Padi officially marked their comeback from a five-year hiatus with a concert that was broadcast live on national television. As far as getting attention for the reunion and subsequent tour dates, it was a logical idea. The problem was that any good vibes caused by seeing those five men together again were hamstrung by a combination of nerves, rustiness and a broadcast sound engineer who didn’t seem to grasp how to make the band sound great. (I should note that this is one of the downsides of performing music on TV, where it might sound great to everyone in the room, but might not be the case for those watching from home. Some stations in Indonesia just tend to pay more attention to mixing live performances than others. Some are notorious for disregarding input from the artist’s own sound engineer, i.e. the person who actually knows how the artist should sound.)

After watching that performance I said to anyone who would listen that I wanted to see them in a proper show (i.e. no commercial break interruptions, pandering hosts and random comedians) with proper sound, and after they’d got a few more shows under their belts to shake those cobwebs loose.

Last night, the time finally arrived. It was too crowded for comfort, and the Starship Enterprise-sized bar in the middle of the room might be ideal for a night of getting drunk but it really limits your gig enjoyment. Made me wistful for Bengkel Night Park, one of The Pallas’ earlier incarnations, where I saw Padi sans bar obstruction way back in 2000. And it’s hell for short people once all those mobile phones go up in the air, especially if you’re someone who prefers watching from near the back because that’s where the sound is at its best.

Of course none of those complaints have anything to do with Padi themselves, because they were on fire. They were tight and sounded great, with Fadly’s vocals in particular sounding magnificent. Over the course of two hours they brought out a string of classics - including “Rapuh” and “Semua Tak Sama” with special guest Rossa on vocals and enjoying a bit of banter with her ex-husband Yoyo on the drums - and also threw in a handful of deep cuts for the hardcore fans. And after experiencing several earthquakes over the past week, I ought to be excused for being paranoid when the crowd made the ground shake during “Hitam”, and even more so during “Sobat”.

There was no room for that new song which got its awkward debut live on national television. It’s just as well, because it would’ve ruined the show’s momentum, not to mention that it hasn’t been embraced by the public because it hasn’t even been satisfactorily recorded yet. On a slightly more disappointing note, there wasn’t room for “Sudahlah” and “Tak Hanya Diam” either.

But overall, it was an awesome show by Padi. It’s good to see them finally back and firing on all cylinders. I hope they can figure out how to make new music that can live up to their previous hits. See them live if you get the chance. Preferably not on television.

Want to hear a playlist I made from this show’s setlist? Right this way.

On Monday I went to see a little band called Costaroy that consists of current Float bassist Binsar Tobing and vocalist Imelda Margaret, whom you might also know as Meda Kawu (look her up). This was a showcase to mark the release of their debut album Tuscany Temple, which they haven’t released digitally yet so you’ll have to contact them to get their CD, or settle for the two songs they have put out on digital platforms and their YouTube channel.

With a little help from their friends - Binsar’s Marsh Kids cohorts Ade Paloh (of Sore) and Billy Saleh (of Polka Wars) on trumpet and guitar respectively, drummer Ready Febrian Limaheluw of the in-limbo Backwood Sun and now with Sirati Dharma, and keyboardist Muhammad Asranur of too many bands to mention - Costaroy turned in an impressive set buoyed by Imelda’s gorgeous vocals and Binsar’s slick bass playing. There is a Sore-esque quality about their music, which shouldn’t be surprising given their various connections (Binsar occasionally fills in on bass for them, and the album features Ade’s trumpet playing and keyboards by Andie Jonathan Palempung, who was Sore’s live keyboardist until a few months ago.)

Given Binsar and Imelda’s busy individual schedules, it’ll be great if they can find time for Costaroy. They’ve got a few shows lined up in the coming months, so keep an eye on their social media and maybe find time for Costaroy too.

From The xx’s concert at Jakarta International Expo on the 23rd of January. Quite a mesmerising experience with great sound and lighting, and the crowd in fine voice. After only being able to read about them and see them in videos, it was nice to finally witness Romy Madley Croft’s vulnerability, Oliver Sim playing his bass like he’s wrestling an anaconda, and Jamie Smith pulling it all together from behind his array of fancy electronic gizmos.

