Bangalore Open Air (BOA) is

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's only dedicated Heavy metal open air music festival which takes place yearly in

Bangalore, India Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. The 8th edition of the festival in collaboration with

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...

took place in February 2019. In the past the festival has also hosted The Wacken Metal Battle's Indian leg—with the winning band getting an opportunity to play at Wacken Open Air in Germany. India is the 27th Country to participate in the W:O:A Metal Battle since 2011. In its latest edition (2019) the festival expanded the hosting of The Wacken Metal Battle to other

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

countries namely:

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in addition to

Lineups

2012

The First Edition of the festival took place on 16 June 2012. It was headlined by German thrash metal band

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédér ...

2013

The Second Edition of the festival took place at Jayamahal Palace on 6 July 2013 and involved bands and artistes from eclectic genres of Heavy Metal. It was headlined by American metal band

Iced Earth Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band formed in Tampa, Florida and currently based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer ...

and Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity. The event took place at Jayamahal Palace on 6 July 2013. IcedEarth BOA 2013

2014

The Third Edition of the festival took place on 13 September 2014 and was headlined by

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kind ...

and

Rotting Christ Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creati ...

. For the first time in the history of Heavy Metal Music the concept of crowd funding was adopted to fund a percentage of the festival. The 4th Edition of the Wacken Open Air Metal Battle, India presented by Bangalore Open Air was held from 19 April to 27 April. The prelims of the competition were held in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Guwahati & Kolkata. Destruction boa 2014

2015

The 4th Edition of the festival now renamed

G-Shock The G-Shock is a line of watches manufactured by the Japanese electronics company Casio, designed to resist mechanical stress, shock and vibration. G-Shock is an abbreviation for ''Gravitational Shock''. The watches in the G-Shock line are desi ...

Bangalore Open Air was held on 6 June 2015. Belphegor at BOA

2016

The 5th Edition of the festival was held on 9 July 2016 at Royal Orchid Resorts,

Yelahanka Yelahanka is now a suburb of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka and one of the zones of BBMP. It is the oldest part of present Municipal Bengaluru (Bangalore) city and is in the north of the city. It is Nadaprabhu Kempegowda I, of the Yelaha ...

, Bangalore.

2017

The 6th and most successful edition of G-Shock Bangalore Open Air was held on 1 July 2017 at Royal Orchid Resorts,

, Bangalore( the third consecutive time at the same location.) The lineup consisted of bands from the sub genres of:

Death Metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

Thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

, and

Speed Metal Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It ...

2018

The 7th anniversary edition of G-Shock Bangalore Open Air was held on 7 July 2018 at Aadya Farms and Leisure Resorts,

, Bangalore. This edition marked the maiden show of American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

titans Overkill in India along with American

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band Immolation and French

post metal Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way simil ...

band

Alcest Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band membe ...

, who brought their unique

blackgaze Blackgaze is a fusion genre combining elements of black metal and shoegaze. The word is a blend of the names of the two genres, described by ''The Guardian'' as "the buzz term for a new school of bands taking black metal out of the shadows a ...

sound to India after attempting do so since 2013. Overkill at BOA 2018

2019

The 8th edition of G-Shock Bangalore Open Air held on 9 February 2019 at Aadya Farms and Leisure Resorts,

, Bangalore. Headlining acts include:

Black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

giants

Abbath Olve Eikemo (born 27 June 1973), better known by his stage name Abbath Doom Occulta or simply Abbath, is a Norwegian musician best known as a founding member of the black metal band Immortal. Before founding Immortal, Abbath performed with Old ...

and New York

Technical death metal Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Techni ...

outfit

Suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

. On the day of the event the 4 winners of the regional editions of Wacken Metal Battle 2019 from the

countries: Krur (

), Mass Damnation (

), Trainwreck (

), Nephele (

) compete to play for a coveted slot at the

metal battle in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

2020

The 9th edition of Bangalore Open Air was scheduled for 21 March 2020. The organizers announced a new venue: Ramada by Wyndham in Yelahanka, a four star resort in Bangalore.

References

{{reflist Heavy metal festivals in India Rock festivals in India Culture of Bangalore