Team Radio City Freedom

Back in 1986 two of the biggest rock bands of the country Rock Machine (now known as Indus Creed) and Mirage were supposed to perform at Malhaar, the annual cultural festival of St Xaviers College, Mumbai. A few days before their performance, the bands were told that the management of the institution didnt approve of their music and their gigs got cancelled. Invariably the youth staged an uproar. Amongst the protestors was Farhad Wadia, a rock music fan along with the students and a few rock bands from Mumbai organised a concert at Rang Bhavan. This became the first edition of the Independence Rock, a festival that gave music lovers the best of rock music for 28 years with the last edition being held in 2013. Fun Fact- Dubbed as the "Woodstock of India", the festival was included in MTV Iggy's list of 'Top 10 Music Festivals Around the World to Check Out in 2010.

This year Independence Rock to be held on November 5 and 6 has got a new home, the more fancier Bayview lawns in Mazgaon, Mumbai. The lineup for this years I Rock include some of the biggest names in rock music in the country. Here we list the 5 oldest bands to be performing at the festival

Indus Creed

Formed in 1984 as Rock Machine, the rock band from Mumbai is the oldest band at this years I Rock. In its 2014 listing of 25 Greatest Indian Rock Songs of the last 25 Years, Rolling Stone India featured the band's songs Top of the Rock and Pretty Child. Along with the founding members Uday Benegal, Zubin Balaporia and Mahesh Tinaikar the current line up of the band feature Jai Row Kavi, Krishna Jhaveri and Gaurav Gupta.

Parikrama

Formed in 1991, Parikrama is considered as one of the biggest rock acts of Asia. Having toured internationally with Iron Maiden in 2007, they performed at the mecca of rock music, Download Festival. The band was dealt a huge shock in 2021, just a few days before the band turned 30 when Sonam Sherpa the band's guitarist and a founding member died near Darjeeling. The present line up consists of Brothers Subir and Nitin Malik, Saurabh Choudhary, Gaurav Balani and Srijan Mahajan,

Pentagram

Pentagram was formed in 1994 by Vishal Dadlani, Clyde D'Souza, Randolph Correia, Papal Mane and Siraz Bhattacharya playing rock/alt rock music. With time the band drifted into a more electronica soundscape. Presently the band is a quartet with Clyde D'Souza leaving the band in 2002.

Zero

The Mumbai based band formed in the late 90s is considered to be one of the most popular rock acts from the country. The band is comprised of Rajeev Talwar, Sidd Coutto, Girish 'Bobby' Talwar and Warren Mendonsa. The band played their last gig on the Independence Rock stage in 2008 but subsequently got together and plays annual gigs most notably at the NH7 Weekender.

Avial

Formed in 2003 Avial is the frontrunner in the "Malyalam alt rock" space, transcending linguistic boundaries and emerging as a favourite amongst rock music fans in the country. The present line up of the band include Rex Vijayan, Tony John, Mithun Puthanveetil and Binny Isaac.