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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Things you thought were Balinese but are not

Reality is easy. It's deception that's the hard work.
~Lauryn Hill

Bali Shag. Oh come on! Can you imagine going into your local tobacconist and asking for a Bali Shag?!!! WTF. Never smoked it myself but it’s touted over the net as being a “traditional Dutch style hand rolling tobacco blend, a mixture of dark burley tobacco and light Virginia tobaccos”. Definitely nothing Balinese about it at all. Mind you, a Bali shag in Bali is a quite different proposition although…

Bali Mojo. If you can’t get a boner, get Bali Mojo. Touted as the “most Natural, Potent & Powerful Aphrodisiac Pill In The World”, Bali Mojo is formulated from no less than seven powerful herbs and plant extracts, “all proven to work individually as traditional natural aphrodisiacs, energy boosters, strength improvers and ailment curing treatments”. 

But what’s this got to do with Bali? Well not much. Sure, ONE of Bali Mojo’s extracts is the fabled “Tongkat Ali (or “Ali's walking stick” in English!), and while this stuff does come from Indonesia, the plants are typically found deep within the country’s rainforests (what’s left of them) rather than in Bali. There are also cheaper local alternatives to Bali Mojo that come highly recommended! Hahaha!

 Bali bras. These bras are made by “The Bali Company” – which is a US lingerie company. Nope you never should read too much into a name. Initially the company started off in 1927 as Sara Stein as Fay-Miss before changing its name to Bali Brassiere Company in 1935. Not Balinese but, hell, pretty cool nonetheless.

 The Bali Ha’i song from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. In the musical, Bali Ha’i is a volcanic island modeled on – wait for it - the volcanic island of Aoba in the South Pacific!

 The Bali Hai Gold club. Nice but a long way from Bali.


The Bali Hai Gold club

 Las Vegas, Nevada, to be more precise!

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