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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Rama Satria – well you won’t see anything else like that in Jakarta, says Mark

“Well, you ain’t gonna see anything else like that in Jakarta,” claimed Mark, the owner of New Star Kemang. He was talking about the performance of Rama Satria, the virtuoso Indonesian blues guitarist who had just played at his small bar on Kemang high street. 

Rama Satria at Star Kemang Jakarta

This was electric blues at its finest – and rawest. Loud but not deafening, Rama played as if he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for some of the meanest and most exhilarating guitar licks you will ever hear. Or maybe Satan had just done Rama a favour by retuning his guitar before giving it back to him? I guess we’ll never know. 

This was exhilarating stuff and I particularly enjoyed Rama’s rendition of Canned Heat’s 1968 classic ‘On the Road Again’. But Rama doesn’t really perform songs. He jams. This, of course, allows for plenty of experimentation and onstage antics – is he really playing the guitar with his tongue? It appears so. Check for yourself on the second video below! 

Rama has the poise and gait of a real rock star that’s for sure. A terrific night’s entertainment from a wonderful performer. And no: you won’t see anything else like that in Jakarta. Of that I’m sure!





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