Soundrenaline 2016 Day 1: A Worthy Experience for Music Lovers
Dubbed as the biggest music festival in Indonesia, it is only fair if we put a great expectation for Soundrenaline 2016. Taking the same place as last year, at Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Uluwatu, Bali, the festival boasts a stellar national line-up and three international acts. Among them there are Simple Plan, The Temper Trap, Bloc Party, Barasuara, Tulus, Sheila On 7, Naif, Jamrud, NTRL, Kotak, Kelompok Penerbang Roket and many more. We’re about to give you some spotlight and notable acts from Day 1 of the festival, here we go.
Upon arriving at the spot we were welcomed by Bali’s blazing heat, but this was aready predicted by the committee as there were several refreshment spots that sprayed trickle of water to the visitors who walked by. A thoughful move for us, the overly sweaty people…. There were in total 5 stages prepared, including 3 big stages, 1 amphitheater, and 1 small stage. This is the art of going to the festival, as you could not catch ‘em all (see the Pokemon reference here?), you have to prepare of what acts you want to watch… or you could just walk around and find the best show as you go.
Day one of the festival, the scorching heat did not seem to hinder fans to watch their favorite acts as we saw the Shaggy Dog on “Louder Than Ever” stage, which was pretty packed. JRocks included some sexy dancers dressed in angelic costume to their stage, and it really took our attention and we were dazed and pretty confused (another popular culture reference). The S.I.G.I.T opened their set with “Detourne” and several songs like “Alright”, “Tired Eyes” and ended their stage with “Black Amp”. Endank Soekamti knew how to party as they encouraged Kamtis (their fans) to come up on stage and danced with them.
The first day was also a showdown for several indie and under the radar acts to show their best performances and few of them really did stand out. For example, Poison Nova, a metalcore band from Cirebon rocked the Amphitheater and even gave a surprise as they collaborated with Seringai’s frontman, Arian13 to cover a song from a Norwegian band titled “Mjod”.
Kimokal captivated the audience with their mysterious and sultry electronic vibes and Kalula shone with her on-point vocals performing songs from their recent album “O”. Stars and Rabbit once again proved their uniqueness with songs like “I’ll Go Along” or “Catch Me” and performed them energetically. Goodnight Electric became the last performer on Amphitheater on Day 1.
On “Go Ahead” stage, we watched White Shoes & The Couples Company returned on Soundrenaline after last year’s gig, and Sari & co managed to pull out some of fans’ favorite tunes including “Kisah Di Selatan Jakarta”, “Selangkah Ke Seberang” and their newest single “Suburbia”. Sadly their formation wasn’t complete as Mela, their keyboardist was absent due to her recovery from recent appendix removal surgery. Meanwhile Isyana Sarasvati pulled out a rendition of Queen songs in her setlist, we were truly stunned but she nailed it pretty well. The Upstairs turned the stage into dance floors with “Matraman” and “Disko Darurat”.
An exciting musical project called “Soundrenaline Project” wowed us with their new music arrangement made by Nikita Dompas and performed by Neonomora, Kalula, Andi /rif, Marcello Tahitoe, Kikan, and Felix Davide. Songs like “Vogue” by Madonna, “Sendu Melagu” by Barasuara, “Hands to Myself” by Selena Gomez, and “Pamit” by Tulus were cleverly re-arranged to bring out refreshing take on the songs. It was then followed by EDM night, when DJ Dipha Barus appeared with his DJ set on this stage and then it was ended by DJ Yasmin.
Love was in the air as RAN performed their romantic songs on “A” stage and we could see lovebirds enjoying their tunes while exchanging affectionate gestures. Naif gave us major nostalgia as they played some tunes like “Mobil Balap”, “Benci Untuk Mencinta” and “Posesif”. The crowd is getting bigger and bigger as Maliq & D’essentials followed by Andra & The Backbone performed, but Simple Plan really took the cake as we saw an ocean of people on their stage. We could barely move and they performed their famous songs like “Perfect”, “Summer Paradise” and they even covered other top 40 songs like The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk”. Simple Plan also brought out Tantri from Kotak to perform “Jetlag”. Day 1 was a blast and the aftermath resulted in a heavy traffic jam, sore legs, but we were perfectly happy.
The hype for the second day of Soundrenaline had not died down, the amount of people who gathered for this festival was as high as the first day. The line-up was rock solid and we once again split on which act we wanted to see that day.
