(I’m going to write this post in two languages: Bahasa Indonesia and English. To start off, I will start in Bahasa Indonesia)
BAHASA INDONESIA
Semalam, untuk kedua kalinya gue berhasil nonton artis favorit gue, Taylor Swift. Artis satu ini cukup unik di mata gue. Dia adalah jajaran artis favorit gue yang nggak lekang dimakan jaman. Gue udah suka dia sejak jaman SMA, dari waktu dia masih culun di video klip ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’, sampe sekarang dia udah lebih dewasa di album RED.
Perasaan gue bener-bener… speechless. Kebetulan semalam gue nonton di festival, jadi rasanya si Taylor itu kayak di depan gue banget. Apalagi waktu dia jalan ngelewatin gue (jarak gue dan dia cuma kepisah sama pagar besi doang, cuy!) dari panggung utama ke akustik untuk lanjutin nyanyi lagu ‘22’. Rasanya… kayak mimpi. Tahun 2011 lalu gue sempet nonton konsernya di Singapura dan beruntung ngeliat dia hanya dibatasin pintu kaca, kali ini hanya dibatasin pagar besi. Dia cantik banget aslinya, tinggi banget, dan kali ini gue harus acung jempol sama dia karena dia udah bisa joget. Dulu dia kaku banget kalo soal joget di panggung, hehehe!
Pas dia nyanyi ‘All Too Well’, nggak kerasa gue nangis. Entah kenapa, lagu itu bener-bener emosional kalo dibawain secara langsung. Kesannya sediiihhhhh banget gitu. Gue langsung jadi kebawa suasana. Sesuai kata Taylor sebelom bawain lagu itu: “Ada memori baik dan memori buruk, tapi entah kenapa yang selalu kita ingat adalah memori baik tentang orang tersebut”, gue jadi keinget mantan-mantan. Gila, men. Selama enam menit perasaan gue diombang-ambing. Gue nggak peduli deh kiri kanan depan belakang gue pada ngapain, ada yang ngerekam pake tongsis lah, ada yang teriak-teriak “TAYLOR I LOVE YOUUUUU” lah, di lagu itu gue ngerasa dia beneran nyanyi depan gue dan cuma buat gue doang.
Gue suka banget sama konser ini. Tata pencahayaan, suara, semua patut diacungi jempol. Kostum Taylor juga bagus-bagus. Gue suka banget kostum item dia yang dipake pas nyanyi ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ sama ‘All Too Well’ tadi. Udah gitu, dia pake stoking item kalo pake celana pendek, bukti bahwa dia menghargai budaya lokal Indonesia yang agak risih kalo pake celana terlalu pendek atau baju terlalu terbuka. Orangnya juga kelihatan manis banget, ngga macem-macem, rambutnya mulus abiiissssss, sayangnya kurang komunikatif jadi kesannya terlalu zakelijk ngikutin skenario panggung.
Tapi, gue ngerasa sebagus apapun konser ini, gue masih kurang puas. Kalo boleh diukur, kepuasan gue akan konser ini cuma sekitar 70-75%. Puasnya cuma bisa ngeliat artis idola dan (lagi-lagi) berdiri deket banget sama dia. Sisanya? Kecewa berat. Kenapa? Simak omelan gue berikut ini.
Yang pertama, gue ngerasa promotornya kurang banget merhatiin aspek keamanan penonton, terutama orang-orang di kelas festival (dalam ini Silver A dan Silver B). Sejak antre aja orang-orang udah pada susah diatur, disuruh baris berdua-berdua malah desak-desakan. Agak serem juga ngeliat penonton yang rata-rata masih bocah (anak SMP banyak juga kayaknya) harus desak-desekan pas nunggu pintu dibuka. Padahal itu masih dua jam sebelom pintu tempat konser dibuka, lho. Belom apa-apa udah ada yang nangis takut kepisah dari temennya. Belom apa-apa udah ada orangtua yang kepisah sama anaknya. Parah, coy. Manajemen penonton perlu banget dievaluasi sama promotor yang ngedatengin Taylor ini. Untungnya kita semua disuruh nunggu di ruangan ber-AC. Gue udah nggak ngerti lagi kalo kita desak-desakan di luar stadion yang panasnya minta ampun.
