My December Concert Parade: TOTALFAT at Jak Cloth

Another late post but still worth to remember tho'. I blame myself for being so lazy blogging lately. Anywaaay... I started my December with another Japanese band's concert. Well, this time a punk/melodic-core band named TOTALFAT. I personally knew them since 2007 when their Hard Rock Reviver album released. Shun, Jose, Bunta, and Kuboty formed TOTALFAT in 1999 and their 1st album was released in 2003, so technically I was 4 years late. -___-

I didn't know my brother also a fan of TOTALFAT until I posted a song on Path where he dropped a comment. Too bad he couldn't come. So, I decided to give him a birthday present which I never did before hahaha. The night before the show, TOTALFAT had an intimate, well, that's too sweet for a band, ok friendly dinner and unplugged session at Home Ribs.

I never met these guys before, I never knew what kinda person they were. Just based on the videos and some interviews, I assumed they were nice. But the truth is: THEY'RE GENUINELY NICE. and funny, and crazy at the same time. BOYS.

I asked them to write birthday greetings for my brother and whatever message they wanna say. I told Bunta that my bro adores his drum playing and always wanted to be like him one day, so Bunta wrote a very encouraging message: You'll be the best drummer in Jakarta (which is an epic fail cause my brother lives in my hometown, Yogyakarta. My bad Bunta couldn't remember that.)

The guys only brought 3 additional persons with them, I believed they were the manager and the PAs. I was amazed by their efficiency. Well of course Shun brought his own bass, Jose and Kuboty brought their own guitars, and Bunta brought his own sticks and pedals. I mean, the simplicity and efficiency were totally proper. Not to mention for their extra sweetness, I gave each of them a gigantic bar of chocolate and some fried tempeh to the PAs and manager.

TOTALFAT played 3 songs in their unplugged session. The 1st song was requested by me. Ahem. Because I missed home at that moment so I want them to play Bruised. So happy since it was my first time watched them live. I tried to upload the video here but I guess the size was too big. Failed. Anyways, After a lively unplugged session, I took some photos with the boys. ;)

And finally the D-day! I arrived at Parkir Timur Senayan with my friend but unfortunately she couldn't make it til the show started. Too bad since I got the privilege TO BE WITH THE BAND ON STAGE. Kudos to the new buddies! Ta da~~~ I was standing next to Bunta Sugawara (kyaaa~~~) I didn't waste any second I got. Man, that feeling I got on the stage was priceless. Not to mention, THE VIEW. It was amazing to see their fans from where I stood.

I witnessed Bunta played drums next to, in front of, me! I know this pretty much of fangirling thing but trust me, there were a lot of guys who fell in love with this man. Like seriously he was 'attacked' by fanboys :D

I never thought that they played so good. Yeah, some bands are just good on the record but not-so-good on stage. TOTALFAT rocked the stage though they only played around 6 songs (thanks to the stupid rundown!) Room45, Party Party, Place To Try, the live version were better. Jose's voice reached the high notes smoothly. He always had this herbal syrup before he performed. Ah... a revealed secret.

Shun then made speech to the crowd. He said that he missed Jakarta and TOTALFAT had such longing to see their second home. Then he told a story behind the song Dear My Empire which I never heard before. Thanks for sharing it with us, Shun. It's such a deep song. And they started to play it... WOW!

Oh yeah, there was this funny moment on stage. It was Kuboty who suddenly said something in Indonesian. A long gag line... "nama gue Kuboty. Gue masih perjaka. Gue suka coli!" while pointing at himself, what he said was: my name is Kuboty. I'm a virgin. I love to masturbate. XD

Kubota Yohei is such a funny guy. He's a bit shy at first but once you knew him, he's a total nut! I had a little chit chat with him at the backstage before their turn. I always wondered did he wash his hair regularly? so I asked him that question. And yes, he said that he did wash his hair today. It was true. His hair smelled nice. LOL.

The show ended at 1:00ish AM. Thanks to the fans who didn't left the venue although TOTALFAT was the last band to perform that day. The crowd screamed for an encore but unfortunately there ain't one since it was only a fest. I do hope that someday TOTALFAT will come again for a concert. Before they got off stage, they took some pictures with the crazy fans as background. If only the venue was bigger, it would be more awesome.

I bought TOTALFAT t-shirts for myself and my brother. Bunta also gave me his signatured drum stick which made my day! 

and that's how I sum up my 2 nights with TOTALFAT. Would love to repeat it again sometimes in the future. ありがとうございます。。。＾＾

My November Concert Parade: ONE OK ROCK Who Are You?? Who Are We?? Tour 2013

My 2nd concert in November. I already posted the news and the ticket before, so this time I'm gonna share my experience on the concert day. Yeay!

To be honest, I don't know where to start since I had one of the most memorable moments in my life that day. I think I should start with me after office hours rushed to the venue by taxi. The traffic was awful! I promised my friend to be there on time but it didn't work that way. I finally reached the venue at 5-ish PM. After I exchanged my e-ticket at the ticket box, my friend's mom took me into the venue. I heard a song or two were played from the stage inside, I was like, "soundcheck time?" and what I thought was right...

ONE OK ROCK were there on stage, it was really.........soundcheck. I tried to behave normally but it only lasted for 2 mins. I started to jump and stuff and almost forgot that I was not allowed to do that during soundcheck (sorry not sorry, I couldn't resist). My friend also cheered crazily on her wheelchair. We were that crazy hahaha. 

