Big Rock Day on December 1

Rock music in Bangladesh has had a formidable foothold in the music scene of the country for about three decades, with a dedicated fandom in the youth demographic. While the top bands have a busy schedule of live shows throughout the year, full-blast rock concerts have become kind of a rarity in recent years. Blues Communications is looking to change that, giving the rock-loving audience of Dhaka a concert featuring the who's who of Bangladeshi rock music, with prospects that it could become a regular and frequent event.

The concert, titled 'Big Rock Day', will be held on December 1 at the International Convention City Bashundhara, and feature a dream lineup. Representing the vintage 80s brand of hard rock in Warfaze to the resurgent '90s outfit Vikings, the early and mid-2000s powerhouses Artcell, Arbovirus and Nemesis, to the more recent alt-rock sound of Shunno and two of the biggest heavy metal groups to emerge from the Bangladeshi underground rock scene, Powersurge and Mechanix -- the lineup has no weak links.

The organisers are also putting all their weight behind the show to make it a special one. “We have not done anything with our local bands until now, so we thought to do something with them, and also for the younger audience,” Farhadul Islam, CEO of Blues Communications told The Daily Star. “We are doing something exciting with the stage and overall arrangement, and I can tell you this will be the loudest concert in terms of volume with the logistics that I have.”

The tickets are priced at a measly 200 taka as well, so that it's not a financial barrier to anyone wanting to attend, and response for tickets has been good so far. “We have had a very positive response regarding the tickets, and if we can pull this off successfully, our plan is to do three such concerts every year,” Farhadul Islam added.

George Lincoln D'Costa, front-man of Artcell, said it's exciting for rock musicians to perform at such a concert. “These types of concerts should happen more; it's always a great feeling to be playing music for our fans.” He also hinted that the band may debut some new music at the concert.

Tickets for the concert are available online at JeteChao, and a number of restaurants across the city.