BIG DAY OUT

most attractive crowd

battles I don't know how to explain this really, this is basically based on my personal opinion and well....

most fun crowd

art vs scienceit's amazing how they could make the whole room dance and kneel. Literally they made the crowd kneel, everyone, and those who doesn't got pointed out and got told to kneel down. The lighting in the Boiler room made the art vs science fans 300% more crazy, from strobes to laser lights the light guy must also be an art vs science fan or knows their song very well as the timing was just so dead on.

most sucky sound

my chemical romance they themselves was good but, the sound system. Did not expect a huge festival like BDO would allow such a big letdown.

the energetic frontman

cage the elephant Matt jumped to the crowd for the second time, came back on stage with a flower bandana, put it on and said "thank you for this, i'm pretty now"

most amusing sight

man and tween girl having a somersault battle in front of HOT PRODUCE stage, man ended up winning as he kept doing cartwheels and falling down and doing it again, occasionally revealing his buttocks and big belly.

the downside

weakest signal ever, don't bother trying to call or text anyone while that person or you are in the orange/blue arena, your text would be received 10-30 minutes after you send it and your calls would just fail.

most dedicated fans

a tie between my chemical romance/kasabian, I've taken this one into a lot of consideration (by a lot I mean, I thought about it more than once), I also considered Soundgarden but looking back, MCR's and Kasabian's fans touched my puny little heart most, especially when kasabian started playing 'fire'.

notable fangirls/fanboys

in battles guy in the front row wearing a battles tshirt from their last album and was not sold in the festival happily caught half of john's drumstick (literally, half of a drumstick). As the guy next to him got the other end of the drumstick, they both share a smile and exchanged their happy comments about the show. Another man chimed into the conversation and state that he got John's other drumstick. First man said: "WHOA MAN you should sell that I mean I would buy it!" The two other men laughed and the first man laughed along. He then suddenly stopped laughing and in a serious voice said to the third man "no seriously i'll give you 50 bucks for it"

biggest wtf ever

An Australian tween boy wearing a Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kala campaign shirt circa 2003/2004. Being Indonesian, I find this extremely weird, and I hope I don't creep him out by staring at him with a 'wtf' face as he passed in front of me.

douchebag of the day

Kimbra was playing on stage and in between breaks when the singer ends the song and communicate with the audience, one drunk douchebag would keep on yelling "HEY KIMBRA YOU'RE A SLUT" and "I WOULD FUCK YOU KIMBRA" and other obscene and sexual comments on the amazing singer who either did not hear the douche's shouts or decided to do the smart thing and ignore him. He would then push away the white haired 20-something petite lady in the front which would of course pissed anyone off. Things became heated and the girl shouted at the douche while trying to push him away, the douche slapped the girl across the face and pushed her on the face so hard she almost fell back but was lucky enough to be caught by a friend behind her. A series of "dude get the fuck out" and "fuck off" emerges from other concert goers that were there to see kimbra but the mood was ruined by the douche. My friend politely asked the guy and his friend to leave as they are disturbing the concert, and their reply? "We're not doing anything mate, we're not doing anything at all."

notable douchebag

Guy went up to my friend who was wearing a Beatles t-shirt and slurred "The beatles aren't playing here mate" which was quite funny at the time so we all laughed. My friend replied, "haha I wish" and the douche replied back "they're all DEAD". Dickhead fuck off one they're not all dead get your fucking fact straight and get the fuck out. Dick [getting too emotional over the beatles].

shoutouts

to sydney surfer boy Johnny, newcastle party girl Kim and her cousin for keeping me company as my friends are busy watching Kanye West. Thank you Kim for sharing me your personal relationship story and Johnny for the interesting 'kanye is a twat' conversation.

NOTE: this is all totally bias since it is my blog and I am free to express what I thought of the festival, and unfortunately i did not get to see all of the acts. The acts I did see is written below.
ACTS SEEN: Abbe May, Papa Vs Pretty (one song), Nantes, Cage The Elephant, Boy and Bear (half set), The Jezabels (only the beginning), OFWGKTA (2-3 songs), Battles, Kimbra (half set), My Chemical Romance, Architecture in Helsinki (half set), Kasabian (half set), Girl Talk (half set), Soundgarden (3/4 set), Art Vs Science, Kanye West (one song), Nero (1/4 set).

+~PROS AND CONS OF LIVING IN JAKARTA~+

PROS

• i don't have to do any chores (im really lazy like that)
• i can drive (well.. by december i can)
  
• i get to see my family anytime
• i get to hang out with my best friends
• everything's way cheaper

CONS

• my mom is always there
• my mom always checks what im doing
• my family is there
• i have a curfew
• i always have to worry how im going to get home and usually taxi is not an option
• im being watched 24/7
• most jakartan teenagers are annoying
• spoiled bastards
• theres not a lot of interesting places to hang out in
• meeting a nice person? hmm..
• oh sure you won't get judge #sarcasm
• asking my parents for... everything
• sleepover? hah not allowed
• traffic fucking traffic
• stuckups
• posers
• shitheads
• potheads
• i become extremely lazy
• i get judged by my family
• endless lectures from family members
• limitations
• pretentious fucks
• conservative fucks

H0LY F*CK LIVE AT AVALON

16 NOVEMBER 2011

I've seen Holy Fuck in early January and they killed it. I mean, they killed everyone in the audience and brought them back to life. The gig was that good. But yesterday's gig was even better. If you guys watched Yakitate! Japan!, that bread that is so good, you die for a couple of minutes after having a bite and go to heaven, yeah that was last night's gig.
Maybe I am over exaggerating it a bit, but then again if you weren't there how can you know?

