Majestic venue to come up at Bengaluru in India

Article posted by Coliseum, January 6^th, 2020

Image: Business Traveller / Bengaluru Airport

Of late, international artistes are trying to cozy up to the Indian audience by adding Mumbai or New Delhi to their touring circuit. The cherry on the cake is that Bengaluru is soon going to be the first city in India to boast a world class experiential and entertainment destination. The arena will be taking a leaf out of the book of Madison Square Garden, New York, and the O2 Arena, London. The venue will launch at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru.

The entertainment destination for global and Indian artistes will be tendered out by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and over Rs 100 crore will be expended to build the venue to spread on a land parcel of 6.3 acres.

According to media reports, a consortium of Live Nation Entertainment, Phase 1 Experiences and the Embassy Group will build the arena and it is expected to open its gates in the next 18-20 months.

Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment company, which does over 30,000 annual concerts and owns over 200 venues, including Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, 3 Arena in Dublin and Spark Arena in Auckland, will act as consultant to the consortium on the development of the project. It will monitor both the mobilization part of the venue as well as programing of international artistes.

“We’re pleased to be able to contribute to the establishment of this world-class venue, both in terms of supporting the mobilization and subsequently the programing of international artistes. We look forward to bringing our touring artistes and live events here as soon as the doors open and for years to come,” stated Paul Antonio, President – Asia and Middle East, Live Nation.

The consortium has also engaged the services of music entrepreneur and festival curator Nikhil Chinapa as strategy and communications lead.

Oum Pradutt, founder and MD of Phase 1 Experiences, informed that the consortium is also in talks with strategic players for investments.

“We have been in the business of large-scale events since 1995 and realized the lack of proper infrastructure for live entertainment in India. Our vision is to radically enhance the live experience quotient of the Indian consumer, just like multiplexes transformed the cinematic experience and 5G is about to reshape the digital experience, we aim to take the live entertainment experience to the next level in India,” asserts Pradutt.

He informed that the new venue at the Bengaluru airport will match standards with iconic international concert arenas, and will bring the city on the map for global events.

“This will attract audiences and fans from not just across India, but across South Asia, and establish Bengaluru’s position as a live concert and entertainment capital – globally,” he further asserted.

The arena will be equipped with four experience zones – a supersized dome, which will accommodate about 9,000 fans for concerts and mega events; a separate dome with a capacity to hold 2,000 people for large-scale corporate events; an outdoor space for open-air events; and a year-round contemporary pop-up zone that will reimagine a mixture of social networking, gastronomy, music and culture.

The venue will host multi-genre events including concerts, theatrical extravaganzas, sporting events and mega conferences.

Aditya Virwani, COO, Embassy Group, informed that the international arena at Bengaluru Airport is in keeping with the company’s vision to give back to the city of Bengaluru – “The venue will place the city on the global map as a destination for prestigious events. Embassy’s development expertise in building world-class assets and the synergies of our partnership with BIAL and Phase 1 will bring about an iconic project.”

Rao Munukutla, Chief Real Estate Officer, BIAL, said, “BIAL is pleased to announce the partnership with two market leaders in their respective areas of expertise. This is a significant stepping stone towards making the BLR Airport a hub of entertainment, not just for Bengaluru, but for the entire country.”

Munukutla sums up by saying, “This arena would be a first-of-its-kind to be created at an airport and the first multi-purpose venue in India to host events and other activity. This brings to life a new facet in BIAL’s commitment to offer unparalleled services to passengers and visitors alike.”

Live events and entertainment industry is expected to grow to over Rs 10,000 crore in 2020-21.

Embassy Group is India’s real estate and urban infrastructure developer. Phase 1 Experiences is a large-scale events organization.

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