No rest for the wicked
So I left the Jakarta Convention Centre at just after two in the morning, having just seen Kool & The Gang, who came onstage about two hours later than originally scheduled, close the Java Jazz Festival. Even though they look like they’ve collectively spawned an entire village of grandchildren, they were pretty good. And never have I seen a larger spontaneous outbreak of William Hung-style dancing than when they ended their show with "Celebration" and got the crowd going nuts.
Anyway, on the way home I grabbed a bite, and reached the house at three. After closing the garage door, I passed out in the car, and awoke around an hour and a half later. Due to my new departure regime, this left me with half an hour to get ready and leave for the office. So here I am at the office, on the verge of falling asleep again. In fact, I think I will. Toodles!
March 5th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
If you’re snoring on your desk now it’s not just from mere lack of sleep, I swear, I’m a total zombie now and am in such a bad mood you wouldn’t want to mess with me, and I got a full five hours worth of rest last night! So I think it was just that Java Jazz was so TIRING, capek tau nggak sih, and I was only there for an entire 75 minutes (dua hari combined), 15 of which were spent tortured in Plenary Hall watching tante2 William Hung-ing to Incognito songs that I’ve heard at at least every single ‘jazz’ festival in Jakarta, (I had to be there nganterin temen gue ketemu nyokapnya juga).
I’ve never been to any other music festival outside of Jakarta and there must be some reasoning based on their accumulated experience to the way Java Jazz is mapped out, jadi bukannya gue mau sok tau, but there must be a better way of doing it, some way of making sure that people can travel from one show to another tanpa ada perasaan kayak lagi naik haji gitu. Don’t get me wrong, I know festivals are supposed to be busy- but a happy, giddy, bustling, buzz-in-the-air kind of busy, you know? Not the Java Jazz messy kind of busy where there is no flow, no sense of direction, no buzz, no nothing but pusing dengerin MC teriak2 melalui loudspeaker. Pokoknya tiap masuk ke show, it takes me a full 7 minutes to recover from the suasana outside. And if it’s a bad (read:not my thing) show, I don’t recover at all and have to brave the lobby again in an even worse condition. I don’t know, Java Jazz just was not a pleasant experience for me, music festival-wise. Maybe it was also the venue. I just don’t think good (or potentially enjoyable) music belongs in bad physical containers like the Hilton Convention Center. By the same logic, bad music also does not belong in something as beautiful as an Ipod, seperti stand promosi Ipod di EX yang memasang Ratu, but that’s another discussion. So maybe it was the venue that destroyed everything or that MC. But then again, maybe everybody else had a lovely time and I’m the one who needs to stop being my petty, anal self. But this Java Jazz Scrooge did enjoy one pleasant experience worth noting, Nial Djuliarso at Merak Room tucked away in a (then) quiet corner of the basement level.
March 6th, 2006 at 12:51 am
Amen to that, sister. As I mentioned to quite a handful of people, I felt rather disoriented during the entire festival. Walking around caused physical exhaustion, while all the different sounds coming from every imaginable direction brought on sensory overload.
I appreciate what they’re trying to do with this festival, but there’s still a lot that they could do in terms of making it a more enjoyable experience. Jazz isn’t really my thing, but even so, it’s a bit sad that my favourite moments of the festival were of a non-musical persuasion: repeatedly getting asked about Liam Gallagher (hahaha), having a laugh at all the washed-up musicians in the crowd, getting Bluey from Incognito to buy me dinner. Out of the entire festival, the only act I caught for the entirety were White Shoes & The Couples Company, mostly for the occasion of them playing outside of their usual haunts for a change - and they ruled.
The festival will most likely be on again next year. I’ll probably end up going in some capacity. If I can get in for free, then why not?