Phoenix @ Beatfest 2009

Amazing Phoenix!!! What an incredible show.. Great sound and performance by Phoenix. I was very satisfied to be the part of the crowd and really enjoyed the show on last Saturday, August 1, 2009.

Thanks to all my friends who came to the show and gave me ride to home.. hehe.. special thanks to Gembi for press id, i don't know whether those photographs are good enough or not for your media.

I was surprised when the crowd singing together n almost of Phoenix's songs. I thought this band is not too familiar with Indonesian people. The ticket wasn't sold out and I've easily got a ticket in the very last minute. There's no need to ask from calo (what's calo in english?). But i guess i wrong.

The crowd screamed loudly when they heard the intro of Lisztomania, and they were singing together. The show is the part of Phoenix promo for their new album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. You'll find a lot of songs from this album in their setlist.16 songs on the setlist but i think there's a bonus song after encore. Here's the setlist (as you seen on the very last picture):

1. Lisztomania
2. Long Distance Call
3. Consolation Prize
4. Lasso
5. Napoleon Says
6. Funky Squaredance
7. Rally
8. Girlfriend
9. Armistice
10. Love Like A Sunset
11. Run Run Run
12. Sometimes in The Falls
13. Rome
14. If I Ever Feel Better
15. Too Young
16. 1901
* I forgot where the encore was. Maybe in between Sometime in The Falls and Rome or Rome and If I Ever Feel Better. Somebody confirm please? :D.

The most critical problem in the show was the light. It was great light, but it rarely shine brightly to the band's face.. especially from my side. So many of my pictures are in silhouette and some of them with a huge noise.. i hope you don't mind them. Shooting in the middle of the crowd is a challenge too, such as a big guy stood up in front of you, moving crowd and hands up.. but the advantage is uhmm.. if you're lucky you can meet Thomas Mars, the vocalist (see my last pics..) ^_^v.

This album is dedicated to Phoenix and all my friends. I hope you like it. Suggestion and Criticize are very welcome. See you on the next gigs. Thank You so much Phoenix, you gave us an amazing night in Jakarta..


My gear is as usual:
Nikon D40
lens 18-55 and 55-200
software: capture NX and ACDSee Pro 2.5 for standard editing.

Location: Bengkel Park, Jakarta

WBA - Music Sounds Better With You

Alright. It looked like the preparation had already been done. Then I hear a voice from an announcer... "bla bla bla.. Please welcome The Whitest Boy Alive..!!!". The people went closer to the stage. Lucky me, i've been standing in the front of stage since the beginning of the gigs, so there's no need for me to rush. My friend Oxal is ready with her camera, so am i. We are using Nikon D40 with 55-200mm VR. That's the best lens we have for capturing image that night. It supposed to be a lens with multi range so we can adjust its wide and tele to the stage, but unfortunately we don't have it. A lens with large aperture (small f/number) is a must to ensure a good image is captured in a low light condition. Maximum aperture in this lens is f/4. I hope the VR technology can give us better image in this condition. My new friend, Dimas, is also ready with Canon and alredy handed fix lens 50mm in his hand. he is a journalist from www.jakartaconcerts.com. He also wrote a review about this gigs. Well, let's talk about that later, hehe. Let's go to the stage..

Erlend Oye (vocal and guitar), Marcin Öz (bass), Sebastian Maschat (drums), and Daniel Nentwig (Rhodes & Crumar) are entering the stage and taking their position, setting up their instruments for a little while. Big applause from the crowd and then Erlend greet them. they're playing the first song, Can You Keep a Secret. As i seen in his last performance in Bandung (when Kings Of Convenience performed in 2006 at Bandung), Erlend is so friendly and communicative with the audience. Once he asked us, "Does anybody here come from Bandung? The people from Bandung then scream "Yeahhh".. including me, haha, and so does when he asked the people from Yogya and Jakarta.

I forgot the set list, it's my bad. I was too focus with my camera so i didn't get the song's in sequence manner. But i remember some songs were played that night. They played Inflation, Golden Cage and Fireworks. Fireworks sound special for us because Erlend said that they just made a new arrangement during check sound and it's special for Jakarta's audience and the crowd was listening enthusiastically. I can't describe how the sound was, but it sounds like they put more reggae on the song. And then they played Burning, i think this is the song that audience familiar with. We sing along together, it's so fun when Erlend gave his line to be sung by us.

