LIVE REPORT: RADWIMPS ASIAN TOUR 2023 IN JAKARTA

The wait has paid off. RADWIMPS played their final show of the Asian Tour on July 30, 2023, at Tennis Indoor Senayan, GBK, Jakarta. The last time I watched RADWIMPS’s concert was RADWIMPS 15th Anniversary Special Concert 2020. It was held online when Covid19 was still there. The original venue was sold out within minutes, so they moved to a bigger venue. I wrote a reply on RADWIMPS’ Twitter, saying, “Please move to a bigger venue. Just wondering if the ticket will be sold in the first minutes.” I’ve gotten so many replies from Indonesian fans that they wish and beg Yojiro to move to a bigger venue. We were afraid we would not get the tickets because the quota was small. Yojiro just didn’t know that RADWIMPS indeed has so many fans here. And when they began to sell the tickets, voila, they were sold out just in a blink of an eye. I was so grateful to get the ticket in the first minute. My hand was shaking and getting cold because I was so nervous. Haha!

I’ve gotten a reply from Yojiro, he said that they will try to search for other options. Not long after that, the promoter announced that they would move to a bigger venue and add more tickets to sell. Although I’ve already got the tickets at the first periode, I’m happier because my fellow friends, who haven’t, can buy them.

Long story short, the wait is over. RADWIMPS was here. I travel from my hometown in East Java for about 12 hours by train to Jakarta, which is in West part of Java. For the first time, I left my daughter with her grandmother and traveled with my husband. This is the very first time I left her behind for a couple days. No, my husband is not with me at the concert; he just accompanied me on my trip to Jakarta. I’m so thankful to have a husband and parents who support me like that :D.

Btw, we were worried from the day before the show because RADWIMPS and members did not update anything. Usually they will be updated with something like, “Let’s goo,” or something. We were worried if they’d gotten sick or had no interest in Indonesia, or was it just me who had overthought? I knew, maybe you guys got a little bit shocked with Jakarta’s traffic jam; me either, I got depressed with Jakarta’s traffic too. So, you guys were not in the mood to update something and still got jetlag.

BEFORE THE SHOW

I went to the venue around 1 p.m. I went with my fellow friends, whom I met on the RADWIMPS Indonesia WhatsApp group. We haven’t met before, so this was our first time meeting. We came from different cities in Indonesia. Even I met some fans from Japan and Philipines. Maybe next time RADWIMPS should make a show outside Jakarta too, such as Yogyakarta or Surabaya. When I’ve arrived in venue, I thought there would be a lot of lines to get into the first gate. It turned out that when I came, the queue was still quiet. So that my friends and I can queue first. Lucky us.

One of us made a RADWIMPS banner, and we brought it to the venue in order for the other WIMPERS to write messages for RADWIMPS on the banner. At first, we were worried that no one would write on our banner, but it turned out they were scrambling to write messages until the banner was full of messages.

The main gate opened at 5 p.m. So while waiting for the gate to open, we bought snacks from several food stalls outside the venue. Besides eating food, we took photos at the photo booth, print the photos, and bought some merchandise. The line for the photo booth and merchandise was quite long. So we have to be patient to get exposed to the sun, thanks to my 50-spf sunscreen to protect me.

There are so many food stalls that it is similar to a food festival. Yojiro, through his Instagram story, also said that there are so many food stalls outside, and we look like we charge the energy before screaming in the venue. I was sure that Yojiro would also want to snack with us. Or maybe he asked his staff to buy him some food too. haha!

As we were lining up to enter the main gate, Yojiro suddenly appeared on the second-floor balcony, and all of us were freaking out. wkwk. All of the staff suddenly went outside to take some videos and pictures of us and our signed banner. I met Yojiro’s brother, Rin, either. Even I met the one and only, Takeshi Yao-san, RADWIMPS’ photographer, the cold hand behind the RADWIMPS photos :’).

