Wika in Joyland 2022

The excitement was there even when it was just the start of W43.

I finally went to a festival again after the last one was in 2018: We The Fest.

Kenapa jaraknya jauh banget? Karena the timeline was sucks. 

Festivals biasanya mulai dari akhir Juli sampai akhir tahun while I left for Sydney just in the first week of Aug 2019. Arrived, adapting, watching only Rich Brian, then covid happened.

Long story short, sebenarnya banyak rencana nonton festival ini itu yang banyaknya di Jakarta, tentu saja. But I decided to stay in Bali for most of the time in this 2022. Yaudah, timelinenya ga masuk aja, semua festival-festival itu adanya pas saya lagi di Bali.

Awalnya sih udah diikhlasin aja, ya. Kayak, yaudah, mau gimana lagi, urusan pindahan ke Malaysia lebih penting.

Rencana awalnya, saya di Jakarta maksimal 2 minggu di akhir November untuk urus resign dan settling visa. Eh, ternyata visa saya sempat ketahan sampai 3 minggu. Jadilah extend sebulan di Jakarta, jadilah timelinenya masuk buat nonton satu festival: Joyland!

Tulisan ini adalah catatan kesan-kesan menghabiskan Jumat hingga Minggu lalu di lapangan Softball GBK. Catatan agar jika suatu hari nanti saya baca lagi, bisa saya rasakan lagi euphoria akhir pekan W43.

Hari Pertama: Jumat, 4 November 2022

Tepat seminggu lalu. I was so excited when we arrived at the venue. We arrived early and it was already dark because of the clouds~ Yes, it was about to rain. It rained a bit when we queued at the gate. 

The first day... i didn't expect it would went that way. 

The first performer was Years&Years in the main stage. They were killing it. I mean, with all those stage acts and choreography, who cant resist to not dance with them??? Walaupun cuma tau berapa biji lagunya, but I really enjoy watching them on stage. Oh, one thing that catch my attention was the bass. Duh, there was that one song with a bold bass yang enak banget haaahhh. I have the footage but too lazy to upload it here. 

Right after Years&Years, we went to Ali's stage. It was the smallest stage. Gak tinggi juga. Gak seberapa ramai juga waktu kita dateng. So I stand like in the second row. Awalnya belum hujan, terus tiba tiba deras. I put the raincoat on and standing there amazed with the sounds of the guitar. Beneran kayak bengong, keren banget whyyyy. At that point kepikiran apakah aku harus beli gitar mahal padahal ngga bisa main gitar :)

After that, it was rain cats and dogs. Nunggu ujan reda di satu tenda yang mereka pakai sebenarnya untuk kids activities. Untungnya sih Jumat itu gak seberapa ramai ya, meskipun padet dalem tenda tapi cukup-cukup aja gak sampe sesak berdesakan.

Hujan kelar, sepatu basah, ga boleh re-entry. Yaudah jam jam berikutnya diisi dengan sedikit mengocehi sepatu yang basah.

Panggung yang berikutnya ditonton adalah The Adams. Awalnya ya duduk duduk anteng karena mau keringin kaki aja, nonton dari jauh. Eh pas mereka main Pelantur, langsung ketriger semua memori di kereta ke Newcastle muter lagu ini berkali kali. I put my shoes on and run to the crowds, singing it out loud. Celebrating the memories. I went to their shows quite often actually but I never realised that I actually know their songs. I sang to so many songs and it was fun! That was when I understand why people like them a lot. Dalam bahasaku yang cetek ini, their music is not basic. They're singing generic topics but their music is not basic.

Eh ternyata The Adams was the end of the night. Before The Adams, it was Seringai on the same stage. To be honest, I didn't expect that I would enjoy them. Tapi ya ternyata kok bisa. Pertunjukan mereka semacam pakai headset terus kencengin volume maksimum dikali 50. Jedar jedur berasa sampe dada woy. Tapi seru banget. Dari panggung ini sih jadi agak paham ya kenapa orang bisa suka band ini. Kadang kan memang pengen sesuatu yang memekak kan telinga tapi enjoyable. Nilai tambah lainnya, mereka bawa topik topik yang menyentil sana sini, mendukung buat kalau lagi emosi. Oh ya, mereka juga welcoming those newbies to their show and which I really appreciate. 

Day one was epic. From the heavy rain, from my first time experiences. 

Hari Kedua: Sabtu, 5 November 2022

Hari ini ya another first time nonton ini itu. I started the afternoon watching Sajama Cut. 

Kalian tahu kan kalau energi yang ada di panggung tuh bisa berasa sampai penontonnya? That was what I felt. Watching the vocalist really into the songs sampai naik naik ke semacam speaker di ujung depan panggung and the combination with the songs itself, duh! Menyenangkan sekali untuk ditonton meskipun ga hafal lagu lagunya. Kali pertama menonton Sajama Cut and surely looking forward for the nexts.

Hari kedua sebenarnya ngga terlalu ambisius. Di list priority cuma ada 3 penampil. Ada 3 lagi di daftar "Good if can". Salah satu "Good if can"-nya adalah Scaller dan kebetulan can. Pertama kali nonton Scaller yang ternyata membawa banyak lagu dari album baru mereka. Satu kata: KAGUM. I didn't know that Reney Karamoy's guitar is that sick and Stella Gareth voice is that powerful. Bahkan sampai ada satu lagu baru mereka yang jadi earworm, sepulang konser sampai hari ini masih didengar terus. I think will come to their show again this weekend. 

Setelah menganga, kagum dengan riff riff gitar Scaller, kami pindah ke panggung band yg masuk list "Priority": Perunggu.

