After visiting Joyland Bali in March, Agung and I decided to stop by Joyland Jakarta this year as well—and, surprise surprise, we weren’t the only one. If it wasn’t obvious that I was super impressed by the festival earlier this year, I’ll say it again: Joyland has set such a high standard of music festivals for me now and I cannot expect any less anymore. That should really outline this entire post, so keep that in mind as you read through—if you’d be willing to read through (lol).
Unlike its earlier Bali version where we were present for the entire 3 days of the festival, we decided pretty last-minute to buy a 1-day pass for the third day to this Jakarta instalment. Mostly, because most of the musicians we wanted to watch just so happen to be performing on the last day—especially the three headliners at the end of the night. That created a whole new experience for me regarding the festival. Also, since the festival is held in our hometown Jakarta, we knew a lot of our friends would be going too—so it was fun running into them and catching up with them when we did. I reckon this will be a more compact run through, but let’s see.
Entering the Narnia of Endless Fun
After visiting Joyland Bali in March, Agung and I decided to stop by Joyland Jakarta this year as well—and, surprise surprise, we weren’t the only one. If it wasn’t obvious that I was super impressed by the festival earlier this year, I’ll say it again: Joyland has set such a high standard of music festivals for me now and I cannot expect any less anymore. That should really outline this entire post, so keep that in mind as you read through—if you’d be willing to read through (lol).
Unlike its earlier Bali version where we were present for the entire 3 days of the festival, we decided pretty last-minute to buy a 1-day pass for the third day to this Jakarta instalment. Mostly, because most of the musicians we wanted to watch just so happen to be performing on the last day—especially the three headliners at the end of the night. That created a whole new experience for me regarding the festival. Also, since the festival is held in our hometown Jakarta, we knew a lot of our friends would be going too—so it was fun running into them and catching up with them when we did. I reckon this will be a more compact run through, but let’s see.
Entering the Narnia of Endless Fun
📷 iPhone 11 12 MP, f/1.8, 26mm + Realme Pro 3 camera
The festival was held in the Baseball Stadium in Gelora Bung Karno, Senayan—which, if you don’t know, is the sports and stadium complex in Jakarta smackdab in the middle of the city.
While the Joyland team has posted a map of the event, Agung and I found it pretty confusing to understand where we could enter the festival—although we might be a minority. We ended up walking a long distance to reach the festival ground, since a lot of the access points were closed off—we couldn’t enter directly from inside the GBK complex, but had to go out and enter back straight into the festival ground. Needless to say, we were already pretty tired before the festival even started.
We were determined to catch BAP. at 3PM, though, so we powerwalked our way into the festival. Thankfully, we were able to listen to him perform 2 1/2 songs—including Painting with Suwage which got Agung really excited.
One of the friends who I know will come to Joyland and regularly stay in contact with leading up to the festival is my ex-work friend Uta—she resigned before I did, yet now I, too, have left the office, as you know. We were so excited to meet during the festival, aside from being reunited after the Bali version earlier this year, I had some farewell stickers to give to her.
After BAP., we made a beeline for the Plainsong Live Stage where Mocca will be performing, as I knew that’s the first performance Uta was after and I gave her the stickers ceremoniously.
Agung and I made our way to the food stalls and stayed there for a bit while I grabbed lunch—Agung had eaten earlier at home. Later that day, we found out that the food stalls were actually divided into three different areas and we were missing out on a lot of tenants at first. Not going to lie: the venue felt pretty hard to navigate and very intricately organised that it felt tedious going from one corner to another.
The festival was held in the Baseball Stadium in Gelora Bung Karno, Senayan—which, if you don’t know, is the sports and stadium complex in Jakarta smackdab in the middle of the city.
While the Joyland team has posted a map of the event, Agung and I found it pretty confusing to understand where we could enter the festival—although we might be a minority. We ended up walking a long distance to reach the festival ground, since a lot of the access points were closed off—we couldn’t enter directly from inside the GBK complex, but had to go out and enter back straight into the festival ground. Needless to say, we were already pretty tired before the festival even started.
We were determined to catch BAP. at 3PM, though, so we powerwalked our way into the festival. Thankfully, we were able to listen to him perform 2 1/2 songs—including Painting with Suwage which got Agung really excited.
One of the friends who I know will come to Joyland and regularly stay in contact with leading up to the festival is my ex-work friend Uta—she resigned before I did, yet now I, too, have left the office, as you know. We were so excited to meet during the festival, aside from being reunited after the Bali version earlier this year, I had some farewell stickers to give to her.
After BAP., we made a beeline for the Plainsong Live Stage where Mocca will be performing, as I knew that’s the first performance Uta was after and I gave her the stickers ceremoniously.