Lagi-lagi soal manajemen penonton, pas konser sepertinya lebih parah. Oke, waktu pembukaan, orang-orang di Silver A (tempat gue) masih adem ayem. Taylor masuk, teriak sana sini, nyanyi ‘State of Grace’ dan ‘Holy Ground’, masih adem juga. Nah, pas nyanyi lagu ‘Red’, situasi jadi berubah ngga kekontrol. Entah kenapa barisan penonton di depan pada ngedorong ke belakang, jadinya gue dan beberapa temen baru gue (yang berdiri di belakang, khusus nungguin Taylor jalan dari panggung utama ke panggung akustik) ngerasa hampir keabisan nafas. Mana depan gue cowok, badannya gemuk banget, mau dorong dia juga susah banget karena kalo gue dorong ke depan dia ya ke belakang lagi. Sepanjang lagu itu, penonton di Silver A bener-bener ngga konsen. Teriakan “Maju dong!!!!!” pada kedengeran dari segala penjuru. Sayang banget, padahal lagu ‘Red’ itu tergolong lagu jagoannya Taylor dan gue kepengen banget joget-joget di lagu itu, bukannya kedesak sama penonton dari depan yang entah kenapa mundur ke belakang. Situasi ini berlangsung sampe lagu ‘22’ dimana Taylor akhirnya turun ke panggung akustik dan saat itu dia ngelewatin gue.
Berbuntut dari manajemen penonton, sepertinya ini bikin Taylor jadi kurang nyaman. Contohnya pas dia jalan dari panggung utama ke panggung akustik. Di beberapa konser yang gue tonton, dia selalu menghabiskan waktu cukup lama pas jalan untuk interaksi sama fansnya, entah itu nyanyi, ngasih tanda tangan, atau ngambil ponsel fans buat selfie bareng. Bahkan kalo bodyguard nyuruh dia buruan, Taylor suka sengaja lama-lamain biar dia bisa kasih pelayanan ekstra ke fans. Semalem? Boro-boro. Taylor jalan cepet banget, kalo salaman aja dia cuma ngasih tangan doang (ada perbedaan besar antara ngasih tangan dengan nyalamin orang). Impian gue selfie bareng Taylor kandas. Kapan gue bisa selfie sama Taylor Swift? Masa iya harus ngejar dia sampe konser di Eropa yang pasti lebih aman dan lebih teratur cuma untuk interaksi sama dia?
Yang terakhir, gue agak kecewa dengan daftar lagu yang dia bawain. Untuk konser artis sebesar Taylor, 78 menit itu termasuk sebentar, lho. Konser kemaren kesannya dia kayak medley semua lagu terus selesai. Kurang banget interaksi antara Taylor dengan penonton. Kayaknya di Speak Now masih jauh lebih interaktif dan waktu konsernya masih jauh lebih lama, deh. Gue sedih banget karena dua lagu favorit gue di album RED nggak dibawain dia: ‘Begin Again’ dan ‘Everything Has Changed’, padahal gue kepengen banget denger dia nyanyiin lagu itu. Akhirnya untuk mengobati kekecewaan, pas sampe rumah gue langsung nyari rekaman konser dia di Amerika yang ada nyanyiin dua lagu itu. Hiks…
Intinya sih, konser Taylor Swift kemarin cukup bagus untuk konser pertama dia disini. Semoga dia mau main kesini lagi tapi dengan promotor yang jauh lebih profesional. Sementara gue, sepertinya kalaupun dia main ke Jakarta lagi untuk tur dunia berikutnya, gue akan lebih milih untuk nonton konser dia di Singapura atau Thailand. Kenapa? Karena manajemen penonton dan keamanan konser di dua negara tersebut jauh lebih tokcer dibanding disini. Gue udah ngalamin Speak Now di Singapura dan pastinya standar gue udah kelewat tinggi karena udah ngalamin nonton konser itu di luar negeri, begitu nonton RED disini kok kayaknya nggak banget, deh.
ENGLISH
Last night, I managed to watch my favorite artist, Taylor Swift, live on her tour. This musician holds a special place in my heart because I’ve adored her since I was in high school. I have followed her career since her first appearance in ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ until now, where she has successfully bloomed to a more mature and adult version of her in RED album.
