My First (and Last) One Direction Concert Experience in Jakarta

 

    It was the second day of June, 2014, the day of 1D's On the Road Again Tour's online ticket selling in Indonesia. I was so excited since it was their first ever concert in my country (!!). I knew I would regret it if I didn't buy the ticket. I have waited four years to see them in real life. The thing is, I have a midterm test on the same day of their ticket selling. I have spent years being in the fandom to know that their tickets sold out fast, that's why I was so worried I wouldn't get the ticket. Not wanting that to happen, I asked my dad/brother a favor to buy it for me since I had to go to school. I wasn't the only one that does that, another friend of mine at school (Azka) also did the same. We were such a dedicated directioners back then. We spent the day at school being worried about not getting the ticket. Fortunately, we get them, B Festival tickets! The one nearest to the stage. I couldn't be more happier.

    I have to wait for another year to actually use the ticket. On March 2015, two days before their concert, I went to Hall A Senayan Jakarta to change my ticket into a bracelet. It was a gold bracelet made of a fabric that somehow felt itchy on my skin.. It was already so crowded once I arrived in Hall A. Besides the fans, there were so many unofficial 1D merchandise sellers around the building. Since it was too crowded, I have to stand in queue for two hours until I get the bracellet. I went there with my mom, and she sat outside of the building waiting for me with the others. My mom sat next to another mom of a directioner. She told my mom that she had to actually borrow some money from her neighbor so that she could buy the ticket for her daughter...:( Oh, and we had unfortunate news too, that Zayn couldn't make it to the concert in Jakarta :( it was such a huge sad news for us, especially knowing zayn was the bias of many directioners.

     On the day of the concert, I checked the twitter to know the situation at GBK stadium Jakarta, the place where the concert was held. I was shocked to find that people already waited in line for the stadium gate to open since 4.30 am (the concert was held at approx. 7 pm, btw). The day was so cloudy, I felt so certain that the rain would fall by the time the concert started. At 12 pm, I could hear the sound of thunder. It was a bit louder than usual, that even the drummer of 1D band tweeted it was "the loudest thunder he's ever heard".

        As I arrived in GBK, I searched for Azka in the crowd. She waited for me with the other three friends that went to our school, so that makes us a group of five. It was still 2 pm, and we were standing outside of the stadium, waiting for the gate to be opened. Little did we know, us fans ended up standing outside of the GBK stadium from the afternoon until the evening. Imagine how tired our legs were. From what I remember, the line was heavily crowded that it was impossible to spare a room to take a sit. Therefore we were already worn out even before the concert started. The longer we waited outside, the more sensitive we were. The fans started to yell at each other "move forward!" so that they could get as near as possible to the stadium gate. The others yelled back "don't push me!!". It was so intense. I was so sure we would fight each other at some point. But thank god that didn't happen. Instead, we broke the intense atmosphere afterwards by singing 1D's songs together. Some of us even recited Al-fatihah (surah in quran, since most of us are moslems) together to gain some patiences😂. That really brought us closer emotionally. It was such an unforgettable memory.

        To be clear, we weren't supposed to wait for the gate to open that long. Some of us who have run out of patience yelled to the concert organizer "Open the gate now!" and then the rest of us followed "Yeah! It's about the time!" "Damn, what took you so long?". Other times, we (the fans who stood in the middle and in the back of the crowd) heard the fans from the front row screaming. I don't know who spread the news, but I heard the fans in the front saw a glimpse of the boys (1d members). The news quickly followed by excited fans' screams, but stopped immediately when some of the realistic fans said "that wasn't the boys. That must be the mas-mas (Indonesian words for men) from the concert organizer".

        To add to the crowd, there were sellers of beverages, light sticks, and rain coats around the fans. We were told not to bring any beverages from home, so we had no other choice than to buy it from them since we have to stay as hydrated as possible. I bought the light sticks too, Rp5.000 for two. Funny how one of my friend bought them too for Rp100.000 at the Hall A two days ago. The discrepancy of the price was no joke. One time I heard some fans bought a raincoat for Rp35.000, but I knew some others bought it for Rp10.000.

        Long story short, they finally opened the gate after hours of waiting outside. We immediately ran towards the gate like crazy, ignoring some fans who shouted "don't run!". We had no other choice than to hurried to the place nearest to the stage since the rest of us did so. I could feel the trashes and mud on my shoes as I ran (some stupid fans throw trashes on the ground). We ran like crazy, ignoring the rain on our bodies. Luckily, we already wore our rain coats.

