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Hitman: David Foster and Friends concert breathes life into De Tjolomadoe
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American R&B singer-songwriter, arranger, producer and musician Brian McKnight performs a number-one hit alongside David Foster in the Hitman: David Foster and Friends concert series at De Tjolomadoe, Central Java, on March 24. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
A
star-studded lineup of artists performed at the Hitman: David Foster and Friends concert at the convention hall of De Tjolomadoe, the former site of the Colomadu sugar mill, in Karanganyar, Central Java, on March 24.
Spanning two and a half hours, Foster was accompanied by fellow musicians Brian McKnight, Anggun, Sandhy Sondoro, Dira Sugandi, and Yura Yunita at the concert attended by 3,000 people.
Winter Games opened the concert, which started at 8 p.m. The audience danced to the song, the official anthem of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Tickets to the highly anticipated concert were sold out a couple of weeks in advance. Loyal fans traveled from across the country, from cities like Surabaya in East Java, to attend the show.
The opening song was followed by songstress Yura Yunita performing Cinta dan Rahasia (Love and Secrets), written by renowned songwriter Glenn Fredly. Yura also sang Foster’s Through the Fire, while Sandhy Sondoro continued with You’re the Inspiration and When a Man Loves a Woman.
Foster, a 16-time Grammy Award winner, was outgoing on stage that evening, communicating and interacting with the audience, telling jokes and responding well to photo requests.
Foster said the Indonesian audience charmed him with how they remembered his songs and actively sang along.
Indonesian pop star Anggun also drove the audience to break out into song when she performed Unbreak My Heart and What We Remember.
The audience was also carried away by the performances of jazz singer Dira Sugandi, who sang All by Myself and I’m Every Woman, and R&B star Brian McKnight, who performed hits I Swear and One Last Cry, the latter of which he played on the piano.
Prominent figures such as State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno, Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri, Golkar Party ethics board deputy chairman Akbar Tandjung and Surakarta Mayor Achmad Purnomo attended the show.
Read also: Music legend David Foster to perform at newly transformed historic site
Rajawali Indonesia Communication CEO Anas Alimi, who also acted as the event consultant, was pleased with the enthusiastic reaction to the concert and expressed optimism over De Tjolomadoe's future.
For Foster, performing at the revitalized venue was a unique experience.
"[A former sugar mill is] an unusual place for a concert," he said. (mut)