Agung and I made our way to the food stalls and stayed there for a bit while I grabbed lunch—Agung had eaten earlier at home. Later that day, we found out that the food stalls were actually divided into three different areas and we were missing out on a lot of tenants at first. Not going to lie: the venue felt pretty hard to navigate and very intricately organised that it felt tedious going from one corner to another.
Agung‘s t-shirt (again) // hand-me-down plaid shirt // Book of Deer skirt // Goethe Institute tote bag // old boots + socks // photos of me by Agung
A Packed Musical Itinerary
As I’ve said earlier, on this third day of the festival there were a lot of musicians that we wanted to see, so it ensured a pretty packed itinerary of concerts for us. We were almost never farther than a few meters down from the biggest stages.
After grabbing lunch and refilling our bottles—committed to their sustainability pact, Joyland always provides water stations to refill your bottles—we got back to the Joyland Stage to catch SORE live in concert. I’ve known about this band for a while and have listened to some of their songs here and there. Agung also happens to be a fan of the band—he’s watched it a few times already, I believe—but we’ve never watched them together before. I’m so happy that we got to do that, and to see Agung enjoying their performance very much was honestly the biggest treat. My favourite song of theirs were Karolina and Sssst….
Agung‘s t-shirt (again) // hand-me-down plaid shirt // Book of Deer skirt // Goethe Institute tote bag // old boots + socks // photos of me by Agung
A Packed Musical Itinerary
As I’ve said earlier, on this third day of the festival there were a lot of musicians that we wanted to see, so it ensured a pretty packed itinerary of concerts for us. We were almost never farther than a few meters down from the biggest stages.
After grabbing lunch and refilling our bottles—committed to their sustainability pact, Joyland always provides water stations to refill your bottles—we got back to the Joyland Stage to catch SORE live in concert. I’ve known about this band for a while and have listened to some of their songs here and there. Agung also happens to be a fan of the band—he’s watched it a few times already, I believe—but we’ve never watched them together before. I’m so happy that we got to do that, and to see Agung enjoying their performance very much was honestly the biggest treat. My favourite song of theirs were Karolina and Sssst….
After SORE, I decided to meet up with my baby girl Catherine, the copywriter in my team at the office and now the successor to my position—for a while (lol). She works on the side for Sunday Bowl Cereal Club and was there on duty to create contents for the brand. After quitting my job a week ago, we were finallly reunited and, gosh, I’ve missed this little lady and her ‘100% cegil’ energy.
Since our tummy started rumbling, we decided to sacrifice watching Reality Club—I’m so sorry, Nugi 
—and went to the Joyland Village for some dinner. Not only the performing artists, the food tenants were also very enticing. There were a lot of tenants that I’ve always wanted to try but hadn’t—and here was my chance! Without much doubt, we got in line for Lokiin and tried their Nasi Lidah and Nasi Campur respectively. Honestly, it was so good! I’m a little regretful we didn’t try them sooner.
We stayed at the village for a little bit to finish our dinner, but was thirsty for something refreshing afterwards. We scoured the grounds for some interesting and refreshing drinks, and landed on Merenda Rindu—where I ran into Dion, an ex-work friend. They offered Es Pandan Sereh and Es Krim Klepon, both of which were pretty delicious. The tea tasted more pandan and lemongrass—’sereh’ means lemongrass—than tea, and a little too sweet for my taste, but otherwise it was good.
Then we quickly made our way back to the Joyland Stage to catch Santamonica in action. Again, Agung is a long-time fan and he actually introduced me to their hit single Ribbons and Tie—which I belted out when they played it. The live performance feels a little more electronic than the more acoustic master. Agung fed me personal insights about them throughout the show like my very own personal guide, so cute!
After SORE, I decided to meet up with my baby girl Catherine, the copywriter in my team at the office and now the successor to my position—for a while (lol). She works on the side for Sunday Bowl Cereal Club and was there on duty to create contents for the brand. After quitting my job a week ago, we were finallly reunited and, gosh, I’ve missed this little lady and her ‘100% cegil’ energy.
Since our tummy started rumbling, we decided to sacrifice watching Reality Club—I’m so sorry, Nugi —and went to the Joyland Village for some dinner. Not only the performing artists, the food tenants were also very enticing. There were a lot of tenants that I’ve always wanted to try but hadn’t—and here was my chance! Without much doubt, we got in line for Lokiin and tried their Nasi Lidah and Nasi Campur respectively. Honestly, it was so good! I’m a little regretful we didn’t try them sooner.
