Pet Shop Boys Electrified Jakarta

If you’re in your 20’s or 30’s and into good music, sit for a while and try to think of a time when Pet Shop Boys (PSB) did not exist.  Chances are you can’t remember such time.  It feels like they’ve always been there, providing you with great tunes that probably have made you try a dance or two, once or twice; probably some of their songs have soundtracked important moments in your life.  We did try to remember the time when we didn’t know them; we kind of failed, we just had this vague memory that PSB have been around for several decades.  And to my great amazement, Neil Tennant’s voice was still as beautiful, as clear as the first time we heard him sing, which must be years and years ago.

His voice soared inside the Plenary Hall of Jakarta Convention Center on August 17^th, 2013; he and Chris Lowe themselves were still partly hidden behind a giant screen onto which a video was projected as they opened their set with ‘Axis’,’ One More chance/Face Like That’, and ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)’.  They welcomed their fans to their first concert ever in Indonesia – some in the audience must have already thought, After all these years, finally!  And this won’t be the last, right?

But at that moment the past and the future were forgotten; the curtain-screen fell, and there was only the present, deliciously filled with electronic sounds, weird costumes, video projections, and fantastic lightning.  A Pet Shop Boys show is not only pleasing to the ears; it’s also a gigantic feast for the eyes.  From the seats, it was totally out of mind.  PSB changed costumes several times to fit the songs – from pointy hats, tops made of long black straws, suits with orange hats, to disco ball helmets that reflected the spotlights to form strange strips of gleaming green across the hall.

PSB brought along their two dancers, who brought an eerie atmosphere when they donned creepy animal skull masks complete with horns and mane and danced to ‘I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing’ and ‘Suburbia’—perhaps the first song that night that finally threw the whole audience into a craze.  PSB effortlessly, coolly, glided along their setlist that combined their time-tested hits and their newer songs.  Men and women alike screamed to songs like ‘West End Girls’, ‘Fluorescent’, ‘Rent’, ‘It’s A Sin’, ‘Domino Dancing’ – many of those who were seated couldn’t resist the temptation to stand and dance.  And everyone simply exploded to ‘Always on My Mind’.

PSB disappeared from the stage for a while after the song, and to the chant of “We want more!  We want more!”, returned for the encore, ‘Go West’ and (“We have one more song for you”) Vocal.

“Thank you for sharing your Independence Day with us.”

Whatever the reality that awaited outside the Plenary Hall after the concert ended, one thing was sure – for the 2 hours we spent inside, we all knew the meaning of the word independence.

And those who attended, would now have a wonderful memory of the show that ensures that Pet Shop Boys will remain with them in the future.

(Tyas Palar / Photos : Antara Foto and Free Magazine)