Exclusive-King ahead of his performance in Delhi-NCR: No space for misbehaviour in my concerts

Singer-Rapper King is busy with his all-India tour and the next stop is Delhi-NCR, for which he is extremely excited yet nervous. "It's the place I grew up in and that's why performing in Delhi always makes me a little nervous. You know how you feel shy and awkward performing in front of your own family, it's very much like that. Mere shows par mere parents nahi aate because unke saamne perform karne me thodi ghabrahat hoti hai," he tells us ahead of his performance on December 3, at Backyard Sports Club, Gurgaon.

However, he has friends and people who he grew up with, and they make sure to come and support the artiste. "Whenever I perform in Delhi, they make it all the more special for me by coming here, meeting me and just waiving while I perform at the stage. Unka wahi hai ki bhai aa raha hai Delhi, toh jaana hi padega. And I really appreciate it. Kyuki ye hi asli support hota hai," says King, and adds, "In fact, I want to tell all the artistes out there that when you come to your place to perform, instead of showing that you are a star, be more grounded and make your people feel like they are your friends. Because that's what they also expect from you."

In the recent times, incidents of fans throwing things at the artiste during the performance is becoming increasingly common. Most of the times it's out of desperation to get those few seconds of attention from their favourite singer but King says thankfully he has "never faced any such incident". He shares, "I think it's because I have always made it very clear ki main Delhi ka ladka hu and you should not mess with me (laughs). Unko pata hai ki agar wo misbehave karenge, toh main bhi phir waisa hi jawaab dunga. And I don't think anybody would want to experience that level of embarrassment at my event."

However, he gets more serious on the topic and explains the reason behind the increase in such incidents. "I believe it's the responsiblity of an artiste to maintain a certain gap with the audience. You can be friendly with your fans but unko ye bhi pata hona chaiye ki aapki permission ke bina wo aapke kandhe par haath nahi rakh sakte. The boundaries need to be very clear and I ensure that. In my concerts, the audience stand very close to the stage but they never misbehave. They know there is no space for that," he shares.

But if there comes a time, when the situation gets bad, King says, "I will not run away." He goes on, "I will take a strict action if that happens. I cannot let that one person spoil the fun for other 10k people. Nothing is scripted at my shows and hence I will act like I would in real life."

In situations like these, the most essential thing is for the artiste to be there and take control. "I believe in taking responsibility of whatever happens at my concert. I will try to handle the situation myself even if it means stopping the show in between. I do not like when things go haywire and the artistes have no control over it. I have seen that. Unki security maar rahi hai, logo ke lekar jaarhi hai, and wo khud waha se chale jaate hain. I don't like how artistes don't take control of the situation and run away; I would never do that. If you are the face of an event, stay there and take the responsibility. I had a show in Raipur and things went out of control but I didn't nudge. I stayed on the stage of 30 mins just telling people to be safe. People started feeling suffocating and I tried my best to help," he ends.