Britpop legend Blur debuts concert in Jakarta with some hiccups, but still manages to satisfy long-time fans.

'It's taken us 23 or 24 years to be here,' said vocalist Damon Albarn opening his speech that night. Blur, after a very long span of waiting, finally landed in Jakarta, bringing the true Britpop that was an inspiration for local music.

Their set at the Big Sound Festival on May 15 was probably not the best compared to other performers 'even The Temper Trap that performed before them sounded much better', but the crowd's mood culminated during their performance that evening.

At 9 p.m., they came out and instantly ruled the stage, playing opening track 'Girls and Boys' and it immediately made the crowd dance. The festival at Lapangan D Senayan was divided into two different sections of around 3,000 people. It wasn't a full house.

'Good evening, it's nice to be here,' continued Albarn to the cheering crowd.

Then the show went on. Blur performed their punk rock numbers as opener. After 'Girls and Boys', they played 'Popscene' and 'There's No Other Way'.

While Albarn and bassist Alex James settled in quite well, other members did not directly adjust to the set. Guitarist Graham Coxon's backing vocals were off pitch a couple of times while drummer Dave Rowntree needed some time to adjust the sound of his kit.

But then again, everything was forgiven because it's Blur. Almost every hit song played and the time machine crawled back to 1990s when the band marked the musical landscape with chart-topping singles and best-selling albums.

'You've got a strong voice there,' said Albarn to the crowd who sang along with the fifth song, 'Beetlebum'. The audience had been singing every song with Albarn from the beginning.

Almost every hit song got its roll-out that night. There were 'Coffee and TV', 'Tender', 'Out of Time' and a few others.

A good bit from the gig also came from 'Country House', a single from the mid 90s that allowed Blur to beat Oasis in the UK chart. This particular single was also a trigger to the high tension these two bands had back in the days.

After Coxon started the intro, Albarn left the stage and headed directly to the crowd. He stood still at the barrier for a while as if he wanted to do some crowd surfing. In his 40s, Albarn was quite fit to do it.

Apart from the good songs that they played, some others were left out.

'I was waiting for 'Charmless Man' and 'She's So High', but they didn't play them,' lamented a long-time fan, Widi Nugroho.

Blur played a total of 19 songs, with 'This is a Low' as a closing, before leaving the stage.

Although the festival had a few other line-ups, most people unquestionably were waiting for Blur. From pictures circulated in Twitter, when Van She from Australia started the festival, there were only a couple of rows filled. It increased when Tegan and Sara played but definitely the buzz got louder when Blur performed.

Many complained about the ticket price. Since the band was part of the festival with a long line-up, the promoter charged Rp 1,200,000 (US$126) for VIP and Rp 900,000 for regular tickets.

'I bought the ticket for Rp 600,000 on Kaskus [website],' said Andang Aurora who came with some friends, just to see Blur, not the other acts. He said he did not buy it from the official box office because it was too expensive.

Farah Nirmala was one example of those who finally bought tickets at the door.

'I'm a big fan of Blur. So, the idea was actually to find tickets from touts. I thought they would sell them cheaper than the door price. But until The Temper Trap completed half of their set, the price didn't go down and on the other hand, I didn't want to miss Blur. So I bought the tickets,' she explained.

She and her other two friends finally managed to get in on time to see their idols. 'Well, if the price only got
Rp 100,000 cheaper, I preferred to buy the tickets at the door. It's safer than buying via touts,' she continued.

As the audience pleaded for more songs, Albarn and friends returned to the stage. They played four songs during the encore. The last two songs ''The Universal' and 'Song 2' ' were well done. It made the crowd go wild, dancing where the beat led them.

Quoting lines in 'The Universal', the show 'really, really, really could happen. Yes, it really, really, really could happen.' The waiting game was over now.

'I am happy with the gig. Super happy,' said Andang.

 ' Photos by Nurhayati

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