British rock band Coldplay performs at International Citizen India at MMRDA Floor, BKC on Nov. 19, 2016 in Mumbai, India.
Hindustan Instances / Contributor
Tanvi Shirgaonkar is counting all the way down to Jan. 24, when she is going to lastly get to see the Japanese artist Fujii Kaze, finest recognized for the music “Shinunoga E-Wa,” carry out in Mumbai at Lollapalooza India.
The 29-year-old banking skilled stated the present would be the first of many live shows and stay occasions she plans to “expertise” this yr. An avid fan of South Korean pop group BTS, Shirgaonkar attends a stay occasion roughly each two months, principally in Mumbai, and travels abroad not less than every year to see her favourite artists carry out.
“Stay leisure affords an expertise of collective effervescence and it is nice for social media clout,” the millennial instructed CNBC.
Shirgaonkar is amongst a rising tribe of younger Indians, whose rising disposable incomes are fueling a increase within the nation’s stay leisure trade.
Folks attend the Lollapalooza India music pageant in Mumbai on Jan. 28, 2023.
Punit Paranjpe | Afp | Getty Pictures
Between 2024 and 2030, India may have the highest improve in working-age inhabitants globally, with over 100 million folks anticipated to be added, based on a April 2025 report by Bain & Firm.
India’s working-age inhabitants, outlined as these aged 15 to 59, at present accounts for 64.2% of the entire inhabitants and is anticipated to stay close to 65% over the subsequent decade, based on authorities knowledge.
Revenue per capita can also be projected to develop the quickest among the many high 5 rising markets, together with China, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia.
That demographic shift is supporting stronger demand for stay leisure.
Firms, together with Everlasting, which operates the stay occasions platform District, and well-liked on-line ticketing platform BookMyShow, are amongst these betting on the pattern.
India’s stay leisure sector grew by 17% final yr, based on a report by BookMyShow. In 2025 alone, India hosted 34,086 stay occasions, spanning live shows, theatre exhibits and comedy exhibits.
Rapper DaBaby performs within the crowd at Loud Park on Nov. 22, 2025 in Navi Mumbai, India.
Matt Jelonek | Getty Pictures Leisure | Getty Pictures
A number of giant worldwide excursions helped drive the surge. These included Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour in Ahmedabad and Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus tour, which concluded in India with exhibits in New Delhi and Mumbai.
“Seventy % of the stay occasion attendees are below 35 years of age and 52% are below 30,” stated Raghav Anand, accomplice and chief for digital, media and convergence at EY Parthenon, a consultancy.
Anand stated the Coldplay live shows marked a turning level for the sector in India, demonstrating the size of demand and the nation’s skill to host world productions.
“The amplification of the [Coldplay] occasion gained over an enormous variety of folks within the experiences bracket, stated Anand.
Worldwide artists are more and more including a number of Indian cities to their tour schedules, aided by digital platforms that make their work extra accessible to fan bases throughout the nation.
Affluence fuels demand
A key driver of the surge in stay occasions is the rising variety of prosperous households, that are giving shoppers extra disposable revenue to spend on experiences, trade specialists stated.
“As soon as you might be prosperous, it’s about new experiences”, stated Anand.
Naman Pugalia, Chief Enterprise Officer at BookMyShow, described the rise in stay occasions as a “actual renaissance,” pushed by audiences inserting larger worth on how they spend their leisure time.
That shift is mirrored in rising demand for premium choices. In line with the BookMyShow report, 2025 noticed a doubling of footfall for premium live-event experiences, together with VIP pits, viewing decks and enhanced hospitality zones.
A common view at Lollapalooza India 2025 on March 8, 2025 in Mumbai, India.
Matt Jelonek | Getty Pictures Leisure | Getty Pictures
The shift shouldn’t be confined to main metropolitan areas. Smaller cities are seeing speedy development, which Pugalia attributed to the more and more fluid nature of fandom throughout the nation.
“Fandom is such a robust drive that it is aware of actually no definitions of tiers or metros, non-metro,” he stated, noting that demand is not restricted to conventional cultural hubs.
Stay leisure footfalls rose 213% in Shillong, 188% in Guwahati and 94% in Nashik in 2025, based on BookMyShow.
Spillover results
India goals to be among the many world’s high 5 stay leisure locations by 2030, based on a authorities imaginative and prescient paper launched in Might final yr.
The sector’s speedy development is spilling into different elements of the financial system. Coldplay’s Ahmedabad live shows alone generated 6.41 billion rupees ($70.5 million) in financial worth throughout hospitality, retail, transport and tourism, based on a report by EY in Might final yr.
To maintain tempo with demand, organizers and ticketing platforms are investing in bigger venues, improved security measures and extra environment friendly crowd administration.
British rock band Coldplay performs at International Citizen India at MMRDA Floor, BKC on Nov.19, 2016 in Mumbai, India.
Hindustan Instances / Contributor
Nonetheless, infrastructure stays a constraint. India has fewer than 10 purpose-built live performance venues able to internet hosting audiences of greater than 10,000 in main cities, and nearly none in smaller city facilities, based on the federal government white paper.
“The expectation has gone up”, Anand stated, citing the necessity for smoother entry and exit, higher amenities and better total manufacturing requirements.
Coldplay’s tour in India, specifically, marked “a real turning level” for India’s stay leisure trade in 2025, Anand stated, serving to set up Ahmedabad as a viable live performance vacation spot.
Trying forward, he stated the trade is approaching an inflection level. “2026 [is going] to be a breakout yr,” Anand stated, as stay leisure takes a extra central position in India’s client financial system.
