The bands were visiting Jakarta as part of a regional touring festival called “The People’s Party”, which has also wooed music lovers in Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore.

First up was Roman Foot Soldiers (RSF), a six-piece band from Jakarta. Mixing delayed, chiming guitars with electronic sequences, the band had to be tight and they met the challenge well. With songs such as “Waterfront” they showed off their songwriting potential, reminiscent of the northern English outfit New Order.

In terms of live performance RSF appeared to be a work in progress. There was too much going on in their songs and the vocals found it difficult to punch through. Still, opening for the illustrious acts that were to follow, RSF did not disappoint.

Darker, rockier tones were next on the musical menu. If I could describe The Jezebels in a single word, it would be “haunting”. The singer hits the mark somewhere between The Cranberries, Kate Bush and Annie Lennox.

Less was definitely more here as the vocals of Hayley Mary cut through with ease as she prowled around the stage, backed by a band that created an epic sound that would not be out of place in a stadium. This was prominent in “Try Colour”, a song from the band’s 2011 debut studio album Prisoner.

There was a sense though that the main event was still to come. When Bombay Bicycle Club took to the stage, things really began to rock. Judging by the reaction when the British outfit emerged, there was no doubt that this was the band the majority of people had come to see.

“If anybody doesn’t know, we’re Bombay Bicycle Club,” said the guitarist, but it was clear from the outset that the audience knew exactly who they were watching. There was an excellent piece of audience interaction halfway through the set when lead vocalist Jack Steadman beckoned fans to fill his role, a test they passed with flying colors.

As the band rattled through hits from their debut 2009 album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose, and 2010’s follow-up Flaws, they soon found that they were preaching to the converted.

Their music was built from melodic, harmonizing guitars, which skillfully mimicked the lead vocals, while an electronic edge was never far away, especially with “Shuffle”, a single off their most recent album A Different Kind of Fix.

With plenty of movement onstage, here was a band committed to their musical manifesto. They knew how to rock out, which was a revelation given the band’s studio penchant for softer, folksier vibes.

Their sound is snappy, edgy and atmospheric and with songs such as “Always Like This” and “Evening / Morning”, the band’s songwriting abilities are certainly not in question. But while the music has conviction, the voice — at times lethargic and wafer thin — does not. This was heard most clearly on “Lights Out, Words Gone”, a song that displays the band’s pure songwriting talent but lacks direction vocally.

Nevertheless, New Zealanders The Naked and Famous (TNAF) were given the tall task of following what was easily the most popular band of the night so far, and they didn’t disappoint.

The five-piece took the evening in an electro-pop direction with a colorful and zesty sound. Fronted by Thom Powers and Alisa Xayaith, TNAF had an excellent stage presence that you do not want to look away from.

Aesthetics aside, it was soon clear that this band’s power came from its absolute faith in electronic music. At times, even the bassist downed his traditional instrument and turned to an electronic, distorted, synthesized replacement.

This sound was a marriage of pop and dance rhythms that, in flashes, bordered upon a full-blown club act as much as it nodded to a darker, shoe-gazing vibe.

Whatever it was, the crowd loved it. “Young Blood” from the band’s 2010 debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You was a case in point.

Headlining the evening’s proceedings were British outfit Metronomy, their musical pedigree bolstered with last year’s UK Mercury Prize nomination.

On stage, any fears of that status going to the band’s head were soon quashed, with some excellent, down-to-earth interaction with their Indonesian fans. In fact, the band did the best job of the night in terms of pumping up the audience with several shouts of “Come on, Jakarta!” They were something to look at too, with each member pinning a white light to their chests that flashed on and off to the beat of the music.

Musically, they were the most ambitious and far-reaching band of the night, offering experimental, indie and electronic music without structure. With a dry, hard sound, Metronomy did not pander to the atmospheric. There was an unpredictability about their music that perhaps even jazz experimentalist Miles Davis would have been proud of.

But this was not just experimental music for the sake of it, as the band’s recent album The English Rivera proved. The infectious organ opening of “The Look” gets inside your head. And judging by the reaction, it had already done so to much of the audience. Things really began to kick off with “The Bay”, with the whole venue singing along.

With a saxophone thrown into the mix and a bassist that bucked the trend by being up front both musically and in terms of performance, Metronomy were an original act in more ways than one. In many ways they were a perfect end to a night billed to showcase fresh, cutting-edge musical talent.

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