My November Concert Parade: VAMPS at Hyper Wave Fest

The 2nd time I went to Hyde's concert. The 2nd time I wasn't able to see him in person. The 2nd time I got brokenhearted. I didn't know where the hell all my luck was. Unlucky Rani.

Anyways...

Enough with the sadness. Actually I was a little bit lucky since I could afford the VIP section. Good Lord. Last year, I was only standing at the back. Not even the middle row. I was so exhausted and kept gasping for fresh air. L'Arc~en~Ciel's 1st concert was INSANE. Too crowd! I couldn't make it to the front row. Pity.

Since the first debut, VAMPS had me at the first single. Yes, Love Addict got me addicted. It was so refreshing. Apart from his musical genius in Laruku, Hyde's experimental project with K.A.Z has successfully became a hit. If you are Laruku fans, you might still find it a little in VAMPS, but just a little. The more you listen, the more you know that VAMPS' playful rock is so refreshing.

Personally, I adore K.A.Z's guitar playing. It's totally different from Ken's. The funny thing about their partnership was the way Hyde 'found' K.A.Z through the same way Tetsu did to him in Laruku. Hyde kept making fun of Tetsu who stalked him for a few months before finally addressed him in person. Hahaha. Hyde is too cute!

So... there was I. At Lapangan Kolam Renang Senayan. Hard rain, a raincoat, and an umbrella. It rained so hard for a while which literally made me wet from waist-to-toe.

The rain stopped exactly at 10-15ish mins before the show started. There you go, a line of impatient people rushed to the front stage.

I got this setlist from setlist.fm which I believe already leaked days before. And yes, the setlist was precisely accurate. These were the songs VAMPS played in Jakarta:

I was kinda satisfied with the sequence. Good for the audience mood. Mine included. Oh, before the show started, VAMPS' crews were bloody busy mopping the wet stage before putting all the properties needed. You know, Hyde's stand mic, coffin, etc etc. Like seriously, it took them more than I thought to finally get the stage done. 45-ish mins or so but that's fine. I myself didn't want something bad happened to my Hyde also. :')

The concert began with red lightings all over the stage. I noticed Hyde's coffin there, it was the centre of attention. Then the intro started, Hyde showed up in a see-through black shirt. See-through, unbottoned, bare chest. *GASPED* Good Lord, I was one lucky girl. He wrote an 'XIII' on his chest; number 13, unlucky number, number of death (in Tarot). Hyde is pretty much obsessed with such things. You know, that's so him.

One thing I loved the most from the concert was the part when Hyde started to communicate with us in Indonesian. His broken Indonesian articulation made me laughed so hard, I mean... he was sooo well prepared for certain words. He said that he wants to eat the coolest audience (which he never did) "Gue pengen makan penonton yang paling seru!!! Dimana yaaa???" and that was enough to made all the women screamed so too very loud. This man is indeed born with charm. I myself shouted at him, too, "EAT ME!!! OVER HERE!!!" well, it's all about fangirling when it comes to Hyde. ;)

K.A.Z was exceptional. He didn't lost any melody. His stage act was exceptional for someone at his age (that's a compliment, K.A.Z). My favorite part was probably when he had a face-to-face guitar moment with Hyde. 

K.A.Z brought all his custom made ESP guitars. So sugoi that he replaced his guitar in most every song. ESP guitars are just awesome!

As if my ultimate exhilaration was not enough, Hyde later made my whole heart fell to pieces. He messed with my emotion. What song? Sweet Dreams. I cried so very hard and I didn't know why. Hyde is more than just an idol, a rock star, or a genius musician to me. He's my savior. My kind of Jesus. He helped me through the worst moments in my life. He encouraged me to be a braver human being. Most people would find it strange since I only know him through his works as a musician but do you ever wonder what kind of magic music could bring to one's life? That happened to me. I knew his life story, his weakness, how he made all that imperfection turned into perfection... I was inspired by him. His songs are strong. So strong that they could move every fan's heart. You'll understand if you're a fan like me. No further explanation needed. :) 

In Sweet Dreams, I could relate to him in the deepest bond. The feeling of a distant lover whose heart is set on you. Wherever he goes, he always think about you like always wonder how do you look, what kind of clothes you wear, and the way he wants to share every single joy of his trip when he come back. Also, the reason why I cried because I couldn't meet him in person and he's about to go and I didn't know when I could see him again. I was only a few metres away and I could only cry so hard. I guess the camera guy caught me cried in frame which made me a little aware. What if Hyde might see me cried? Ah, that must be too normal for him. I remember last year when he cried during Forbidden Lover. I was that lucky. I saw him cried on stage.

