Daily Pulse

Java Rocks Despite Nearby Bombings

Mr. Big, Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon headlined the Java Rockin’land Festival, at Carnaval Beach Ancol in North Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 7-9, which organizers say was the biggest rock festival ever held in Southeast Asia.

The roster also included about 70 local rock bands, distributed among eight stages.

Prior to the festival there was some doubt as to whether it would proceed in the aftermath of the bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta on July 17, but organizer Java Festival Production assured ticket buyers that it would.

“Letting the perpetrators scare us away and causing Java Rockin’land to be cancelled is like saying yes to their threats and demands,” the company said in a statement. The company also puts on the Java Jazz Festival and the Java Soulnation Festival.

All three international acts confirmed their support for the event in the aftermath of the bombings. Third Eye Blind, in fact, signed its agreement after the bombings.

In other festival news, Trinity Music announced it will put on the Asian Death Metal Festival in Hong Kong Aug. 29.

It will be the first of a series of death metal festivals that the company will promote throughout Asia.

ng the bands so far confirmed for the festival are Hydrophobia, Nafrat, Cardiac Necropsy, Disgusted, Demise, Revilement, Elysium and Hermetic Silence.
 

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