Venue: Parkir Selatan Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia
Date: 29th April 2016
Promoter: kiosPLAY
Review by: Nina
Claustrophobia is a reality in every Jakarta concert. The locals’ comfort zone lies within cramping in front of the stage, smartphones and cameras up in the air. Tame Impala’s Jakarta set, on Friday, April 29 at Parkir Selatan Senayan, was different. The five-man psychedelic outfit brought calm upon Jakarta on their last leg of their Asian tour.
“Let it Happen” (from Currents, 2015) opened the show around 8.30pm, bringing it on a high almost immediately. The almost 8-minute song defined Tame Impala and its psychedelic identity, which mellowed down from rock in their first years to pop in recent years. Their transformation was mirrored by the diverse crowd that attended the show. Bimbim, a member of Indonesia’s iconic rock band Slank, was one of them. The rest was made up of hipsters in their late 20s, a few celebrities, and dressed-down music enthusiasts. To overdress is to be an anomaly. This was surely not the overly-hip Ismaya Live’s We The Fest in the best possible way. Kudos to kiosPLAY, the organizer who would also be bringing M83 to Jakarta on May 21; the security was great without being a pain in the ass, the timing was on point and they managed it without selling cigarettes or alcohol.
The next two back-to-back tracks were “Mind Mischief” and “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?” The pop-rock combination were a winner, if not for the mediocre sound system (in this subject, We The Fest won by a wide margin). At this point, the lucky 13 media who got a chance to shoot from the pit had to leave the area, as no professional cameras were allowed after. Tame Impala imposed surprisingly strict photography requirements, considering they were more a rock group than a Beyoncé.
However, Kevin Parker made up for it by being a naturally charming frontman. This was their second concert in Jakarta in five years. From the crowd cheers, it was clear that faithful fans were abundant that night. In fact, the demand was unusually high that outside the concert zone, unofficial ticket sellers were asking gig goers to sell their extra tickets, not otherwise. “It Is Not Meant to Be”, “The Moment,” “Elephant” and “Yes I’m Changing” followed after, triggering rhythmic head bangs and slow dances in between whiffs of weed.
Sing-alongs followed suit during “The Less I Know the Better”. The upbeat yet lighthearted track was surely a crowd pleaser, a departure from their earlier and critically-acclaimed effort. The track also brought back memories of their Laneway 2013 set, which was thicker in rock. It was past 9pm at Laneway, just like that specific point during the Jakarta show, and I remembered not quite enjoying the loud sound after a day full of sets. On the contrary, their Jakarta show was a perfect remedy on a Friday night, after two hours of the usual traffic jam.
The set continued on with “Eventually”, “Alter Ego”, “Oscilly” and “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?” While it “ended” with “Apocalypse Dreams” and a high praise for opening act Barasuara (who was brilliant and poetic and transporting as always), it was an easy bet that the Perth guys would be back for an encore.
“Feels Like We Only Go Backward” and “New Person, Same Old Mistake” made up the encore, which ended with tons of confetti spraying into the polluted sky. While I could not say for the rock-inclined fans about their latest effort, I really did enjoy the current shape of Tame Impala. They were relaxing and melodic while being brilliant. Crowd pleaser could also be a good idea, no?