Thanks to the amazing bandwagonapp my friends and I got the chance to meet the band in person where we mostly talked about laneway singapore 2011, the band's influence and other bands (special mention: they love making jokes about Metallica, I'm not quite sure if they're a fan or they're doing it ironically it's hard to tell)

I've heard of Avalon before, I mean Devendra Banhart, Nick Valensi and Digitalism have performed there before. My friends heard about it just before they opened and articles about it seems like Avalon is the 'new hip cool club' in town. I could be, especially judging from the architecture of the building. Weird triangle shaped made by glass, sure.
Which goes to my disappointment. Avalon well known place, and I assume the management there would be pretty good, but the way they managed the event was... well....
Apparently the place overbooked the place for one night. There were two very different events going on in one night which was, a bit chaotic. One was for Pioneer started roughly around 6 until 9, and Holy Fuck + Klaxons (DJ Set) was supposed to start from 9 until 4. The thing is, the people from the first event weren't even out of the place after 9 and the second event were supposed to start at 9. We had to wait for the guests of the Pioneer party to go out which took them 45 minutes? Roughly. So that was late, meaning the band came on late also. Originally they were supposed to perform from 9.15 until 11, but thanks to the delay they started at 10.30 and finishes at 11.30. I didn't order drinks either because apparently, the drinks were quite expensive (according to reviews I saw online), so it wasn't that hard to just shift away from the bar. The place, was nice and cozy. Cold, somewhat-intimate, have to admit it does have a better feel than St. James. The stage weren't quite as tall and the soundsystem was definitely better.
Having to wait for quite some time half of the people their were anxious to see Holy Fuck, while half of the people there I assume to either be regulars at Avalon or just went there to have a good time not knowing there was a band playing. At the start, there weren't many people in the crowd which I found was a shock. I would say roughly about 40 or 50? Then again I could be wrong. But the crowd number grew through out the set and the people starts to move more freely than before. Maybe it's the late night, or maybe it's the alcohol. Most likely the alcohol consumption.

Everyone stared in awe as Holy Fuck performed, personally it was hard for me to move around freely since I have a 12" vinyl in my right hand and a poster in my other hand. Still it was all good. They played unforgettable songs, some that they have played in Laneway earlier in the year too. From Frenchy's to Lovely Allen and to the famous Red Lights and Latin America. But the song that caught my attention from the set was SHT MTN, my favorite song of the album and quite honestly it was 220% better when they played it live.
The stacatto moves of the personnel were also engaging, they seem to be enjoying themselves no doubt. And from my memory it seems they were all moving more freely than they did in Laneway.
I remember in the middle of the set I heard someone said "What a cool beard" as they talked about Graham Walsh up on stage, it sure was my friend. He changed various instruments in between songs from melodica to some other stuff that seems to look like a toy.
Matt "Punchy" McQuaid stood behind right next to Matt Schulz as they keep each other's beats perfectly while Brian Borcherdt plays around with his..... Quite honestly I have no idea what it was called. For people who went there or have seen them live, what was those, stripey wiggly thing that somewhat looked like rolls of films?

Notable people in the crowd: 2 girls standing right in front of Brian and was the first ones to be in front of the stage, you could tell they're big fans. Guy with White Lies shirt standing in front of Graham, jumped like a maniac total A+. Caucasian guy in white that was seemingly drunk who threw a beer bottle and went to the front of the crowd bumping everyone, then did some killer dance moves.

And in the end as I reunite with the other gig goers outside of the venue, everyone was smiling and said "THEY WERE SO GOOD, MINDBLOWN" or something along those lines.
It was better than their Laneway performance, or maybe we were all just tired after standing in the rain for hours, but if Holy Fuck comes to town again, I would without a doubt watch them again for a couple more times until I actually get bored.

overall: 8/10

LISTS

2 months holiday to do list:

• learn piano, again...
• learn violin, again...
• learn a new language fluently (spanish/japanese/german)
• learn to shoot (i dont really trust these things in indonesia though...)
  

television show to check out:

• battlestar galactica
• sherlock
• boardwalk empire
• parks and recreation
• the mentalist

MOVIE REFERENCES

Yes.. there are a couple of television show references.

