Few attend Saigon Kick's lackluster show

By Yoko N. Sari

JAKARTA (JP): Rock band Saigon Kick painstakingly entertained their Jakarta fans during their one off performance at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center's Plenary Hall last Saturday night.

The 5,000 seat concert hall was quite empty as they opened the concert with one of their hits entitled One Step Closer.

The Jakarta concert of the Miami-based Saigon Kick, comprising lead singer and guitarist Jason Bieler, bassist Chris McLernon, drummer Phil Varone and guitarist Pete Dembrowski, was part of their Asian tour to promote their newly released album Water.

Wearing black vest and knickers, the long-haired Bieler continued sung more than fifteen songs from previous albums to the more recent ones such as I love You, Love is On the Way.

In contrast to their "metal" appearance, including Varone's fully tattooed body, most of the band's soft songs are dedicated to their love of women.

Vocalist Bieler commented, "Love is a universal thing, it just came naturally to my mind when I wrote our songs."

But the band also tried to prove that they are a real hard- rock band.

"We will rock our fans here with an enthralling and energetic performance," said drummer Varone prior to their concert.

Unfortunately, the group was not communicative enough to make a concert come alive. They just came out on stage, did their gigs and then ended the show without involving the audience.

The audience were only heated once when the band tuned their famous hit On and On and pre-teen fans sang along with their favorite song.

The fact that the crowd knew the song surprised the band. "I am surprised that you know the lines to this song, I should probably take you all on our tour," Bieler accompanied by McLernon shouted after they finished with Love is on the Way.

Surprised

Most of the fans were pre-teens, locally known as Anak Baru Gede, who paid Rp 50,000 for festival class tickets. The wore fashionable bell bottomed pants, sleeveless shirts and high heeled sandals.

"I only know two songs, On and On and I love you," said Cendy, 16, a second grader from Tarakanita High School, who watched along with 10 of her friends.

Established in l988, the band began to penetrate the international scene when they opened for Extreme in Japan and Ozzy Osborne in the United States. In Indonesia, the band is only famous among youngsters which is why their concert was empty.

Apart from Jakarta, the group also performed in Bandung, Surabaya in East Java and Denpasar, Bali.

"I am here to see the crowd, it's fun to hang out with my friends," said Audi, 15, from Pangudi Luhur High School, adding that he enjoyed the show and owned the band's latest CD, Water.

Julian, 18, from SMA 3 High School, said he owned all of the band's albums. "This is awesome, but the cassette is better," he said.

The unimpressive show ended with Varone throwing his sticks into the audience during the group's hit Torture, which tells the story of Bosnian war.