I always had this unexplained mystical experience with Hyde. The only emotion which himself and I knew. I do hope he will come back sooner or later so that I could have the chance to see him in person. I've always wanted to show him the 'H'. I wish the very best for Hyde in the future. 愛してるよ～:')

I would like to thank Hyper Wave Fest for bringing him to Jakarta for the 2nd time. Though I wasn't that satisfied with HWF's people, but VAMPS' performance made all the inconvenience gone. Til we meet again, My Lifetime Obsession... 

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... :')

My November Concert Parade: Ash at 280 Fest

So, Ash was my 1st November Concert. I found out the news on their official Twitter that they would be performing in a fest called 280 Fest.

Ash's first MV I watched was Candy. I remember MTV aired it when I was chillin' at home. I liked the MV and the song also. So, Free All Angels was my first Ash's album. The album was a hit. Like seriously the whole songs........ coolness! I didn't attend their 2001's concert in Jakarta. In fact, the only concert I attended was L'Arc~en~Ciel (last year) since I lived in Jogjakarta. Then I began to find out about their previous albums and singles. I was into them that easy, no surprise, this Irish teenage punk slash pop band really pulled me in.

When I arrived at the venue (Lapangan D Senayan Jakarta), I was quite shocked. First and foremost, there were no such thing like banners, flags, or any promotion related to the fest. Plus, the taxi driver admitted that he had no clue about where Lapangan D Senayan was (like seriously?). Pretty frustrating.

The second shocking thing was the audience. Man, for a fest and for a band like Ash, too too too few people there. I was worried and kept mumbling together with my friend about the band members' feelings when they finally saw them from the stage. I was thinking about their feelings a lot. Frankly, I was sad for a few moments.

But Ash were professional (of course they were). I thought they knew about the amount of people there but they performed like thousands people were watching them. Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton, and Rick McMurray were stunning. They aged like rock stars. Wait, they ARE rock stars! X)

Tim with his favorite guitar amazed me as I didn't realise that he was no longer young as he was before. His voice didn't change much, Tim got his mojo :)
Mark also enjoyed the stage. Too much. He did some moves up there. He did make me a teenager again hahaha. Rick at the back didn't lose the beat. They didn't age! :D

A day before their show, there was this setlist I found on Twitter. Actually there were 2. One of them was signed by the whole members. Idk, some kinda souvenir?

And yes, the setlist was right. Ash opened the show with Meltdown (Meltdown, 2004). Then, a single which also a movie soundtrack from a movie with the same title, A Life Less Ordinary played. 

The next song made us audience cheered and shouted. Yes, it's Girl From Mars (1977, 1996), one of Ash's best songs. Mark was so energetic during this song. They brought the good ol' times on the stage. We sang along with Tim, not to mention the jumps also. We were all young!
Hehe.

Ash played 6 songs from 1977; Girl From Mars, Oh Yeah, Goldfinger, Kung Fu. They played Lose Control and Angel Interceptor for the encore. I must say that the setlist was pretty OK. They knew how to play with our expectation, hahaha. I was disappointed that my fave songs Candy and Carnal Love were not on the list.

sobs, sobs.

This concert was more like reminiscing the good times with Ash. It's kinda a time machine where I could see myself back then, young, so careless and free! Or I may use the Indonesian words "Konser Tembang Kenangan Ash" hahahaha...

I guess most of the audience would agree with me. :)

19 songs in total, 5 albums (if I'm not mistaken): 1977, Free All Angels, Meltdown, Twilight of the Innocents, and A-Z (Singles Collection).

4 songs as encore were pretty interesting. As I thought they'd only play one song only, once the setlist leaked I was like, "4? encore? really?" and yep, 4 songs that night.

I already knew that Burn Baby Burn (Free All Angels, 2001) would be the last encore so I wasn't surprised. Too bad I found the setlist earlier :(

I must highlight these songs: Walking Barefoot, Shining Light, and Return of White Rabbit. Most importantly, the last song. The longest one and the most attractive performance. I LOVE IT!