WBA also played some new songs from their upcoming album. I hope they can release it within next year. I put my camera down for a while when Erlend strummed his guitar that lead them to my fave song, Don't Give Up. Then Marcin and Sebastian followed smoothly with bass and cymbal. Daniel backed up the harmony with his rhodes. It was so nice. The crowd also knew this song so we sing together again.

In the last minutes the band is going crazy. I thought Daniel is a calm guy. But somehow he leave his keyboard to dance around the stage, play around Sebastian's drum, back to his place and O My God.. he stand above his Rhodes and dance there. Hahaha.. It was so exciting. All of my pic were out of focus at that time because i can't stand laughing. Erlend made some unbelievable moves too. He put his guitar, went down from the stage, and he jumped off from the fence into the crowd. He kept dance in the middle of the crowd until Marcin called him.. "Mr. Erlend Oye please come back to the stage.. we need you to finish the song..".. hahaha.. cmiiw that's what i heard.

They also played cover song of Stardust, The Music Sounds Better With You. Erlend introduced his friend within the lyric, "Hey Sebastian, Feels like the drum sounds better with you.." and so on. And the he sing "Hey Jakarta, Feels like the music sounds better with you.." Owwh.. and the crowd so hysteric to heard that.

Finally, The show end after about one and a half hours. It brings so much memory for me.. It was a terrific night. Thank You so much The Whitest Boy Alive. The music sounds better with you.

I dedicate this album to The WBA, the fans, everybody who came to the gigs and all my fiends who cannot come to see them.. For Marcin, Sebastian and Daniel, I'm so sorry if your pics are not as many as Erlend.

See you in the next gigs, Come again to Indonesia..

Update Note:
Here is the setlist.. Thank You Dimas..

1. Can You Keep A Secret? -new song-
2. Courage -new song-
3. Inflation
4. Golden Cage
5. You've Got To Show Me Love (Robin S Cover)
6. Fireworks
7. Done With You
8. -new song- dunno the title
9. Above You
10. Burning
11. Don't Give Up
12. The Music Sounds Better With You (Stardust Cover)
13. Borders

Beat Fest 2008 - Opening Act

Akhirnya hari yang ditunggu2 itu datang juga.. Setelah menjadi pemesan tiket pertama di Aksara Kemang begitu ticket box dibuka saya selalu berdoa supaya tidak ada kejadian apa2 yang menyebabkan acara ini batal atau saya yang berhalangan hadir ke acara ini. Banyak teman-teman saya yang tidak bisa menghadiri acara ini dengan berbagai alasan. Dari yang gak dapet izin dari istri ampe yang duit buat tiketnya malah dibeliin celana. Teman-teman yang hadir malam itu hanya Dessy, Oxal, Dimas dan kakaknya Dimas, Dita (thanx ralatnya Des.. :p)

Nama besar yang dijual oleh panitia adalah DJ Steve Aoki dan The Whitest Boy Alive. Berhubung saya tidak terlalu menyukai suasana yang bakal terjadi jika menonton Steve Aoki nanti, maka saya fokuskan tujuan saya untuk menonton The Whitest Boy Alive (WBA). Akan ada sesi khusus untuk mereka nanti di album berikutnya.

Band-band lokal yang tampil sebagai pengisi acara malam ini juga cukup menarik. Band yang tampil sebagai pembuka malam itu adalah Efek Rumah Kaca. Pada saat saya tiba mereka sudah memainkan sekitar dua lagu. Ada beberapa lagu baru yang diperdengarkan dan ada berita bagus untuk seluruh penggemar ERK bahwa pada bulan Desember ini mereka akan launching album kedua. Tunggu saja tanggalnya. Selanjutnya hadir Santamonica yang tampil all out dengan segala equipment-nya dari instrumen musik hingga kostum yang dikenakan. Saya yang baru pertama kali menonton Santamonica di panggung besar dibuat terkesan oleh penampilan mereka. Band ketiga yang tampil adalah Goodnight Electric. Sangat menyenangkan bisa menonton kembali aksi Oom Leo dan kawan-kawan yang sudah lama tidak saya saksikan.

Seusai Goodnight Electric saya menunggu dengan sabar penampilan Band yang paling saya tunggu-tunggu. Para kru menyiapkan alat-alat dan sedikit berbeda dengan setting tempat band2 pembuka lainnya, posisi tempat WBA manggung berada lebih dekat dengan penonton. It's gonna be great!!..

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