Episodes of
Pepsi Battle of the Bands: Season 2 are available in
broadcast syndication on television as well as put up online on Pepsi Pakistan's
YouTube channel. Shortly after, the episode airs the full video performances are then put up online on Pepsi Pakistan's
Facebook and
YouTube while the full audios are put up on the website as well as on
Patari.pk.
History The return of the show and subsequent second season was revealed in early 2017. It also marked the return of season 1 winners
Aaroh to the music scene after 8 years - although they had released "Mera Pyar" in 2014 with vocalist Rizwan Anwar, it received little attention. Season 2 also marks the return of
Fawad Khan to music.
Promotion The promo video song was released on 22 July 2017. It featured
Atif Aslam,
Meesha Shafi and Fawad Khan performing a tribute-mashup of Vital Signs' "
Do Pal Ka Jeevan" and
Alamgir's "Dekha Na Tha"; as well as
Shahi Hasan on guitars with the trio. The video also showed many young people performing which is the show's main target audience. The Pakistani music streaming platform
Patari.pk put up
Entity Paradigm's debut album
Irtiqa on its service along with creating "Best of Playlists" of S1 winners Aaroh as well as
Mekaal Hasan Band and
Mizmaar, both bands which went on to mainstream success because of S1.
Judges and host The judges of S2 included Fawad Khan, Meesha Shafi and Farooq Ahmed in the auditions round while Khan, Shafi, Atif Aslam and
Shahi Hasan were the judges in the knockout round.
Ayesha Omer was the host of the season.
Episodes Episode 1: Auditions round Episode 1 premiered on Sunday, 30 July 2017. The bands that performed included:
Episode 2: Auditions round & Final selection The auditions round continued and the bands that performed included: The bands that were selected in the top 8 included in alphabetical order: • Aura •
Badnaam Band • Darvesh • Pindi Boys •
Kashmir • Madlock • Roots • Shajr Positive was originally in the top 8 but were disqualified because they performed with a temporary member in the auditions round which was against the rules of the show. The bands that were in the waiting list but did not get selected and their performance not being shown on TV or online included: • Visaal • Kainat • Xaviar • The Grovers: Quetta Boys • Sikandar Ka Mandar • Raakh • Amigos The episode ended with last season winners Aaroh performing
Raag Neela with
Kashan Admani, lead guitarist of the band
Mizmaar on lead guitars.
Episode 3: Top 8 knockout round The theme of the episode was favorite song. Each band had to perform their favourite song in front of the judges and the live studio audience. The episode started with Atif Aslam performing his new song titled "Yaad Tehari". The bands performed in the following order: The bands that ended up in the danger zone were Roots, Aura and Shajr. Aura and Shajr were eliminated leaving 6 bands in the show.
Episode 4: Top 6 knockout round The knockout round continued with top 6. The episode started with musician
Sara Haider performing her new song "Zindagi". The theme of this episode was that the each band had to perform an original song in front of the judges and the live studio audience. The bands performed in the following order: The bands that ended up in the danger zone were Roots, Darvesh and Madlock. Darvesh and Madlock were eliminated leaving 4 bands in the show.
Production Produced by • Saad Bin Mujeeb • Faisal Rafi
Lighting Director • Jack Lineker
Open & Show Packaging • Rashna Abdi • Ahmed Aleem • Hadi Gala
Set Design • Imtisal Abbasi • Misbah Ghani
Music Team Music Producer: Faisal Rafi Exec. Producer: Ali Diwan Music Director/Mentor/Composer: Ahsan Bari Music Director/Mentor/Composer: Faisal Baig Project Manager: Agha Fahad Chief Recording Engineer/Sound Designer/Audio Post Supervisor: Kashif Ejaz at The C'Ion Collective Studios Lyricist/Consultant: Asim Raza Assistant Producer: Daniel Hayden Assistant Producer: Haris Noor, Quaid Ahmed Assistant Engineer: Zyad Ahmed Tariq Mixing Engineers: Chris Bolster & Paul Pritchard at Abbey Road Studios Mastered by: Alex Gordon and Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios Live Sound Engineer: Obaid Haq Chief Audio Tech: Nadeem Ducrrani & Saif Ullah
Line Producer • Noor Daudpota
Broadcast Following television channels aired the show:
Reception Season 2 has mostly received positive reviews. Maheen Sabeeh of
The News said, "Whether the show manages to accomplish its mission statement to the letter remains to be seen but, having spoken to almost all major players in the production, it can be said with certainty that it has just the right motivation behind it and that matters more than we care to admit."
The Nation wrote, "With such an eclectic mix of sounds and energies, right from the get go - we are rooted to our televisions, waiting with bated breath till the second episode of the inevitably and justifiably iconic, biggest music battle in the country; Pepsi Battle of the Bands."
Dawn wrote "Looks like we're in for a great show" However, the second season has been criticized by some as well. Pakistani music, fashion critic and Season 1 judge
Fifi Haroon on her
Twitter called it
"bland, listless". Speaking to
Gulf News journalist
Usman Ghafoor, Pakistani culture critic
Nadeem Farooq Paracha said, "Pepsi is 10 years too late. When the last season went on air, the reality was quite different; we still had underground and mainstream music happening at the time. From mid-2000s on, the bands started to whittle away for all sorts of reasons — political, social, and security. Besides, today, we are talking about a different generation — not even the millennials but generation Z, the kids who were born in early 2000s or late 1990s. The dynamics of understanding and listening to music have changed all around the world. No one listens to albums or CDs now; they listen to singles and stream videos. BOTB, in my opinion, has failed to capture the imagination of this new generation." Some critics even compared the show with
Coke Studio though the comparison has been rejected by those involved with the show. Pakistani actor
Shaan Shahid criticized the format of the show and said on his Facebook that Pepsi should stick to critic as
Coke Studio owns the music scene. His comments received a lot of criticism. The decision to not include some bands in the top eight particularly the band
Khamaaj was criticized. == Season 3 ==