BMTH live in Jakarta 2024

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This time around Ravel gets it right and BMTH (Bring Me The Horizon) are headlining the Nexfest festival in Jakarta which also features Babymetal. In this format there is no seating - which makes for a much more intimate experience - although you do have to arrive really early if you want to pick a spot right up close to the stage.  We arrived about six hours before BMTH were scheduled to start their performance and bought plenty of drinks to stay hydrated in the tropical afternoon heat (mind you, some of those were Iceland vodka mix!) This was a gig I had long been looking forward to - especially after the debacle last year. Not everyone likes BMTH of course. For deathcore fans the band sold out. For metal heads the band is not purist enough. And for the wider mainstream audience, the band is too heavy. You can't please everyone of course but there are few bands in the rock world which can match the sheer emotional velocity of BMTH. To bring metal and even aspects of metalcore t
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Flooding in Jakarta

Bonjourno!

So Jakarta is now the Venice of the Orient: just substitute the inflatable dingy for the gondola, fried tempe and tahu for the ice cream and dangdut for the opera and ya wouldn’t know the difference.

Like hell ya wouldn’t…

Anyway, the predictable blame game tosh has now begun in earnest with the so called TV experts (read charlatans) quick to blame the holiday villas in Puncak; the rubbish strewn canals of Jakarta; and of course, the old favorite this: the immoral Jakarta nightlife (the Supreme Being is dealing out the punishment again).

But the strange thing is noone really seems to be stating the obvious reason for the flooding:

And that is there was an incredible amount of rain in a short period of time, meaning the flooding was inevitable and completely unavoidable! As it was in Malaysia where more than 104,000 people have had to evacuate the country’s southern state of Johor.

Sure the minister may go on about “unchecked urban development” but who is he trying to kid? Jakarta is one of the world’s most densely populated cities and anything short of a compulsory vasectomy program for all males in the age group 16-60 is not gonna change that.

So with global warming on a roll I reckon we all should start to get used to the idea of having a few feet of floodwaters on our doorsteps.

Either that or move to higher ground. Or perhaps Sutiyoso could advise all new houses to be built in the traditional Papua style!

Ciao!

traditional Papua style house on stilts
The houses of Irian Jaya's Kombai and Korowai people are built as high as 150 feet to see the birds and the mountains and to stop sorcerers from climbing the stairs.

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