Joyland Festival Day 1 & 2

Hello hello, so since it's been a week since Joyland Festival, let me blog about my experience in this super awesome music festival! Probably the best I've ever been to.

I will combine day one and two here as day one was very short (you'll know why below).

So after 2.5 years of online concerts and livestreams, I've decided to do a "Revenge Music Festival". You know some people did "Revenge Traveling" after pandemic border controls were eased. For me I decided to go to a music festival for 3 days HAHAHA. Which is super worth it. But probably not gonna do it again. Will talk about this in another separate post mwahaha.

Anyway so I went to Jakarta on Friday the 4th of November. Years and Years was playing at 3 PM so I decided to go to my hotel first to check in. I stayed at Century Park Hotel near the festival ground (GBK Softball stadium). It is super near, highly recommended if you're watching a concert. It's like a 5 minute walk to the venue (depending on area, mine was right in front of the hotel hah).

Yaaaas Olly!

I went in at like 2 PM and I ended up waiting for a while longer (didn't know it's super near hah). I'm so so happy to finally catch Y&Y! After a 7 year wait oh my gosh. I think they're supposed to tour in 2019 but their ASEAN tour was also cancelled back then. It's so good to see Olly live eeep! And great to see Mikey joining in the tour too, and Paris as well on the drums. Olly is such a great performer!

Full Squad.

He's just really like... So in the element on stage. Well I guess perks of waiting for so long is that I'm able to hear (sort of) 3-albums worth of music haha. Thank you for playing many songs from each album! It's so great to finally hear them live. I had such a great time dancing and singing to your songs. It was truly a great way to open the music festival and to break my hiatus from the scene haha. We love you Olly! Hope to see you again soon in Jakarta <3

Okay so my plan was to actually stay and catch Project Pop at 6:30 PM. After Y&Y set (about 4 PM ish) it started to rain. At first it was drizzle, then it got heavier and heavier. And since I have 2.5 hours to wait I decided to just sit at under a sheltered bench. The rain was weird, it was like raining, off, raining off and so on. By 5:30 PM the rain got lighter. So I had hopes to catch PP drier hah. But by 6 PM the rain got heavy again. At around 6:15 PM it got slightly lighter. 

Omw back to the hotel, in the rain

That's when I was like okay I think I'm gonna head back to my hotel and give PP a miss. The rain was not as heavy as before so I braved myself and walked back to my hotel with my raincoat. Just as I reached my room. Wow, there was a thunderstorm heh. The rain got really heavy and there were thunders as well. And with a rotten luck and blessing in disguise, PP's performance got cancelled. I saw this on IG. Even though I saw them doing soundcheck earlier! It's sad, cause I saw some people tweeting that they were looking forward to PP (me too!).

I fell asleep on my bed as I only had like... 4 hours of sleep last night. I woke up at about 11 PM but I'm thankful that the rain stopped and I could hear the festival continuing on. 

Day 2 was an exciting one was I finally had the chance to catch Kunto Aji (AKA Mas Kun)! And also Batavia Collective, which is a band I recently discovered a few months back. Also excited to catch Scaller again. Before the festival I went to walk around the hotel area but it was raining in the afternoon. Okay another separate post for this haha.

Hello Mas Kun!

I went to the festival at around 4 PM as Mas Kun was playing at 4:30 PM. I've been wanting to catch him for so long but never had the chance to. So happy that I get to catch Mantra Mantra Live! I love how he begins his set by asking us to go into... A Meditative state? So like let go whatever is bothering you. And when they return to you just let it go again. He's truly a performer. I love his energy and I love his candidness during his set. Grateful to finally catch him live! 

Batavia Collective ft Barry Likumahuwa!

Next act was Batavia Collective. There was a huge gap between the set so I walked around the festival ground again. Thankfully no rain this time hah. Batavia Collective was amazing. They're so damn tight. There's also a surprise when Barry Likumahuwa, who's one of Indonesia's Bass gods hah, joins them during Propulsion. He's so amazing!! And I wish BC's set was longer to be honest. I look forward to hearing more new music though! The songs that played were so good.

In between BC and Scaller there was a stand up comedy stage and I went to see it. Had a really good laugh and it really made the whole atmosphere lighter and just nice.

Scaller!

Scaller is just energetic as usual. I love their energy and their performance! I caught them for the first time in WTF 2017. They recently released a new album and I'm glad to be able to hear their new songs live. But I think my favourite from them is their song "The Youth". I feel like the song is a "Cathartic Rebellion". It just makes me want to dance and jump and scream and shout haha.