Want to hear a playlist I made from this show’s setlist? Here you go.

From the Pure Saturday gig at Bintaro Jaya Xchange Mall on the 19th of January. It’s a luxury to have so many songs that have embedded themselves in so many people’s lives that they endure and outlast their creators. Though the Pure Saturday of 2018 sounds slightly different than the Pure Saturday of 2014 simply due to the fact that there have been changes within, it’s the songs that still keep them going. And who knows, maybe there will be more of those songs in the future.

As for the past, the band had a little flashback in the form of Marcell Siahaan, who came up with them in the early Nineties Bandung independent scene as the drummer of Puppen long before he became a pop superstar. He got behind the kit for “Kosong”, and did a bit of reminiscing backstage with the band after the show.

Even with a Marcell guest appearance and a botched cover of The Cranberries’ “Free to Decide” in tribute to the recently-departed Dolores O’Riordan, the crowd wanted more, and so three more songs were played. It turned out to be one of those nights that make Pure Saturday love playing in Jakarta. And Jakarta certainly loves having Pure Saturday in town.

As the eulogising of the late, great Dolores O’Riordan continues more than a week after her passing, I just remembered that I have this cassette that she and the rest of The Cranberries signed when they first came to Jakarta in 2002. I’ll spare you the details of how I got their autographs (it involves remembering something I read in a Rolling Stone article back in 1995), but having collected a lot of signed memorabilia over the years, it feels odd to have something from someone who is no longer with us. Especially someone who had the kind of impact that Dolores did, and still does if you want to analyse it. Or you could just do what she sang on this very album and don’t analyse…

Now that’s what I call a perfect gig experience. Fleet Foxes were magnificent. Been waiting almost a decade to see and hear them play “Drops In the River”, and “Helplessness Blues” remains my number one Fleet Foxes jam, especially since I now seem to be going through the kind of existential crisis that Robin Pecknold sings about in the song. Didn’t get to the point of ugly crying but I was definitely feeling it!

And though their vocal blend has lost Josh Tillman’s voice after he decided to reinvent himself as Father John Misty, former Walkman drummer Matt Barrick more than makes up for it with his fantastic playing that perfectly anchors the intricate arrangements of the new songs.

Managed to meet the band afterwards as they were leaving the venue, which required a bit more effort from me since I’ve become an average concert goer. Would’ve got better photos with Skyler Skjelset, Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott if security weren’t being such dicks even though the band were happy to oblige some fans. At least I got them to sign my stuff and compliment Matt on his excellent drumming.

Fortunately most of security had gone when Robin and Morgan Henderson showed up. Both were total sweethearts, and they seemed sincerely happy to meet a bunch of crazy Indonesians who has flown in for the show. I hope they can bring the tour to us soon.

Special shout-outs to Casey for making the time to chat with me while he was watching The Impatient Sisters open for Fleet Foxes, and to FOH guy Jake McLaughlin for being a swell dude. If you were at Laneway Festival 2016 you might have seen him doing the monitors for Beach House, who also had Skyler on guitar. And special thanks to Satria Ramadhan for the impromptu meet and greet photos.

And now my gig bar for 2018 has been set pretty high by Fleet Foxes. Let’s see if anyone else can come close. The year has just begun…

Here’s a playlist of the songs from the setlist if you want to try recreating the magic.

When Beady Eye decided to break up in 2014, Andy Bell had already set the Ride reunion in motion, Chris Sharrock would go on to rejoin his old Oasis chief Noel Gallagher as part of the latter’s High Flying Birds touring band, and Gem Archer would eventually follow Chris into NGHFB.

So when Liam Gallagher finally went solo last year, that left Jay Mehler as the only other Beady Eye alumnus to join him. It’s probably a stretch to say that Jay is filling the Noel role in Liam’s band, but he is older and has a rock star presence that’s missing from the other members, who look like the same guy with varying degrees of facial hair. He’s the lone American in Liam’s band, which is funny because Noel also had an American guitarist in NGHFB before being replaced by Gem.

