Last year, in October, there’s a gig that had taken place in Kolkata that had served as a rare instance of a hybrid concert in India, meaning it was staged live for a physical audience and simultaneously streamed digitally so that people at home could catch it too. We had written back then about how the pandemic had necessitated this model since audience numbers were still restricted. It had seemed at the time that it was a viable approach and, as it happens, a concert in Lower Parel last weekend replicated that same idea on a larger scale. Electronic music powerhouses Nucleya and Ritviz performed live at AntiSocial, and the organisers ensured that the big-ticket event was streamed live at all 28 Social outlets across seven cities.

But here’s the question. The pandemic is still not over. So, the necessity for such hybrid gigs remains a reality. Will such hybrid gigs still be feasible when things return to ‘normal’, though? Or will the lure of attending a physical gig trump watching a streamed version to such an extent that both organisers and audience members will let out a yawn at the prospect?