See the picture on the left, this was Return of White Rabbit. There was this break in the middle of the song and Tim suddenly appeared so so stunning. I didn't know how or why but it happened just like that.

We did sing along with him as he led us by giving hands gestures.

Pleasure was all mine, Tim.

Despite the number of audience that night, I was satisfied with Ash. Happy that I could see them live (like finally! it's better late than never, right?) The sound system was good, esp. when Return of White Rabbit played, (hehehe, Idk after that night, I began to like it more. Mark made it even cooler! bass! bass!) I cheered so loud at Mark. It was worth more than the price I paid. Thank you, Tim, Mark, and Rick. Hope I'd see you again! Rock on, Ash!

LOKA

Ohayou gozaimaaasu~

How's weekend? Mine was awesome! My beloved Liverpool FC won in Anfield and before the match, I went to a concert.

Ok, where to begin? I went to Cikini Gold Center to watch a concert. Yep, a concert, a band. A rock band. Well, it's been a while since I went to L'Arc~en~Ciel concert last year... so I was a little bit excited this time cause I didn't know about the band at first.

WHAT'S THE NAME AGAIN?

Well... the band I watched on Youtube last month named LOKA. I didn't remember how I ended up on their channel but I was glad I got lost in CrossTheLimitRecords'. I watched their video Naked To My Soul and my eyes couldn't stop staring at the drummer. You know, first impression is the thing. This man got me at the first hit. Actually, Japanese music is not a new thing to me. I grew up with L'Arc~en~Ciel songs and Doraemon (I wonder when Nobita will actually grow up, ok, nevermind. Neeext~) but this band doesn't sound Japanese at all. Probably if I closed my eyes I wouldn't think that they're Japanese like seriously even the front man sings in fluent English! He's kinda remind me of One OK Rock's Taka who sings in fluent English as well but their music is a little bit different from OOR. It's heavy yet sexy. I don't know... sort of.

RAPING THE REPLAY BUTTON

I was lost in their channel for about an hour or so. That's more than enough to give my opinion about this band. Here's the video I watched, Naked To My Soul, 

you see, they're pretty much intimidating as Kihiro (the vocalist) shouted "I just wanna FUCK you!" (well, Kihiro... THAT's intimidating) anyway, I was headbanging on my desk (at the office, yes), didn't realise that til the end of the video. If you think that Naked To My Soul wasn't intimidating much, Kihiro still got more to come. Slick is another song with tantalize lyrics. I wonder, Kihiro, who's the girl that made you wanna get laid and turn you round and round? And oh, I love the way they add some synthesizer sound in this song... PLUS Kenichi's drumming skill is beyond god-like! 

as if it wasn't enough... I clicked on the next video called From Yesterday which apparently their latest single.

Dang! Second hook. This time the guitar player took my attention. Man, I love the way he played those distortions. Oh, the noises... precious sound to my ears. I raped the replay button literally LOL. 

An hour later, I was surprised by their Indonesia Tour Comment video (that's what happened when you're on Youtube, a video after a video after a video...). Indonesia Tour? Honto ne? and YES, it's real. The video was amusing! Each of them spoke in Bahasa Indonesia, not the formal one... the casual one or I may say 'bahasa gaul' cause Kenichi said, "ciyuuus? miapaaah?" like an alay LOL. I browsed their website just to make sure about the tour and yes it's official. Not to mention that big picture of Kenichi the drummer was quite a distraction, hahaha you better see them here. Last time I checked, I emailed the promoter and registered myself for the meet and greet session with them XD.

SONGS TO EVERY MOMENT

I had a week or so to get to know them more before the concert. So I got their previous discography on my tablet. 

I started to get intimate with them since I listened to their songs almost everyday LOL. I have to admit that they sound more American rather than Japanese, regardless the English lyrics. LOKA is rich in beats and distortions. Not only the raging-intriguing-intimidating lyrics that made their songs 'alive', I must admit that LOKA's musicality is somewhat brill. Apart from my admiration to Kenichi (ahem...), each LOKA's member is beast. I don't know about you but I think Oblivion Heart is the most LOKA one among the other songs. From the intro to the last hit, a perf combo. I fell asleep when I was listening to this song (WTF?). 



