MUSINGAPORE

I was rather shocked when some of my friends told me that muse were going to perform in Singapore on September 26. Actually I was confused whether I've to attend the concert or not. Since it was gonna be held on weekend, I decided to buy the standing-area ticket. It was 2 days after Eid Adha, so I didn't have enough time to exchange the money and so on. All I could think was my friends would be there so I didn't have to worry. The only flight straight to Singapore from Jogjakarta is Air Asia and it only has 1 flight each day back and forth.

My flight was in the early morning. By the time I arrived, I met my muser buddies at the airport and we went to the hotel first to pray and putting our carriers. We went to the concert venue at Singapore Indoor Stadium at 2pm and the queue was not really long (around 3 lines to be exact). We made 2 groups divided to tag a queuing place so we could have lunch first. Around 5pm, we were allowed to get in the inside queuing area. We just couldn’t wait any longer so we made some random jokes and trash-talks to break the ice. We were allowed to enter the standing area approximately at 7pm one by one. Finally the ticket was scanned, after 2-layer queuing before that wasn’t scanned at all lol. Our group ran so quickly (but still look for each other) to get into the front row and we sure made it on Chris’ view front row. Unfortunately, there was a couple kissing next to us along the concert and we were like, ughh… Inside the stadium, we had to wait again for the opening act, which is The Ruse to perform at 8pm.

Chris side front row team

This Canadian band brought like 9 songs that were unknown for me to be honest. They are actually good, but just don’t match my genre. At 8.50pm they finished performing and the audience started to ignite again. Muse’s crew came up for some details, and I assume they will perform at least 30mins later. My legs were actually aching, so I decided to sit instead while everyone was still standing for muse to come up (avoiding that kissing couple as well tho). I finally stood again at 9.30 and muse still hadn’t showed up. We chatted for seconds and the lights were suddenly off.

Matt Bellamy on Psycho

a Chris' must-shot photo

I KNOW IT WAS MUSE!! I screamed like nobody cares, and then the sound appeared, it was Psycho that came as first single to be played when I heard Drill Sergeant intro. Then Reapers turned up. I couldn’t be more excited. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks from The Drones album. The last part was such an epic. Here Come The Drones!!! Muse never waste their time. Plug in Baby was next. The guitar riff said it all. I wasn’t particularly aware anymore with the surroundings. I didn't really notice what the band had done on the stage actually, for I just couldn’t handle this excitement no more. Plus, my view was always Chris and I had no ability to look at Matt or Dom’s side from where I stood. They continued the show with Resistance, a deep song that was played magnificently. There came the epic track, Unsustainable, one of the unusual tracks of muse. I followed the news anchor talking until the mind-blowing part came. Next they brought the deep yet sexy Dead Inside. The drum part was totally graceful, at least for me. The Interlude part of Hysteria was slowly heard after. The crowds were screaming as well for Hysteria. Probably it is compulsory for the band to put this song on every gig. The bass conquered the audience, until my favorite track of all time was being played. Yes, it is CITIZEN ERASED, the one with 7-string guitar, and with piano part at the end. I didn’t sing it loudly, but screamed at each lyric instead. I didn’t want this song to finish soon, though it is the longest track of all muse singles. They also played citizen erased at previous muse concert I’ve seen in Jakarta. Thank God I got it played at each concert. Next one we got the covered Feeling Good. This song calmed me down for some times. Dominic and Christopher started to punch the stadium with drum and bass solo. Eventually it was a starter for Madness. This song gave me a break to jump around and scream, except that one last part. Mostly each song that has official lyrics video will come out with the video at the background. Supermassive Black Hole came next, and I actually didn’t really spend too much energy on this, just sang the backing vocal part lol. Even worse, I didn’t sing at all when muse brought their all-time song Time is Running Out. Yeah, blame me for not being too muser. I thought maybe when approaching their last minutes, the tracks will be slowing down. This happened again in Starlight, when I was only humming for several times. Since I no longer have sufficient energy, it was an opportunity for me to rest a bit. Then Uprising came up. The tempo raised the goosebumps again. Many big black balloons were released in this part of the song. The audience, mostly in standing area snatched to stab the balloons which are filled by confetti. It was an incredible moment of a life-time.

full team from my view

I know this is not the end of the show yet. The setlist is completely the same as in Bangkok. The encore part didn’t really take a long time. Muse came again with Mercy, the touching one. On the halfway to the end of the song, the confetti was launched again. I felt my body was warm enough to be covered by these so-called cut-papers. Do you know what could be more ecstatic? Yes, it is Man with a Harmonica by Chris Wolstenholme. This melody was given as an intro for Knight of Cydonia. I didn’t stop moshing and head-banging over and over again along this song, AND I CAN’T. This beyond excited feeling, amusing sound, crowds’ hype, I couldn’t resist no more. This song is really a good booster to end the show.

And so it was. The show ended. As usual, they lack interacting with fans but it doesn’t matter. The security asked us to leave the indoor stadium. It was actually annoying but in the other hand they gave us drinking water during the concert for two times if I’m not mistaken. We took several pictures together before leaving the area. I was not just hungry, but already starving (every breast-feeding mother problem).

