Soundrenaline 2017 #UnitedWeLoud Day 1 Was Full of Surprises!
The scorching heat of Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park at Jimbaran, Bali did not stop music enthusiasts to swarm the place to see Soundrenaline 2017. With the tagline of #UnitedWeLoud, the first day of one of the biggest music festival in the country presented various surprises. First of all it came from Efek Rumah Kaca who brought an orchestra group called Cognatio Orkest to perform with them at Menthol Burst Stage. We did a quick interview with the band to ask about the preparation behind their performance as well as future plan for ERK. The stage was decorated with a huge ball and only had a small gap between the performers and the audience, giving them a closeness which we did not find on other two big stages “United We Loud Stage” and “A Stage”. Scaller took the stage afterwards, performing songs from their incredible album “Senses”. Andien performed energetically bringing her upbeat songs like “Moving On” and a tune dedicated to her newborn son “Belahan Jiwaku”. Fans were full of anticipation of Mew‘s stage that will follow up later on. Taking a little bit long to prepare, finally Jonas Bjerre and co graced the stage and performed songs from their old and new discography. Four local artists then took over the stage starting from Tulus, Maliq & D’essentials, Isyana Sarasvati and Dipha Barus. Dipha Barus became the latest act to perform that day bringing setlist with his hit songs like “No One Can Stop Us” and “All Good”.

To ascend to another stages, we had to climb up the stairs which have been beautifully decorated and drawn by the murals from Muklay, Iwe Ramadhan, and Abenk Alter. The three of them joined forces to create two huge drawings which you could see in its entirely from the ground. Iwe Ramadhan was last year’s winner of Go Ahead Challenge on Visual Art category. On A Stage, the set was opened by Scared of Bums, and Jionara who would collaborate with Alexa the next day. The Adams brought nostalgia with their oldies songs and the setting sun was the perfect companion to their sweet tunes. Bali’s own psychedelic grunge band, Navicula commenced the stage followed by a special collaboration project called “United We Loud Project”. Nikita Dompas was the mastermind behind this project and he invited Danilla Riyadi, Candil, Shae, Aqi “Alexa”, Monita Tahalea, Fadli Musikimia and Ari Lasso on a stage together. This time Nikita dared these vocalists to come out of their comfort zones by bringing songs they do not usually do. Classic Indonesian songs like “Nada Kasih” by Fariz RM, “Pemuda” by Chasiero, “Pertama” by Reza Artamevia as well as “Begadang” by Rhoma Irama were re-arranged and performed in these vocalists’ own styles. They had to bring their own take to perform songs like “Toxic” by Britney Spears or “I Feel It Coming” by The Weeknd and Daft Punk. Some lyrics were missing but it was all tolerable since they sang it well.

On United We Loud Stage, the collaboration between Piston and Rey from Kelompok Penerbang Rocket rocked our world and they were not shy to showcase their skills. Natterjack, Nanoebiroe, Shaggydog and Lolot also performed on this stage. Another special collaboration called “Rhythm of People” was shown bringing talents from Iga Massardi (Barasuara), Kikan, Marco Steffiano (Barasuara), and Stella Gareth (Scaller). They performed rock songs from various era starting from Godbless to the era of Kelompok Penerbang Rocket. In a separate interview, the female vocalists had to tackle the challenge of singing rather vulgar lyrics with bold attitude. This stage was continued by performances from Seringai and Burgerkill which never disappoint. On Slim/Refined Stage, we got to sit back and relax with the tunes from Floar, Mondo Gascaro, Danilla, and Base Jam. Endah and Rhesa broung not one, but two special stages in which they collaborated with Keroncong Biru and Adhitia Sofyan. Afterwards, Abdul and The Coffee Theory also played alongside jazz legend, Barry Likumahuwa. The stage was closed with the performance of Stars and Rabbit and Bottlesmoker which started out a year ago on Go Ahead Challenge Artwarding Night. Since then, the project was continued upon positive responses from the fans.

The main stage which is “A Stage” was followed by Andra and The Backbone’s performance and continued with Naif. Naif managed to hype up the crowd with their songs like “Mobil Balap”, “Air dan Api”, “Curi-Curi Pandang” and many more. David showcased his great showmanship and got the audience to sing along and followed his order. Having been hyped up by Naif, JET closed out the stage on the first day of Soundrenaline 2017. They performed songs like “She’s A Genius”, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and even fan favorite “Look What You’ve Done”. They did not bring their newest song “My Name Is Thunder”, probably following the hard critique the song gets after it was released. Performing in Indonesia for the first time, JET was unfortunate enough to play after Naif who commanded the audience like a pro. The show felt a little bit anti-climatic due to their so-so performance. Besides this, other stages and collaborations on the first day of Soundrenaline 2017 #UnitedWeLoud successfully surprised us in a good way!