The band: Grace Chatto and brothers Jack and Luke Patterson set up Clean Bandit during their time in college.

If you are unfamiliar with British electronic music band Clean Bandit, chances are you’ve heard at least one of its songs on the radio, wherever you might be.

British electronic music band Clean Bandit — made up of Grace Chatto and brothers Jack and Luke Patterson — has been serving up certified radio-friendly hits such as 2014’s “Rather Be” featuring Jess Glynne and 2016’s “Rockabye” with vocals by Sean Paul and Anne-Marie.

With a slew of hits under its name, it sure was not a surprise when Clean Bandit’s second visit to Indonesia, as part of the band’s I Miss You Tour 2018, drew a substantial crowd at Kota Kasablanka mall’s The Kasablanka Hall on Monday night.

The concert, however, was marked by cellist and vocalist Chatto’s absence. The Patterson brothers told members of the media before the concert that Chatto had a health problem that flared up after their Osaka concert, with her flying back to London for treatment.

But the show must go on. With ticket prices starting at Rp 800,000 (US$54.80), the packed crowd was a mixture of regular concert-going 20-somethings and world-weary employees still clad in their office attire looking for some good, clean entertainment.

With the gates opening two hours before the show, plus approximately 30 minutes of waiting after the advertised time, many in the audience chose to sit down and chat on the carpeted floor while being serenaded by hard-hitting electronic dance music.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., the lights were dimmed, and the crowd roared as the show finally began. Vocalists Joy and Yasmin opened the concert with Clean Bandit’s 2017 hit “Symphony”, originally featuring vocals by Swedish singer Zara Larsson.

As if on cue, the crowd put their hands (and phones) up and sang along, occasionally cheering when bursts of confetti and smoke flared up to start the concert to a spirited mood.

Sing along: Clean Bandit performs a number of its hits in Jakarta, including "Symphony", "Rockabye" and "Tears".

Following “Symphony” was “Real Love”, which got the crowd singing along to the ridiculously catchy and easy to memorize chorus of “This is real, real, real, real love” in no time.

As Joy and Yasmin sang “Extraordinary”, one could clearly see that many in the crowd were not all that familiar with the song, only nodding along to the music and just sort of standing there mouthing the lyrics that they did know.

The same could be said of the following Clean Bandit songs that do not receive as much airtime on Indonesian radio, such as “Disconnect”, “Stronger”, “Cologne” and “Come Over”, as evidenced by fewer phones in the air and not much sway among the crowd.

For their part, the vocalists certainly seemed to enjoy the crowd’s enthusiasm, and got the crowd singing along again with a performance of “Solo”, the band’s latest single based on Chatto’s experience with heartbreak, originally featuring American singer Demi Lovato.

The energy was palpable through the following “I Miss You”, most noticeably in the infectious chorus, which seems to be a pattern in Clean Bandit’s songs since its conception in 2008.

After “Telephone Banking”, Joy and Yasmin dedicated their performance of “Should’ve Known Better” to Chatto, followed with a surefire crowd pleaser in the form of “Rockabye” — an ode to single mothers and one of the Patterson brothers’ favorites to get the crowd pumped up.

Show must go on: Singers Joy and Yasmin substitute for Grace Chatto, who was having a health problem and could not make it to the Jakarta concert.

“Rockabye” was followed by “Piece of You”, with a performance of “Tears” to close the show for the night.

As Joy and Yasmin bid the audience goodnight and the lights were turned off, the crowd collectively broke out into a chorus of “We want more” as they felt robbed of “Rather Be”, which had been used as a teaser in the show.

As predicted, the crowd got what they came for when the lights came back on and the opening melody of “Rather Be” played from the speakers.

With “Rather Be”, energy in the room swelled again as everyone seemed to know every word of the 2014 hit, singing along and yes, filming themselves for online clout while at it.

It might be a quirk of the Jakarta crowd or the millennial generation at large, but Clean Bandit can expect a lively, phone-brandishing crowd when it next comes to Jakarta.

— Photos courtesy of Otello Asia