      Just because we were already inside the stadium, doesn't mean the show would immediately started. We have to, once again, rely on our feet since we didn't have the space to sit. It was still better to wait inside since they entertained us by showing music mv of 5SOS, Little Mix, and Olly Murs. By the time the concert officially began with an appearance by an Indonesian DJ, I couldn't feel my legs anymore. It was already 7 pm, and I remembered I've been standing on my feet since 2 pm. The last time I ate something? 12 pm. The last time I drink water? 2 pm. My emotional support was seeing other fans (who were supposed to be as tired as me) being so excited and danced to the music played by the DJ. Azka kept asking us "are you guys still alright?" even though I knew for certain that she's also exhausted. She suggested us to sit at the back of the crowd if we couldn't hold it any longer. I was so tempted at her suggestion, because there was a looot of space behind the crowd. But I said I could still make it til the boys came. Azka nodded, "Alright then. When the boys are here, I'm sure we wouldn't even remember that we were tired", and that gave me strength. One of us, Arisa, suggested that we make some kind of baricade so that one of us could take turns to take a sit, and so we did. The ones who were standing helped create a current of air so the one who was sitting could still get the oxygen. It was an intense experience, but touching in a way. One time, we even share one handkerchief for our sweats, we didn't care anymore 😅. I couldn't even tell whether my body was wet with the rain or the sweats. Around 7.30 pm, a directioner near us asked the crowd with her loud voice, "who wants water?". She was holding a half-empty water bottle and we quickly took her offer. What an angel! Azka took it and excitedly shouted, "Are you serious?! We couldn't be more thankful!!". The five of us took turns drinking. The water tasted different, like it was a gift sent from above because I was so thirsty.

    I couldn't remember what time was it, but the boys appeared on stage at last. They apologized that they made us waited so long. "It's ok" I answered. I wanted to be angry at them for being late, but how could I when my emotions instantly in a happy state as soon as they appeared? I was so happy as I could be. Azka was right, all the weariness I felt before was instantly gone right at that moment. I stared at them at disbelief. Is this real? I see them for real?! Niall is here? Oh and he looks so good irl. And Harry is an actual person? He's so cute with his long hair. Louis... he seems like an even kinder person in real life. And Liam.. what an angel. He's so sweet and charming. I was torn between recording video of them or jump and sing along with the crowd. They said that Indonesia is the loudest, hehe, I knew their tricks. They knew how to make us happy (and it worked). Besides me was a fanboy who was so excited he jumped and sang out loud to every songs. Seeing him made me even more excited than before, lol.

    After a few songs, the lights were suddenly out. But I knew that wasn't the end. Together, we shouted "We want more! We want more!" and then...tada! There they were again, singing other songs. It wasn't until they sang best song ever that marked the end of the concert. They waved at us, thanking us for everything, and kept waving at us until they were out of the stage. We were as happy as we could be, and we were just as sad when the concert finished. Please, this shouldn't be the end. But they looked happy during the concert, so it was all worth it. Only I felt like there was something missing. I felt like they weren't as excited as they were at other concerts (from what I saw at other directioners' documentation). But I was already so happy just by seeing them. The concert was officially ended with fireworks. Beautiful fireworks. I couldn't believe it really was over. I wish they came back for another concert. And with Zayn too...

    On my way home from the GBK, I opened my fangirl twitter acc (as you expected from a fangirl...). I wanna share what an amazing concert that was and it was one of the best night ever. Tweet sent! I proceeded by scrolling the timeline only to be choked by a shocking news that zayn left 1d. I was like: "WHAT? ZAYN LEFT 1D?! ARE YOU KIDDING?! I JUST WENT TO THEIR CONCERT! DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN MY BEST NIGHT EVER?! IS THIS FOR REAL? WHY ZAYN? WHY?". I experienced a variety of emotions. It was so confusing that I even shed a tear lol :(. Less than an hour ago, I felt the most happy as I could be. And then I was hit with this terrible news. I was so disappointed that he left, and he announced it only with a facebook post. What hurt me more was I didn't even see it coming. And back at the concert, the boys looked okay and didn't tell us anything. I'm sure they were just being considerate to us fans and didn't want to ruin the night. It felt so messed up, I felt so happy to finally see the boys, but I felt so upset that I couldn't see them on stage with zayn anymore..

    Days after zayn left the band, the kids at school asked me how I feel about the news (since it's not a secret that I was a directioner and I just went to their concert). As a fan, of course I was not okay. There was this one boy who even made a joke about it by singing Fireproof to my ear and joked, "you know, they shouldn't make a new album called Four. The title eventually came true now that there's only four members in the band". Sigh. I couldn't even escape from the news. Everywhere I go, there were people talking about it. I saw it on tv and social media. There's just no escape. It was a torture, seeing the news. 

    So that was it. That was the past that I couldn't forget. As a fan of years, it wasn't easy to take the news, but I already made peace with the fact that things wouldn't be the same anymore. I think it was for the best. I would support all the members if they debuted as soloists if they do. Nevertheless, it was fun being a one direction fan. I got to make friends and have exciting experiences ever.