Indonesian Musers

I went to Jogjakarta the next day, with a post-concert syndrome. I mean, it is unlike other bands I’ve seen, there’s a feeling of wanting more and more. I can't distinguish whether it's an objective or subjective review if it comes to muse so I'm giving point to this concert 9.5 out of 10.

PS: I didn't take any proper shots so pardon my lack visual captures

Meet the boys of Boyzone

At first I didn't know that these guys were gonna take a concert in Jakarta. My sister in-law told me that they'd be holding a show at May 22 this year. Boyzone is one of my favorite boybands when I was a teenager. I looked for the tickets but it turned out we run out of presale tickets (yea off course, you were late to know the news as well so yeah) so I had to look at kaskus forum to get the tickets. Luckily I found the buyer who sold the tickets as affordable as the presale ones. Yeayy!!

I went to the Istora Senayan at 6.30 pm. The crowds were already flooding. It is funny since the audience who watched the concerts share the same age with us hahaha. Probably they also wanted to reminisce good old days as we did when they were in the 90s. We already got into the venue at 7 pm and the show started soon.

Boyzone brought several new songs and many old songs as well. The show went into sorrow when they sang several songs that were sung together with the late Stephen Gately. Unlike their golden era where Ronan Keating dominated most of the singing parts, now they share equal parts of singing. They brought like 22 songs, including 2 of Ronan’s hits Life is a Roller Coaster and When You Say Nothing at All. I, and probably most of the audience just couldn't go back to the reality that we missed those good old days in the 90s after attending this very concert. I rate this show 7.5 out of 10 since they still maintain good vocals and are still solid.

 me and sister in-law

Setlist:

Love Is a Hurricane

Picture of You

Love You Anyway

Baby Can I Hold You (Tracy Chapman cover) 

Everything I Own  (Bread cover) 

Ruby

Words (Bee Gees cover)

You Needed Me (Anne Murray cover)

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going (Billy Ocean cover) 

Gave It All Away

Every Day I Love You

When You Say Nothing at All (Keith Whitley cover)

The Tracks of My Tears (The Miracles cover) 

Reach Out (Four Tops cover) 

You Can't Hurry Love (The Supremes cover) 

No Matter What

If We Try

Love Will Save The Day

Who We Are

Encore:

A Different Beat

Love Me for a Reason (The Osmonds cover)

Life Is a Rollercoaster (Ronan Keating song)

CFC Asia Tour: Here to Play, Here to Stay

Hello lads, especially for all the true blues. My favourite team of all, Chelsea FC were coming last July 25th.They were scheduled to play at Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno. Undoubtedly Chelsea won 8-1 against BNI Indonesia All-Stars. This is an embarrassing final score for me as an Indonesian, compared to their previous Asia tour against Thailand and Malaysia. At first, Indonesian squad played really well along with Kurnia Mega defense. Unfortunately, on minutes 21 Hamka Hamzah made a foul and giving Eden Hazard a penalty chance to score. Ramires added the score through his kick on minutes 29. Demba Ba continued scoring on minutes 31, and John Terry the captain closed the 1st half on injury time with his head shot. Chelsea won over Indonesia All-Stars 4-0.

I previously saw Frank Lampard and Petr Cech on training session but turned out Mourinho didn't play them on the field. This second half was getting really predictable. Indonesian squad were screwed by the blues. Bertrand Traore scored on minutes 50, followed by Romelu Lukaku one minute after. My heart pounded when Ramires scored on minutes 56. I was like, OMG this national team is going to get beaten really hard on this game. Lukaku made his 2nd goal on minutes 65. The blues won over Indonesia All-Stars 7-0. The national squad had lost their awareness until Tomas Kalas made a goal for the blues and it made the score became 8-0. Eventually, posture matters. Lukaku made his hat-trick goal and 2 minutes later Tomas Kalas was back to defeat the blue team and so the final result is 8-1. I must say that Romelu Lukaku is the Man of The Match. I am sure he is gonna be Chelsea's bright future. I just can't wait to start this 13/14 season soon.

Here are some of the pictures I took during the game:
 

Duo start a menit kemudian tuan rumah mampu mencetak gol, atau lebih tepatnya Tomas Kalas melakukannya untuk mereka, setelah bola hasil umpan silang Greg Nwakolo mengenai kakinya dan masuk ke dalam gawang
Read more at http://indo.chelseafc.com/news/latest/1437#QU7VdmifFygyrJl0.99

Dua menit kemudian tuan rumah mampu mencetak gol, atau lebih tepatnya Tomas Kalas melakukannya untuk mereka, setelah bola hasil umpan silang Greg Nwakolo mengenai kakinya dan masuk ke dalam gawang.
Read more at http://indo.chelseafc.com/news/latest/1437#QU7VdmifFygyrJl0.99

Dua menit kemudian tuan rumah mampu mencetak gol, atau lebih tepatnya Tomas Kalas melakukannya untuk mereka, setelah bola hasil umpan silang Greg Nwakolo mengenai kakinya dan masuk ke dalam gawang.
Read more at http://indo.chelseafc.com/news/latest/1437#QU7VdmifFygyrJl0.99

