Location:
Jakarta Convention Center, Plenary Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia
Date:
February 2, 1996
Notes:
Incomplete setlist
hasiefardiasyah: "Yesterday the Internet (or at least my social media feeds) was abuzz about the 20th anniversary of Green Day’s breakthrough album, Dookie. Today's another Green Day-related anniversary, namely 18 years since their concert in Jakarta. Ditto Priyawardhana posted the ticket stub on Twitter earlier and said he cried because he wasn't allowed by his mother to go to the gig but his brother was. I was his brother's age, my parents weren't around so it's not like anyone could tell me no, I had Rp 60,000 to spend and most of my friends were going. So I went. What do I remember from that time? Green Day had recently put out Insomniac, which wasn't as huge as Dookie. But Dookie was so massive and Green Day fever didn't really hit Indonesia until early ‘95, so they were still at the height of popularity by the time they arrived, even though a lot of kids my age were starting to get into acid jazz or some other shit to prove they were grown up and sophisticated. I remember talking about the gig with a kid who was a year below me at school and he was all, 'Green Day are sell-outs!' I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in hindsight don't you think the last year of junior high is a bit too young to be a boring punk purist? For all I know, he was probably at the gig, either with an older brother or with those asshole punks outside who thought they were being cool by smashing the front window of the Jakarta Convention Centre where the gig was held.
I remember me and my friends dyeing our hair before the gig. I just settled for a spray, the colour of which I don't recall. I opted out of the salon treatment that Jo, who was my housemate at his grandmother’s place, went for and ended up looking like he was wearing a bright pink helmet. Which wasn’t a problem, because there would be plenty of other kids who looked weirder than us, and what would be the point of Green Day other than being a refuge for weirdos? We got to the JCC, made our way past the street punks and broken glass, and got into the Plenary Hall. Some kids who were in the balcony seats wanted to be in the thick of the action, so they jumped down, and I’m quite sure some of them injured themselves. (According to Renggo Adjie, one of those jumpers, tickets for the floor area were sold out, so people had to buy balcony seat tickets - which were the same price as the floor - to gain entry, and then jump down. Ah, Indonesians.) We found a spot not too far from the front row and waited for the band to come on. I didn't stay there long, because as soon as the band showed up and went straight into Armatage Shanks (I’m not 100% sure that was the first song, I’m just going by setlist.fm data from that tour), a mosh pit exploded and I spent most of the song on my knees looking for my glasses, which got knocked off. I found them intact, but decided to take a step or ten back so I could enjoy the show without getting some random kid’s shoe in my face. I remember Billie Joe spitting a lot, I remember Tre Cool throwing his drumsticks up in the air after every other song. I remember someone throwing a crappy-looking sandal on to the stage, then Billie Joe picking it up and putting it in his mouth. I remember Tre singing and playing his comedy songs All By Myself and Dominated Love Slave, the latter with Billie Joe on drums. I don’t remember Mike Dirnt doing anything other than kicking ass with his basslines and harmonies. I remember they played lots of songs from Dookie, with a healthy share of Insomniac, too. I remember a sense of smug satisfaction when I was the only one who seemed to recognise the pre-Dookie songs they played, because my brother gave me 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours copied onto a blank tape (I really freaked out when they played Paper Lanterns), and I bought an imported CD of Kerplunk! after finding it at Aquarius Mahakam and hiding it somewhere until I had enough money to purchase it. Yes, kids, the pre-Internet world was a very different place for music lovers. But most of all, I remember how it felt to see a band at the very moment they were providing the soundtrack to my life. That doesn’t happen often, especially not in mid-Nineties Jakarta if your life’s soundtrack was American pop punk bands. I went to their Singapore 2010 show, and it was enjoyable, but it definitely didn't feel as good as Jakarta 1996. So if you were at that gig, I hope you had the time of your life. I know I did."