The videographer asked us to do an interview too for documentation. The interview was in Bahasa Indonesia, but one of us can speak Japanese, so he tried to do the interview in Bahasa Indonesia and Japanese. He asked lots of fans to do an interview. Btw, I met the videographer after the show too, and he kept searching for Indonesian fans to do interview. Please, Yojiro, increase the videograper’s salary because he takes his job seriously. Haha!

DURING THE SHOW

The main gate was opened at 5 p.m. The staff said that we who were standing in the first line should not run because if we were running, the back line would follow us to run. So, okay, we were following the rules. We were walking patiently to come into the venue, but suddenly the back line ran and pushed us. Me and some girls were pushed and fell down, but I quickly got up and grabbed my fellow stranger friend beside me, and I remembered that she is a Japanese fan who came far away to Jakarta to attend the show because she did not get a ticket in Japan. I ran to the front gate, got standing in third, and then moved to the second row.

For RADWIMPS fans, can you PLEASE not act like “neighbor fans” who like to push other fans who are standing or walking in front of you? Whoever pushed us there—damn, you act like tacky fans. Remember, RADWIMPS and staff will hate you if you act like that! You guys should be banned from any music concert! -___-

After we all had our positions, we waited patiently for around an hour and a half. I saw the tribune seats were still empty because they were numbered seats, so people going in could enter casually without having to stand in line. Maybe next time I will buy the tribune seat; I was a little bit traumatized by the festival line.

First, I would buy a tribune seat, but I thought that when you are at a music concert, it would be boring if you sat. We have to enjoy the music with screams, claps, singing along, and dancing. And you would not have that experience if you sat in the tribune. But, you know, at my age, maybe I have to sit in the tribune for the next concert. Haha!

It was already 7 o’clock. We shouted to call RADWIMPS, and not long after, the lighting was turned off, which meant that THEY WERE HERE! One by one, the members walked onto the stage. We screamed, clapped, and cried! Haha! It felt so unreal to hear the music that we usually hear on Spotify and see on YouTube, but now it is here in front of us.

The last member who walked in was Yojiro. He walked into his piano and began to sing Grand Escape. Yes, again, we were in tears. We were waiting for this moment long ago. We waited for that moment to clap our hands to sing Grand Escape since that was the first time we heard this song in the Weathering with You trailer. Yes, it has been so long ago. The crowd was so crazy. I looked around and cried. Was it real? I still can’t believe that. I knew that RADWIMPS would not believe that either. I knew they were a little bit underestimated by Indonesian fans. From the beginning, they chose a venue with a small capacity. It seemed like they thought there would be just a few fans here. Now, you guys can see how many fans here. I know that Yojiro’s eyes couldn’t lie; he was actually surprised and touched by Indonesian fans. Even he said, “I can’t believe this is our first time in Jakarta. What was our team doing?”. Haha!

Hyperventilation and Zenzenzense came next. That was really fantastic, and the crowd was really out of control. We were energized as soon as the song Zenzenzense, one of the most well-known in our country, began to play. Thanks to the dimsum that I had eaten before the show, my energies would be full until the end of the concert. LOL.

They performed five upbeat songs before moving on to Mitsuha no Theme, which was accompanied by Sparkle. Sparkle is the most famous song here. Not just for anime lovers, but for everyone. There was a time when Sparkle became a trending song in Indonesia for months. Because of that, there are a lot of jokes and memes about it. Such as, “Bro, run, there’s a meteor!” and many more; you can just Google that. If you could hear, yesterday when you played the Sparkle intro, there were lots of dudes shouting, “Bang, lari Bang, ada meteor!”. 😀

Listening to sparkle in real life made me cry. I felt goosebumps as long as the song was played. Sparkle is a perfect song. From the intro, lyrics, chords, melody, chorus, and coda, all are perfect. There were even some dudes who shouted “Mitsuhaaa,” and some girls shouted “Taki-kunnn”, so it gave me goosebumps even more because I remembered the scene of Mitsuha running to find Taki. I will listen to Sparkle as long as I live. This song is just too perfect. Ok, now please wipe my tears. Hiks.

