Local and South East Asian Musicians Reigned Supreme on Soundrenaline 2018
BALI (9/9) – The biggest annual music festival in Southeast Asia, Soundrenaline 2018 has been wrapped up. Closed out by a performance from the rap-rock group, Limp Bizkit, Soundrenaline presented an unforgettable experience. If you happened to attend, let us re-live you some of our best moments at the festival. There were five stages in total ranging from the main stage that is A Stage, Camp Stage, Creators Stage, Platinum Stage and the only indoor stage Slim Refined Stage. A Stage was playgrounds for the festival headliners like Limp Bizkit, Sheila on 7, Maliq & D’essentials, Endank Soekamti, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Barasuara, and many more. The biggest surprise came from Limp Bizkit who performed far below our expectation. Besides sounding far below average, their set became underwhelming without proper guitar action. There were a few technical difficulties that required the guitarist to change his instruments. Somehow, the backing vocal also sounded better than Fred Durst. Popular guitar riffs that were familiar from Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and Megadeth were a nice addition. But other than that, we wished to see something more from this band.
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus‘ stage was okay, without any gimmicks or special actions. That’s why we shifted our focus on our local artists and Southeast Asian musicians who delivered their best on Soundrenaline 2018. Performing on this festival many times, Sheila 0n 7 never disappointed us. Duta, Eross, Adam, and Brian playfully opened their set with visuals mimicking an RPG game intro. They continued with their classic hits like “Kita”, “Dan”, “Melompat Lebih Tinggi”, “J.A.P”, and newer ones like “Film Favorit”. Another notable performance came from Mocca on Slim Refined stage who served a nice change with the addition of Vicky Burgerkill on some songs. Efek Rumah Kaca also performed upon a full house while they were collaborating with artist Eko Nugroho for the visual. A collaboration from Dialog Dini Hari and Scaller also surprised us as their opposite genres blended pretty well. Malaysian soloist, Zee Avi proved that best things come in a small package as she delivered a great stage performing songs like “Kantoi”, “Bitter Heart” and many more. The now LA-based musician also uttered her experience as she said this was the top 2 most beautiful places that she has ever performed at.
Moving down on Platinum Stage, the sound on this stage as far as we know was the best from all of the stages. The S.I.G.I.T turned their set into mayhem when they performed as people gathered in mosh pit and hell, it was nice to see. Shaggydog made everyone dancing as they sang “Kembali Berdansa”, “Kere Hore”, “Jalan-Jalan”, and a few more songs before it was closed out by “Sayidan”. On this stage, Thailand singer Phum Viphurit graced the audience with his sweet songs like “Paper Throne”, “Sweet Hurricane” as well as hit single “Lover Boy”. He experienced some difficulties as his guitar effect was turned off in the middle of the performance, but he handled it with giggles and lots of conversation. He seemed to enjoy the festival’s vibe so much as it was his first time in Bali. Hiphop Hore gathered Indonesian hip-hop heavyweights like Iwa K, Saykoji, Tuan Tigabelas, Yacko, Ramengvrl and many more. They delivered their own verses and collaborations to the audience who was in awe.
On Creators Stage, Japanese psychedelic rock band, Kikagaku Moyo was a stunner as they hypnotized the whole crowd with their excellence. We could not forget their songs that are full of dynamics and power at the same time. This also became the first time for Mooner and The Panturas to perform at Soundrenaline as they gave their best on stage. The Panturas event went as far as spreading 100 copies of pamphlets to the audience in which we could read the band’s profile, discography, and social media. Jogja Hiphop Foundation proved that language is nothing when it comes to music. Presenting hip-hop tracks in Javanese, the audience enjoyed their flow and beats a lot even they might not know the context of the songs. Camp Stage became the first time that bands like Silampukau and Manjakani. We discovered some new music along the way and the shift on this stage and Creators stage which laid on the same area was pretty seamless.
Credit: FX Ismanto
Collaboration from several names like Iga Massardi, Viki (Kelompok Penerbang Roket), Sammy (Seringai), and Vicky (Burgerkill) on “Arus Merah” also became the highlight of the whole festival. Presenting 79 musicians, creators, visual artists, and many more, Soundrenaline 2018 lived up to its tagline as the biggest music festival in Southeast Asia. We could see installations from Southeast Asian artists as well and hopefully, next year’s concept would be perfected and a lot better than this one. Some of the profits from the merchandise of Soundrenaline 2018 will also be donated to the victims of Lombok’s earthquake.