To those of you who don't want to look too weak for love thingy, I suggest you to sing one of these songs from the top of your lungs: Yellow Cherry and of course Oblivion Heart. If you're into those bad things then Naked To My Soul and Python will do good for you. 

Uhm... what else? In a bad mood or feeling down? Kihiro knows how to lift you up again. Left of Me, Hey God, Alive, and From Yesterday would do the magic.  

They also got some deep songs. Hey, rock stars are human too (aren't you, LOKA?). Well, I prefer deep as I try to avoid the word 'mellow' though I was quite mellow after that. I love Don't Ever Leave Me Out right from the first tune. You know, some rock stars are actually deep thinkers. They could make sad songs without looking broken or shattered. I actually love the lyrics. Thanks to you, Kihiro... the "so many reasons why I say so you know my everything" part was very moving. :')

And so I went to Cikini Gold Center that afternoon. It turned out that the concert was held on the rooftop! Coolness. I was alone. Yep, alone. All by myseeelf... don't wanna be all by myseeelf... (enough with the drama, Ran. Jeez...)

I joined those who wanted to meet LOKA as well. I noticed a fan girl on her cool wheelchair behind me. We had a little chit chat when the door finally opened......... there were four rock stars sitting on the couch. LOKA.

I was literally smiling from ear to ear. Last month I watched them on Youtube and now they're sitting right in front of me. A little glance to Kihiro the front man, a little glance to Katsumi the bass player whose hair resembled Sonic The Hedgehog, a little glance to Sin the guitar hero who seemed a bit shy, and... A COMPLETE EXAMINATION OF A MAN WITH THE LONG HAIR WHO GOT ME AT THE FIRST HAIR FLIP, KENICHI. I got the 2nd turn so I began to approach them...

FANGIRLING TIME!
I brought my tablet with me so that I could take some selfies with the boys. I asked them to do so and they said OK. So here's my selfies hahaha. Roc stars? what rock stars? they looked CUTE! :D

As if selfies weren't enough, I asked them to make ugly faces and stupid pose with me. And again, they're OK with that. Hahaha.

Done with the fangirling thing (though I thought it was too short, bleh...) and now I'm about to tell you their ripping performance. They're already great on the videos but watching them live is another story. It's worth every rupiah you spent on the ticket. There was this sudden hard rain like an hour before their performance. Everyone went down to the 4th floor, me included. I was waiting til the rain stopped. Luckily, this time I wasn't alone. I got my friend with me :D I told her if the the rain didn't stop then we're outta here cause we had Liverpool match to catch up.

The rain stopped and we walked to the rooftop again. Yadayadayada blahblahblah from the MCs and in a few minutes later LOKA appeared on the stage. Like FINALLY!

I haven't seen them live so I can say that my experience last Saturday was exceptional.

Kihiro's stage act was powerful, he talked the us the audience pretty often. I didn't say, "what?" or "huh?" every time he asked us something cause he's got the Cali tongue. Unlike Hyde-sama, he made me confused with his English, hahaha... 

Sin whom I thought was a shy guy turned into a beast on stage. He was energetically restless (WHAT?), well stage is definitely your playground, Sin... you knew how to play. I enjoyed his descants and yes I could stand there all night long to watch him strumming the green guitar.

Katsumi's bass guitar. Red. Fierce. He's another member whom I never thought could be so lively appealing. You did look so great, Katsumi. Yes, you did. I don't know what's with him and the green top but he seems keen on it very much. I don't know maybe he got many?

So... last but not least was the one who got me at the first hit. What's his name again? Kenichi. Holy Mother of God, he was topless (let me breathe for a second)... and holy cow, he's a badass drummer! No, there's no double bass drum like the ones I saw on the video. Actually, People, I have no words for Kenichi's drumming skill. Seriously, lost words. Thanks for posing before I left, Gorg!

I had to leave earlier to see my other love, Liverpool FC. If I had one word to sum up LOKA, that would be: SICK. I was more than please to be there, watched them nailed the stage and a little bit wet because Kihiro threw a water bottle, errrrrr... I also met Ilma whom I mentioned earlier above. She got a crush on Katsumi and looked too happy. We're both happy and still buzzing about LOKA til now. I feel you, Ilma... ;)

and that would be the end of my astonishing weekend. I do hope LOKA would come back here again for another tour. Sure thing they'd be big in the future.