When our agent called me and said we were going to Jakarta, Indonesia, I was shocked! It had been over 10 years since any rock band had been allowed into the country and they were opening their virgin doors to Metal! This was truly going to be an adventure!
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| Max |
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| Paulo in the cockpit |
A couple months before the concerts, I received a schedule to confirm, from the promoter. It was very thorough and included where we would have lunches, meetings, dinners, parties. I thought it was a bit strange, but when we arrived, I realized why they wanted it! The schedule was printed in the biggest music magazine and everyone knew where we would be, every minute of the day!
We had some surprises coming. First, the band had to appear in front of a panel of men who determined the logistics of the live performance...men from the church, government and generals. Andreas had to air-headbang to demonstrate the motion on stage. The band was told they had to wear long sleeve shirts and cover their tattoos. After all was agreed, they let us enter the country for the shows.
We were not prepared for the popularity of Sepultura in Indonesia. We knew the band had gotten a platinum award for sales, but we didn't know about the promotion that had accompanied our shows. A clove cigarette company was the sponsor and adds were everywhere! Gigantic billboards, posters, banners on overpasses, magazine adds, you name it...Sep was in it! We even drove past an elderly woman who pointed at us and yelled "Sepultura!!"
The days were filled with interviews and appearances. The band was presented their platinum award in front of thousands of starved fans. We were treated to the finest food, traditionally served in large bowls that we al ate from. The freshest fish, rice and vegetables were prepared for us wherever we went.
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| Kids storming the stage! |
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| Live in Jakarta! |
The show was pure insanity! 40,000 people stuffed the outdoor stadium, with even more people outside! So many people climbed on housetop roofs that many houses caved in! Fires were surrounding the stadium and we learned that frantic fans were lighting buses, cars and motorcycles on fire!! Once, they stormed the backstage entrance and flooded in like a wave!
The crowd got so wild the police stopped the show and made everyone sit down!! 40,000 people thrashing and ordered to sit down! We were amazed but they did it! When the authorities felt they had settled down, they allowed the concert to resume! We heard one person got fatal injuries, but for all the commotion going on, it could have been much worse. The fans were so overjoyed to have their music finally allowed in the country, they went wild!
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| Max and Me at an artist shop |
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| Creativity hard at work! |
We all enjoyed many sight-seeing trips around Jakarta. Our friends took us to artist areas where rooms were filled with craftsmen and their creations. We even went to Bali for a day! It was fascinating to see the temples and amazing island! I took many photos of the guys here.
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| Sepultura at a Temple in Jakarta |
We did 2 shows in Indonesia...one in Jakarta and one in Surabaya. They were amazing! Everywhere we went, chaos and adoration followed us! We had a great time and felt like the Beatles!! We also had the coolest party ever, thrown for us! But that is next week's class....
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| Me and dude |
Class dismissed.....
