After returning from the trek, Westerners would visit lakeside restaurants to share their experiences. Local youths dressed in long hair, baggy jeans, leather jackets and boots carried guitars and played western music. Foreign tourists were obsessed with the blues. Bob enjoyed Marley's reggae.

 The rock and roll of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, the pop of Bryan Adams jumped into heavy metal. The culture of 'live' music that started three decades ago is still the same. Lakeside and 'Live Band' continue to complement each other.

is next door to trendy restaurant 'Busy B' for live music in Lakeside, home of Ashok Pariyar. The music of the guitar and drum set played in the restaurant reached his home. He used to attend pop concerts on the shores of Phewatal. The atmosphere was musical. In 2008, he formed a band, the Oviraptors, with five friends. Since the formation of this rock song 'cover' band, many people have come but he is still in the band.

His band consists of Ashiv Karki as vocalist, Asim Lamsal as drummer and Sunil Pariyar as lead guitarist. Lamsal is also a tattoo artist. The band can now be heard at Lakeside restaurants Rolling Stones, Dunga, Busy B, Annapurna Gardens. Pariyar says that although classic rock and rock and roll are their genres, commercial songs should also be presented as per the demand of the customers.  His band also faced problems when the members of the

band did not last. He told the story of how a foreign woman fell in love with a band member and married them. Some have migrated abroad for higher education and employment. "Even now, there is a growing trend of Lakeside's band members marrying foreigners, going in search of employment," he said, "It's fun to be in a band for a certain period of time." He says that the future of the band is not hopeless if they manage

properly and establish identity through their own songs rather than 'covers'. "Now it seems that the band does not have time to release their original songs while playing in bars," he says, "The band is not safe just by covering, you have to focus on the original." 

According to Johnny Poon, who is managing the band 'The Inflame', there were more than two dozen live bands at Lakeside before Corona. Now the number of those bands has been reduced to half. He said that the number of restaurants and bars decreased after Covid and even the existing restaurants could not have live bands, so many band members lost their money. Like any other band, 'The Inflame' has members coming and going.

This band started eight years ago and has vocalist Pravesh, guitarist Ruben Jalari, bass guitarist Rohan Magar and drummer Sunil Periyar. They are all from Pokhara. He said that some of his members had gone abroad earlier for study and employment. "The income of the band is not extra, life goes on," he says, "We have continued the band because of our interest and passion for music."

Currently covering Western music, Oviraptors, The Flame, Blue Fire, Wave, Wave Wolf, Niskarsh, Alpha, Invisible Ray, Proverbs, Black Feather, Mysterious Groovers, Rangamanch are active in Lakeside. Open C, Melodius, Brothers and Six Strings Bands are active in soft music. Four to eight members are in these bands. These bands perform at two or more restaurants a week. Some restaurants and bars also host solo artist performances. Concerts at various fairs have given the band some exposure.

Lakeside Open House, Annapurna Garden, Rolling Stones, Iris Pub, High Tide, Simsara, Sunset, Trishara, Dunga, Maya Pub, King's, Busy Bee, Juicery Cafe, Office Bar have bands every day. The Mughlan Restaurant, located outside the lakeside at the Auditorium Square, also hosts a live band every day. Singer Anil Vick of The Melodious Band, who performed smooth music for 3 days at Lakeside's Open House and 4 days at Mughlan in Hall Chowk, says that the clientele of both the restaurants have different musical tastes.

"Rock, pop and Hindi songs should be sung more in Lakeside, customers who like folk songs come more in Mughlan," he said, "We are thinking of taking the band for a long time." We are also practicing. Melodius singer Usha Gurung is a popular singer in her native language.

Anil has also recorded some songs. Some are ready to be made public. He says that the members of the band are in the age group of 25 to 33 years and are in the stage of struggle. It is difficult to make a living on this. The salary is not what it should be. We have to compromise,' he said, 'We are trying to see if something happens in music.' 

Smriti Rai and Yogesh Gurung, who formed The Dreamerz Band in 2016 and started singing in restaurants and bars in Lakeside, are now preparing to release their own songs. Guitarist Gurung said that he stopped performing in restaurants because he understood that the band's identity would not be established without his songs. It's been a long time since we got wet at the lakeside. If you don't have your own songs, you don't get a chance to be recognized,' he said, 'We will gradually release rock flavored songs.' He has experience that if he stays disciplined, the income of the band will be good now. 

artists Sunil Thapa, Ajuda Thapa, Amit Gurung, Santosh Basyal, Priya Gurung and other members of the Open Sea Band perform at Annapurna Garden Restaurant. The band even came to Hong Kong to perform last October. According to Santosh Basyal, the singer of the

band, at present, the members of the band earn between 1,200 and 1,500 rupees when they perform from 8 to 12 midnight. Everyone divides the amount coming for 'tips' equally. Making a presentation at the fair brings good income. "The band's income is good now," he says, "a good band doesn't need to sit empty."

Ghazal Restaurant was started by Open House in Pokhara, where people sing live bazagaza songs. Open House Restaurant opened in 1988 between Chipledhunga and Mahendrapul. Badrijang Gurung, Vishwashankar Palikhe and others started the open house. At that time, artists Rambhakt Jojiju, DB Chakradhar, Manoj Gurung, Debuka Thapa used to perform at the open house.

was presented from Nepali Sugam music to Hindi ghazal. Suresh Gurung, who looked after the accounts of Open House in 2052, is now its director. He added 3 other operators and shifted to Lakeside from Chipledhunga 4 years ago. "Lately, the night business has started to run more in the lakeside," he says, "There has been a shift here as domestic tourists and Indian tourists are also increasing." 

Jack Tamang, the owner of Busy Bee Restaurant in Lakeside, admits that Open House introduced the practice of presenting live music in Pokhara. He ran the Bim Bim restaurant in Lakeside in 1987 at the current location of Busy Bee. After opening the open house in 1988, he also ran ghazal evenings in his restaurant since 1991. But the ghazal did not last long in the evening.