On “A” stage, the show commenced by Bali’s own artist called Rollfast. They hit it with their songs like “Methanol”, “Multiple Desert” and “Baby 69”. Their stage was then followed by rising rockstars, Kelompok Penerbang Roket. They played effortlessly and performed songs such as “Anjing Jalanan”, “War Pig” and “Mati Muda”. We could definitely saw some ladies who could not keep their eyes off them. Veteran band, The Adams, brought out some nostalgic tunes like their classic “Hanya Kau” and they were playing when the sun went down, The Adams and sunset are a beautiful pairing.
After that, we decided to check out some DIY booths, merchandise booth, and interactive games booth that were spread throughout the arena. Visitors seemed to engage in the DIY and creative booths by making their own version of t-shirt and totebag, or take pictures of the artwork contest winners that were held by Soundrenaline. The sponsors were also actively seeking visitors to come by their booths to play games, like the dancing game on Le Minerale booth or slate booth by Qubicle. “I tried to make my own totebag and also went to slate booth by Qubicle”, said Bagus, an attendee that drove all the way from Surabaya to Bali to watch this festival. “Overall, last year’s interactive games and engagement booth were merrier. It’s less option this year”, Bagus added. Express Yourself stages also encouraged visitors to test out their ability in playing piano sideways or hit the drum as hard and as much as possible, it was a sight to see.
We continued screening the whole arena of Garuda Wisnu Kencana and went to see DDHEAR at Amphitheater stage. FYI, DDHEAR is collaboration between two folk bands, Dialog Dini Hari from Bali and Endah N Rhesa from Jakarta. The pairing have released a mini album called “Parahita” and they performed after a full house. Both sang their collaboration songs or their own songs, and made a few surprises like Zio sang Endah N Rhesa’s “When You Love Someone” by himself while playing the piano. A standing ovation ended their spectacular stage, it was a well-deserved response. Elephant Kind followed suit and opened their gig with their latest single “Montage” and “Beat The Ordinary”. The crowd followed what Bam ordered and it’s like seeing an MC stage. Neonomora and Sore were in line to perform after Elephant Kind and they both delivered a fun stage.
Meanwhile, on “Louder Than Ever” stage there were various rock bands performing like /rif, Barasuara, Lolot, Suicidal Sinatra, Seringai and Jamrud. Surprisingly, Jamrud brought the house down with their set by making fans and audience alike sang their songs like “Putri”, “Terima Kasih” or “Pelangi”.
“Go Ahead” stage surprised us as Efek Rumah Kaca were playing their set, Cholil Mahmud, their front-man who was known to have moved temporarily to New York, US came out on stage to perform “Putih”. Thus, we saw ERK’s complete formation with Adrian as well who sang while sitting down. We had a chance to interview the band and Cholil said that he had to hide, so the surprise went well. He also added his excitement to perform together again and was happy to see Adrian’s improving health. Even though he had to go abroad for a while, he wanted to see ERK alive and well. Tulus and Kahitna were bringing pop sounds to this stage. Bloc Party, the alternative rock band from UK, closed the celebration on this stage with a bang.
Kotak on “A” stage witnessed the return of their vocalist, Tantri, after long awaited absent following her maternity leave. Her vocals still managed to take our breath away, and Kotak had a girl power theme for their set so they asked Kikan and Shae to come up on stage and performed together. Before Sheila On 7 continued the stage, there was a little intermezzo that showed Soundrenaline’s past history with various performers singing a medley with DJ Dipha Barus setting the music. Sheila On 7 brought a different set-list from last year, and sang songs that were rarely sung in their concert. Eventhough a little technical setback disturbed their set, they managed to bring the mood back up and finished it. The Temper Trap performed after a very hyped crowd and their biggest hit to date, “Sweet Disposition” was an epic ending for the festival and the stunning fireworks added the necessary dramatic closure.
Soundrenaline 2016, despite the controversy surrounding it, has succeeded to bring together music enthusiasts from all over the country in one place to enjoy the festive. “If there’s a chance, I will surely come again next year” chimed Niza, a visitor who attended Soundrenaline for the first time. We second that opinion, and hopefully next year’s festival will bring much better experience for the visitors, media, and the artists as well. See you next year!
More pics can be seen on our Instagram: www.instagram.com/thedisplaymlg with the hashtag #thedisplaylive
Writer & photography by: Novita Widia
