What happened to Daler Mehndi in Uttarakhand was wrong. Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal walked onto the stage at the Kunjapuri Mela and humiliated the singer for being allegedly drunk.
Even if the allegation was true, a public humiliation was uncalled for. A problem with a performance should go to the organisers or the artist’s team. It should definitely not become a tamasha.
But, the episode has also revived a conversation the industry has not properly addressed. Fans pay huge money for concerts and live music — I am talking ticket prices starting at Rs 8,000 or even more — and often receive an underwhelming experience.
A concert ticket is a promise that artists often fail to deliver. From AP Dhillon to Farhan Akhtar, fans have been handed half-hearted performances. At this point, buying a concert ticket feels like gambling on whether the artist will show up, sing live or simply show up for the pay cheque. Fans aren’t paying for cameo appearances or to get a glimpse of their favourite singer. They pay for the full experience, which they seldom get.
Even if the singer arrives, and on time, they lip-sync. A fan attending AP Dhillon’s Vancouver show said they couldn’t understand why he lip-synced, and felt it robbed fans of the experience of hearing his actual vocals. Jasmine Sandlas drew heavy criticism after her Hyderabad concert in June. Fans said the show was meant to start at 8 pm but she took the stage around 11:20 pm, with no apology or explanation. It was also alleged that there were no live vocals. The same charge had been made against her after an Ahmedabad performance in April, when the organisers were also criticised for poor communication and crowd management. There was also this recent backlash surrounding Farhan Akhtar’s concert, where his voice became unbearably “awful” for some attendees.
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India’s concert culture
Part of the problem is also that India’s concert economy is growing faster than organisers can handle or were prepared for. Organisers are responsible for the infrastructure, scheduling, and communication that make a show possible. Artists and their teams are responsible for the performance they promise. When things go wrong, both sides need to be held accountable instead of leaving fans to absorb the cost and the disappointment.
Price makes all of this worse. Dhillon himself acknowledged that some tickets for his Delhi concert had reached as much as Rs 6 lakh, and joked that he should perform at the house of anyone who paid that.
Fans are not demanding the impossible, because the benchmark is right there. Diljit Dosanjh’s tours sold out almost instantly and stayed in the conversation for months, because audiences felt they got a complete, high-energy show. Sunidhi Chauhan is another example. Her concerts are often celebrated on social media for delivering powerpack performances. Rarely do fans walk out of the show disappointed.
One has to understand that India’s concert culture cannot mature on ticket sales alone. It needs transparent ticketing, realistic start times, competent production, and artists who respect the audience and their time enough to acknowledge when something goes wrong.
Fans are not asking for perfection. They are asking for basic professionalism and a live show to feel worth the money, time, and effort it takes to attend.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)