We stayed at the village for a little bit to finish our dinner, but was thirsty for something refreshing afterwards. We scoured the grounds for some interesting and refreshing drinks, and landed on Merenda Rindu—where I ran into Dion, an ex-work friend. They offered Es Pandan Sereh and Es Krim Klepon, both of which were pretty delicious. The tea tasted more pandan and lemongrass—’sereh’ means lemongrass—than tea, and a little too sweet for my taste, but otherwise it was good.
Then we quickly made our way back to the Joyland Stage to catch Santamonica in action. Again, Agung is a long-time fan and he actually introduced me to their hit single Ribbons and Tie—which I belted out when they played it. The live performance feels a little more electronic than the more acoustic master. Agung fed me personal insights about them throughout the show like my very own personal guide, so cute!
After Santamonica, we went directly to Rock n Roll Mafia. Again, Agung is a fan since he saw their music video which was designed by his favourite artist collective Tromarama—or was it the other way around? When we went to the Tromarama exhibition last year, Agung told me about them and I was intrigued ever since as well. Which is why it broke my heart that I had to miss out on most of their performance due to being stuck in line for the toilet. I swear this festival was a lot more packed and chaotic than their Bali predecessor. It was almost 30 minutes later that I finally reunited with Agung at the stage, bringing along Amanda, an ex-intern from my first office who I ran into on my way back.
As Amanda made her way. to the Joyland Stage to catch Grrrl Gang, Agung and I went back to the Joyland Village to grab a snack and got our eyes on Fan Fries. I’ve tried these fries before and they were unbelievable crispy to the very last fry, that I kept recommending Agung try them. While I queued to order the fries, Agung went to queue for the toilet. It took a while, but when we reunited, he told me that he ran into his friend Miska, the bassist for the band Swellow, and a somewhat-ex of mine who we were both close friends with at our previous office. One of my biggest regrets of the night is missing out on both of them.
Otoboke Beaver got our attention for the next hour or so with their incredibly chaotic music—how did they remember each song? I spent the entire time trying to catch the lyrics and interpret them to Agung each time I succeeded—all the while gorging on the delicious fries, of course. It occurred to me that these ladies are the real-life version of Aggretsuko and it’s a collaboration that needs to happen. Soon, it was time for the most anticipated artists to go live.
A Star-Studded Night
The biggest reasons for me to even come to Joyland on this day was the three headlining artists who have been kept for last. The first one being The Beths, a band from New Zealand who surprisingly has a lot of connection with Indonesia. The lead vocal and guitarist Elizabeth Stokes was apparently born in Jakarta—or so she said on stage—and the drummer Tristan Deck is apparently married to an Indonesian lady—by the name of Marsha as he dedicated a song that night. This is one artist that I liked and Agung didn’t know about for a change, so I was happy to see he enjoyed some of the songs too. Elizabeth was so sweet to practice her Indonesian language skills on us as she greeted us throughout the performance—and she was actually pretty good! My favourite songs of theirs include Expert on a Dying Field and Little Death—and really, they’re about the only ones I can actually sing along to.
Next we have Alvvays, an Canadian indie band with a cult following in Indonesia. Agung introduced me to this band back in 2019 and they have become one of my favourites too. He himself has watched them play at We the Fest in 2019, but this was the first time we finally watched together—honestly, this means a lot to me. We both belted out our favourite songs, which was plenty and so much fun. Our top two are Adult Diversion and Not My Baby.
Saving the absolute best for last, Joyland presents INTERPOL!!! Both of us aren’t exactly die-hard, long-term fans of this classic band, but we came to love their music over the years and it was so special to know they were coming to Indonesia. Apparently, this was also the first time they performed in this country and that was HUGE! Well done, Joyland! 👏🏻 👏🏻 They are certainly the OG rock band—with the lack of visual mapping (relying solely on light play for ambience) and the cool demeanour of their entire performance. Such a stark comparison with Phoenix from Joyland Bali who was exteremely friendly with the audience—although both shows feel so surreal still. After a smeltering hot day, it started to drizzle as they played Evil, a crowd favourite. What a tremendous end to the night.
After Santamonica, we went directly to Rock n Roll Mafia. Again, Agung is a fan since he saw their music video which was designed by his favourite artist collective Tromarama—or was it the other way around? When we went to the Tromarama exhibition last year, Agung told me about them and I was intrigued ever since as well. Which is why it broke my heart that I had to miss out on most of their performance due to being stuck in line for the toilet. I swear this festival was a lot more packed and chaotic than their Bali predecessor. It was almost 30 minutes later that I finally reunited with Agung at the stage, bringing along Amanda, an ex-intern from my first office who I ran into on my way back.
