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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Friday the thirteenth in Jakarta

Paraskevidekatriaphobia, or fear of Friday 13th, is probably the most widespread superstition in Western countries.

 But is it mere superstition? I always used to think so. But what is really interesting is that a study conducted by the British Medical Journal shows there is very good reason to stay at home on a day like today:

 "The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52%. Staying at home is recommended."

 WTF!

 Sufferers of Triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13, are also worried today of course.

 And like in the West, there are plenty of sufferers in Indonesia too.

 That’s why there are no houses numbered 13 and no number 13 beds in Indonesian hospital wards. It also explains why floor 13 is missing from Jakarta’s office/residential tower blocks.

 But this is all very strange when you think about it. After all, Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country (fear of the number 13 comes from the number of people attending the Last Supper, while the fear of Friday 13th is because Jesus’ Crucifixion took place on a Friday).

 But besides the missing 13 floor in Indonesia, loads of other floors in offices are also missing - as this blogger in Jakarta found out:

 …I counted the number of floors and it was about 29. When I got in the lift the first time, I see that the top floor is 36. I was a little puzzled. Did I count the number of windows wrong? A few days after I moved into the apartment, I was going up in the lift, and watching the floor indicator, I noticed that it skipped numbers 13 and 14.

…And it gets even weirder. The next day, I was studying the selector board and noticed that there is no number 4 on the board… Floors number 4, 14, 24 and 34 are just not there.

 The reason for this of course is that there are a lot of Chinese Indonesian people in Jakarta, and according to Chinese tradition, number 4 means bad luck.

 So be careful when you go home today. Especially If you leave at 4.00pm!!

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