I wanted to actually catch Tulus late at night at 10:20 PM. I went to stroll and sit around the festival ground after Scaller. I even went to see the Hype of JKT48 (their fans are amazing!). And I also went to see Sales, a new band that I haven't listened to (nice chill sounds!). But guess what, by the end of their set... Which is an hour before Tulus' set, I decided to go back hah. I was just feeling really tired somehow. And I know tomorrow's gonna be a long day. So yeah.

Went back to my hotel, change my clothes, finished up work (yes I brought my laptop lol). Fell asleep again, showered, and went back to sleep. That's all for day 2!

See you tomorrow for Day 3.

Rehat

It's Saturday night and I'm just chilling out with some records playing in the background. Anyway I wanna talk about something. I'm inside the music video of one of my favourite songs, from one of my favourite Indonesian artist! I'm just really happy to be able to contribute to this music video, because this song means a lot to me. It is a song that came at the right timing, that I'm glad to have crossed paths with. It's none other than Rehat by Kunto Aji, from his second album - Mantra Mantra.

Anyway the title Rehat means rest. Or like taking a break. More about the song later!

Right so in December, Kunto Aji (I call him by Mas Kun haha) posted on Instagram that he's collaborating with nkcthi for the music video of Rehat. There are 4 themes where we can follow, and we have to submit a video of 20 seconds in duration according to the themes. The themes are: morning ritual, chasing your dreams, failures and rehat itself. As mentioned above, this song means a lot to me. So of course I want to be part of the video together with many people!

I submitted two videos, one for morning ritual and one for rehat. My video is very simply, just a video of me meditating hah. Morning meditation has become a ritual for me in 2018. I decided to split my meditation into two, one in the morning and one in the evening. And it's been enjoyable so far! One of the new habits that I'm glad to have formed in 2018. As for the rehat video, I sent a video of me lighting up my aromatherapy candle. Also a new "obsession" I have thanks to my insomnia.

I wasn't really intending to have my videos chosen. I just want to take part and hopefully contribute to the video. And... My meditation video got chosen! To be honest I really really salute Mas Kun's team and the editor because the music video is so so beautiful. I heard that they have 1200+ video submissions. And I'm pretty sure lots of them are beautiful! Like the ones in the video. I really salute them for choosing all the videos because for me, that would be a very difficult process haha.

Anyway yes I'm just happy that I'm able to contribute to the music video. This song means a lot to me.

Why? Here goes.

2018 was rather a challenging for me, mentally and psychologically. I still remember in September ish, I was just feeling really crappy and stressed out. Until that night, when Mantra Mantra was released, I gave the album a listen from top to bottom. When I reached Rehat, I just stopped whatever I was doing and gave this song so many repeats heh. The lyrics are so so beautiful. Suddenly all of my worries disappear, and I become so much calmer. And Rehat has been in my monthly playlist since then.

Particularly the words "biarkanlah semesta bekerja untuk mu". Which co-incidentally is one of my favourite mottos in life - "let the universe work for you". Or also "may the universe conspire with you".

And the lyrics that go before the line above: "yang di cari, hilang. Yang di kejar, lari. Yang di tunggu, yang di harap".  It means something along this line: "Things that you're searching, go missing. Things that you're chasing, running away from you. Things that you're waiting for, hoping for..."

These lyrics hit a chord in my heart because well like I mentioned in my year-end post, 2018 felt like a year where I was hungry for permanence. For assurance, and for certainty. And life being life, you can never get all of these, because nothing in life is certain, except for death and uncertainty hah. So when I heard these lyrics, it really brought a whole level of calmness and assurance that the universe is working with you. Just don't worry and trust the process.

And also the beginning of the song that goes: "serat-serat harapan masih terjalin, suaramu terdengar, masih lah nyaring dan bergema, di ruang-ruang hatimu". It roughly translates to: "fibres of hope, still intact. Their voices heard, echoing loudly in the rooms of your heart." This is also something meaningful for me. Because as much as me trying to be a realist, part of me still holds on to the hopes that I have in my heart. It's a reminder that I still have hopes.

So yup. I love this song so much, and it means a lot to me. I am happy to be able to contribute to this music video, together with the rest of #teamrehat. I want to thank Mas Kun for writing such a beautiful and meaningful song that many people will find comfort in. Mantra Mantra is definitely an album that this world needs. Because it never stops worrying. Also to the editor of the video who has done such a fantastic job compiling and creating such a beautiful beautiful video!

Terima kasih Mas Kun, tim editor, dan #teamrehat.

Salam rehat

Oh wait I forgot. Those last few lines that go

"Untuk kalian yang lelah dengan keadaan, pencarian, kenangan, tuntutan, apa yand ada di pikiran, teirma kasih sudanh berjuang sampai sekarang". Which means: "To those of you who are tired with your situation, what you're chasing, memories, objectives, and whatever there is in your mind, thank you for fighting up till now." I cried during this part when I watched the video for the first time.