People say “the third time is a charm”, but it is actually Indonesia’s Guinness Arthur’s Day (GAD) fourth time that makes a charm. As the event promises something ‘Made of More’ for the Indonesia’s edition, we were pretty sure this would be something new. After striking the lights in Medan, Bali, Surabaya, and Makassar with performances from Firehouse and Steelheart, it’s now Jakarta’s turn (26/10) to close the curtain of this momentous event.

Club 8, the Sweddish indie-pop duo (eventhough on that night they were not really putting up as a duo for the live performance), got the chance to open the brewery’s festival. Karolina Komstedt’s gentle and polite voice, and Johan Angergård’s low-key music yet danceable beats eventually swirled the crowd for a round of dancing session. With songs like ‘Cold Hearts’, ‘All I Can Do’, ‘Saturday Night Engine’, and ‘Whatever You Want’ quite made the venue into a Scandinavian’s mini pub. Club 8 were pretty great as the opener as their tunes never sounded deeper nor darker, they kept the performance to stay thin and a bit wispy (which we think it was pretty good to have them as the opener since we still had two performers left to hit the night). We found having them to perform seventeen songs of gauzy electro-pop into a mellower groove and even stomping with Queen’s We Will Rock You sampler was a light entrée to have. Overall, Club 8’s performance was sweet and pretty natural with the band sounded the typical of Euro-indie aesthetic.

A large white sheet was released, it seemed we’d have some ‘guess-the-act’ agenda of the next performer (eventhough the performers’ set have been released on @SoundRhythm’s twitter). The lights were focused to the stage, the crowd started screaming and cheering as One Republic’s silhouette was projected behind the large sheet. The band picked ‘Light It Up’ which is a song from their third studio album to kick off the performance. After three minutes of ‘secrecy’, the white sheet finally revealed the band. The predictable opening then followed by a beautiful sound of cello which led the band to ‘Secrets’, it was clear that most of the crowd knew words per words of this song, One Republic continued the set with another hits, ‘All The Right Moves’, a bit pumping move we saw here. We would like to appalud Ryan Tedder’s skill in bringing the humour and emotion from the band, everything was perfectly planned and packed nicely. He even showed his skill in playing the piano or hitting some of the highest notes with a stunning improvisation.

The honour was also received by the Jakarta’s crowd for being the first witness of the band to perform ‘Don’t Look Down’ (as the band had never performed this song in any other previous concerts, Ryan added “If we mess it up, please don’t put it on YouTube”, and it constantly responded by a laughter from the crowd). The band also did some mash-ups of ‘Apologize’ to Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ and Justin Timberlake’s classic track ‘Cry Me A River’, the mash-up was surprisingly good and changed up the melancholy mood of the song. Another gimmick from the band was when Ryan did a cover of ‘Gold Digger’ with a help of Brian Willet (the band’s additional in synth and keyboards), and it exploded the crowd to jump with the song. The energetic performance was like an unstopable stuff on that night, when the band performed ‘Good Life’, they remixed the song with M-83’s ‘Midnight City’ infectious intro and featured heavy electric guitar. And ‘If I Lose Myself’ closed the band’s set in GAD 2013. It’s easy to conclude that One Republic seriously killed the night, seeing their live performance was something we ought to do if we have a chance. The biggest credits are given to Ryan Tedder for taking a nice control in making the show to be more entertaining instead of just showing off his talents.

Two performers were done, the crowd was given about fourty five minutes to catch their breath before having another round of great performance. The crowd started shouting “Mew!” and some shouted the band’s member, it showed how we were so keen to see band. Some ads of Guinness were being played repeatedly on the bigscreen, gave a space for the band’s crew to do some checking before Mew took over the stage. And then, the lights were dimmed, the blue lights spotlighted to the stage, gave some daunting ambience as Mew started making some appearances to the stage, and you know the rest, the crowd got more packed with some loud shouts.

The first up was ‘Making Friends’, Mew’s latest song which was released through their application called Sensory Spaces. The first starter seemed not getting much sing along chance to the crowd (well, because the song is pretty new and people seemed not really familiar with it), but when the band played ‘Special’, the real crowd was awakened and started singing. Followed by ‘ The Zookeeper’s Boy’, the crowd did beautiful choir over its chorus. Jonas Bjerre’s vocals also gave a goosebump when he did multiple mild falsettos and his captivating smooth voice that blended with the atmosphere of the night, it also transported the night to a mystical dimension. Songs like ‘Snow Brigade’, ‘She Spider’ (color us surprised with the fact that this song was on their set, because a day before the show, Jonas told us that it’d be quite impossible for the band to perform this song), and ‘Apocalypso’ were being the highlight of the night, Bo Madsen’s guitar playing also perfectly complimented the whole set of the band. After some bangable and jumpable songs, Mew soothed the crowd with ‘Koor’, which is a medley of The Zookeeper’s Boy and The Seething Rain Weeps For You. The band also introduced their new song ‘Klassen’ before moving up to perform the hooks from their classic records.

Song after song, it felt like we were given a shot of steroids, the crowd sang every single word along, especially when ‘Am I Wry? No’, ‘156’, and ‘Eight Flew Over, One Was Destroyed’ blasted up the speaker, it was obvious that the crowd was a fan of Mew’s earlier work in album ‘Frengers’. The band nearly performed sixteen songs, they whipped the crowd really well and the demand of having an encore was totally inrefusable. For the encore, Mew had ‘Comforting Sounds’. The beautiful intro, deep meanings, and simply one of the best ballad songs from a prog-rock band to date, made the night into an epic closure. To make the moment calmer, some of the crowd (which we found out that they were Indonesian Frengers, the local fan base of Mew) blew soap-bubbles to the air, the gloomy and mellow mood quickly sprang as the songs fused in with the crowd’s emotion. The addition of confetti also gave a touch of dramatic ending. Without some trippy visuals that they used to have, they were still able to shine us out with their humble performance and a carefully-crafted setlist. It pulled everything together in an magical way. In short, Mew did beauty.