Before playing guitar for Liam and bass for Beady Eye, Jay was the touring guitarist for Kasabian. As a matter of fact, when I met Jay I mentioned that I had seen him with Kasabian when they came to Singapore in 2012. Jay looked bemused and said that he was just talking to someone else about how he’d never played in Singapore before. Which is probably the most rock & roll answer you can think of, because forgetting where you’ve been when touring the world.

Anyway, Jay was a very nice guy. He complimented the Beatles shirt I was wearing, and I tried to make him convince Liam to play “Rockin’ Chair”. He said he’d try to put a word in, but ultimately it came to nought. Oh well. At least Jay now knows for sure that he’s played in Singapore!

At some point in my gig-going life I decided I would rather watch shows from somewhere closer to the rear than nearer to the stage. Yes, there is that thrill of being close enough to touch your favourite band, but on the other hand there’s getting crushed in the crowd and being covered in sweat that’s a combination of yours and whoever else is around you.

So you’re more likely to find me at the back, where it’s less crowded and sounds better because that’s where the person who controls what the crowd hears usually is. The term is FOH (front of house) engineer, and if the situation allows it I occasionally chat with the FOH person because their stories can be just as interesting as the people on the stage, especially when it comes to other artists they’ve worked for because when bands take a break after a tour ends, their production crew usually looks for other artists to work for. There’s been a few times where I’ve met the same FOH guy on separate occasions with different bands, or belatedly found out they were working on a show I caught years earlier.

This is Shan Hira, Liam Gallagher’s FOH guy. Back in the early Eighties he was in a post-punk band from Manchester called Stockholm Monsters who were on the legendary label Factory Records and had Peter Hook from New Order as their producer. They were from Burnage, which was also the Gallaghers’ neighbourhood in Manchester. In fact, Noel Gallagher has said that they were the first band ever from Burnage, which is what got him into music and eventually forming Oasis.

After Stockholm Monsters broke up in 1987, here are some things that Shan did: he overdubbed hi-hats on The Stone Roses’ “Elephant Stone” at the request of Peter Hook, who was producing the session because their drummer Alan “Reni” Wren went missing (only to show up while Shan was recording, causing much awkwardness). That single was recorded at Suite 16 in Rochdale, which Peter co-owned and Shan eventually took over until it closed down in 2001. Suite 16 was where the Stone Roses, James and Happy Mondays recorded, and in its previous incarnation as Cargo Studios, it’s where Joy Division recorded as immortalised in the movie 24 Hour Party People. It was granted a blue plaque to mark its status as an English Heritage site in 2009.

I didn’t know any of the above information when I met Shan at the concert, though. It’s probably a good thing I only read about it afterwards, because having that knowledge would probably make me too nervous to talk to him. All I knew when I spoke to him was that he had been FOH engineer for New Order in recent years. When I asked if he was with New Order when they came to Singapore in 2012 (I wasn’t at that show but I was in Singapore to see The Beach Boys on the same day), he replied no, because he was on tour with The Chemical Brothers.

So that’s quite the impressive resume Shan has there. I think it’s safe to say that there was more than one Mancunian legend in the room that night!

The setlist from The Cranberries’ first show in Jakarta on the 21st of August 2002. They broke up the following year, but at that show it didn’t feel like a band on its last legs going to the remaining countries that would still have them. It felt like a band at the top of their game, with the crowd going apeshit at all the hits, and particularly Dolores O’Riordan’s every move. They got back together in 2009 and returned to Indonesia for Java Rockin’ Land 2011, which is when I interviewed the band minus Dolores, who hadn’t arrived from wherever she was flying in from. Even though they had been away for a while, you wouldn’t have known it from the crowd. It was so packed I could barely move. I guess that’s what happens when your music has touched millions, and your voice has influenced an entire generation of singers.

Anyway, here’s a playlist of songs from this setlist. Rest in peace, Dolores. Thanks for the music and the memories.