Show #1 : Daighila, Circuits, (Reverse) Racism, Bekasi and New Friends

As promised, i will be doing a series of post on our past shows. This is the first one of many to come. 

"Your first show is most likely going to be horrible, and yet unforgetable."

I honestly don't remember the gentleman who said this very phrase to me a few years ago. But looking back from where the band is right now, I can safely say that the phrase unfortunately rang true for us. We were downright terrible on our first show. My only regret is that we did it in front of people that we actually wanted to impress.

There are so many things i can tell you regarding the show since i was playing a dual role of organizer and performer, but i won't bore you with useless details. Jakarta was on the verge of being skipped by the tour since no one was willing to organize a show. I stepped up because i knew how much Daighila and Circuits would kick ass. It was my first time organizing a show and it was natural that I was worried to death of how it would go.
 
Stepping out of DAMRI bus at blok M were these twelve punk looking crowd . Among the twelve was Matther Niederhauser, a Beijing-based American photojournalist and videographer doing his own project of documenting DIY music scenes across south east asia region. He was also responsible for helping some of Chinese bands to play in the states. He's one hell of a dude. Get acquainted with his amazing work here.

What follows was a two-hour bus trip to East Bekasi and since we got there early, I thought it'd be a good idea to get ourselves a motel so everyone could get some rest. One motel refused to take us in. The manager said that we would need to get permission from the local mayor to spend the night since we had foreigners with us. It made absolutely no sense. I was trying to reason with them but it didn't work. It was the first time in my life i witnessed a "reverse racism". And to be quite frankly, it felt just as terrible as actually experiencing one. After a long wait by the motel's parking lot and a series of frantic phone calls, we were able to get them a place to stay. 

Thankfully, the show went well. Circuits and Daighila killed. Daighila put on some of the most intense performances i've ever seen. Their frontman, Duan was screaming his heart out with so much passion and it was beautiful. Everyone in that tiny cubicle studio didn't know what hit them. By the time Circuits was playing, the studio was full and there were some crowd-surfing action! The studio might be hot as shit and covered in sweat at this point, but the atmosphere was warm and friendly. And to me, this was the decisive factor that propelled me to say that the show was "successful."
 

What about Vague? We were simply terrible. Our lack of experience definitely got the best of us. I was faced with an amp i wasn't familiar with and i simply couldn't get the tone i wanted. The guitar was too low in the mix, the drum was too fast; i unplugged my guitar cable twice (always at the end of the song, thankfully) and my left foot was shaking the entire time. Of course we messed up quite a lot too.

All and all, it was an experience not to be forgotten. There were things i wish i had done as an organizer to make the whole process smoother for the bands. Thankfully, they were lovely people. Not once did they complain about anything! No rockstars attitude here, just kids who wanted to have fun and experience things.

Hopefully the next time we're on the same bill as Daighila again (Malaysia tour someday?!? fingers crossed), we will be able to do a lot better. 

Thanks to Jan, Doni Drako and Bekasi crew for making the show happened.

Last but not least, check out this video of Daighila ripping Bekasi show. Filmed my Matthew Niederhauser.

Daighila Live in Indonesia - 2011/02/14-15 from Matthew Niederhauser on Vimeo.