Pune: One of the country’s most popular multi-genre music festivals NH 7 Weekender, returns for its eighth edition in Pune this weekend (Dec 7- 9) at Mahalakshmi Lawns, Nagar Road. The festival began in 2010 in this very city, and has since grown to be one of the country’s most-loved and anticipated musical events.  

The Pune edition of the festival will see performances by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, progressive metal band The Contortionist, Irish post rock act God is an Astronaut, Australian post rock act sleepmakeswaves, multi-instrumentalist FKJ, and electronic act Nightmares on Wax. The legendary Hindustani classical singer Shubha Mudgal will take to stage her hits from the yesteryears. Other performances will include composer duo Salim-Sulaiman, bass phenomenon Mohini Dey, Benny Dayal & Funktuation (led by Benny Dayal), electronic acts Dualist Inquiry, Sandunes and Komorebi and hindustani dance music producer Ritviz. The festival will also see performances by Urdu rock band Parvaaz, Hindi pop band Ankur Tewari & The Ghalat Family, alternative rock act aswekeepsearching, Hindi rock band The Local Train and British punk-jazz group Worldservice Project.

BACARDÍ NH7 Weekender Pune will continue with the exciting new element added to the festival the previous year with performances by India’s top comedians including Zakir Khan, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Ashish Shakya, Kunal Rao, Kaneez Surka, Sapan Verma, Sonali Thakker, Sumaira Shaikh, Sumit Anand, Kavin Jay, Kumar Varun, Navin Noronha, Nishant Suri, Niveditha Prakasam , Prashasti Singh, Aishwarya Mohanraj, Punya Arora, Radhika Vaz, Rahul Dua, Saurav Mehta and Urooj Ashfaq.

Between performances, fans can catch a bite at an array of food stalls, choosing from a wide variety of cuisines. 

Continuing the green initiative the festival successfully launched in Pune last year, Weekender successfully used and deployed a responsible waste management system. The festival’s aim is to ensure minimum waste is generated and the bulk of it is sent for recycling. Fans are urged to follow instructions at the time of disposing waste to aid the efforts of the festival team. Last year, in collaboration with Skrap, the Pune edition of the festival successfully managed to divert 85% of the 10.2 tonnes of waste generated away from landfills by either composting, donating or sending it for recycling and reuse.