Prateeksha Srivastava at NSCI Dome: When a Supporting Act Becomes the Night’s Emotional Core

Intro – Defining the Moment

Opening for a headline artist at a packed venue is supposed to be functional. Warm up the crowd. Set the mood. Exit quietly.
But at Mumbai’s NSCI Dome, Prateeksha Srivastava did something else entirely she held the room.

Performing as the supporting act for Aditya Rikhari, Prateeksha didn’t try to overpower the night. She slowed it down, softened it, and in doing so, turned a large arena into something unexpectedly intimate.

Reality Check – The Risk of Going Soft on a Big Stage

The assumption with large venues like NSCI Dome is simple: louder works better. Big choruses. High energy. Immediate payoff.

Prateeksha Srivastava chose the opposite route.

Her set leaned into restraint clean vocals, emotional phrasing, and songs that didn’t rush to impress. On paper, that’s risky. In reality, it worked because the audience leaned in rather than zoning out. The crowd wasn’t waiting for the headliner to arrive they were already present.

Artist / Scene Insight – A Voice Built for Emotional Rooms

Prateeksha’s strength has always been emotional clarity. Her songs don’t rely on spectacle or vocal gymnastics. They rely on recognition that feeling of “this could be my story”.

On a stage designed for scale, she kept her delivery grounded. Minimal talk. No theatrics. Just controlled vulnerability. The effect was striking: a crowd conditioned for noise responding to softness.

This is where Prateeksha fits in today’s indie ecosystem artists who understand that honesty can travel even in massive rooms.

Why This Matters – Live Music Is Shifting

Culture:
Indian live audiences are changing. They’re no longer allergic to silence or subtlety. Sets like Prateeksha’s prove that emotional songwriting can hold space even before thousands.

Ecosystem:
Supporting slots are no longer filler. They’re auditions for audience trust, industry attention, and long‑term touring relevance.

Money & Survival:
Artists who can translate studio intimacy to live arenas without losing their core are the ones who last. This performance showed that Prateeksha is capable of that leap.

The Context – Supporting Without Shrinking

Opening for Aditya Rikhari meant performing for a crowd already emotionally primed. Instead of mirroring his energy, Prateeksha complemented it creating contrast rather than competition.

That balance matters. It shows maturity: knowing when to assert presence and when to let the music breathe. For a supporting act, that’s often the difference between being remembered and being skipped over.

What Comes Next – Built for Bigger Rooms

This performance felt less like a one‑off opportunity and more like a test run. Prateeksha Srivastava proved she can scale without distortion keeping her emotional language intact even as venues grow.

If future tours place her higher up the bill, this NSCI Dome set will likely be seen as a turning point: the night she stopped feeling like an emerging act and started feeling inevitable.

Reader Question – Let’s Open It Up

Do you remember the last time a supporting act surprised you more than the headliner?
Can softer, emotion‑first artists reshape how big Indian concerts feel?

Read More about: Lil Todu and Sardi Mein Thandaa Paani, Vol. 2: Choosing the Harder Road in Indian Indie Music