American prog metal band Cynic and Ukrainian metallers Jinjer take top billing at Bangalore Open Air 2025. Photos: Press (Cynic), Lina Glasir (Jinjer)
The upcoming 11th edition of metal festival Bangalore Open Air will be headlined by Ukrainian metallers Jinjer, plus a long-awaited set by American prog rock/metal band Cynic, Swedish blackened death metal band Necrophobic and more on Feb. 8, 2025 in Bengaluru.
The lineup is completed by synthwave act Midnight Danger, Greek thrash metallers Suicidal Angels, the return of Mumbai extreme metallers Demonic Resurrection, Bengaluru’s very own seasoned metal act Inner Sanctum, Pune thrash metallers Kasck (on the back of representing the Indian subcontinent at Wacken Open Air 2024 earlier this year) and Hyderabad rock act Peekay.
When the 10th edition of Bangalore Open Air earlier this year scaled up to a two-day edition, founder Salman U. Syed had announced the 2025 dates across two days as well, but has opted to scale it down to a single day. He said in a post on Facebook in October, “For 2025, Bangalore Open Air will return to a single-day festival format, embracing our roots and focusing on delivering the best experience in a more sustainable way.”
Tickets for Bangalore Open Air – taking place at Royal Orchid Resort and Convention Centre in Yelahanka – are priced at ₹3,999 per person, with a “Powerslave Experience” ticket giving access to an elevated platform selling for ₹9,999. Several packages are available for groups as well as inclusive of accommodation and travel.
Jinjer will arrive to perform at Bangalore Open Air just as their album Duél releases on Feb. 7, 2025. It follows their 2021 album Wallflowers. Formed in 2009, the band has earned fame for their distinctive blend of prog, death metal, nu-metal and post-hardcore with songs like “Pisces,” “Vortex” and “Teacher, Teacher!”
The festival marks the India debut for all the international bands, although Cynic – led by Paul Masvidal – were in Goa in 2010 to headline an event called Indian Music Conference. Due to visa issues, only half the band behind seminal, boundary-pushing albums like 1993’s Focus, made it. Cynic’s guitarist Tymon Kruidenier told What’s The Scene?, “When Robin [Zielhorst, bassist] and I did make it to Goa, we agreed to do a stripped down, spacey improvisation instead of our performance with Cynic. We prepared some really cool sounding ideas but the entire festival part of IMC got canceled.”
