Music doesn't differentiate between rich and poor, but tickets do

Music doesn't differentiate between rich and poor, but tickets do

By Achmad Nurhoeri

JAKARTA (JP): Slam dancing, loud music, moshpits, teenagers in chains and leather jackets, four-letter words and mohawks were jumbled together at the Green Day concert last Saturday in the Jakarta Convention Center.

Teenage havoc reined.

"Green Day's music is made to heat up fans. They depend on it," said Agustinus Nugraha, a musician popularly known as Nugie.

"It's okay if it all happens inside the concert hall. But sometimes Indonesian fans cannot contain themselves and then run amok outside," he said.

And that is precisely what happened in front of the Convention Center's entrance when ticketless fans outside heard Green Day start jamming inside at a maximum volume.

In seconds, the Berkeley-based rock band's show caused a fierce battle between the police and the frenzied fans who couldn't get into the party. About 3,000 fans who failed to get tickets tried to crash the concert. Some had lined up for hours, only to find the concert was sold out. Others, for who the ticket price was way out of their reach, just wanted an opportunity to break inside.

The police tried their best to get the unruly crowd away from the entrance. The crowd showed no intention of budging.

"Green Day isn't only for rich kids," the crowd chanted, while hurling rocks at the glass entrance doors.

The police resorted to charging at the youths, letting fly their batons and unleashing huge German shepherds. This stopped the riot but the Convention Center's entrance was devastated.

The police handled the riot like they handle demonstrations.

"We used force because the crowd was becoming more and more brutal," said Iman Haryatna from the city police information office.

"There were 6,000 fans inside. We could not afford to have the 3,000 people from outside break in because there wasn't any room," he explained.

Sociologist Iwan Gardono stated that the police were not to blame.

"Most of the policemen come from a different social background than the fans. They were indignant when a crowd from a different social group set on them."

"We only use batons and the dogs are well trained. They won't bite anybody," Iman claimed, adding, "We usually use tear-gas but we were not equipped with it at the time."

Iman also denied reports there were bullet holes in the entrance doors.

"We didn't fire shots. The holes in the glass door were caused by rocks thrown by the fans, not by bullets."

One package

The riot reminded Jakartans of a similar brawl at the 1993 Metallica concert, an U.S. rock band, at the Lebak Bulus stadium in South Jakarta.

"It has similarities to the 1993 riot," said Iwan Gardono, who heads the University of Indonesia's school of social and political sciences.

"The type of music played has a tendency to cause a commotion and violence," he said.

The Harvard-graduate noted that the riots increase bands' reputations.

"Actually the bands are proud of it. It boosts their record sales and popularity," Iwan said.

Another sociologist, Nugraha Katjasungkana, sees the riot from a different point of view.

"It Is born from cultural globalization," Nugraha claimed.

In his essay for a campus paper, Nugraha stated that music is a commodity and a culture for the young of all social classes.

"Fans who can afford tickets fantasize that the concert is a part of their culture. Unfortunately the ones who cannot afford the tickets begin to realize that the concert is not for them, so they try to fight and change the situation," Nugraha said.

Iwan said this makes rock concerts no-win situations.

"It's old-fashioned to ban such concerts. Banning it would only cause the public to think that the police cannot cope with it. But, on the other hand, we cannot let it happen again," he said.

"What we can do is minimize the situations that could lead to riots. Increase security, localize the venue to a remote place like Ancol, hold it during the day. All this could help," he said.