The band have been making music for about two years and the name ‘Half Moon Run’ was inspired by the name that represent the three of them, “The name means different things to us all the time, and we hope that our fans feel the same way. On the most basic level, ‘half moon run’ is of three words that we like hearing next to each other.”said Devon on the band’s name. Half Moon Run have released their debut album, titled ‘Dark Eyes’. The debut received great critics from magazines like NME and Spin. And the same thing also went to their debut single, ‘Full Circle’. Eventhough the band are mostly inspired by folk and electronic music, the band themselves describe them more into indie pop as well. In creating the album, the songwriting process is a collective way, where the bands bounce off some ideas and try to harmonize each other. One of the most interesting critics to Half Moon Run is, their music is compared to Radiohead, on this matter, Dylan responded “We feel that for sure that our influences come through in our sound, but we have many influences and I think we are all conscious that our sound is something unique. That has always kind of been the requirement for ourselves, we never write to imitate something”. And another interesting fact about the band is eventhough they don’t sound like they’ll clash off your speaker, they are a huge fan of Sepultura!

Half Moon Run’s work in harmonizing their music should be given an ‘A’. The balance that they produce is such a great satisfy to the music listeners, especially if you’re a fan of Fleet Foxes or Local Natives. The trio’s music displays a great virtue of how an indie rock-folk almost done amazingly. They have opened for Metric and Mumford and Sons, soon or later, they’ll get their own spotlight and blow up the catchiness harmony.

This year we have seen so many eye-popping concerts. From Indonesia to Singapore and also to the furthest, Ireland. But, since we want to dig it more about the concerts in Indonesia. We made a list of The Best Live Acts of 2012 for concerts that we attended here. We will rank it from “the best” to” the better than the best” live acts. Ready for some reminiscence?

8.Avicii Live In Jakarta

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD.
Date : April, 5 2012
Promoter : Ismaya Live
Full Review : Dimensions Avicii

The ticket show was sold like a cupcake! Very fast and it was sold out. What we love about the show (beside the ground kicking set by Avicii) is the concept! Really, we never experienced seeing a laser show at Fairgrounds before! By the time We entered Fairgrounds, we were like entering the future. Time capsule to the 2020? Might be. Plus, since the tickets were sold out, the venue was so packed! The crowd was awesome and blended in one wave. Especially when “Levels” hit the speaker.

7.Playground Jakarta : (Best Act : Saint Etienne)

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : May, 5 2012
Promoter : Urbanite Asia
Full Review : Play Ground 2012

We know it rained buckets at Playground, but really, that’s why we loved it! It rained heavily when Saint Etienne were performing, then rain seemed like a party pooper. But wait, Saint Etienne paused the show and decided to comeback when it stopped. It means….. two sessions of their show! And over all, Play Ground really really played it well for designing the arena. We saw a ferris wheel there! If this list was about “The Best Festival with Edgy Concept”, Playground will top the list. Good job, Urbanite Teams!

6.Djakarta Warehouse Project 2012 : (Best Act : Angger Dimas)

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : December, 7 2012
Promoter : Ismaya Live
Full Review : Djakarta Warehouse Project 2012

Honk! Honk! Djakarta Warehouse Project was the house of EDM lovers. Maybe you all are asking why we choose Angger Dimas instead of Calvin Harris or Avicii or PVD. The answer is because Angger Dimas is our local hero! DWP is coming to all-EDM lovers’ favourite festival, it even kicked Zouk Out anyway. So, having one of our local heroes like Angger Dimas was amazing. He has worked with Steve Aoki and Tiesto. He did the deck in many EDM capital city all over the world. So, seeing him in Jakarta was our pleasure. Angger Dimas, you are one hell of a future of Indonesia’s DJ Generation. Best World’s DJ in the making!