As Amanda made her way. to the Joyland Stage to catch Grrrl Gang, Agung and I went back to the Joyland Village to grab a snack and got our eyes on Fan Fries. I’ve tried these fries before and they were unbelievable crispy to the very last fry, that I kept recommending Agung try them. While I queued to order the fries, Agung went to queue for the toilet. It took a while, but when we reunited, he told me that he ran into his friend Miska, the bassist for the band Swellow, and a somewhat-ex of mine who we were both close friends with at our previous office. One of my biggest regrets of the night is missing out on both of them.
Otoboke Beaver got our attention for the next hour or so with their incredibly chaotic music—how did they remember each song? I spent the entire time trying to catch the lyrics and interpret them to Agung each time I succeeded—all the while gorging on the delicious fries, of course. It occurred to me that these ladies are the real-life version of Aggretsuko and it’s a collaboration that needs to happen. Soon, it was time for the most anticipated artists to go live.
A Star-Studded Night
The biggest reasons for me to even come to Joyland on this day was the three headlining artists who have been kept for last. The first one being The Beths, a band from New Zealand who surprisingly has a lot of connection with Indonesia. The lead vocal and guitarist Elizabeth Stokes was apparently born in Jakarta—or so she said on stage—and the drummer Tristan Deck is apparently married to an Indonesian lady—by the name of Marsha as he dedicated a song that night. This is one artist that I liked and Agung didn’t know about for a change, so I was happy to see he enjoyed some of the songs too. Elizabeth was so sweet to practice her Indonesian language skills on us as she greeted us throughout the performance—and she was actually pretty good! My favourite songs of theirs include Expert on a Dying Field and Little Death—and really, they’re about the only ones I can actually sing along to.
Next we have Alvvays, an Canadian indie band with a cult following in Indonesia. Agung introduced me to this band back in 2019 and they have become one of my favourites too. He himself has watched them play at We the Fest in 2019, but this was the first time we finally watched together—honestly, this means a lot to me. We both belted out our favourite songs, which was plenty and so much fun. Our top two are Adult Diversion and Not My Baby.
Saving the absolute best for last, Joyland presents INTERPOL!!! Both of us aren’t exactly die-hard, long-term fans of this classic band, but we came to love their music over the years and it was so special to know they were coming to Indonesia. Apparently, this was also the first time they performed in this country and that was HUGE! Well done, Joyland! 👏🏻 👏🏻 They are certainly the OG rock band—with the lack of visual mapping (relying solely on light play for ambience) and the cool demeanour of their entire performance. Such a stark comparison with Phoenix from Joyland Bali who was exteremely friendly with the audience—although both shows feel so surreal still. After a smeltering hot day, it started to drizzle as they played Evil, a crowd favourite. What a tremendous end to the night.
Afterword
Since I plunged headfirst into the music festival scene last March, it was interesting to go slow on my second festival experience by opting for just one day. It was actually Agung’s idea to do so, as he felt that 3 days in a row would beat us up in the city—given the uncertain weather, he was right. Luckily, on the last day, it was sunny all the way through, raining only as the festival came to an end. Now, though, I feel like one day wasn’t enough to enjoy it. All in all, the festival was rather good, although I cannot compare it with its Bali predecessor—and, when I do, it starts to pull at the seams.
First of all, it’s such a shame that there is no wide-open venue space in Jakarta that was similar to the one in Bali, because it really affects how we navigate through the festival area. The exisiting buildings and fences all around the area make exploring the space both tedious and confusing. A lot of the available facilities and perks were not instantly visible to us, so we tended to miss out.
Secondly, the crowd is a lot more insane. There were definitely a whole lot more people than there were in Bali—aside from the more confined space as well. It just makes me feel a little suffocated and uncomfortable. Not to mention their often inappropriate behaviour—like shoving in the audience and littering. Crowd control has been pretty good, though.
Thirdly, I feel like the environmentally-friendly facilities aren’t as plenty this time. The bins were pretty hard to find—they were always so far away somehow—and there were less bottle refill stations—although there were some drinking taps as a substitute. The worst part is that there were no solar-powered charging stations like before—or I just couldn’t find them.
But hey, I don’t know, maybe this is just me being spoiled by my first festival in Bali, resulting in a lower tolerance for what Jakarta could do. Considering this was held in Jakarta, though, was very well done on Joyland’s part, as it made me forget I was in the city completely. On to the next one!
Let me talk a little bit about the outfit:
I deliberately borrowed this t-shirt from Agung to fit in, as I personally do not have
any band t-shirts and I wanted to belong to the festival scene.
Do I look cool and ‘skena’ enough for ya?
