Jakarta , Java and Jazz. Never would’ve thought it would sound so good. I named it triple J. For the past 15 years, Indonesia has been a proud host of Java Jazz Festival. Considered to be one of the largest jazz festivals in the world and arguably the biggest in Southern Hemisphere, Java Jazz is held every early March in Indonesia.
Throughout history, when it was held for the first time in 2015, approximately 125 groups and 1,405 artists performed in 146 shows, and attended > 45,000 visitors in 3 days stretch.
Java Jazz 2019 , claiming to be 'the; biggest jazz festival in the world, was held on 1, 2 and 3 March 2019 at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta.
Actually, I have only been to Java Jazz once, which is this year where I got a giveaway ticket from one of the sponsors, Wijaya Musik after posting a photo in instagram. How powerful social medias are!!
To be honest, it was a sudden surprise since the giveaway deadline was just one-day away from the concert start .The tickets were already sold-out, and costs quite a lot for a daily pass (IDR 925.000 or around 75$). It also was an effort for me to go to Jakarta at that time!
I live in Karawang, about 47 km from Jakarta. Was called at March 1st, 1 pm that I won the ticket, and the ticket had to be taken THAT DAY, on Wijaya Musik’s offline store, for that day. I had to ask permission to ditch work that day! Messaged a lot of friends and peers to no avail… so I asked the closest person to me: my brother.
He said no.
At first.
I annoy him to go.
And yes he did. After 6 times of asking.
We were using Google maps to go through the shortest route (whether to use toll roads or not) to arrive at Wijaya Musik at North Jakarta (56 km, 3 hours and 46 minutes of driving, saved 26 minutes).
Thanks Google Maps!
Us both are not Jakartans, so again we were using Google maps again to arrive at JI Expo Kemayoran.
What I love on Google Maps is that the alternative road which saves time, and by the pope, we actually saves more time!! It saves us about 15 minutes of traffic and bypassing some construction site.
Funny story is there are lots of ticket seller (illegal, and we call them ‘calo tiket’ here), with cheaper price than the website. Tempting, but since we got free ticket, we ignore these ‘calo’ and run straight to the venue.
A surprise though! When we enter, the queue was thousands of people long. Luckily our ticket was deemed official invitation and the queue was shorter.
6 people before our ticket exchange the committee server went down! It was chaos. Around 45 minutes we wait to no avail and it was raining. There were some people waiting outside without roof and was drenched even before entering. Quite few people vent out their anger because their plan got ruined. Some of them has just finished work early just to see their favorite artist (one of my friend missed Jeff Bernat’s performance , and I myself missed Barry Likumahuwa ) . I saw one of the ticketing staff ran backstage holding her tears. Could not blame them, but the ticketing manager and the technical manager.
Aside from that, what I love about being local is the local experience talking to local people. Indonesians love to chat with random people and make jokes with each other, so while queuing, me and my brother chatted to a mom and her son, and to a bald person in front of us. We joke about the staffs, that if this is an airplane flight we should have got at least bread and water (to keep our anger bottled within!), that we should have gotten a discount, and guessing who is the ticketing manager !
After talking to people, we went in! Finally! Talking to local people, strangers do make time fly and tells new experiences (we know the bald guy often came to concert and a pretty laid-back guy, since he calmly wait and only make sarcastic joke while laughing to the staff: “Is there any problem with my ticket or is it your manager that needs a problem?”) Meeting local people is really interesting.
But then! After a long queue we were finally able to come in. Excruciating traffic, bad weather did not stop us two to enjoy the Jazz festival. We were greeted by lights, neon lights everywhere.
Tips on going music concerts in Indonesia:
- Come an hour or two hours earlier to avoid queue, and ask your ticket type.
You can go ahead if you are sponsored by company or come as media rep!
- Always bring cash.
You never know what surprises when you go inside. When we went in there was an exhibition of Kapal Api (One of Indonesia’s finest robusta coffee), serving their fresh hot or cold brew only for 15,000 IDR (1 USD)! Furthermore, at the Stage Bus Jazz tour there were a lot of food trucks serving Indonesian traditional food (nasi goreng/ fried rice, fusion style food such as cheese nachos, sushi burger)
- Bring raincoats, fan and fold-able umbrella.
It can always rain, or hot at concert place. In Javajazz MLD Stage bus tour it was crowded so it is hot but in the middle of the concert it was raining!
- Get a map of the area.
Ask the information center and you will know who will play at which stage at what time. Saves you a lot of trouble! Plus, this Javajazz has created an App which shows you the schedule. So cool!!
- Follow the instagram.
I followed Javajazz instagram for giveaway tickets, and there was a booth for survival kit! We went there and just by posting a picture to instagram, we got the kit which consists of: Sling bag, fan, map, water bottle, tissue, antiseptic hand sanitizer, mosquito repellant, emergency raincoat for FREE!
- Know your artists.
You cannot go to Javajazz without knowing the line-up! So I have downloaded the app and the schedule to make my time efficient. I watched 6 performances:
- Nathan East Band of Brothers covering “Daft Punk” in Jazzy mood;
- Hanin Dhiya, young uprising star teenager whom covers legendary song: “Can’t help falling in love with you” by Elvis;
- Surprise performance by Rendy Pandugo , solo star guitarist whom supposed to play the next day
- Hivi Band, a pop band which is local teen favorite whom releasing their newest single;
- Bob James Trio legendary Bob James with 9 cover songs (my personal favorite)
- Closing the night with Hungarian band, Zsolt Botos.
Coming home from concert was hell!
We were both quite tired coming back at 11.00 PM, and had to drive 55 km, across the Jalan Tol Jakarta Cikampek, which is still under construction until now. The red line was so long, so we decided to use alternative route: avoid highways. And saves us more than 1h 30 minutes of coming home using normal road (toll-free), plus no need to pay for toll fees! We ate a bit before actually arrived home at 2.13 AM.
I love google maps.
Well, that it all from me for now! I was very touched and energized by Java Jazz Festival 2019, and will definitely come to Java Jazz 2020! Local guides who enjoy jazz, let us go together next time!
With music, it will Unite Us All! See ya around!