1. To everyone who came from out of town expecting that much-hyped “Bangalore weather”, we’re sorry you had to stand through 35 degrees-plus heat. We could have really used some of that unseasonal rain that nearly sabotaged shows like Emerge ft Alt-J and CultFest with Cannibal Corpse and Suicide Silence. Or not.

2. It’s a shame that the main electronica stage – the Adidas NMD 0101 stage – had the best visuals setup and an incredible sound system, but barely anyone around for top sets by the likes of Sulk Station, Toymob and Scotland duo Happy Meals. Come on, electronica fans, why not make that trek beyond The Humming Tree?

3. Although if you did, you might have been at least a bit put off by the Alienware stage. Sure, there was a cool (literally, thanks to air-conditioners) room by the stage where you play a few rounds of a first person shooter and win coupons (I lost, though), but that’s beside the point. You can’t dance in a small amphitheatre meant for a seated audience, especially when you can probably hear the nearby Harman Live stage. Perhaps a silent disco party stage might have worked better.

4. It was the heavy line-up of Chennai rockers Skrat, Bengaluru sludge band Shepherd and headliners Colour Haze that really took us out to space and back. Shepherd’s trippy set followed by Colour Haze’s even trippier India debut made day one stand out.

5. With so many psychedelic and instrumental bands, Indie March really seemed to be quintessentially Bangalorean – Drones from the Turbine returned after a long gap, and didn’t exactly have the best slot (read: before 5 pm, when people actually turned up), but they had the groove going.

65daysofstatic live at Indie March 2016, Bengaluru. Photo: Anurag Tagat

6. Scottish psychedelic/drone band The Cosmic Dead earned a few haters for their loud, overbearing jams that went well over their slot time, but if you liked mind-expanding music, there was something hypnotic about the sound.

7. Pangea axeman Akshay Rajpurohit is never one to run out of good jokes. And he had probably prepped for it when he introduced the band: “We’re from Bombay, whose weather you are currently experiencing.” The band took most minds off the heat, though, with a solid set that even included a speedy riffed new song called ‘History of You’.

8. When 65daysofstatic got on, you realised they were that perfect blend of electronic music and post-rock who would have impressed anyone, which is the true mark of a headlining band. After sending (at least) a collective hundred of us the chills with ‘Retreat! Retreat!’ the band led us on to dancier material like ‘Piano Fights’.  

9. There was one man who was conspicuously quiet at Indie March – festival organiser Guru Somayaji, who is often seen yelling out “Drum solo!” about a dozen times (on average, if not more) at gigs. There were even stickers/badges bearing his trademark request, so maybe he wanted to see if the trend had finally caught on.

10. One of the best things about the festival was that it was well-populated as the evening wore on, but never crowded. And it was one of the few times you didn’t have to look around and find someone or the other trying to take a selfie. They were there for the music and that’s exactly the kind Indie March should hopefully bring in more of when they come back for their next edition.