The (rock) show must go on!

With Iron Maiden, Roger Waters and the Alan Parsons Project on the way, the going has never been so good for rock lovers in India.

Deep Purple was here last month. Roger Waters will be coming next month while Iron Maiden is also scheduled to visit the country in March. The going has never been so good for the clamouring rock music lovers in the country. More acts and concerts are scheduled to be held during 2007. What is it that has made India such a hot destination for artists?

Says Venkat Vardhan, managing director, DNA Networks, "It is not the first time that these artists are performing here and they know how fans will appreciate their music in the country." Venkat is right. This will be the second visit for former Pink Floyd frontman Waters, while Deep Purple had its third visit in December.

It isn't only the big-name artists and bands that are performing. Other groups such as the Alan Parsons Project and Buddy Guy are also set to rock in February. The Alan Parsons Project might not be that popular in the country, but any basketball fan would know that the theme song of the all-conquering Chicago Bulls in the 1990s "Sirius" was composed and rendered by this band.

Corporates too are taking a lot of interest in getting more artists to the country. For instance, the Alan Parsons Project and Buddy Guy will be visiting the country as part of the One Tree Music Festival organised by Johnnie Walker.

Says Asif Adil, managing director, Diageo India, "The brand is international, high-quality and sophisticated, and each of the artists performing at the festival mirror these characteristics."

Apart from Johnnie Walker, sponsors like Hutch, MTV and Pepsi have sponsored these main events. The tickets are priced comparatively low in the range of Rs 500-1,500.

The most awaited concert of the year has to be Roger Waters, who will be playing in Mumbai on February 18, performing The Dark Side of the Moon. But it is not an easy task to organise a concert.

Says Vardhan: "The logistics are quite complex and since it is timebound, all the more accurate planning and execution is required from artiste movement, freight handling, putting up the stage, lights and sound "" providing all elements."

This isn't the only issue. Other aspects such as organising the venue for all the attending audiences have to come together precisely at the same time and managing security is also quite a task.

But why are most of the concerts held in cities like Bangalore and Mumbai and not Delhi? Is it the "free pass" culture that dissuades organisers from hosting concerts in the capital? "I wouldn't say that but the reason for Delhi being left behind is that if people do not buy tickets then concerts are not viable financially," says Vardhan diplomatically.

Other than this, he says that Mumbai and Bangalore have evolved over the years with audience participants and, yes, purchasing tickets to see the shows.

"The bureaucracy in all cities pose various challenges as well," he says, which explains why only a handful or artists like Shaggy, Bryan Adams and Sting have visited Delhi whereas people in Mumbai and Bangalore have had the likes of Mark Knopfler, Sir Elton John and Roger Waters crooning for them.

While the One Tree Festival will have shows in Goa and Delhi along with Mumbai and Bangalore and would see other performers such as jazz artiste Jean Luc Ponty and Walter Trout and the Radicals. Last year it had Uriah Heep and Kool and the Gang performing in the country.

Handling and managing equipment can also be a cumbersome task. A lot of good-quality equipment is now available in India, however the big acts and artists tend to travel with their own stage gear and hence that fabulous presentation.

"Nothing is too cumbersome as we plan well ahead of time to achieve the required scale of presentation," says Vardhan.

For instance, the Waters concert shall be a rocking audio experience of a 360-degree quadraphonic sound system, including gigantic surround sound. The last time he was here the show lasted for over three hours and the concert had luminous psychedelic graphics and all the signature technical effects of a Floyd show. This time too it is expected that the concert will have all the works.

As far as the revenues for live events are concerned, they are generated through sponsorships, ticket sales (wherever applicable) and television and broadcast rights. At present, the Indian market operations roughly earn 70 per cent of revenues from sponsorship and the rest through ticket sales and broadcast rights.

The company spends Rs 1-1.15 crore on promoting an event. Depending on the scale of the event, total investment can range from Rs 50 lakh to as much as Rs 4 crore, sometimes even more.

So for all Floyd fans, be there In the Flesh under the Dark Side of the Moon and be on Time to get Comfortably Numb. As for the rest, get ready to have a rocking year, literally!