Why this weekend’s edition of Go: Madras X is special to both founders and artistes alike

It’s important for partners and co-founders Shiv Gupta, Tuhin Mehta and Hema Sethuraman to celebrate a decade of their flagship electronic music festival, Go: Madras X. The overnighter’s only other long-running contemporary is Goa/Pune’s Sunburn Festival. The major difference is that their event is based in the “conservative” city of Chennai.

“I would say in the early days, one of the challenges was us trying to push quality electronic music, tech-house, techno and psytrance with a great vibe, breaking the general mindset. I think we managed that in the first few years. People in the city have started looking forward to the festival,” says Gupta, adding that like many music festivals, they did take a financial hit and suffered losses a few times over the years. But they remained undeterred. “It’s been a great journey and people now understand what a big milestone it is,” he says.

At the decks

The line-up this weekend, therefore, had to be as special as the milestone. This edition marks the India début for French techno producer Matt Minimal and German electronic duo Hidden Empire, and a return of sorts for Dutch psy-trance act G.M.S., minus their founding member, Joseph Quinteros, who passed away last year after battling cancer. Gupta says of G.M.S., “This is the first tour of India they’re doing after that, so there’s a lot of sentiment attached to bringing them down as well.”

The audience can also expect headline sets by techno artiste DJ Lion and seasoned DJs and producers from India, including Calm Chor, Ash Roy, Hamza & Manu Idhra and Bullzeye. Local favourites such as Blank and Bengaluru-based disco/house producer-DJ Stalvart, will also take to the decks, followed by Mehta and Gupta — who DJs under the moniker Shiva Moon.

Design forward

In addition to the artistes, presentation is key. The Go: Madras team is working with Italian visual arts and video mapping crew DeltaProcess, says Gupta, adding, “There’s usually not many people in India who can do this kind of stage design. We’ve always hired people from Chennai, but this time there’s a combination of visual mapping and LED walls.” Since it’s March and expectedly sunny, there will even be a “major canopy” this year, so that people who come in early can party in the shade.

Go: Madras X takes place at Four Points by Sheraton, Mahabalipuram, today and tomorrow, from noon to 4 am. At ₹3,250 (season ticket) and ₹2,000 (single day ticket) on gomadras.in/tickets. 9962392714