Concerts in this hill state capital of Meghalaya have come a full circle with Danish-Norwegian band Aqua performing here on Saturday after Micheal Learns to Rock performing here two decades ago.

Aqua, the top Danish-Norwegian eurodance band, best known best known for their 1997 bubblegum pop hit “Barbie Girl”, will take music aficionados to a Barbie World with their other hit songs like "Doctor Jones” and 'Lollipop (Candyman)”.

“This is our maiden visit to this part of the world. It is a beautiful place and I think people are going to have the best time,” Lene Nystrom, the lead female vocalist of Aqua, told UNI.

Michael Learns to Rock (MLTR), the Danish soft rock and pop rock band formed in 1988, first performed in Shillong in October 2005 at the JN Stadium, Polo Grounds as part of their "Take Me To Your Heart" tour, and that was a huge concert not only for Meghalaya, but also for the northeastern region.

The success of the concert laid the foundation for other big bands to perform here in Shillong, known as “India’s rock capital”, and event managers’ confidence grew.

Jascha Richter, MLTR's lead vocalist and keyboardist, and his band members returned to the abode of clouds to perform at the Me'gong Festival in Garo Hills in 2022.

From then onwards, legendary rock bands such as Firehouse, Scorpion, Petra, Mr. Big, Europe, Bryan Adams, Boney M and several other international bands have performed in the state.

Last evening, Irish band The Script performed and the concert was a huge success for the largely young crowd at the festival.

“MLTR still has a huge fan following in Asia, but Aqua is still the top band in Denmark. We are all excited to be in the northeast for the first time. For sure, we would soon come return to Shillong,” Lynette, wife of Rene Dif (Aqua vocalist), said.

The invite to Aqua by the organisers of the Cherry Blossom festival is a way to give Gen Z a sneak peek into the world of millennials in which bubblegum pop topped the chart in the 90s.

Aqua’s first release under their new name was "Roses Are Red", a dance song with a bubblegum pop sound. It was released in Denmark in September 1996, and stayed in the charts for over two months, eventually selling enough copies to be certified platinum.

Their music is simple, catchy with a cartoonish sort of melody that captured the imagination of music lovers around the world. Their album Aquarium released in 1997 became a huge hit and sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

Songs from the album like 'Barbie Girl', 'Doctor Jones', 'My Oh My' among others became anthems for the millennial. The videos of the album were also hugely popular and Rene sang and also was picturised as Ken of the Barbie World.

We didn’t know that we have huge fans in Shillong. We will give our best performance tonight,” an elated Aqua male vocalists Rene, said.