Journey To A Secret Gig: The Whitest Boy Alive Concert covering up for Jens Lekman

Sat 6 Dec – JENS LEKMAN KORTEDELA BEAUTY CENTER ASIAN TOUR 2008

On Saturday morning we had received the word from our dear friend that Jens is not coming but by then we just hoped that it was only a hoax that Jens was actually going to be there. So we did come although we had been informed that Whitest Boy Alive was playing in Jens' place. Yet, I really had no idea about their songs and still hoped that Jens would actually come at the last minutes.

After getting into the gig place, auditorium Radio Republik Indonesia, we were now sure that Jens is not coming. Sad, of course, but we were already there so we decided to watch Whitest Boy Alive which was also the time when I realized that the vocalist is KOC's Erland Oye. I had listened to their songs on the way to Bandung btw so I kinda already got the picture how the music would be. The concert was opened by a "not very opening" band called Astrolab. Don't get me wrong for they did play good. It's just that having shoegaze music to open a somewhat indiepop concert is not really a dramatic entrance. After Astrolab, we were entertained by Hollywood No Body with their somewhat Nouvelle Vague performance, two thumbs up for them. The third performer of the night was Homogenic. It's amazing how they still could entertain me although I've watched them performing a lot. And after that came the Whitest Boy Alive.


The Whitest Boy Alive opened the show nicely with their comical lyric (or should I say, Oye's comical lyric) which then continued by Burning which really made me dance to the beat. Their stage act was totally entertaining and filled with great stage act. There was actually a little "accident" in which the bass cable was broken but it was not really a problem because they could cover it up nicely. They also did great cover of Robin S' Show Me Love and Portishead's Glory Box in which Oye sang and laid eyes on me (I wish hahaha). There was also a jam session in which Oye sang in Norwegian and dedicated the song for Rio of White Shoes and the Couples Company. Anyways, two thumbs up for The Whitest Boy Alive because they were willing to perform for us Jens Lekman disapointed fans and I did have fun dancing to their beat although deep down there's still a wish that one day, if he could, Jens would perform here in Indonesia.

-Teelichte-