It is hard to string a sentence of GAD 2013, having bands like Club 8, One Republic, and Mew altogether in one stage, gives a festive vibe of the celebration. One thing for sure, the tagline “Made Of More” that the GAD has for this year, is not only giving a sailor’s promise. Because as what we experience this year, GAD has gone bigger and more massive.

(Photos : Guinness Indonesia)

Arthur’s Day Jakarta (A Mixtape by SVANAPAPER) by Svanamix on Mixcloud

You all know our hobbies, we like to dig up some facts of the cool bands. For this one, we got the Indonesian fan base of One Republic to list out the 10 most interesting facts about the band! These facts are not the ones that you can surf and find easily on the internet, that’s why you need to read it and you might need to take some notes (in case you’re really into the facts)!

 1. When Ryan Tedder visited Osaka, he got some Japanese characters and their sun tattooed on his forearm which translates into English as “God gives & God takes”.

 2. Brent Kutzle has a cameo appearance in the 2008 film, The Eye, starring Jessica Alba. He appeared in the opening scene playing cello as a member of the orchestra. He can also be heard playing cello on the title track, “Songs Like Rain” for the 2006’s independent film of the same name.

3. Zach Filkins guest-starred as a park ranger in the hit crime series Criminal Minds, Season 7 episode “Epilogue”.

4. Ryan Tedder has an independent career as a songwriter and a music producer for more than 20 famous musicians. One of them are Maroon 5, Adele, Beyoncé or even the boy band phenomenon, One Direction.

5. Did you realize that most of One Republic’s songs contain handclaps, the booming drums, and orchestra?

 6. The band was originally known as ‘Republic’, and then they added ‘One’ before the original name.

 7. Some of Tedder’s all-time favorite songs are “Wonderwall” by Oasis, “Freedom” by George Michael and “Mysterious Ways” by U2.

8. Japanese Cherry Blossoms is Zach’s most favourite spring tree!

9. Zach Filkins can speak Spanish fluently! Because he lived in Castelldeffel for an octade! FYI, Castelldeffel is a province in Barcelona. So, if you have a chance to meet him in person, you can greet him with some spanish words.

10. One Republic made their Indonesian debut in 2008 by performing for Jak Jam and they will be back to perform at Guinness Arthur’s Day at Oct 26, 2013. Let’s join the celebration!

Yeehaw, Those are the super 10! If you need more informations about the band’s facts or you wanna join the fan base, you can follow @OneRepublicIndo or like the fan page on Facebook.

Ps : Special shout out to Dewi of One Republic Indonesia for helping us out of this article. Cheers!

Guinness Arthur’s Day music event started making the noise by bringing international artists in 2009, in the previous years, they have got Mr.Big, The Script, Creed, and Lifehouse. Each year also has a different theme that describes about the event’s content. And for 2013, Guinness Arthur’s Day will bring ‘Made For More‘ as their theme which the title itself describes that the music event will feature more international artists. Guinness Arthur’s Day 2013 will be kicked off in Medan and closed in Jakarta.

Mew

Mew are a Danish rock band consist of Jonas Bjerre (lead vocals), Bo Madsen (guitar), and Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen (drums). The band who have remarkable songs such as ‘Zookeeper Boy’, ‘Am I Wry’, and ‘Snow Brigade’. This will be the band’s third time to perform in Indonesia, because they have been here in 2009 and 2010. In 2006, Mew were chosen by MTv for their Buzz-worthy artist.

Club 8

This indie pop duo consist of Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård. The Swedish duo has been facing some transition on their music perspective, from bossa nova, dance to chill out music are all included in all of their eight albums. On May 21^st 2013, they have released their latest album titled ‘Above the City’. Their single, ‘Missing You’ once became a club and radio’s favourite in the European countries.

Firehouse

As what their name says, their music will burn you into dust. Firehouse are an American rock band consisting of C. J. Snare, Bill Leverty, Michael Foster, and Allen McKenzie. In the 90s, Firehouse were a rock music phenomenon in Asia, especially in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. The band have release eight studio albums and one live album.

One Republic

One Republic are a Colorado-based band. The band was firstly known by publishing their cover work on their MySpace page. One Republic consist of Ryan Tedder, Zach Filkins, Drew Brown, Eddie Fisher, Brent Kutzle. The band started getting their limelight when their debut, ‘Apologize’, hit more than 10.000 air plays in US’ Radio stations. Through their career, One Republic have been nominated in many prestigious awards, such as Grammy Awards and MTv Music Awards. They released their third music album, ‘Native’, on March 26^th 2013.

Below is the informations about the price of Guinness Arthur’s Day 2013 :

Medan       : 12 Oktober 2013 at JW Marriot | Ticket : Presale Rp.100.000 – Regular Rp.200.000
Bali              : 15 Oktober 2013 at Hard Rock Café | Ticket : Presale Rp.100.000 – Regular Rp.200.000
Surabaya : 17 Oktober 2013 at Grand City | Ticket : Presale Rp.100.000 – Regular Rp.200.000
Makassar : 19 Oktober 2013 at Celebes Convention Center | Ticket : Presale Rp.100.000, Regular Rp.150.000
Jakarta      : 26 Oktober 2013 at JIExpo Center | Ticket : Presale Rp.350.000, Regular Rp.500.000

 Ticket can be purchased via gad.loket.com.

Ps : You must be +21 to attend this event.