It was the moment when Om Ricky approached the two of us and asked, "do you wanna go there?" and by there he meant in front of the stage. We were waiting in a booth, about 20 metres from the stage but it's located inside the stage area. I was like, "seriously, Om? are we allowed? Is it OK?" cause I didn't believe him. Then, he said, "why not? it's OK. You guys are with me."

So I pushed my friend's wheelchair and we ran to the stage. You see the thin white line on the pic above? I stopped there. I didn't wanna cross the limit cause being that close to the stage and watched them played on soundcheck was more than just OK to me. It turned out that Om Ricky was the promoter. He was the one who brought Metallica here recently. WOW. Thanks to him, he was not only brought ONE OK ROCK here but also brought me in front of them. :)

The members were all checking stuff on stage. Until........ Taka turned his back and recognised us. I can tell that he was surprised. He said, "how do you feel today?" and I cried, "more than OK! Amazing!" then he replied, "good..." and smiled.

Well, I was more surprised because he suddenly jumped off the stage and came to us. HE REALLY DID. My friend Ilma whom I met on Loka's concert was the reason why he jumped off the stage :') 

Taka was so..........hmmm, can't say he's short (but he really was), uhm let's say cute? hahaha. and he was sweet indeed. 

He said, "thanks for coming," and before he continued, I said, "no, we THANK YOU for finally having your 1st ever concert here. I hope this won't be the last." Taka smiled and said, "no, it won't be."

Taka: so do you like us?

Me: yes, my friend here, she's a big fan of Toru. And me, well, consider me as your fan. :)

Taka: thank you. :) 

I was trying so hard to resist myself in front of him. I really wanted to take a picture with him. I mean, Man... I was THIS close. But then I looked at his face. He looked tired. So I pulled myself back. We chatted for about 10 mins or so then he went back to the stage. Meanwhile, we tried to manage our estrogens as we ran back to the booth.

We waited again, and while we were inhaling-exhaling... another surprising moment happened. This time, the guitarist, Toru called us to come to him. I grasped my friend's wheelchair and ran into Toru's arms (kidding!). Last time I checked, I liked Alex Ramon (OOR's ex-guitarist) and not so into Toru. That day changed me. I started to like Toru more. He was sooo nice. I mean, really nice. It turned out that Taka went back to tell the other members to sign a paper for Ilma. Toru brought it and gave it to her. How thoughtful, Toru-kun. :')

Ilma who lost her words, couldn't say anything but "I like you." I told Toru that she's a big fan of him and she's very very nervous. I was glad that Toru could understand English. I think other Japs bands must do this too. It's hard to communicate with fans who don't speak fluent Nihongo. Thank God, ONE OK ROCK speak English a little. I also said the same thing to Toru, that they must come back again some other time. He nodded. 

I didn't know why but I asked him this: CAN I HUG YOU?... surprisingly he said, "sure." then we hugged, People. IT HAPPENED. Ah. Toru. O! We took some pics later. 

Last week, somebody told me that there's an odd version of my pic with Toru. Speaking of odd, that somebody (I believe it's a girl) edited the pic and changed my face. HA HA HA. No matter how desperate I am, even when it comes to Martin Kelly or Hyde, I never did such thing. Whoever you are, just stop stealing my pic from Instagram :)

The gate opened at 6:00PM. A few minutes before that, I set myself on a mini stage where the videoman stayed. It was prepared for Ilma. Thank you Mas Reza, Om Ricky and Nada Promotama for being so thoughtful.

That was the view from where I stood, about 10ish metres away from the stage. Oh, I forgot. The setlist was exactly the same like the ones in Bangkok and Singapore. There was no All Mine and Et Cetera, sobs sobs. Et Cetera was the song which made me like ONE OK ROCK. Probably Alex's factor. Hahaha. Alex, genki? Miss you, Boy!

As you can see, it's like Jinsei x Boku album playlist hahaha. The way they put Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer before The Beginning, well... I kinda liked it. I was full of excitement since the very beginning (how could I not??? *hugging Toru again*) til the end of the show. I should highlight these songs: Ending Story??, Deeper Deeper, C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h., Clock Strikes, Be The Light, Liar (I screamed from the top of my lungs! Deep song!), Answer is Near, Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer and The Beginning (again, SCREAMED!)

 Why did I put some highlight on certain songs?
This is why.
This happened when they played Answer is Near. Fans must know about the famous oooh~ in the beginning and in the middle of the song, right?
Or some have watched it on the DVD. Well, I must tell you that the live version of it was TOTALLY INSANE!

 Taka jumped off the stage and led us with that famous line of oooh~

Man, that was intense!

I lost words to describe how crazy that moment was. Seriously, the crowd and the band were in a deep bond, you could see that strong chemical reaction was seen in this pic.

HANDS UP!

The only break they took was maybe just for drinking and stuff. Their showmanship was undoubtedly exceptional. The audience were more than just fans as what Taka said to us.

What I love from Japs musicians is, whenever they had concerts here... they always prepared some Indonesian convo on stage. Yes, ONE OK ROCK spoke in Bahasa Indonesia. I enjoyed every single pronunciation. They were cute, especially when Ryota told us about his fave Indonesian food. Ah, you guys were too adorable!

ONE OK ROCK's management and the band themselves set some strict rules in every concert. The list were too long, you guys better read it on their official page (I'm that lazy). BUT... the rules were totally worthed every single song. No this, no that, at first I was "WTH?" but then after the 4th song, I knew why and I was like, "aaah... saikyou!"

Before the encore, Taka came up with the Indonesian flag. Now that gave me instant goosebumps. As they promised to come back again in the future, I will keep them in mind and heart as one of the best memories in my life.

ARIGATOU... :')