God Bless to perform in five cities

JAKARTA (JP): Rock band God Bless will take the stage after an eight-year hiatus to promote their new album Apa Kabar? (How are you?).

Vocalist Achmad Albar, keyboard-player Yocky Suryoprajogo, drummer Teddy Sujaya, bassist Dony Fattah and guitarists Ian Antono and Eet Syahranie begin the five-city tour on Nov. 1 at Tambaksari stadium in Surabaya, according to tour promoter Log Zhelebour.

Other stops are Kridosono stadium in Yogyakarta on Nov. 8, Gajayana stadium in Malang, East Java, on Nov. 15, an undetermined venue at Bandung, West Java, on Nov. 22, and Bengkel discotheque in Jakarta on Dec. 8.

"We hope to get the Air Force field for the Bandung concert, but it is scheduled for Nov. 22 whatever the venue is," Log said at a press conference here Wednesday evening.

The group sang Diskriminasi (Discrimination) and Asasi (Basic rights) from their new album at the conference.

Achmad, 50, said the album features 10 songs, of which Apa Kabar?, Anakku (My child) and Srigala Jalanan (Street wolf) have been promoted through video clips.

"The new album has already sold 50,000 copies. Our target is to sell another 150,000 copies," Log said.

Achmad said: "We will sing our old songs as well, like Kehidupan (Life), Semut Hitam (Black ants) and Bla Bla Bla, during the tour."

This is the fifth album for the group, formed in 1973, following Huma di Atas Bukit (Plantation on a hill, 1975), Cermin (Mirror, 1980), Semut Hitam (1988) and Raksasa (Monster, 1989). (02)