Monday 22 November 2010

The Temper Trap Covers Bruce Springsteen

I never really pay attention to Bruce Springsteen except his occasional appearances in The Simpsons. But this video got my attention. Maybe I should listen more of Bruce! :P

Sunday 21 November 2010

The Temper Trap Live in Jakarta


It was not until Day -2, I've finally bought the Temper Trap tickets along with my other friends. I heard that James Yuill will also perform there and we happened to get a cheaper deal for the tickets. Well I'm a discount-slut, so...  ;P

We got there pretty early. There's just a few people around the gate. But unfortunately my husband got hung up at the office. So we decided to go in anyway. The first performance was by a local band called Efek Rumah Kaca, which happen to be one of my favorite band in Indonesia. Too bad after they sung their first song, I have to go outside to pick my husband and his friends at the gate. So when I got back in, Efek Rumah Kaca's performance was over. And so we have to wait another dragging hours to watch the next performance.



James Yuill appeared on the stage bringing my favorite songs like This Sweet Love, On Our Own, Crying For Hollywood and the rest of his recent album. Although he didn't sound as good as his records, to me he's still one sick genius geek who was brave enough to come to the stage alone to sing, play guitar and DJ set all at one time.

But I think it's a big mistake for him to be at the same stage with Temper Trap. They have a different crowd and an absolutely different genres. People got easily bored and they just can't appreciate Yuill there. Maybe if he chose a more dancey-event, the crowd will go dancing like mad. I'm just hoping that he's not considering his 1st visit to Indonesia as his last one too. :P

The Temper Trap finally hit the stage at 10ish pm, opening their act with quite a breathtaking intro. The moment I saw that, I know that it was going to be one hell of a show. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I've never really peeked their live performance on the internet. So I came to the venue with no high expectation whatsoever.




Turned out everything they're giving us on stage feels like a whole new adventure to me. Dougy's golden voice and how he also translated the song with his gestures, the beat of the drum, the animated moves from the guitarist, and others... all compiled up to form a mind-blowing performance in my very own eye. They are too good I even closed my eyes in the middle of the song to absorb it all at once. This is beyond my expectation. That night feels a bit surreal.



It gave me more goosebumps when I heard Dougy spoke in Bahasa Indonesia throughout the night. If one of you ever notice, there's not much of Indonesian born, made it to the international jungle with such a great success. Okay we have Anggun, Sandhy Sandhoro... But no one really got to lead an Australian band to go international, having Jim Abbiss as producer, going on to the US & UK tour throughout the year, got to be in one of the 2009's most edgy movie soundtrack, scoring commercials and games in several countries, played in God-level festivals like Coachella, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Summer Sonic... sigh.

Not one Indonesian has done it but Dougy Mandagi. Hands down to you my man. Maybe Indonesia is nothing compared to the other thousands of crowds that are wooing your falsetto from all around the world. But yet you still came back and give a breathtaking performance to us. Thank you!


It's been more than a week, but I still can't get the euphoria out of my head. Definitely the best performance I've ever watched so far.


And now I'm quite obsessed with the Temper Trap, so help me God :9

About Me and The Temper Trap

Like many other people in this universe in mid 2009, I was also quite obsessed with the upcoming movie where Zooey Deschanel takes part in. One google search led to another, the original soundtrack were finally made it to my iPod. And it takes only a moment for me, to be a fan of this sweet-engaging tune that later I recall as Sweet Disposition.

Yes, Sweet Disposition has officially robbed my ears for months. Practically everywhere I go... tvs, radios, stores, bars, cars, even some stranger sitting next to me... were all playing this tune. Things got a bit more interesting when I found out from a friend, that apparently the lead singer of Temper Trap is Indonesian. Yes, he's the one and only Dougy Mandagi. From what I heard... he's Manadonese, born and grew up in Indonesia, once lived in Hawaii, back to Bali and finally decided to move to Melbourne up until now. The rest of the band is Australian, and they succeed in the US, which made me really proud because he's practically soaring Indonesia flag everywhere he goes.

But that's just as far as I know about the band.
I honestly wasn't trying to get to know more of the band because I think I need to take a rest from it, before I throw up for having too much exposure from the song.

When their 'Conditions' Album were out, I wasn't as excited as the first time I heard Sweet Disposition. I noticed all the goodness in the album, but I just got easily distracted from it. Maybe I was still fed up with Sweet Disposition? I didn't really know :P

It was in fact my husband who continue listening to them faithfully.
And it was him who encouraged me to watch their performance, as soon as we found out that they're going to perform here in Jakarta.
I was like "Yeah why not". I always love live performances anyway. It's the money that I've been concerning about. It's actually not that expensive, but when you have other priorities and stuff, concerts always has a slight chance to win.

So then I talked to myself
"If we are meant to watch this concert, we'll be there to watch it".