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Joe Wasia

Seeing Cigarettes After Sex live in Jakarta, 2023

Journey2 min readTranslated from IndonesianBy Joe Wasia

I listen to Cigarettes After Sex all the time on night drives or while I work, and this time I finally got to see CAS live in Jakarta. Here's how it went at their show at Ecovention Ancol on 3 February 2023.

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I'd watched plenty of CAS live recaps on YouTube, so I could picture the stage setup. But on the night I was still in awe of the lighting and the stage.

I bought my ticket on loket.com, the promoter's ticketing partner. Festival B cost Rp1,325,000. Reading the comments on the promoter's posts, people said it was more expensive than their previous show.

But since it was my first concert, and my favourite band, I was fine spending that much.

I also decided to stay at the Grand Daffam hotel, a decent deal at Rp1,300,000 for 2 nights with breakfast. For someone who lives in Bali, staying in a high-rise hotel like this is pretty *amazing*.

Taking in Jakarta's city view at night is really soothing for the eyes and the heart, especially with CAS playing. PERFECT!

Concert day

Luckily the promoter didn't make us exchange tickets for this one. With technology that can scan tickets, it makes sense, and it's better, to just scan the barcode from when you bought it. (Unlike this Arctic Monkeys show in Jakarta.)

Fans queueing outside the venue entrance before the Cigarettes After Sex concert at Ecovention Ancol
The queue

I forget what time we got in, but even though it was still afternoon, people were so excited. No sign of the gates opening yet, and everyone was already queuing. Probably really wanted to get right to the front.

Too bad there was only one photo backdrop, so people had no choice but to queue for ages. I'm not really into photos or queuing, so I just watched the people willing to wait in that line.

A long night-time queue for the Cigarettes After Sex photo backdrop at Ecovention Ancol
Sooo long

The Cigarettes After Sex show

Nothing but wow!

Cigarettes After Sex playing on an almost dark stage, black-and-white video on the screens

Totally worth coming from Bali to Jakarta to see them live.

I can't find enough words to describe their performance. From the sound, which I thought was really good, to the lighting, to the pretty lavish show on the projector (live video).

What really stuck: I can still feel the vibe from that show as I publish this. Somehow I already want to go again if they decide to play Indonesia.

Recap

I'll do the recap as a list, it's easier, hahaha.

  1. Shame the promoter didn't sell alcohol. The crowd could have let their emotions out more (read: ugly crying).
  2. Since I went alone, seeing the people on my left and right hugging their partners somehow stung, hahaha.
  3. Again, since the main sponsor was (I think) a drinks brand, they only sold 3 kinds of drinks. If I remember right: Tebs, Teh Botol and Aqua.
  4. I overheard a few people saying the show wasn't fun. Well, what did you expect? CAS songs are slow, so if you were expecting to jump around, that doesn't really fit.
  5. Oh, and I only just found out they play Indonesia Raya at concerts. A bit sad that even for something like this, security still had to remind people to stand up straight for the national anthem.
  6. Hopefully next time I can go with a partner. XD

Joe