Dua menit kemudian tuan rumah mampu mencetak gol, atau lebih tepatnya Tomas Kalas melakukannya untuk mereka, setelah bola hasil umpan silang Greg Nwakolo mengenai kakinya dan masuk ke dalam gawang.
Read more at http://indo.chelseafc.com/news/latest/1437#QU7VdmifFygyrJl0.99

Dua menit kemudian tuan rumah mampu mencetak gol, atau lebih tepatnya Tomas Kalas melakukannya untuk mereka, setelah bola hasil umpan silang Greg Nwakolo mengenai kakinya dan masuk ke dalam gawang.
Read more at http://indo.chelseafc.com/news/latest/1437#QU7VdmifFygyrJl0.99

Sugar Ray at Java Rockin' Land 2013

Actually I wasn't really excited to come to Java Rockin' Land (JRL) 2013 this year. The Line-Ups aren't too interesting. I finally sold my day-1 ticket cause I was too lazy to go outside hehehe. But for Sugar Ray, well it is not that bad to see them live, since they are one of the 90's band icons :p

I met Adit and Koko at the venue. Sugar Ray came up on time, at 22.15. They started the show with Speed Home California. I was so happy when they continued with Someday and Answer The Phone, my favourite songs of them. What made us, 90s generation thrilled was when they played Every Morning. That is soooo 90s hahahaa.. Falls Apart and When It's Over were played as well, and the goosebumps were still in the air.

Photo: Courtesy of Mahdesi

 

Mark McGrath, the vocalist, joked a lot. Even when the band wanted to give us encore, he said "I wanna give you all the encore part. I'll leave and go back to stage. Let's just fake the encore" He surely has a good sense of humor. The show ends with three songs. Well, it wasn't a bad show though. I was enough satisfied. I scale this performance 6.5 out of 10.

BLURIOUS

What would you say when hearing the band, Blur? Well I couldn't say anything more when finding that they're gonna have a gig in Jakarta. Actually I was a bit disappointed when I knew they will be performing with other 3 bands. It's not that I don't like the bands, But it made the ticket price go higher. Thankfully Simpati offered discounted price for their users so I took this opportunity and went to buy the regular ticket.

So I went to the gig with my college friend, Teo. He is also a britpop geek as I am :D. We hit the venue at 8 pm, and took pictures on the venue. The venue was set to have 90's britpop ambiance, with so many british ornaments within the area. I could hear the sound of The Temper Trap buzzing, but my friend and I weren't really interested in the music. Then we entered the festival area on 8.30 pm while The Temper Trap had already stopped performing. The show was actually on-time. Blur popped out at 9 pm and the crowd was yelling and screaming so loudly. Finally, the band we've been waiting for almost 20 years had come.

The band surprised us with Boys and Girls. The song is really catchy. My favourite one to be sung hehe. After a few songs, I suddenly realised the sound was a bit awful. I couldn't believe for a band like Blur, the promoter should have provided more appropriate sound system instead of taking profit too much from the audience. But whatever, I already told myself I gotta enjoy this gig. That mind-blowing moment is when they brought Coffee & TV, continued with Tender, Country House and Parklife. ohhh my goodness. That 90's sensation! I knew that they would stop performing when they already played This Is A Low. I knew that there will be an epic encore after this.

Photos above are courtesy of Mahdesi

The encore started with Under The West Way. They also brought the super hits For Tomorrow and The Universal. The most epic part was when they ended the show with Song 2. Just imagined what happened to the crowd :D. Blur played really well. No wonder, they are one of the most influential britpop bands in the world. Too band the sound system didn't perform well. I can say that this gig is scaled 8 out of 10.

Conventional Palembang Wedding Reception

My wedding ceremony was held in a Palembang ambiance, at Balai Komando Cijantung. Since my father is a Palembang, I liked to keep its tradition and culture preserved. For entertainment, an Orkes Melayu performed to boost the Palembang atmosphere. And oh, my aunt from Palembang also provided Pempek for my wedding day, all cooked by herself hehee...

  

Traditional Wedding Invitation and English Dictionary for Souvenir

 

 Make Over by Tante Linda 

  

 Putting Aesan Gede Sunting

  

Husband Doesn't Do Make-Up :))

 

  

 Photo-shoot Before Wedding Reception Started

  

 With Brother and Sisters

  Throwing Jasmine Petals Along The Carpet

 

The Dancers Put Gold Long-Nails to My Fingers

Husband Waits Behind

Pagar Pengantin Dance, A Traditional Palembang Dance with The Bride Together

DIANA & ANGGA Ice Curve

Wedding Stage (Pelaminan) by Citra Decoration

I Just Love Balai Komando Since It Provides Large Capacity Hall

Husband and I at Wedding Stage ;D

 Since My Parents Don't Allow Us to Display Pre-Wedding Pictures, We Decided to Replace It With 2 Collage Mosaic Pictures. Surprisingly Many Friends & Colleagues Took Pictures with Each of Them :D