Gigi to tour four major cities in U.S.

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Pop rock band Gigi, which celebrated its 11th birthday on March 22, will tour for 18 days to four major cities in the U.S.

The tour is the third occasion the band will have performed in the U.S. However, this tour is special because the band is scheduled to perform not only in one city as before, but in Seattle, New York, Houston and Los Angeles.

"We have been preparing for two months for this tour," said Hendy, the new Gigi drummer.

Gigi core musicians, singer Armand Maulana and guitarist Dewa Budjana, revealed that they had prepared 30 songs for the tour.

The band's first performance in the U.S. was in 1996 when they were invited by the Indonesian Students Association (Permias) to San Fransisco.

The second performance was in 2001 when they performed in Los Angeles, also invited by Indonesian students there.

"Usually, when we perform in foreign countries, 70 percent of the audience are Indonesians, the rest locals," Armand said.

Gigi, which began with five members, have sold millions of albums, mostly here. However, they are noted as a band that always gives an energetic live performance.

Now, playing with four members, Bujana, Armand, bassist Thomas Ramdhan, and Hendy, they will depart for the U.S. on April 1.

They will perform on April 8 in Studio Seven, Seattle, and on April 11 they will perform twice at Knitting Factory music club, New York City.

Later they are scheduled to be on stage on April 15 in Meridian, Houston, with the last performance on April 17 in Troubador Los Angeles.

The promoter for their U.S. tour is justin118 sound, a group of Indonesian students and professionals in Los Angeles who run an Internet broadcast station playing non-mainstream music.