta.

Rajdeep: 8,000 kgs of usable equipment will be flown in for every show.

Kinjal: They are coming in a 35-50 charter. After this show, Calcutta will always be a part of any national tour that is being planned. You will be at par with any big promoter in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore.

Anshul: Everything is super-sized. From the artiste to the production to the setup to the marketing to the collaborations all across the country to the promoters, it’s all supersized.

What is the tentative footfall that you guys are looking at?

Anshul: About 10,000 to 12,000.

What has been the response to ticket sales on Zomato Live?

Rajdeep: Phenomenal! Tickets got sold via Zomato Live, which one can access via the Zomato app and once you open it, you will find the option below. Our tickets were priced at ₹1,969 (starting price), keeping in mind Summer of ‘69! So, we have three categories, there — silver, gold and platinum at the moment. The tickets went live on Wednesday and in nine minutes we sold out the Early Birds.

Anshul: Then very shortly in due course we will launch the Diamond lounges (VVIP) which will be a standing lounge where you will have your ticket plus alcohol included and you will get an elevated platform view.

That aside, do you have any opening act planned?

Anshul: So Kinjal and I had a discussion where Calcutta being Calcutta, having the rock influence that it has, definitely we want to kind of integrate the local culture of the rock bands here and have a line-up that will open for him.

Kinjal: We will shortlist and give it to his team... whoever they approve will get a chance.

What are you going to do when you meet him?

Anshul: I am going to touch his feet and take blessings of course... he’s had a big influence on my life, and my girlfriends and he has been the background music for a lot of things (grins).

Rajdeep: Just watch him and soak in this aura.

Bryan Adams aside, what’s happening in 2024?

Anshul: In September, we have Alan Walker lined up, who is one of the most popular DJs in the world. And yet to announce a second Sunburn event for the end of November with yet another number one.

Rajdeep: We have Vishal Mishra on September 13 and another massive secret project where we are in talks for, in February next year and hopefully, touchwood, that will also materialise. He is a global artiste... very popular and recently came to India. I am also working very closely with a couple of famous Punjabi singers. One is currently very much trending and another artiste has become a global sensation.

Kinjal: We usually do events every day. Events of all scales for corporates, schools, and colleges. That is our bread and butter. We were trying to get blues and the pop bands. We are in talks with Evanescence. We have an offer from Megadeth...

Lastly, you guys broke the mega news of Bryan Adams performing in Calcutta, exclusively to t2. What makes t2 a favourite?

Rajdeep: I think not only from events, I can speak from an outlet point of view also. Back in the day, I used to own an outlet which was there for eight-nine years. I think there has been no one other than t2 who has covered my outlet. Yes, that’s true. Not a single news channel or anyone has covered it.

Out of that, six years back-to-back we got The Telegraph Food Guide Awards. So, I think it’s a very confident association I have with this brand.

Anshul: I think you and I first connected with our very first concert — Afrojack in 2015 and it was in association with t2 since our first concert. And I know you through that, personally. From then to now, I don’t think we’ve done an event without you. So, like I said, it’s the number one publication in Calcutta, most read, and of course there is that familiarity.

Kinjal: It's been about 18 years of association. Michael Learns to Rock, Infected Mushrooms to Poets of the Fall, t2 has been our natural partner. The reason being, I think t2 takes music more seriously than the other competing publications. My community who are live music fans follow t2 because they get to know about the international music, party scene, Bollywood and local music as well from it.