An Ultimate Music-Picnic Euphoria at Focal Point Bandung
Bandung has long been known as a creative city where its youth seem to always come up with the most unique idea for everything and the competition is tough, including an idea for one of a kind music concert. Focal Point as one of the event created by the students of SBM ITB, boasts an exciting concept to combine picnic and music in one venue which located at Bumi Sangkuriang Bandung. Truthfully this concept has been tried before on so many music platforms, the results however differ in practice. Fortunately, Bandung’s weather that day was so clear so the ‘picnic’ feel that Focal Point try to emphasize really came out. Being held for the second time, Focal Point also had a pre-event series which also used the picnic and music theme. Besides music and picnic as its main focus, the event also encouraged the visitors to feel a comprehensive experience like playing interactive games and many more. The line up wasn’t ordinary as they managed to invite promising local indie musicians who are new to the scene as well as established acts. The complete line up are KLAV, Tigapagi, Pure Saturday, Oscar Lolang, Polka Wars, Stars and Rabbit, Danilla, The Sastro, Elephant Kind and The Trees and The Wild.
We came just in time as Oscar Lolang has graced the stage. We sadly missed KLAV‘s performance, as Bandung’s traffic on the weekend was highly frustrating. Back to Oscar Lolang, he brought an easy breezy folk tunes which was suitable to be listened in a peaceful afternoon. We lost the track of time until he sang his last song and it was announced that the next act was ready to take over the stage. Tigapagi were the next line up and we dearly yearned for their performance. Almost all the songs from their album “Roekmana’s Repertoire” were performed and we sang along to their graceful folk sounds. As The Sastro commenced their performance, we decided to take a tour of the whole venue and looked at the food & beverage vendors available inside. The veteran band brought memories from the 90’s when The Sastro hit their prime time. Some people were seen swarming the stage to reminisce the old tunes they were familiar with, while we sipped on our drinks while looking from afar. Pure Saturday, the veteran pop band from Bandung was the last act before the Maghrib break and eventhough they often play from one indie stage to another in this city, we’re not bored with it. They sang their hit songs like “Kosong”, “Desire”, “Coklat” and “Musim Berakhir”.
After the break, Jakarta’s alternative rockers Polka Wars were up on stage. We last saw them when they released their album “Axis Mundi” in 2016 and on Focal Point they opened their set with “Mokele”. They also performed other songs like “Moths & Flies”, “Alfonso” and “Tall Stories”. They hinted about their forthcoming album that will be released this year, Polka Wars are currently packing it up. Afterwards, soloist Danilla continued the fun with her pop jazz flair. The singer who is often addressed as “cici” got some avid fans in the crowd, as they who were mostly men shouted out her name. She graced us with songs from “Telisik” album as well as the new ones. When the clock struck at 8, Elephant Kind followed up. Bam Mastro and friends performed their contemporary pop-rock tunes taken from “City J” album. The almost-perfect kind of set from Elephant Kind made us believe that this band is a local band with international appeal. Their songs like “Montage”, “Beat The Ordinary”, “Scenario 1”, “Oh Well!” until “With Grace” accompanied our night.
As more people started to crowd the stage, and the air grew hotter, folk duo from Yogyakarta, Stars and Rabbit started their set. Elda and Adi greeted the audience warmly, and they performed songs like “Man Upon The Hill”, “The House”, and “Worth It”. Elda’s mesmerizing vocal and unique antic stole the attention from the spectators and we were pretty entertained by it. Eventually, the last act of Focal Point emerged on stage. The band have been the talk of the town after releasing their latest album “Zaman, Zaman”, it was no other than The Trees and The Wild. With a gloomy set and dim lighting, Charita Utami and crews brought their new renditions which were intriguing for us. Their new stage concept and gimmick offered a mysterious image to the band and we were brought into a world of ambient music like Ulver, Brian Eno, or Pale Saint. “Empati Tamako” which became their last and most awaited song managed to take our breath away. We were speechless on how they arranged their live set and all the songs in the new album. Furthermore, as one of the main feature from Focal Point, we actually saw some people sat on a mat upon the green grass while they were enjoying the music. The overall ambience was great and we’re looking forward to the next great concept from Focal Point!
Writer: Zakaria/Editor: Novita Widia