5.The People’s Party 2012 : (Best Act : Metronomy)

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD.
Date : January, 13 2012
Promoter : Soundshine Event
Full Review : The People’s Party Jakarta 2012

Metronomy’s album was placed No.2 (No.1 was PJ Harvey) on NME’s Best Albums in 2011. Eversince we heard this mini festival would bring Metronomy (and also Bombay Bicycle Club, The Jezables, and Naked & Famous) as one of the lineups, we were making a bee-line to “Let’s Go to The Show” counter. Soundshine Event was pretty smart by putting Metronomy as the band who would close the show. It’s a worth time of waiting to see them performing last.

4.Foster The People Live in Jakarta

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : January, 11 2012
Promoter : 3 Ocean Live
Full Review : Foster The People Live in Jakarta

Who doesn’t know Foster The People? And also their super hit “Pumped Up kicks”? Got to see them live in the first month of the year was one of the best choices to start your year! We can just deny it that Foster The People did their job really well. Surprisingly, we thought the crowd would be just chanting along for “Pumped Up Kicks” but we were wrong! From the first song to the closure song, which is “Pumped Up Kicks”, the crowd put it all together! The interesting moment is when Foster The People performed Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”. And also their new song “Ruby”. Anyway, back to the Pumped Up Kicks’ momentum, We just want to say it again, it was dope. Plus they did the remix stuff on it. Say it again. It was dope.

3.Feist Live In Jakarta

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD.
Date : February, 15 2012
Promoter : Soundshine Event
Full Review : Feist Live in Jakarta

Feist teared down the place that night! When she performed “I Feel it All”, our jaws were dropped to the floor and they stayed there until the show ended. Feist also brought her three backing vocals who are known as “Mountain Man”, and the backing vocals were also amazing. The best was when one audienced showed a “Happy Birthday” on a paper and then he also gave her a present (sadly he didnt bring a cake, at least Feist might share some to the crowd. Okay, whatever). And it wasnt over just there, later than the crowd sang Feist a Happy Birthday song in Indonesian version (Selamat Ulang Tahun)! And then when the show was about to be over, here came a little surprise, Erlend Oye of KoC joined her to stage and danced. Feist amazing vocal and stage performance really convinced us that Feist should win a Grammy instead of just getting nominated in it.

2.Beatfest 2012 : Friendly Fires Live in Jakarta

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD
Date : March, 17 2012
Promoter : Urbanite Asia, Berlian Entertainment, & Hybrid Entertainment
Full Review : Friendly Fires Live in Jakarta

Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires is known for his deadly energetic moves. Even NME Magazine said “You have to see Ed Macfarlane’s dancing for once in your life!”, We did! . Performed their best 17 songs, we kept wondering, how came he kept dancing like that. The crowd got bombarded by Friendly Fires’ performance which really satisfied us! The icing on cake moment was when they performed “Hawaiian Air”, we could feel the Polynesian tunes with some breezing tropical air. One thing that would be great, if only they also brought some Hawaiian dancers to the stage (like when they did at Reading&Leeds 2011), There was no doubt the greatness would be two-fold.

1.Morrissey Live in Jakarta

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : May, 10 2012
Promoter : Indika Productions
Full Review :Morrissey Live in Jakarta

The wait is over! The congregation of britpop lovers finally got their aim in life accomplished. Morrissey, The former frontman of The Smiths who were the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s brought his Greatest Hits Tour to Jakarta on May 10th 2012. “It was radical!” that’s probably most of the crowd said after seeing Morrissey’s show in Jakarta. Many of his fans (even from the Smiths or his solo era) will never ever forget that night. That night was pretty much a karaoke session, all of them sang every single song perfectly. Morrissey even took some of the crowd to the stage and hugged them. Can it get any greater? Yes, He then took of his shirt then threw it to the crowd! Some people even got glassy-eyes after seeing him, no wonder, they’ve been waiting for ages and they finally able to see their legend live right infront of them. It was a history.

Those are the Best Live Acts of 2012. We just cant hold our excitement to catch the concerts in 2013! Yeah Yeah Yeahs,Weezer, Blocparty, and many more! So, who’s with us to continue the journey? (Alcander Alonzo)