Soundrenaline 2009 Bali - The event!

So we're on the way to the Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue or GWK, a private cultural park on the Bukit Peninsula at the southern end of the island of Bali in Indonesia.

It took us HOURS sebab memang sesak gila jalan! The fest was supposed to start at 3pm. But at 2pm, masa kami in the area, it took us forever to make our way up the hill. Dah lah transport kita panas sebab air con rosak. Pening rasanya...

Oh... before I move on, nak cita sikit pasal venue for Soundrenaline, which is the awesome GWK.

It's a limestone area and it houses the statue of Lord Wisnu, riding on the mythical Garuda. Made from more than 4000 tonnes of copper and brass, it will stand 150 meters tall with its wings span 64 meters across and is Made from more than 4000 tons of copper and brass,

The statue's not totally up yet, but it's supposed to be bigger than even the Statue of Liberty, and is supposed to be one of the biggest statues in the world and you can see it from 20 km away or something.

What is ready is the surrounding 240 hectares of cultural park which houses the Lotus Pond, Festival Park, Amphitheater, Street Theater, Exhibition Hall, as well as Jendela Bali The Panoramic Resto and souvenir shops.

If you get to go there, hopefully, you get to see the statue of Wisnu, it'll be in one piece, unlike when I saw it in three different areas.

Ok, now were done with that lesson, here's some pics of how the festival looked. Amazing! Smack in the centre of that limestone part, cut to form surroundings of it with huge courtyards.

Layan la pics of the festival. Soundrenaline is the BEST music festival I've ever been to. Forget the local fests you've been to like Sunburst and Live & Loud. Nothing comes close to Soundrenaline.

Bersedia layan the many many pictures I have. Ni pon sikit je. Banyak lagik aku tak postkan.

The limestone walls


On some of the walls, there was amazing artwork carved in


That's the top part of the Wisnu statue


Check out the view of the entrance into the festival area


Saja nak gambar kenangan


The themed 'streets' along the limestone alleys to represent the genres



And more streets


The Garuda behind the main festival stage.. the Wisnu head can be seen too


Majestic... and awesome crowd


Simply stunning venue


Some of the about 40,000 crowd attending Soundrenaline




Along the Hip Hop street I think. Funky bicycles pimped up!



Even the refreshment area is music themed. Tables - drums. Umbrellas - cymbals/hi hats and seats - drummer stools


The intimate setting at the Amphitheatre where about 500 can sit. Presenting soul, jazz, fusion and ethnic sounds



The merchandise store


Very different as you can make your own - with your own name for less than RM20!


The chill out area


The other stages


Ungu performing


As it gets dark, the place gets more and more beautiful


Dedy Lisan of Andra & The Backbone


The crowd just got bigger and bigger and they were in the mood to party - nothing rowdy about them at all


Giring of Nidji - the most awesome band of the night





Dhani with The Rock pun ada


It was a simply amazing day. There were so many awesome bands that performed for the night.

The all Indonesian line-up for the whole day included Slank, The Changcuters, Kotak, The Virgin, Naif, Ello, Ungu, Pas Band, J-Rocks, Superman Is Dead, Ardo & Delight, Kanan 5, Nanoe Biru, Saint Loco, Maliq & D'Essentials, Balawan & Friends, Ari Lasso, Gigi, The Rock, Andra & The Backbone, as well as Mulan Jameela.

Tapi serious, paling happening, the opening in D'Masiv as well as masa primetime, Nidji rocking the stage. Especially masa opening meka leh menari. Amik ko...

But my personal faves of course lah Laskar Pelangi as well as Sang Mantan.

By the way, a little extra info - DVD as well as (kalao tak silap aku) soundtrack Laskar Pelangi featuring Nidji's rocking sounds will be released in Malaysia soon.

Anyway, after we were done, with the concert wrapping up, we headed just across the venue to the stylo restaurant Jendela Bali to meet the guys from Nidji.

What an entrance...


The stylo spot


Check out the structure


Giring (vocalist), Andro (bassist), Run-D (keyboardist), Rama (guitarist), Ariel (guitarist), and Adri (drummer). One of my fave Indo bands of all time


Two for the album



After we spent some time with the guys from Nidji (memang cool gila - siap leh gelak gila bila meka wat Gerimis Mengundang dari Slam sebab tu antara lagu meka penah minat) - we walked like 2 to 3km away to get to our transport. Sebab jalan sesak sangat with berpuluh ribu orang keluar jalan masuk yang sempit, it took us forever to get out.

But pas kita abih, gi hotel lak lepak ngan bebudak D'Masiv.




Yang aku bangga sangat, bila ada yang tanyakan kalao meka kenal band Malaysia, bebudak cakap kenal 6ixth Sense. I am proud that our new bands pon leh register with these hot acts from Indonesia.

By the time got back to hotel, serious half dead. But happy - and still excited about the whole Soundrenaline affair. This was rock at its best! And it's going to be a long time before I will ever have the opportunity to party out like this again.