Indus Creed’s Mahesh Tinaikar, Zubin Balaporia and Uday Benegal (from left to right).
It’s been just a week since Swedish rock band Europe have been announced as headliners at Me:Gong Festival in Meghalaya, performing on Nov. 30, 2024. It marks “The Final Countdown” hitmakers’ return to India after 36 years, last performing in Mumbai in 1988.
Whether by coincidence or curation, Europe’s return to India has another thing in common – that they’re sharing the stage with Indian rock veterans Indus Creed (then known as Rock Machine), just like they did at their 1988 show at Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. What’s more, Me:Gong Festival takes place on Nov. 29 and 30, 2024 and Europe’s debut show in India reportedly took place on Nov. 26, 1988, marking their return down to the same week, three decades apart.
Indus Creed’s vocalist and guitarist Uday Bengal tells Rolling Stone India, “The experience from that show was for us to play a stage that size and a venue that large.” Andheri Sports Complex was newly opened — so new that Benegal says many parts of it — including their green room — were still under construction. “It was more rubble than room,” he says with a laugh.
Europe’s 1988 Mumbai show with Rock Machine also brought in Scottish hard rock band Nazareth (who, incidentally, returned to India as well, performing at ShiRock Festival in Manipur in 2019). “We learned how opening acts are treated by Western bands. It was still a great gig, even though we didn’t get paid or get soundcheck time,” Benegal says. He’s not bitter but more bemused in the same way many Indian rock bands of yore have endured a lot in the name of a big platform. Rock Machine were technically opening for Nazareth, who performed before Europe, and it was as part of the PRIDE India concert, organized by education company PRIDE’s general secretary Vipula Kadri. “In Mumbai, we were the go-to band at that point. We were at the early up. She had reached out to us, a very pleasant lady,” Benegal recalls.
If Europe were arriving on the back of releasing The Final Countdown album, Rock Machine were finding fans for their debut album Rock N Roll Renegade, also released in 1988. “We were getting traction at the time in the college circuit a lot, it was very localized,” Benegal says about their band’s status at the time.
Indus Creed became not just the first Indian band to open for a big international act in 1988, but went on to share the stage with the likes of Guns N’ Roses axeman Slash and plenty more.
In an interview with Pune Mirror in 2018, the band’s keyboard player Zubin Balaporia spoke about how opening for Europe changed Indus Creed’s outlook, especially when it came to the rock band aesthetic. “There was no mistaking who the band members were when we saw these tall men with long blonde hair. They made a strong impression and we realized that we can’t go up on stage in our torn jeans and chappals,” Balaporia said.
Benegal says it was more than just that. He recalls Europe and Nazareth both being great performers with a tight set. “Their [Europe’s] sound was really good. It gave us a really good look into that level of professionalism,” he adds.
Europe’s 2024 performance at Me:Gong comes alongside fusion veterans Euphoria, Kerala band Shanka Tribe, Hindi and Punjabi pop artist Gajendra Verma and several local bands from Meghalaya. The Me:Gong lineup is rounded out by folk-fusion and rock band Da Suraka, rock act Haystack Ladies, folk-fusion act Summersalt and more across two days.
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