Venue: Parkir Timur Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia
Date: 9th August 2015
Promoter: Ismaya Live
Review by: Nina
Special Thanks: Sarah, Kevin, and the Ismaya Live team
Photos by Ricko F.
Dancing with the Cool Kids
The absence of headliner Passion Pit makes way for new kids on the alternative block to win the hearts of Jakarta’s hip teenagers
“If you have someone you like, don’t just keep it to yourself. Be brave and tell her you love her!” shouted Sydney Sierota, frontwoman of American indie outfit Echosmith. The loud cheer from the crowd cued the start of “Tell Her You Love Her”. Best known for their US Billboard 100 song “Cool Kids” and latest radio hit “Bright”, Echosmith was the epitome of today’s pop indie scene, serving millions of teenagers around the world. Throughout their energetic set, Sierota took selfies with the crowd, took video of the singing spectators and of course, and pulled four of them to dance with her on stage for “Come With Me”. The 4-manned siblings band was charming in its approachability. Echosmith’s We The Fest (WTF) set aptly ended with the crowd pleaser, “Cool Kids”.
We The Fest is Ismaya Live’s annual effort, arguably Jakarta’s answer to California’s Coachella and Somerset’s Glastonbury. Its second edition brought together alternative music, food, and fashion. The year’s lineup included synthpop sensation Passion Pit (who cancelled at the last minute due to frontman’s illness), Kiwi quirk Kimbra, fellow Australian and electronic duo Flight Facilities, British singer/songwriter Jessie Ware, French DJ Madeon, and Swedish DJ Cyril Hahn. True to its root in food, Ismaya brought in chef George Calombaris of Masterchef Junior Australia fame to open a Greek food truck. The food area, dubbed Eats & Beats, was a highlight with its well-decorated Ismaya booths. The only bummer was the token paying system for F&B that resulted in long queues and hungry (and angry) festival goers.
Compared to its debut which was headlined by Ellie Goulding, We The Fest 2015 was visibly a lot more well-attended. The festival ground was packed with teenagers in their hippest festival gears – off-shoulder tops, fringe everything, and sneakers. The trendy festival goers matched the Parkir Timur Senayan surroundings that was decorated with swings, trampolines, and picnic tables. The picture-perfect sight was good entertainment on its own, although one couldn’t help but wonder if the young festival goers had school the next day. Then again, maybe cool kids had all the energy in the world to get the best of both worlds.
Flight Facilities came on stage not long after sunset. Their set was noticeably the most visually-appealing, with screens showing moving views from a plane’s window pane. They played songs from the 2014’s Down to Earth, with older tunes including a Claire de Lune remix thrown in between. The electronic set, much like DJ sets on the day, benefited from Ismaya Live’s consistently top-notch sound quality. Flight Facilities previously played Ismaya Live’s debut Love Garage festival in 2011.
Kimbra was upgraded to the main Clown Chella stage, following Passion Pit’s cancellation. The intense, even bordering strange to new spectators, on-stage presence of Kimbra was hypnotizing as always. “Miracle” from 2014’s Golden Echo was performed, followed by her 2011 hit “Cameo Lover”. Unfortunately, her set ended too soon for the hypnotic state to sustain. On the wishing tree at the festival, I wrote: “a full 90-minute set with Kimbra”.
The night climaxed with simultaneous DJ sets on both stages – Madeon on the main stage and Cyril Hahn at the Banana Palooza stage. France’s Madeon’s claim to fame was 2013’s YouTube sensation “Pop Culture”, a mashup of nearly 40 pop hits that gained millions of views in a matter of days. The 21-year-old DJ played hits “La Lune”, “The Night Out” (by Martin Solveig), and “OK” that brought crowd to their feet. The festival closed on yet another EDM galore with Australian DJ Motez’s set.
After 12 hours of erratic phone reception, I came home to over 10,000 Instagram posts hashtagged #wtf15. Scrolling through selfies and set photos, it was legitimate that We The Fest was a music festival for Indonesia’s social media queens and kings.