Denmark's MLTR gives lesson to local music lovers
By Yogita Tahil Ramani
JAKARTA (JP): One might not get enough of Danish pastries, and believe it or not, the same can be said of a boy-band from Denmark dishing out tunes in front of a never-to-break bathroom mirror.
To promote their latest, Nothing To Lose, Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR) knew exactly how to work up an audience to a frenzy at their recent concert in Jakarta's Bengkel Night Park discotheque -- they sang their old songs.
In the end, it took the spectacular resuscitation of three songs -- Paint My Love, Breaking My Heart, and Someday -- to efface the tackiness of their repertoire's mushy lyrics and similar tunes. Not that they were any less forgettable, just more hummable -- all three songs were from their fourth and most popular album, Paint My Love.
Lead vocalist Jascha Richter, guitarist Mikkel Lentz, drummer Kare Wanscher and Soren Madsen's replacement named "S.P." -- as announced by Jasche -- sound better on tape than live. Their voices, however, emoted most with their romantic ballads such as The Actor, I'm Gonna Be Around (new) and a nature-friendly song called Animals from their latest album.
Surprisingly, Sleeping Child, one of Indonesia's favorite MLTR songs, joined the rest in the group -- Nothing To Lose, Something Right and Magic -- as songs whose souls seemed fizzed out with a banal flavor. As if to confirm this, Jascha, while synthesizing songs to mid-tempo rhythms, said that "there are probably 50 songs to these chords. Seems like everybody is stealing from everybody".
Singing 19 songs -- two were repetitions due to popular demand -- the only grace saving the five-album-old group spreading their nine-year career thin over a two-hour concert, was the audience.
There were at the most 1,500 people filling the huge discotheque on the afternoon of Dec. 21. Considering that good concerts here are received by at least 3,000, this was no mean feat.
Nevertheless, the audience -- most of whom were adult-want-to- bes or as the more popular local term is used, Anak Baru Gede (ABGs) -- made up for the shortage, not once tiring of screaming the lyrics out to most of the songs. In fact, what electrified the atmosphere more than their long applause was their singing.
At several points, the group stopped to allow the crowd to sing before jump-starting the lyrics with music again.
After performing at the Simpang Lima stadium in Semarang, Central Java, on Dec. 19 and the Eldorado stadium in Bandung, West Java, on Dec. 20, the group performed their last Indonesian concert of the year in Jakarta.
But unlike unrehearsed pop or rock concert acts, MLTR's concerts were performed in the same manner. For instance, Jascha acted dead and was "revived" only after extended applause in all three concerts.
"It's exactly the same..." said a girl to her sister.
They had arrived from Bandung, and others had come from Semarang stretching their rupiah for the trip to Jakarta on top of buying concert tickets at Rp 75,000 for "festival-class" or Rp 125,000 for "VIP-class". The lack of spontaneity of Michael Learns To Rock was disappointing.