JKT48 Permanent Theater Opening Show
This is a translated review from Daffa Andika’s review in Gigsplay. Link to the Bahasa Indonesia’s review is available at the end of the translation.
Overview
Type : Showcase, Theatre
Venue : f(X) Lifestyle X’enter
City : Jakarta
Date : September 8th 2012
Where : f(X) Lifestyle X’enter, Senayan, Jakarta
Guest Star : JKT48
Review
Saturday (9/8) was a historical day for the first AKB48 overseas sister group based on Jakarta, JKT48. After a long wait , now they have their own permanent theater, JKT48 Theater. Located at 4th fl. f(X) Lifestyle X’enter, Senayan – Jakarta. This new theater will be a new permanent home for the idol group which formed since November 2011. They always change the venue before in temporary theater since May until July.
Theater, within the scope of 48 group that produced by Yasushi Akimoto refers to a space for every idol group that meant as a melting pot between the idols and their fans through a regular show that close, familiar and intimate based on their basic concept, “Idols You Can Meet” along with the slogan “To Grow and Evolve with the Fans”.
Two AKB48 members, Takajo “Akicha” Aki and Haruka “Harugon” Nakagawa also officially announced as JKT48 new members at the very exact day.
JKT48 Theater : Pajama Drive
Still the same as their previous temporary theater, JKT48 sung 16 songs repertoire from the third stage from Team B AKB48, Pajama Drive. All the songs are in Bahasa Indonesia which translated originally from Japanese.
Along with the Overture, the fans-chant rumble and the colorful wave of light-sticks, the show begun. Melody, Shania, Cleopatra, Stella, Ve along with the other 11 members enter the stage and open the show with the anthemic “Hari Pertama/Shonichi”. The performance continues non-stop with these songs , “Jurus Rahasia Teleport/Hissatsu Teleport” , “Putri Duyung yang Sedang Sedih/Gokigen Naname na Mermaid” and “Bersepeda Berdua/Futari no Jitensha” .
The peculiar melodic notes of J-Pop with the happily stimulating bubblegum-esque hooks along with the members smiles are the perfect JKT48 formula for each of their songs.
After the first four songs, all the sixteen performing members starts to greet the audiences and explain the meaning behind each songs. Then each one of them started to introduces themselves. What unique is, each members have their own gimmick and catchphrase that such a things became each of the members own trademark.
Ve says that she is so proud that JKT48 at last is having their own permanent theater which is the concrete manifestation from their concept. “Since this is where “Idol You can Meet” is really applied” said Ve confidently.
The second session is the five songs that sung by a few members for each songs, or known as Sub-Unit.
With the “Angel with the cat tail” costume and the strong innocent gaze that punch the audiences back to their seat, Nabilah, Rena and Dhike sung the “Ekor Malaikat/Tenshi no Shippo” impeccably. After that, Shania, Sendy and Ayana take over the stage with the number that also became the title for this set-list, the energetic “Pajama Drive”.
Now it’s time for Stella, Ve and Sonya that became the target for the show lighting. They donned themselves in a sexy and seducing leather dress, but as if telling a story to all the male attending the show not to ever playing games with their heart, they sung “Prinsip Kesucian Hati/Junjou Shugi” no strings attached.
“Air Mata Perasaan yang Tak Tersampaikan/Temodemo no Namida” is the next song sung perfectly dejected and rigid by the duet of Melody and Jeje. The soul of the warrior, “Joan of Arc” , seems to possessed Kinal, Ghaida, Cleopatra, Ochi and Beby who fiercely waved the banner of victory in “Joan of Arc di Dalam Cermin/Kagami no Naka no Joan of Arc” . This song also closed the Sub-Unit session before continuing with the members talk around their testimony for their new theater.
All the 16 cute girls then continues their Pajama Drive repertoire with three songs “Two Years Later”, “Cara Menggunakan Hidup/Inochi no Tsukaimichi” and one song which have a pretty much marginal beat and sounds like a very entertaining dangdut, “Rugi Sudah Dicium/Kissu Shite son Shichatta”. Then the session ended with a girls talk session again discussing about the meaning for all the three songs.
At this session, Ghaida and Kinal were the most active members and frequently uses smart jokes that manage to get the whole audiences laughing. Like how Ghaida tells the story about how she mixed up Japanese with Arabian accent and relate the mixed-up with her knowledge of Tajwid (The way to read the Koran verses) and Japanese language.
Refreshing. One and only ballad song in the Pajama Drive set-list, “Bunga Sakuraku/Boku no Sakura” is the last song before the encore. The sorrowful atmosphere clearly visible with the members’ tears slowly flowing down their cheeks.
After a few minutes gone by with the members going back-stage and the scream of “Encore!” from the male dominated fans, the girls came back on stage and have changed their costume, a simple T-Shirt and Jeans. “Wasshoi J!”, “Pelaut yang Melihat Mimpi di Tengah Badai/Suifu wa Arashi ni Yume wo Miru” and “Baju Putih/Shiroi Shatsu” became the end of the set-list for this show.
Before they gone back to back-stage, Melody and friends sung another song as a surprise. The scream of the fans is back blaring towards the song “Karena Kusuka Dirimu/Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara”. The first show for JKT48 Theater then closed with the members bowing towards the audiences who pay it back with a blasting ovations and encouragement yells.
Outside the theater, the members were waiting for the audiences for the Hi-Touch session. Audio and the lighting in JKT48 Theater is also a plus that complete the experiences for a high quality and satisfying show . The low and close to the audiences stage also the main essentials for a 48 Family theater. Quoting from Nabilah hope for JKT48, “I hope the fans could become closer with their idols and while doing that could also help them to know each of their idols character”.
