Once I
touched down from the flight to Jakarta from Bali, I switched on my Blackberry
and franticly looked for the text from Michael. There it was and it said “I picked up your ticket.” I thought, “That’s it. It’s on and I’m going” I felt so relieved and overjoyed. This whole
thing was a last minute plan and I feared I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. Since
this morning I had been on the phone and online trying to get this ticket and
among other things that drove me crazy, it surely was not my day but finally…..Whew! So I immediately hopped on a cab and asked the driver to drive as fast as he
could and the destination? “Plenary hall, Jakarta Convention Centre to catch
Janet Jackson’s concert”. When I got there at the convention centre, the scene
was hectic. Heavy traffic, motorbikes honking and cutting each other, people
everywhere, some trying to re-sell the tickets with much higher prices and this
long queue that seemed endless for the purpose of security check. (Look at the
world we live in right now!) I nevertheless, stood in the line gleefully and
patiently waited for what seemed like over an hour (I didn’t mind at all, I
knew Janet was in there!!!!)
Then I got in and saw giant posters of “Janet Jackson:
Number Ones (up close and personal)”. I almost peed in my pants and couldn’t
stop grinning. I joined my friend, Michael in the silver B section for which we
paid 900, 000 rupiah which is over 90USD each. The highest ticket price for the
night was 5 million rupiah (500USD), followed by 300USD, 150USD and ours at the
bottom. (I believe that’s quite a lot for a concert but believe me the concert
was 90% full. There’s so much wealth in Jakarta.) Soon after, the moment we all
paid so much for had arrived: Miss Jackson came out in a futuristic metallic outfit (the entrance wasn't as spectacular as I expected) and started singing
her medley of hits that included “Pleasure Principal”, “Alright”, “Nasty”, “Control”,
“What have you done for me lately” and the recent “Feedback” which brought the
audience (55% GLBTQ in my honest humble opinion) to their feet cheering with thunderous
applause. Janet looked amazing and she performed tirelessly for this first
segment of the show but as it was a medley-type performance, some of the fan
favorites were cut very short and she pretty much improvised her moves and only
joined the dancers during some of the dance breaks. After that she left us with a
huge TV screen displaying her previous TV and film works (“Fame”, “Poetic
Justice”, “Nutty Professor II”, “Why did I get married” to name a few) which went
on for about 15 minutes.
By the time
she came back, she was in a glittery gown exposing her beautiful big bosoms that
caused a national hysteria in America during one Super Bowl event not so long
ago, sitting pretty and ready to serenade us with some slow jams. She sang her
classics such as “Let’s wait a while”, “Come back to me” and all of us fans
responded devotedly by singing along but by the time the piano intro to my most
favorite Janet song “Again” came on, I went totally nuts. Yes, I completely
lost it because it reminded me of those days as a kid with MTV on and that song
would play and how I would sing along on top of my lungs without even knowing what
it means. And there she was singing the song live right in front of me. That
was indeed “THE MOMENT”, a dream come true for me. What a great song! This
Oscar-nominated number-one hit is also one of the very few songs that stretches
Ms Jackson’s vocals and she did it even better live. The crowd was in tears and
so was I. After that, she changed her outfit yet again and returned to what she
does best, sing & dance simultaneously. The late great Aaliyah, Ciara and
even Beyonce’ can only wish to do what Janet did in her prime and still is
doing today to some extent. Her endless flow of energy, at the age of 44, is
simply remarkable. My friend, Michael
and I danced and sang along to songs like “Doesn’t really matter”, “Miss you
much”, “That’s the way love goes” (the sexiest song ever!!!!) and “All for you”.
We screamed Janet and squealed like school girls. It was fun!
Later on the
audience was treated to the rock-themed segment of her show in which she sang
some of her classics with rock edge like “Black Cat”(my least favorite Janet
song and Michael agreed with me too!), “If” (Yes, she did that crazy dance
break as precise as she did 15 years ago. Love it!!!) , “Scream” the duet
with her brother Michael and the iconic “Rhythm Nation” as a conclusion. Of
course, the crowd went wild and asked her to come back on stage for
encore. Yes, she did with her fifth and
final outfit of the show, a beautiful white outfit with shoulder pads. After
she performed her latest single “Make Me” (which is quite upbeat and slowly
growing on me), just as I expected she closed the show with her global
number-one hit “Together Again”. The crowd’s response was amazing, the whole
stadium jumping with joy and singing along the lyrics, “everywhere I go, every smile I see, I know you are there smiling back
at me.”
Janet’s
concert, on the whole, was spectacular. We walked out feeling satisfied. We felt
that she’s such a phenomenal performer and she gave her all (although I was a
bit disappointed that she did not interact with the crowd that much apart from
occasional “Jakarta”, “I love you “and “How you doing”). I also did expect the
production to be bigger than it was but then again, to quote Janet- “I will be as up close and personal as possible. These concerts are not
about special effects. This is a love affair between me and those of you who
have supported me and my work for all these years. I’ll be singing and dancing
from my heart.” There were some parts she lip-synced understandably due to the high
demands of dancing and singing all at once but at least not like Britney who
lip-syncs in entirety. I personally am glad to have caught her on this tour
knowing she doesn’t tour Asia that much and this was indeed a great
opportunity for her die-hard Asian fans. We love you, Janet!
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