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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Paulaner Brauhaus, Jakarta

Drink is the curse of the working class. But things are different in Jakarta and here the curse of the drinking class is work. Some say that this desire to quaff back endless glasses of beer is due to the hot tropical climate while others attribute it to the often tempestuous relations that many expats have with the local ladies. 

But whatever the truth, one thing is for sure: drinking beer is vital for the good health of both mind and body and, as the great Ernest Hemingway once said, “a f**king great way to end the day”.

Paulaner Brauhaus, Jakarta And so it was off to Paulaner Brauhaus, an upmarket German bar with not-so-busty Indonesian barmaids bizarrely kitted out in the traditional Bavarian attire. Yet despite this shortcoming (sorry!), the huge and spacious bar still retained an authentic German feel, if a little dark and gloomy.

Paulaner Brauhaus, Jakarta 

There is plenty of good German grub here. Boiled pork, sauerkraut, beef goulash, spaetzle, all sorts of sausages etc. But beer is what it’s all about and in this respect Paulaner Brauhaus excels: they have the only microbrewery in Jakarta, with a choice of either light or dark German beers on tap! 

But then the bombshell hits - “Sorry. No German beer anymore. Only Bintang.” On hearing these words my mind kinda goes into a tailspin, somewhat like a Spitfire shot down by a Stuka dive bomber (although that’s perhaps not the best analogy to use in the context of this review). 

Not that this is the fault of Paulaner Brauhaus. What has happened is that the Jakarta local government has decided that by brewing beer on site Paulaner Brauhaus has somehow been violating laws regarding the brewing of alcoholic drinks. 

A very sticky mess which is highly unlikely to be resolved unless substantial amounts of money change hands, one would think. 

Scheisse! 

Paulaner Brauhaus,  
Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, 
Jl. MH Thamrin No.1, 
10310 Jakarta 
Telp (6221) 2358 3871 
Opening Hours Monday-Thursday: 11.30am - 0.30am Friday/Saturday: 11.30am - 01.30am Sunday: 11.30am - 0.30am 
Reservations No need, the place is huge.

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