When it was a break for the next song, Yusuke Takeda was speaking Bahasa Indonesia to us. He spoke fluently without reading text. As a former Indonesian language teacher for foreign speakers, I was so proud. To speak like Yusuke Takeda, you need at least a month to learn Bahasa Indonesia. but, as Yojiro said, he was only learning for three days. Maybe since they were in Kuala Lumpur, because the language is similar to Indonesian. We appreciate his effort. Learning a new language is not as easy as you might think, but Yusuke killed it. Mantul! Oh, not only Yusuke, but Kuwahara was also speaking Indonesian. Yojiro was joking and taking cheat sheets from Kuwahara and holding them, so we knew that Kuwahara was reading text in his note book. LOL. Okay, I was upset that Yojiro did not speak Indonesian either. He was just clapping his hands and smiling. Yeah, clapping hands is easier than learning a new language. -__-

After being aggrieved because of Sparkle, we were urged to move to DADA and Oshakasama. These two songs were equally wonderful. The lyrics, guitar, drums, and music were all excellent. Everyone cheered and danced. Songs that are wonderful to listen to after sobbing. During Oshakasama, they did skill battles. I knew this part was always held during a RADWIMPS concert. Their skill was so wonderful. Except for Yojiro, he just clapped hands with fans and directed. Why did he not do that too? OMG -__-

They finished playing these songs, followed by Sennou, and then took a little bit of a break. During the break, I shouted, “Sokkenai, please! Sokkenai, Please!” and “Yojirooo, sukidaaaa!” I remember shouting until my throat was dry. Suddenly, Yojiro went to his piano, answered, “Love you too”, and play Katawaredoki and Sokkenai. My hand was shaking, my heart was beating, and I was happy in tears. Sokkenai just played twice during this world tour outside Japan. First they played in Seoul, and then finally they played here. I often wrote a reply to Yojiro’s tweet and begged him to please sing Sokkenai in Jakarta. That was such a dream come true to watch that song played live in front of my own eyes. Arigatou!!

After being in tears because of Sokkenai, we moved on to sing Tummy and One Spring Day. The beat of these two songs was good for chilling. I love how they created the setlist. So it turned out that our feelings were up and down. After crying, we were chilling again; after that, we were dancing, and then we cried again. Wkwk.

We finished two songs, and now we’re moving on to sad songs again. Here we go, Nandemonaiya. I knew they would sing this after I saw Yojiro take out his Rickenbacker guitar. Yes, that guitar is used for Nandemonaiya. Nandemonaiya is my first RADWIMPS favorite song. I listened to this song in 2018 after watching Kimi no Nawa for the first time. The ending scene touched my heart and soul. So I searched the soundtrack and found Yojiro at the Kimi no Nawa orchestra concert on YouTube. Yeah, that was my love at first sight for Yojiro. It’s a little embarrassing, but I know he’s just my idol and not my love in real life because I’ve already married. wkwk. Nandemonaiya is a hit song too. So everybody sang a long from start to finish while crying. We were so emotionally damaged there. *crying*

I was sad because Nandemonaiya was mixed with Kanata Haluka. Hiks. Kanata Haluka was played with Suzume in the background. It felt like we were at the cinema, but the soundtrack was sung live. Made us have more goosebumps. Fans cheered and sang along from start to finish. Even a guy brought Sota to the venue.

Two more songs are IIndesuka and Kimi to Hitsuji to Ao. The beginning of Iindesuka, Yojiro suddenly stopped the music. It turned out that there was a fan who collapsed in the crowd. Yojiro called health workers at concerts, and the crowd gave way to them in order to rescue the fans who were collapsing. It only took less than 5 minutes to rescue her. Respect to Yojiro, who quickly realized that there was something wrong in the crowd. After everything was okay, Yojiro continued singing Iindesuka from the beginning. All of us were clapping and singing along. Kimi to Hitsuji to Ao was played for the ending song before the encore. The crowd was still on fire, too. If the concert is being held until tomorrow, we were so ready. LOL.