I felt totally… speechless. Last night I watched her from pit, so it felt like she was really singing in front of me. She walked past me during her performance in ‘22’ when she walked from the main stage to acoustic stage. It felt like a dream. On 2011 I watched her concert in Singapore and I was so lucky to be able to see her in person, being only separated by a single glass door. Last night I was lucky enough to see her again, only separated by a steel fence. She was so beautiful, so tall, and right now I had to say she did a great job at dancing because I remember her being very stiff at dancing on stage on her previous tour, hahahaha!
When she sang ‘All Too Well’, I cried. I didn’t know why I cried. That song was downright emotional, just like what she had said prior to the song: “There are good memories and bad memories, but it seems like we can only remember the good ones about them”. I suddenly remembered my ex-boyfriends and the good memories we used to share. That was very crazy. For the whole six minutes, my feelings were being played by that song. I didn’t care if people started screaming “TAYLORRRRR I LOVE YOOOUUUU” or recording the song with monopod (which was very annoying). At that point, I felt she played the song right in front of me and for my eyes only.
I really liked this concert. The lighting and sound system were definitely a plus. Taylor’s costumes were breathtaking as well. I really loved her black lace costume which she wore for ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ‘All Too Well’. Plus, she respected my country’s culture by wearing black tights underneath her shorts. She looked terribly sweet, her hair looked flawless, too bad she didn’t communicate that much so it seemed like it was very staged.
However good this concert was, I felt slightly dissatisfied. If my satisfaction rate were measurable, I would give about 70-75% satisfaction just because I could see her again. The rest? Downright disappointed. Why? Check out my rants below.
The first one, it seemed like the promotor for this show neglected the security aspect for its’ spectators, especially us in festival sections (Silver A and B). The chaos started to grow even during queuing for the gate to open. It was kinda creepy to see teens crying and kids lost contact from their parents because people were very stubborn. This was ultimate madness. I went to the concert alone, so I didn’t have to be panic because I lost my friends or my family, but I watched these things happening in front of me and I couldn’t help not to feel sorry. Crowd management was the main problem that needed to be evaluated soon by the promotor, if they wanted to bring Taylor back. Luckily we were queuing in an air-conditioned room. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if the queuing took place outdoor.
Another thing about crowd management. During the opening scene, the crowd in Silver A (my pit) were still calm and collected. Then, Taylor came in, sang ‘State of Grace’ and ‘Holy Ground’, people were still calm too, though all of us shouted and screamed and sang together. However, things started to get awry during ‘Red’. The front crowd suddenly pushed back, allowing a domino effect to the back crowd (I was in the back crowd). I nearly fainted but I told myself that I could make this. During the whole ‘Red’ song, screams of “Don’t pull back!” and “Push forward!!” kept roaring from the entire arena. This was a huge disappointment for me because I was expecting that I could dance and sing to ‘Red’ happily, not singing while silently praying so I wouldn’t faint on the pit. This situation continued until ‘22’ when Taylor finally stepped down to the acoustic stage and passed me.
Maybe this was the reason why Taylor slightly looked uncomfortable in the concert. For example, in a few concerts I watched online, Taylor always took her time during her transition from main stage to acoustic stage. She liked to sing with the crowd, took pictures, signed some CDs, even took some lucky people’s cellphones and took selfie with them. The bodyguard often told her to walk faster but she didn’t seem to give a damn because she wanted to give special care to her fans. Last night was very different. She walked very fast and she didn’t shake hands with her fans, only touching their hands. I lost my dream to take selfie with her. Maybe I should go to her European leg just to interact with Taylor.
Her setlist was the last thing that disappointed me. For a concert as huge as Taylor’s, running time for 78 minutes were considered as short. Last night’s concert merely felt like pulling her songs continuously. There was minimal interaction. I thought she was more interactive in Speak Now rather than last night. I was sad because she didn’t play my two favorite songs in RED: ‘Begin Again’ and ‘Everything Has Changed’. After I arrived at home, I streamed her RED American leg concert on youtube just because I wanted to see both songs being performed.
The point is, Taylor Swift’s concert last night was a decent one for her first time here. I hope she will put Jakarta in her next world tour, but with a better and more professional promotor. However, I think on her next tour I will fly to neighboring countries such as Singapore or Thailand just to watch it. Why? Because they have better crowd management and security than in Indonesia. I think my standard has been heightened by Speak Now tour in Singapore, so I think watching RED concert in Jakarta is very dangerous.
To wrap up, I am going to give you the only Taylor Swift picture I snapped and this happened in the acoustic stage, seconds before the song ‘22’ ended!
Kurisetaru.com 