when someone asked you a question you don't want to answer
"Sorry I don't speak English"

when your friends are talking over one another
"SHUT UP! .....Romeo's cryin'"

when you make a point
"Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord"

when someone asks something about what other people are doing
"Sacrifice virgins and stuff"

when someone asks "who are you?"
"I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH"

when you see a fight starting
"shit just got real"

when someone asks you what you want to do for uni/when you grow up
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"

when someone asks you what you think of another person
"[name of person] is flawless, I hear her hair is insured for $10,000, I hear she does commercial... in Japan etc"

when someone asks you to do something you don't want to do
"DAMMIT [name of person] I'M A [what you are] NOT A [whatever they expect you to do]"

when you're on a boat/ship
"I'M KING OF THE WORLDDDDD!"

when someone asks you about plans (or something like that)
"Plans? where we're going, we don't need plans"

when you meet your favorite band/musician
"WE ARE/I AM NOT WORTHY"

when you see someone with a box
"WHAT'S IN DA BOXX?!?!"

when you just pawned someone
"yippie ki yay, motherfucker"

when you enter a room
"heee-eeee--eerrree's JOHNNY"

when someone asks for your last name
"MCLOVIN'"

when someone asks who are you going to call
"GHOSTBUSTERS"

when someone asks where we are going
"CAMELOT!"

when someone asks for your age
"i am sixteen going on seventeen i know that i'm naive"

when someone asks what did you do to persuade another person
"i made an offer he/she don't refuse"

when someone's going away
"may the force be with you"

when you try to flirt with someone
"SHWING!" or "how you doin'?"

when someone asks if you are trying to seduce them
"am i? *lift up skirt/shirt/pants/just be slutty*"

when you're introducing people to your short friend
"say hello to my little friend"

when someone says something
"that's what she said"

when you want to insult someone
"you son of a motherless goat!" or "you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder!"

when someone asks you what you like/want from starbucks
"orange mocha frappuccino!"

when someone asks what you're going to do today
"whatever I feel like I want to do, gosh!"

that's all I could think of right now, go and give it a guess to where they came from. peace.

DREAM LINEUP FOR A FESTIVAL

187 artists was in Coachella 2011, a shit load of artists in reading/leeds, so I'm just going to list my dream lineup:

• Foals
• We Are The Physics
• Cage The Elephant
• Battles
• Klaxons
• PNAU
• Holy Fuck
• Tame Impala
• The Strange Boys
• Smith Westerns
• Metronomy
• Warpaint
• Gotye
• Sparkadia
• Boy & Bear
• Belle & Sebastian
• Big Troubles
• Dananananaykroyd
• Girls Names
• M83
• Fair Ohs
• Adam Ant
• Adam Green
• Architecture in Helsinki
  
• Matias Aguayo
• My Disco
• We Are Scientists
• Youthless
• Neutral Milk Hotel
• Rufus Wainwright
• Crystal Fighters
• Death From Above 1979
• Pulled Apart By Horses
• Chad Valley
• Patrick Wolf
• The Kills
• Bombay Bicycle Club
• Friendly Fires
• Muse
• Spoon
• Frat Dad
• Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13
• Cold War Kids
• Cloud Nothings
• Cut Off Your Hands
• Delphic
• Ok Go
• Owen Pallett
• Pyramiddd
• Radiohead
• The Hurricanes
• Tears For Fears

• The Specials
• MC5
• Bob Dylan
• Tom Waits
• Take That
• Neon Indian
• MGMT
• The Whitest Boy Alive
• Mogwai
• The Strokes
• Dirty Pretty Things
• Arctic Monkeys
• Suede
• Pulp
• Morrissey
• The Morning Benders
• My Bloody Valentine
• Fugazi
• !!! (Chk Chk Chk)
• Shugo Tokumaru
• Shitdisco
• Sigur Ros
• Simian Mobile Disco
• Slow Animal
• Gauntlet Hair
• White Denim
• Tom Vek
• The Horrors
• Girl Talk
• And So I Watch You From Afar
• Grouplove
• Pet Moon
• The Virgins
• Phoenix
• Housse De Racket
• Ty Segall
• Unkle
• Franz Ferdinand
• French Horn Rebellion
• Gang Of Four
• Good Shoes
• Fujiya & Miyagi
• Les Savy Fav
• Liars
• Lightning Bolt
• No Age
• Of Montreal
• Portugal. The Man
• Talking Heads reunion?
• Wild Beasts

I really do hope this does not happen, because I would die. I really would.

JΛKΛRTΛ

I flew back to Singapore last night and to be honest I miss Jakarta already. I'm missing so many things and I haven't done so many other things. Now all I can do is wait until November when I go back for probably a week.
I still haven't tried Treehouse, Tuna, Wolfy and I haven't had schit day, we still need to find Wolfy a bass guitar, I haven't slept over in Afifah's place, I still haven't tried ISMAYA cafe thingy, Batty and I haven't had a Doctor Who marathon, Barri, Nenet, Cindy, Gopher and I still havent hung out and the list just goes on. Endless.Moving on to music matter, these are my upcoming concert list:

• Klaxons DJ set // 16 Nov 2011
• Big Day Out // TBA [Cage the Elephant, Battles etc]
• Laneway Festival // 12 Feb 2012 [TBA]
• Probably that warehouse thing Ismayalive have been talking about, i don't know, it depends who's performing and who's going.

Peace oot.

DEAR MUSIC SNOBS,