Katy Perry's celebratory performances, Dua Lipa's emotional vocals won over Mumbai at OnePlus Music festival

The only complaint from the attendees of the OnePlus Music Festival would be the excruciatingly long distance they had to cover to reach the venue, DY Patil Stadium, way ahead of the main Mumbai city. The afternoon heat was easy to tolerate thanks to opening acts aswekeepsearching and The Local Train. Bollywood playback singer Dhvani Bhanushali also presented her peppy numbers ‘Psycho Saiyaan’, ‘Dilbar’, ‘Leja Re’ and ‘Vaaste’. As sundown approached, on came Amit Trivedi to perform some of his best hits, forcing crowds to wrench themselves away from food stalls and into the arena. [caption id=“attachment_7666541” align=“alignnone” width=“824”] Amit Trivedi at the OnePlus Music Festival[/caption] The music composer interacted with the crowd, warming them up with a fast paced rendition of ‘Nayan Tarse’ from Dev D, ‘Manmaziyan’ from Lootera and dedicated ‘Dariyaa’ from Manmarziyaan to all women out there. He was joined by an entourage of young playback singers, who hyped up the crowd and even encouraged the audience, ranging from bored uncles chaperoning their children to Gucci-clad hypebeasts, to sing along. Baani J was the MC for the night, who jumped onstage to introduce a surprise act, rapper Blacklight, a rising hip-hop artist from the US. The attendees’ patience was wearing thin and so was mine as we all waited for the performance to end. It was finally time. [caption id=“attachment_7666761” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Dua Lipa at the OnePlus Music Festival[/caption] The energy was palpable as Dua Lipa, clad in a co-ords and sneakers, walked up and expressed her excitement to entertain her Indian fans. ‘Blow Your Mind (Mwah)’ was followed by ‘Dreams’ and the chorus of ‘No Lie.’ She was accompanied by a handful of back-up dancers and her band. Lipa gyrated, executed coordinated dance moves and bounced around the stage as she belted out her songs with extreme gusto. Lipa introduced ‘Be the One’,a slow-burner that ends with a bang, as the song she had never performed before but only felt right to play it here. Among the other hits she crooned, ‘Scared to be Lonely’, her collaboration with producer Martin Garrix, elicited a massive roar from the audience. Performing live can be an ordeal for musicians, but not Lipa. Her vocals remained steady, not at all strained by intense physicality of her onstage act. “Keep on dancing, I love you guys,” said Lipa as bid the audience goodbye after her last song, ‘New Rules’. She quickly returned, realising she had time for another track, ‘Thinking About You’, possibly the best, devoid of any instrumentals except the guitar. Lipa displayed the most emotion as she delivered this song in her remarkable, smokey voice. Electronic music producer played his tunes, a temporary respite for the crowd that was growing increasingly impatient for Katy Perry. Dressed in a loud animal print jumpsuit, Perry took on her elaborately decorated stage, something she had teased at an earlier press event. She started with ‘Chained to the Rhythm,’ went on to ‘Dark Horse’, ‘ET,’ an 80s rendition of ‘Bon Appetit’ and ‘Dark Horse.’ The pop star was accompanied by a host of back up dancers in the brightest and most eccentric costumes. Perry’s bright props and side-acts were a great distraction from the fact that her singing voice seems to have a tendency of going off-key. [caption id=“attachment_7667091” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Katy Perry at the OnePlus Music Festival[/caption] The highlights of Perry’s performance were her acoustic take on ‘‘One That Got Away’ and the warm harmonies provided by her back up singers in ‘Teenage Dream.’ “We’re gonna do something we’ve never done before. We’ve gonna sing something we have never sung before,” she said as moved on to her new single ‘Harleys in Hawaii.’ Perry’s performance was more of a celebration, full of glitter, colour and even a pyrotechnic show.