It has been one month since Sepultura closed Jogjarockarta 2023, leaving behind beautiful memories of rock and Heavy Metal music that have remained for the more than 6,000 people who came to attend one of the best heavy festivals in Indonesia.
Jogjarockarta 2023 – Indonesia
Sepultura – Overkill – Iron Voltage – BIP – Delusive Purity – Slank
Words and Photography: Umar R
The Jogjarockarta Festival was held at the Kridosono Stadium in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Held on 30 September 2023, this was the brainchild of Rajawali Indonesia, led by Anas Alimi.
Jogjarockarta featured two rock bands and four Heavy Metal bands. Joining the four Indonesian bands (Iron Voltage, BIP, Delusive Purity, Slank) were two epic international bands, Overkill and Sepultura.
Jogjarockarta 2024 will be held on 27 January 2024. Rumours are circulating that Kreator and In Flames will be there.
Sepultura
Jogjarockarta 2023 was closed neatly and fiercely by Sepultura. The Metal legends from Brazil burned and beat the crowd with their flagship numbers. In total, they performed 13 songs, including classic songs from the formation when the Cavalera brothers were still around.
Favourites of Indonesian Metalheads included Arise, Propaganda, Attitude and Kairos, to name four. There is an interesting story about Sepultura’s arrival in Indonesia this time. There was a reunion between Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser and Paulo Junior with Firdaus Fadlil and Iwan Iskandar, two legendary Indonesian music journalists from the legendary magazine Hai Magazine.
It was 1992, some 31 years ago, that Sepultura first came to Indonesia. Iwan and Firdaus were part of the team that accompanied Sepultura from Sao Paolo, Brazil, to Indonesia with shows in Jakarta and Surabaya. There was also a Sepultura story called Flash Escape to Bali before the show in Surabaya at that time.
Appearing on the Jogjarockarta stage, Andreas wore a Hai Magazine T-shirt presented by Iwan and Firdaus. That night, Sepultura closed Jogjarockarta perfectly with the song Roots Bloody Roots. Yogyakarta rock!
Overkill
The Thrash Metal Legends Overkill were over from New Jersey, United States. This was a band that Indonesian Metalheads had been waiting for a long time. Overkill performed an awesome eleven-song set.
MetalTalk had welcomed Overkill to Indonesia. You can read our more detailed story of Overkill in Jogjarockarta 2023 here.
Iron Voltage
Jogjarockarta 2023 was opened by the performance of Iron Voltage, a young band from the city of Bandung, Indonesia. The band, who released their debut album Devastation in 2022, immediately shocked the Jogjarockarta crowd.
From the first song, a circle pit was immediately created with moshing, slam dance and a wall of death from the crowd. Iron Voltage performed a total of nine songs, including Backfire (Intro), Am I Evil? (Intro), Power Mad, Immortal Crush, Into The Wire, Wasted to Death, Dying Breath, Soul Sacrifice (Tribute to Riley Gale Power Trip), Under the Lightning, Levels of Carnage and Devastation.
BIP
After Iron Voltage, BIP, one of Indonesia’s big rock bands, warmed up the atmosphere at Kridosono Stadium until sundown. The band is strengthened by three former Slank formations, 13 Bongky, Indra Q and Pay, plus the strong character vocalist Ipang. BIP performed their flagship songs such as Aku Gemuk Lagi, Bintang Hidupku, Pelangi Matahari and Koncianmu.
BIP really warmed up the atmosphere of the crowd, which was starting to build. They also joked with the crowd while appearing on stage.
Delusive Purity
After the Maghrib prayer break, the stage was immediately heated by Delusive Purity, a Death Metal band from the city of Yogyakarta. The band is led by one of Indonesia’s main Death Metal figures, Sofyan Hadi.
Delusive Purity could also be called the host band. That night, they made a special tribute to Rotor, the pioneer and Indonesian Thrash Metal legend. All of Rotor’s classic members have passed away. Delusive Purity performed classic Rotor numbers such as Diplomasi Gila, Inside And Outside, No War, Always Peace, Behind The 8th Ball and Siapa.. Apa?.
Delusive Purity succeeded in burning up the Jogjarockarta crowd.
Slank
The first of the three main headline bands was Slank. Before Slank appeared, all the people in the stadium sang the national anthem, Indonesia Raya. Slank made a special appearance, collaborating with two former members of the legendary Slank Formation 13, Bongky and Pay.
Slank is the biggest rock band in Indonesia and has the biggest fanbase here. The band’s fanatics are called ‘Slankers’. This was the most dense the crowd were all night as all there wanted to watch.
Slank performed several songs such as I Miss You But I Hate You, Mars Slankers, Virus, Tonk Kosong and Orkes Sakit Hati. There were two songs featuring Bongky, Bang-Bang Tut and Mawar Merah, and then Pay featured on Suit-Suit..He-He..(Gadis Sexy).
This collaboration with former Slank Formation 13 personnel was warmly welcomed and longed for by old Slank fans, even though it’s still not perfect without the presence of Indra Q.
*All pictures by Umar R/MetalTalk.net, except for the photo of Andreas and Paulo with Firdaus and Iwan by Reza Kodok.
