In 2012, British artiste Fink aka Fin Greenall made his way to India for the first time as a performer, playing every where — from a theatre in Mumbai and the NH7 Weekender festival in Bengaluru, to the erstwhile Blue Frog club in New Delhi.
That is quite a range of spaces for the often-acoustic, intimate folk and indie rock that Fink performs. Plus, Greenall and his band also got to collaborate with the likes of music duo Salim-Sulaiman for the series The Dewarists, for a song titled ‘Let Go’. That explains why Fink says he has “two sets of memories” from India.
Over video call from his current home in Berlin, Fink talks about his first impression, “I got to see real life in India for just a week. But it wasn’t about staying at a fancy hotel and playing a gig. It was just wonderful. I fell in love so hard.”
Since then, Fink and his band have, by his own admission, “been dying to get back” to perform in India, a country he feels not many artistes get to perform in. To that end, Fink and his band’s drummer/guitarist Tim Thornton will be back in India for a tour.
Musician Fink
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Special Arrangement
Fink’s Acoustic Tour’s India leg includes stops in Mumbai on April 3, Bengaluru on April 4 and New Delhi on April 6. In Bengaluru, singer-songwriter L’nee Golay will provide support. Fink says, “I can’t wait to get back now. I feel I’m better and could do a much better job this time.”
He laments that he cannot exactly venture out to try street food in India since he does not want it to affect his performances in any way. He says with a laugh, “You walk around the streets, and you smell that stuff, and you say to yourself, ‘That’s going to be delicious.’”
Fink has been touring North America and Europe from last year and as an acoustic act, bringing the various moods of their albums, including the 2014 breakout album Hard Believer, Resurgam from 2017 and most recently, the 2024 album Beauty In Your Wake.
He says, “We did all of Spain, Portugal, Italy — places where we can do about 500 to 1,000 tickets. We love this because it means we can come to Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, and we’re not going to lose money. We’re not going to make much money, but we’re going to finally play for our Indian fans.”
It has been just over a decade since Hard Believer and songs such as ‘Looking Too Closely’ catapulted them to global fame, and looking back, Fink says, “When you get a little bit of success, the world suddenly becomes rather big.”
Musician Fink
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
In terms of the songs they will play for Indian fans, he says about 80% of their setlist is often fixed and the rest “is a question mark”. He adds, “Somebody might shout out a track, and we will just do it. We’re quite flexible on stage.”
That means everything from ‘This Is The Thing’ to ‘Sort of Revolution’ to more songs off Beauty In Your Wake, including ‘Follow You Down’, ‘One Last Gift’ and more. Compared to his earlier material, Fink says his newer songs run deep. “While ‘What Would You Call Yourself’, is a philosophical question about identity, ‘The Only Thing That Matters’, is about legacy, and a philosophical thought process of who am I and what our legacy is.”
When asked what his next material — to be recorded once he is back from five months of touring through the world this year — might veer towards, Fink smiles and says he has no idea. “But it’s going to be great.”
With one day off before the shows in India kick off in Mumbai and one day before his third and final show in Delhi, he has made enough space in his bags to carry back as much as possible, especially Bollywood soundtracks on vinyl. He adds, “I’m gonna be walking around like such a tourist, saying, ‘Oh, I need that. I want that. That looks nice, that smells nice.’”
Fink India 2025 will play at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined in Koramangala. Tickets from ₹799 on BookMyShow
Published – April 03, 2025 02:18 pm IST
