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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Mong Tong Shine at the 2024 Bali Joyland Festival

Mong Tong are destined for cult status. That much I'm sure. For those fortunate to have attended the 2024 Joyland Festival in Bali, this was a gig that will be seared deeply into the memory for a long, long time to come. The setting was just perfect. Just imagine a sultry late night in the tropical paradise that is Bali with gentle waves caressing the sandy shores close to where the modestly-sized stage had been set up. 

When the Taiwanese electronic duo emerged, they promptly tied black cloths around their heads to cover their eyes. Incredibly, they would play blindfolded! 

Experiencing Mong Tong's music live is quite a different proposition to listening to their recorded songs, which although brilliant, are more subtle and laid back. Live, though, the music takes on a psycadellic dimension, being notably less melodic but far more intense and catharic. The music was so immersive that the past and future disolved into irellevancy for me and only the moment mattered. But time never stands still and eventually Mong Tong had to remove their masks, and thereby bring the show to an end. What a performance. And what a band!!! 
 
*Mong Tong's music is available for download on Bandcamp and you can, of course, listen to it on Spotify. Some of my fave tracks are: Forest Show, Tropic Sub, Mystery and 717.



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