JKT48 Concert: Climax of Popularity and Hard Work?

Just one year year ago, a new entertainment act by the name of JKT48 only appeared on select television networks. Today, they appear on nearly every television screen. The success of a female musical group is not a new phenomenon, but a national concert debut is proof of such success.

The idol group held its debut concert two years after the national music industry was introduced to the new entertainment concept. After two years of bombarding the market with music releases and media appearances, keeping an endless schedule of performances at their exclusive theater in a shopping mall, and traveling to other regions of the country, JKT48 has finally made its national debut.

Taking advantage of the school holiday season, JKT48 began its national concert tour “Introducing JKT48” in Makassar before continuing on to Surakarta, Balikpapan, Surabaya, and its climax in Jakarta. The Jakarta concert is unique because it was held on consecutive days for a total of three shows. It also differs from the concerts in other cities because all 51 members were present at the Tennis Indoor Senayan venue. Regional concerts only featured 16 members from the first JKT48 team (otherwise known as Team J) because they are more familiar to the general public (through appearances on television advertisements and network programs).

Because of the distinctive nature of the climactic Jakarta concert, many contingents from other regions flocked to the capital. Utilizing all sorts of information circulating on social media (JKT48 members are very active on Twitter and Facebook – putting them ahead of many national celebrities), these fans (some fanatic) made their journeys to Jakarta. We met a group of fans from Makassar, all of whom wore uniform apparel to identify themselves. No boyband or girl group has seen this level of loyalty from their fans.

We attended the final show on 4 July, which began slightly past 7 p.m. As expected, 80 percent of the audience were visibly adolescent males. The remainder were females of varying age, children, and adult men. We joined the entrance queue approximately two hours before the venue’s gates opened, which was considered quite late. Hundreds of fanatic fans had lined up in the early afternoon so that they can claim the front row seats. Teenagers who were on school holiday benefited from the concert schedule because it was held on a weekday. The general audience must be willing to take a seat further from the stage because they were not able to stand in line early. We met an acquaintance who was even willing to take time off from the office in order to watch the girls in all three shows. Thousands of spectators, some of them watching all three Jakarta shows over two days, were required to undergo security check at three entrances (while other artists would perhaps only require one entrance). The organizing committee made sure no audience member slipped a camera or video recorder. This rule also applies to all JKT48 shows at their exclusive theater. Despite these efforts, there were fans who uploaded clips of the concert on YouTube the day after the concert.

Tennis Indoor is a venue which has witnessed appearances by many local and international artists. No one expected these young women would be able to hold such a large scale concert. Their emergence in the midst of the increasingly crowded boyband and girl group scene was seen by many parties as a bandwagon effect, but careful marketing strategy allowed these young women to pull ahead of other groups in the same category. Of course, they are still very early in their journey, considering their seniors in AKB48 have been around for almost eight years (since 2005). In Indonesia, the success cycle of an entertainer is quite short. There was a time when the entertainment scene was dominated by Anang Hermansyah and his duet partner of choice, whether it be YouTube celebrities or Syahrini. It should be noted that not even Syahrini, who is well-known throughout Indonesia, has held a solo (and large scale) concert at a venue of Tennis Indoor’s size. This should be a reflection for her management.

The concert lasted for more than two hours, and nearly 20 songs were performed. The energy we saw on stage (almost all JKT48 songs ) was also felt by the audience. Glow sticks, thousands of them, are mandatory accessories for fanatical fans of these girls. Sales of glow sticks continue to increase and will become a successful business in itself. This only happens with JKT48. Several audience members were also seen dancing wildly in the grandstand seats. Those who did not bring glow sticks could only yell out or sway wildly in their seats (something one would expect to see in a rock concert, not a JKT48 one). This occurred in the seats directly in front of us, which was very disruptive. Another irritating occurrence was reserving seats for other viewers who arrived late. Organizers tried to restrict this behavior but were outsmarted by the attendees. “He’s in a prayer session,” said an audience member sitting not far from us when ushers asked why the seat next to him was empty. These incidents also happen in their exclusive theater.

It was a very entertaining concert filled with many on-stage gimmicks. Members would throw balls and fire water guns into the audience, even appearing on stage with all 51 JKT48 members at once (such that the lack of stage decoration became irrelevant). These girls still have a long road ahead in the entertainment world. They have at least five years to prove that they are not a temporary fad. Their presence feed the desires of so many (some even reaching deep into their pockets just be able to shake their hands).

The wheels of business continue to turn behind their songs and cute image (advertisements, merchandising, album sales, and others). There is a hidden competition among them that is not visible through their beautiful faces (with so many members, the girls must compete to prove that they are worthy to take part in the next song release—an arrangement that is not necessary with smaller groups). We only need to enjoy because, once again, this is an entertainment act. If their brilliance disappears next year, it’s only part of the business cycle. A natural selection. But there’s always a chance that we’ll scream for an encore again next year.

At Gelora Bung Karno perhaps?