ENCORE

Like usual, they pretended to be backstage and ended the show. But we already knew that it was just a prank. LOL. They came back to the stage after changing clothes, and then Yojiro, with help from staff, grabbed our banner. He took our banner and took pictures with it. We were so proud because that was who drew the artwork on our banner, and who made our banner, was one of us. After photo session, they began to sing Yumetoru. I dunno why we were kept on fire after standing in line from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m.; our energies kept charging every time Yojiro shouted “I love you.”. Yumetoru is one of the biggest hits in Indonesia, so we were screaming, singing a long, clapping hand, and crying. Thanks to my Dr. Martens sandal, so I did not feel aches on my feet while standing there for hours.

The second song was 05410-(n), and Yojiro said, “I dunno if you guys know this song. But it’s just for having fun and dancing. okay?”. We shouted, “Yesssss!”. It turned out that we knew the song and kept sing a long. Hahaha! Don’t worry, Yojiro. We all know all the RADWIMPS songs because we were so ready to a long time ago.

Two hours fly by so fast. The end of the concert is here. We were so sad, and Yojiro, I was sure, was saddened too. I could look into his eyes. *crying*. I shouted, “Yojirooo, don’t leave me!” and he replied, “Yes, I know, guys, I know!”. He promised that they would come back one day. Okay, I will keep your promise.

Last speech from Yojiro, “Again and agian and again you guys are so awesome and so wonderful. you guys are so good, we never expected this kind of like huge energy and like this vibes you guys killed it. Thank you so much. This is one of the best countries we’ve been. Thank you so much. Like I said, is it okay if we come back again in Jakarta? Thank you so much. We’ll keep continuing making music and creative stuff, and that will hopefully that will cheer you up of your daily life. Yeah, let’s meet again, let’s having fun. arigatou!”

Yeah, you guys should be here since long time ago. You guys have so many fans here but you were never realized. Now, you can see how big is our love to you? *crying*. Please keep making music and anime soundtrack. Your music, especialy the Anime soundtrack, stick in our head like forever. I think you will become Joe Hisaishi’s successor :D.

The last song was Summer Daze. I’ve been a fan of this song since it was first released. It makes us chill and want to dance, like in a night club or beach club. Yes, Yojiro invited us to dance. Before that, he said, “Hope you have a great summer. Still, ehh, It’s not summer in here, we love you so much. This is the last song.” With the crowd still on fire, the intro has been played. We shouted, “Oi, oi, oi,” while clapping hands. I was sad because I couldn’t hear Takeda’s bass on his synth. I thought the sound out’ quality was bad. My friends who sat on the tribune were also saying that from the back seats, the sound out did not sounds good. Huhu.

In the middle of Summer Daze, Yojiro went down and stood on the fence. We were screaming and wanting to grab his hand. It turned out I was standing too far away, so I only took pictures and videos of him.

The concert has ended. Two hours went so fast. After the show, we still hang out around the venue to chit-chat and take pictures with friends. I met so many new friends there. Oh, how I love attending music concerts. It has been three years since we faced a global pandemic. I went back to the hotel at around 12 a.m. with an empty heart. Hiks.

AFTER THE SHOW

I returned to my hometown the next day after the concert, and I’m still feeling empty even now, three days later, as I write this. Turned out to be not only me but ALL Indonesian fans feeling the same. It still feels unreal to see you guys standing in front of my own eyes. One of my bucket list before I die is already checked. I’d like to attend RADWIMPS’ orchestra concert someday, just like he did when they performed Kimi no Nawa. RADWIMPS became trending on all social media platforms in Indonesia for more than 24 hours. Everyone is talking about the concert. I was going to a concert to heal my soul, but it turned out I felt more depressed after the show, and I suffer from post-concert depression now. *crying*

I hope you guys will be back in Indonesia next year. Every year, coming to Indonesia would be better. I thought you were staying in Indonesia for a couple of days, but you were back in Japan the next morning. It is so sad you guys did not stroll around Jakarta and try various Indonesian foods. It would be such a loss to come here and not try all of the Indonesian foods. Haha!

Mata ne, RADWIMPS!