The Lahore Music Meet (LMM)’s second edition kicked off in sensational fashion on the first day of the event with music fanatics rallying to the Al Hamra Arts Council to listen to a plethora of bands and performers from all over Pakistan.
The two-day event took place under stringent security measures, with an area sealed off by a heavy police presence, where a long line of eager music lovers awaited security clearance before being let in. There were further pre-entry security checks inside the halls and officials swept through the premise before and after each performance. The area SHO was a constant presence during the event and higher officials also came to inspect the security situation.
This is the second consecutive year for the music meet which brings together a number of underground bands along with nationwide fan favourites for a number of talks and performances.
This year’s event boasted an impressive line-up. Former Junoon singer Ali Azmat spoke in a talk billed as ‘Ali Azmat de naal Gallan’. The talk became the climax for a fascinating few sessions with the two preceding talks involving, Sajjad Ali, Momina Mustehsan, and Umair Jaswal.
While the event undoubtedly had immense star power, the main pull for the audience were the many underground and emerging artists that performed. The LMM is, after all, meant to be a platform for these very artists and bands.
The people lining up in an unexpected turnout were all either musically aware fans or those eager to learn and discover new music.
In a packed hall 2, with people taking seats on the steps of the indoor amphitheatre, Wooly and the Uke, Kashmir, Ehl-e-Rock, Wisdom Salad, Abdullah Sidiqui, Keeray Makoray, Janoobi Khargosh, and Shorbanoor rocked the audience to a frenzied state of psychedelic abandon.
Decked out all in black, Ehl-e-Rock came in to play their songs bordering on metal in a loud hour of madness. Audience members got out of their seats to pack the edges of the stage and head bang. After being sent off to thunderous applause, Wisdom Salad took the stage and rocked the entire room, performing one song before going on to do a number of high intensity instrumentals, bringing down the house as frenzied fans rocked in unison with the band.
The next performance was a fascinating experience. Abdullah Siddiqui, one of the only single performers, came down to play four songs. Siddiqui proved to be a needed break from the high volume, high intensity rock sessions, and played two original electronic songs.
Talking to Pakistan Today after his performance, Siddiqui said that he had performed last year too but that this was by far the better event with a more diverse and appealing line-up. “The good thing about the LMM is that it is an amazing platform for emerging artists like me. I’m usually restricted to Soundcloud and Youtube, but this gives me a wide berth to interact with fans and get tangible response to my music,” he said.
Siddiqui was followed by more rock bands as Keeray Makoray took to the stage and promptly lit it on fire. Their performance was full of banter with the audience as they joked about wanting to tell them a story, but couldn’t as their parents were there. The band exited to a standing ovation before a fan favourite band, Jannobi Khargosh, came out to play. Consisting of only two members, the band was filled up by some of the men from Keeray makoray who showed a deep understanding and awareness of JK’s music and the hastily assembled group went on to play four songs from an upcoming album.
The event will continue today with more performers including Javed basher and Poor Rich boy and is expected to have even higher turnout than Saturday.
