Beam me up: Laser light shows were some of the highlights at Friday’s Djakarta Warehouse Project event.

Thousands of people, mostly youth, gathered at Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Friday, celebrating life at what it is said to be Jakarta’s biggest dance party.

The Djarum Super MLD Djakarta Warehouse Project dance music festival welcomed 26 outstanding local and international DJs, all contending to present the coolest party ever. Three large stages were constructed at the location, two outside and one inside the building.

Each stage had an amazing laser light show to accompany the music, the sound level enough to make your ears echo for hours. Stands offering liquor were spread throughout the venu, helping people get in the mood once they arrived at the party.

Names like Soul Menace Soundsystem, Cyberjapan, Late Nite Alumni, Brodinski, Midnight Quickie, Massive Kontrol, Calvin Harris and DJ Winky were among those who entertained more than 20,000 people the entire night.

Each DJ seemed to try and lure more people to his or her stage. DJs Anton and Hogi Wirjono, for example, played classic tunes from C and C Music Factory to Blur and Nirvana, as well Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, which caused thousands of bodies to move in unison.

Many screamed when the DJ duo played what seemed to be their favorite tunes from the 1990s. “This is just my song”, could be heard several times while they performed.

Commenting on this, Hogi Wirjono said he played classics on purpose because they wanted the audience to hear the new sounds offered by old beats.

“We want them to guess and eventually to try and figure out if they really like the song. At least it will add something to their knowledge,” Hogi told The Jakarta Post at the festival.

If the dynamic duo was spoiling their crowd with 1990s tunes, at the other outdoor stage, Soul Menace Soundsystem was adding industrial yet robotic tones to their beats.

A sophisticated laser light show somehow matched the heavy music.

Almost at the same time, in the indoor arena, DJ Dipha Barus had a crowd enjoying his techno house beats. Given the location, the indoor arena offered a rather different atmosphere, the echoing sounds produced by the music creating an outer space-like atmosphere.

In order to keep up the stamina of visitors, a large space located in the middle of Istora Senayan was dedicated to offering food and drinks. Many stopped off briefly at the cafeteria before continuing on their dancing quests that evening.

At midnight people were still accustoming themselves to the music offered by each of the three stages, the pathways between the stages crowded with people.

Feeling the music: Jakarta’s skyline was a nice backdrop to the event that drew DJ lovers from all over.

The Djakarta Warehouse Project started to get serious when international “brands” like Calvin Harris, Angger Dimas, Paul Van Dyk and Markus Schulz took to the stage.

Harris, for example, despite heavy rain that caused some electrical disturbances and which eventually paralyzed two giant monitors near the stage thus postponing the show for 15 minutes, managed to hypnotize at least 15,000 people.

Blasting the crowd with hits like “Bounce”, “Feel So Close” and his duet with pop diva Rihanna, “We Found Love”, Harris claimed the crowd’s loyalty for more than two hours. Waves of people danced on Harris’ count with only minutes off to rest their legs.

The crowd in fact paid no attention to the puddles created by the rain. People just danced and laughed freely throughout the night.

Commenting on the festival, Angga said he had driven from Semarang with friends and said the party was worth every penny he spent.

“This is a rare show where you can see all of these fantastic talents in the industry at one occasion. This year’s event is much bigger than last year,” he said.

Erna, who was attending with friends, said aside from the performers the crowd was way more attractive than last year.

DJ Hogi Wirjono said that the crowd seemed to respond more to the performers, referring to today’s television programs and Internet-based video providers like YouTube that had played significant roles in enabling people to discover more music.

“Compared with what was happening 15 years ago, today’s crowds know their music better. That is why it doesn’t take too long for them to adapt to our music when we play old beats,” he said.

The Djakarta Warehouse Project was organized by Ismaya productions with Djarum, Indonesia’s second biggest cigarette producer, as the main sponsor.

Roland Halim of Djarum said approximately Rp 10 billion (US$1 million) had been disbursed to  finance the entire festival.

When asked whether the party had paid off, Roland acknowledged that he was optimistic that there would be a “shiny day” after because the tickets were sold out.

“We expected that the number of audience members would surpass our early count of 15,000 and reach about 20,000 instead, which just happened,” he said.

The tickets for this festival were sold varying from Rp 100,000 during the presale period to Rp 500,000. Only those aged 18 and above were allowed to enter.

The biggest rave in the country ended around 4 a.m., and even though some looked tired, there were many happy faces, clearly demonstrating that people would be back for more next year.

— Photos by JP/R. Berto Wedhatama