We were in the front row!!! Pertama kalinya saya ada di baris paling depan dan pertama kalinya menonton Perunggu setelah beberapa bulan ala ala karaoke menyanyikan lagu mereka di kamar. The feeling was surreal. Ya kayak karokean tapi sama bandnya langsung. They played all my favorite songs: Tarung Bebas, Biang Lara. Seneng banget sihhh, what an experience. Apakah akan front row lagi kali lain? Um, kayanya kalau mau ngoyo karokean aja hehehe.

Hari kedua ditutup dengan nonton Tulus yang suaranya haduh ternyata live bagus berkali lipat.

Heartwarming~ ditonton sambil makan malam menu sisaan tenant yg masih buka, udah pada abis semua.

Hari Ketiga: Minggu, 6 November 2022

Highlight hari ketiga: capek. My body isnt made for 3 festivals. I only watched BAP yang juga pertama kali dan keren banget. He's like very humble on the stage terus pake acara turun nyanyi bareng sama penontonnya di akhir. Dia juga cerita sedikit soal beberapa lagunya, termasuk the one that I listen the most "Same Shoes, No Company".

Sisanya ya goleran di rumput, makan, ngobrol, terus ga lama pulang karena kecapean.

Overall, i do enjoy the festival except the capek part. Kayanya ga bisa deh nonton festival lagi. I'm more to single performer show gitu sepertinya. 

Sebenarnya ya sedih juga, I will miss lots of festivals in JKT bcs I'll be moving to MY next month!!!! Another country unlocked. Yaudah lah ya, we'll see. Mana tahu di sana juga seru seru.

See you on my next post!

Love,

Dwika

Readmore → Wika in Joyland 2022

What Changed Her?

I don't know what's the trigger. All I know is that I act differently this time.

She used to be that person who stays in her comfortable room, get food delivered to her place, having the least conversation and rarely walk around to see the neighbourhood when she first moved to a new place. She was too reluctant or shy or scared to have an interaction with human. It took so long until she finally open up herself. I don't know why.

This time, on her first day, she surprised herself. 

She walked around comfortably, dragging herself to see what's around, where she might sit and sip coffee (or choc). 

She even met and talk to people everyday on her first week in this city. 

I don't know what changed her. 

Is that the repeating Batur hiking? Is that the conversation she had with that guy from Bumble?

Mungkin karena ia baru menyadari, waktu yang ia punya di setiap tempat yang ia kunjungi sekarang bukan tidak terbatas. I just don't want to waste my time by just staying in my room while there are so many interesting places, persons around me. I want to see them all before I die. I have to!

I still don't know what change her, but sure I am happy that she starts writing again.

Maybe it's the conversations with guy from bumble and that surprisingly long conversation with her friend's little sister.

Fuck it. I'll start writing my feelings again. 

I'll go to those places I've never visited here in this city. And as an assignment, I'll write anything including my feelings in those places.

Wait for it :)

Readmore → What Changed Her?

Karya-karya lain yang saya tahu dari lagu lagu alt-J

Let me take you back to my Monday, 15 Feb 2022. That morning post shower: earworm. 

It was from alt-J's new album that was played during shower. That wasn't my playlist.

10 minutes before the last station, i started listening to the album, from the beginning, orderly. 

2 songs and Kranji already. The loop paused. I had to take off the airpods.

So much work to do but i keep that on repeat with some pauses between calls and meetings.

My favorite song from the album already decided by the evening. 

I didn't know what was the song about. I just really like the string part, sounds familiar but i dont know that it is.

And as always, that's the beginning of the digging~

Lucky that today you got music app with lyric and a brief about the song in it!!! 

Yep, Spotify got it all.

So, I go through each song all over again. Checking the the storyline whenever i feel intense or heard something interesting.

There is this one song that hypnotized me with the lyrics and the guitar part following it:

I started thinking what is this song about? Is this about someone who is trying to move on?

Then the storyline reveals the surprise: 

Suddenly I remember how this band always introduce me to another piece of art. From children book, old movie, even a famous statue in Verona!

I promise myself to write the in one post. So here it is:

1. Breezeblock

This song went viral on tiktok couple months ago but i managed to not get annoyed hehe.

So they took a sentence from an award winning children book titled "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. It's about a boy and his weird dream. There are monster like creatures in his dream say "Please don't go, we'll eat you up, we love you so!".

I even bought the book, tho. Well my sister did.

2. 3WW

aka Three worn words aka I love you.

Same story, i didn't know what this song was about so like what we all did, i google it. At that time, spotify hasn't got the lyric in it but genius was already reliable. And of course, wikipedia always there to help. I copy it here:

"The chorus refers to the statue of Shakespeare's Juliet at the Casa di Giulietta in Verona, which has been damaged by excessive rubbing by the hands of visitors eager for good luck in love."

I woudnt know there is a statue known for good luck in love in Verona! 

3. Matilda

Basically, they made as song based on main characters in a movie, capturing the relationship and a part of the storyline. The movie was "Leon", i think i also watched it in youtube long ago (or was it just the MV?). I cant remember the story but it's about Matilda (the girl) with Leon (the hitman). Oh i just re-read the wiki, Matilda was Natalie Portman!

Edit 20Feb22: I actually did watch the movie i even wrote a short review here.

4. Happier When You're Gone

I mentioned this earlier. And it is very clear from the story line.

I actually like the lyrics a lot and currently on repeat~

They're just soooo cool making a beautiful song in a form of response of a famous song. It blows my mind.

And just like the statue, I wouldn't know there is this "rock standard" song even Hendrix has his own version.

-----

There are more than these 4 songs inspired by pre-existing piece of arts but I like this 4 the most.

So that's it.

The first post of 2022 is about my favorite band.

Anyway i hope to write more this year. Wish me luck!

Readmore → Karya-karya lain yang saya tahu dari lagu lagu alt-J