HARD ROCK UNIVERSITY / A MILD PRESENTS
COKELAT LIVE IN CONCERT
@ HARD ROCK CAFÉ
Wednesday August 3, 2004

The chain of people queuing had begun when I enter Hard Rock Café. Famous for Hard Rock University programmed aimed for university students, this time, Hard Rock Radio who consistently brings on good performers, invited a band from Bandung.

Kikan (vocal), Robert (guitar), Ronny (bas), Evin (drum) and the newest addition of Cokelat, Ernes (guitar) will rock the stage of Hard Rock with 12 songs. Cokelat’s music is a heavy rock distortion blended with Kikan’s feminine voice. They use to do covers of Alanis Morisette’s songs before their first single “Bunga Tidur” (Sweet Dream) made it into an independent compilation album.

Since then, with 3 albums reaching platinum sales and a reputation throughout South East Asia (they had won an award from MTV Asia Awards, had a concert in Brunei Darusallam and had appear in Malaysia), well, we can definitely call them a super band already.

At 11 PM, Cokelat hit the stage wearing all black. The stage area was jam-packed with university students, fans and tourist alike who had stand by for a good one hour. They open the concert with “Nafsu” (Passion), taken from their 3rd album Segitiga (Triangle). The heavy distortion of the guitar and the powerful speed of the drum mixed very well with Kikan’s voice, the only woman in the band.

The crowd starts to cheer when another fast rock song from Segitiga album called “Yang Tersisa” (What Remains) hit the stage, followed by “Luka Lama” (Past Wounds), and “Kupilih Dia” (I Choose Him). By this time, the crowd starts to jump around, creating a mass movement like the wave of the ocean.

An old cover song from Ian Antono (Indo’s guitar legend) called “Uang” (Money) was on next, followed by a happy song called “Teman Saja” (Just A Friend). Finally, Cokelat’s most famous ballad called “Jauh” (Far Away) was played with many fans singing along, including me, who enjoys a lot of this catchy sweet ballad. Kikan sang about a woman’s longing to meet her boyfriend who lives so far away, patiently waiting for him to come back. Hiks!Another up beat number follows, called “Pergi” (Go Away) from their second album “Rasa Baru” (New Taste).

The crowd went mad jumping and slamming, which is a rare view to be seen in Hard Rock Café. Bule and locals joins this bumping orgy while Cokelat continues with some more hard rock songs. Finally, they closed the concert with their most anticipated hit titled “Bendera” (translate as Indo’s national flag), which becomes a national anthem of the new generation of youth in Indonesia. It was a satisfying concert that deserves a two thumbs up. /MK