Where Does The Next DJ Booth Pop Up?

Skimming through the electronic music scene in India, you will have noticed the influx of international artists coming to perform and give dance music enthusiasts an experience of a lifetime. Zedd, Martin Garrix, &ME, and Black Coffee have already stamped their presence thus far in 2025.

Parallel to these event economy-boosting arrivals, a vibrant niche is steadily growing that supports the local community of DJs and producers taking their sessions to a variety of locations. In this list, we will go through a few such sessions that have taken place in India.

Mumbai’s Western Railway – Lifeline by Day, Travelling Music Wagon at Night

Music community Crab Culture, whose objective is to “provide a stage for talented artists, regardless of their creative domain whether it’s music, art, or fashion,” has made a train carriage the setting for their DJ set yet again!

The first jaunt at this traveling music session saw DJ Dhiraaj and crew affix a console to a Bandra-bound local train commencing at Borivali. A late-night rail journey of approximately 20 kilometers was livened with a genre-twisting hip-hop set that perfectly complemented the sounds of the city after nightfall.

More recently, Crab Culture revisited and expanded on this route, equipped with production from New York-based underground duo Baalti. The pair raced through 20 stations between Borivali and Churchgate while looping in works from EXCISE DEPT and Punjabi MC, as well as some of their own steamy concoctions, pressed against the rattling motion of the local train. Since its release, the video of this session has amassed over 20K views, and it is perfectly summed up by the positive reaction of one elderly passenger.

Kitchen Rave – Chef’s Kiss and Ravers Delight

You can hardly go wrong with a dance session swathed in waves of house, disco, and melodic techno pulsations, coupled with scrumptious bites; however, aligning the grub and the console beside each other certainly seems to elevate the entire experience to another level. Pioneering this concept in India is Kitchen Rave, which creatively connects culinary arts with the vibrant energy of dance music to produce an entertaining and unique shindig.

While one can raise an eyebrow at hygiene standards owing to its assembly that happens in close proximity to the ravers, this concept has become a sensation among young attendees and online viewers alike, sparking a delightful buzz of excitement and curiosity.

Kitchen Rave has featured DJs and producers such as SAGE, Zokhuma, SimSim, LUNA Kampai, Rasa, and GNDHI, and has also paired with award-winning chef Amninder Sandhu to celebrate the first anniversary of her Bawri outlet in BKC, Mumbai. Chef Ali Akbar Baldiwala from Slink & Bardot offered an insightful glimpse into how food preparation works behind the scenes before the performance.

Sonic Streets

A lengthy stretch of clear road always lies in want of the ideal playlist to serve as the perfect accompaniment for a long journey ahead. Crab Culture once again grabbed this setting and switched things up by loading a DJ booth onto the back of a tractor cart to create a smashing deep house DJ set performed atop a towed trailer.

Sandwiched by clear open spaces on either side and a colorful upgrade from artist Mana Patel, the trailer glides through a road in Surat, Gujarat, beaming with tunes from producer/DJ Shasha Lively. Opening with LIFAFA’s ‘Ek Nagma,’ Shasha Lively ignites this commute with folds of house, deep house, funky house, disco, Nu jazz, and more.

The streets continue to be viewed as a possible avenue for a mobile rave; just look to Suggahunny’s 365K-viewed auto rickshaw party, the two-way techno bus adventure from Delhi to Pushkar in Rajasthan for the Rangrave festival, and an instance of a DnB on a Bike-esque event organized as a branch of the Indian Indie Music Festival in Kovalam, Kerala. Held in 2022, this event saw over 100 cyclists and roller sports enthusiasts trail a DJ who led the group onwards with a deck mounted onto a tricycle-like setup.

Taking away the permissions, overarching licenses, approvals, sponsorships, etc., required, there is evidently a growing potential in steering DJ sets away from the traditional nightclub and festival setups. As the masses are sure to follow, it remains to be seen from the creators, promoters, and artists in which unique setting the next DJ booth will be lodged.

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