The Cloves and the Tobacco set alight Toba Dreams

“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” 

 ~ Jay Gould 

I was surfing around on Instagram and came upon this: 

Indonesian Celtic Night Out? 

What the heck is that? Well, a bunch of Indonesian bands that play Celtic Punk music! 

This is not a genre I’m familiar with at all, and the only Irish/Celtic punk band I can recall off the top of my head would be the Pogues. But hell. I have plenty of Celtic blood running through my veins and I like a lot of the old 70s punk bands, so I got some tickets. 

The concert was to be held at Toba Dreams near Manggarai, a venue I have passed many times in the past on the way to work but never actually visited. We arrived early to get good seats and picked up some cans of warmish Anker beer before taking our seats to the side of the stage. 

Toba Dreams is certainly a roomy venue and could easily fit in 200 people I reckon. A number of bands would take the stage but most people would come to see the main act: The Cloves and the Tobacco - a highly acclaimed outfit from Yogyakarta. 

It was a long night and by the time The Cloves and the Tobacco took the stage the venue was absolutely heaving. As if paying homage to the main act, the air was heavy with cigarette smoke as everyone seemed to be puffing away and the venue’s extractor fans were unable to cope. 

My eyes were stinging and red and my throat felt like someone had sandpapered it raw. Everyone cheered madly as The Clove and the Tobacco played their first song, an instrumental entitled Across the Horizon, well played I thought, with the individual instruments sounding clear and in tune. 

Some rousing numbers followed and many of the Indonesians sang along with the band – an indication of just how committed this band’s following is as they have memorized the lyrics. There was also plenty of stage diving and one poor chap fell badly before he hobbled to relative safety away from the madness and then collapsed into a heap.

I liked the songs, though - good rousing punk numbers with Celtic vibes and I made a mental note to check out their back catalogue later at home. The only disappointment was that the band played only a handful of songs. I, like most of the crowd, wanted to hear more! 

After The Cloves and the Tobacco had finished an area was cleared in front of the stage and we were treated to an impromptu bare knuckle boxing contest! 

A nice touch in these politically correct times. 

A special mention should also be given to the band that followed The Cloves and the Tobacco: a full-on ‘oi’ punk bank called ‘Tenholes’ which absolutely shook the foundations of the venue to its rafters with their manic display. 

Good stuff lads! 

All in all, this had been a really good night’s entertainment even if I am still suffering from a nasty sore throat. 

Bloody cigarettes!