When I Finally Met All Time Low

Sunday, 02 September 2018

So far, it becomes the best day of my life. Why do I say so? I finally met All Time Low, my favorite band that I’ve been longing since I was in high school. For those who are wondering who they are, All Time Low is a pop punk band from Baltimore that was formed in 2003. The band members are Alex Gaskarth (lead vocal and guitar), Jack Barakat (guitar), Zack Merrick (bass), and Rian Dawson (drum). Probably, you have ever heard one of their most popular songs that start with a cough called Dear Maria, Count Me In.

It is not the first time that All Time Low visited Jakarta. They held their first concert in this metropolitan city in 2010. Three years later, they came back with A Rocket to the Moon as their opening act. Unfortunately, I could not attend both of the shows. I totally missed the first one because I did not know about their visit. In 2013, I skipped their performance as I had chosen to go to Liverpool FC game at Gelora Bung Karno instead. Then in 2017, I got news that a promoter would bring All Time Low to Jakarta. But again, sadly, the tour was cancelled just a f*cking four days before the show. Since then, I did not expect anything and turned down any high hopes of seeing them on stage. Another day went by, and at the end of July in 2018, All Time Low made an announcement on their Twitter that they would go back to Jakarta. My life was filled by joy in a sudden.

Excitement burst in my heart when the day I’ve been waiting for finally came. The show was held at Allianz Ecopark Ancol and it was scheduled on 11 PM. I went to Allianz Ecopark Ancol with twin boys from Solo. We just met but we were getting along very well as Hustlers. I went to the venue at 9 PM and glad that the place was still quite empty. Only a few groups of people who were waiting while having some conversations. I got the third row after the barricade. Well, not bad. 

There were two stages set on the field side by side. Next to the Supermusic stage where All Time Low performed their songs, a band called the Hunna was jamming with their fans for an hour. After The Hunna finished performing their last song, the light on their stage was turned down and it slowly moved to shine the Supermusic stage. Yet, what a surprise that about ten minutes before All Time Low’s performance, the event coordinator played Indonesia Raya anthem and asked the attendee to sing along. 

The stage that was set with flamingos as the background before then turned dark once more and followed by the song “We Will Rock You” as the fans were screaming “All Time Low” out loud. Seconds later, Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Zack Merrick, and Rian Dawson greeted hundreds of their fans who were patiently waiting for them for more than an hour. Their first song was Damned If I Do Ya (Damned if I Don’t), followed by their brand new single entitled Everything is Fine, while a bunch of people started throwing their stuff onto the stage, including various bras for Jack.

The third song was Stella, taken from their album called Nothing Personal that was released in 2009. The music turned slower and Dark Side of Your Room from their seventh album named Last Young Renegade then being sung on stage. The crowd went even crazier when Alex started singing, “Manage me, I’m a mess. Turn a page, I’m a book half unread.” Screams erupted when the music was getting into the chorus and hundreds of people started singing along to the song entitled Weightless. Done with Weightless, the guitars lead to Backseat Serenade and Life of the Party. I enjoyed every minute of them playing their songs, sang along to every lyric and danced to the beat with the other fans.

After entertaining us with some loud and energetic songs, the band calmed us down with a song called Therapy. They also gave some nostalgic atmosphere by singing Do You Want Me (Dead), Something’s Gotta Give, and The Irony of Choking on A Lifesaver. I was very happy and felt more alive when they also performed my favorite song called Missing You, Kids in the Dark, and Good Times. 

As it was getting closer to midnight, surprisingly Alex said that Good Times was their last song. Hell yeah, we did have good times, but I could not believe that the performance was coming to an end. They said their goodbye and thanked us for having them before they left. This was weird, because they always ended their performance with a *cough* Dear Maria, Count Me In. But then the stage turned dark. Was it over? To be honest, it broke my heart. The fans here were not amused at all. We cried out loud, “we want more! We want more!” However, they did not show up. We were not giving up and screamed the title of their new song, “Birthday! Birthday! Birthday!” Yes, I realized that they had not performed this one. How dare! This was odd. But after few minutes, there was no one appeared on the stage.  Nevertheless, I was astonished knowing that the crowd then sang Dear Maria, Count Me In all together and I happily joined them, did not care what would happen next.

Of course, All Time Low played us a joke. The stage was alive again and the shining flamingos were back. They sang their second new single that was Birthday and followed by Lost in Stereo, another favorite song of mine. These songs were believed to be prepared as the encore of the show. Later on, Alex said his goodbye again and his promise to come back to Jakarta, “If we are not coming back in five years, just blame it on Jack.”

Sadly, this was truly the end of the show as they started singing, “I got your picture, I’m coming with you. Dear Maria, count me in.” But no, the fans were not getting down. We sang the song out loud, even more powerful while jumping and dancing all together as the band played the music and beat the drum. I realized that the energy was so great although it was the last song. After finishing their song, Alex, Jack, Zack, and Rian threw some of their stuffs to the crowds. Some lucky fans got the guitar picks, Rian’s drum sticks, Alex’s hat, Alex’s bottle of drink, and setlist papers.

Although I did not get any of their thrown stuff, I got to say that this was the first and totally the best concert experience that I had so far. I could not lie that I was pretty tired, my hips hurt, and my throat sore so bad on the next day. However, it did not matter much. All Time Low has dosed me with their amazing performance and they leave great memories. An extraordinary concert that was filled with a lot of laughter as well as unlimited fun and craziness.