I've been to a number of music festivals in Indonesia, mostly in Jakarta. After attending Joyland, my bar is set pretty high. 

Before we start, I'd like to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures that I took 😅

This year the festival is held at Peninsula Island in Nusa Dua, Bali. My main reason for going there is for Phoenix and Phoenix only, everything else is a bonus. Background story, this is a bit dramatic in retrospect. I wanted to come by myself since none of my friends wanted to go and I'm too lazy to join strangers. But first I needed to ask my Mom's permission, I didn't want any misfortune to happen just because I don't get her blessing. My mom reluctantly declined and told my little sister to go with me. Understandable, she was probably scared that something bad might happen if I were to go alone. But it's a little bit of a head-scratcher since I had the experience of going to a music concert overseas by myself. My sister agreed to come and I bought her the concert ticket. Fast forward to Hammersonic follow-up announcement, she was afraid that Bring Me The Horizon would come because of some rumor. She eventually told me that she didn't wanna go anymore. For me, it was totally fine if I go there all by myself, but my mom still refused and demanded my sister to keep me company, but my sister was unshaken. OH GOD THE DRAMA. I was very well aware of the reason behind my Mom's persistence, she wanted at least one person to go with me. At last, I suggested to her "Why don't you come to Bali with me?" She looked perplexed and sort of did a little counting in her head, resulting in a rejection. This is my last straw: I'm still going alone BUT I will inform her of my whereabouts non-stop. She finally agreed. YES! A couple days later lo, and behold, after coming home from work she told me that she would come to Bali with me out of nowhere. A week after that my sister also decided to come. This is what happened when you are three strong-headed women living under the same roof. Now that all settled, Joyland here I come!    

About the ticket price, I bought the 3-day regular entry one for almost Rp600.000 and for my sister一, since it was the 3rd presale一her ticket's worth was almost 1 million Rupiah. I took 3 days off from work from Friday to Tuesday (March 17-21). To Bali, I chose AirAsia and came back to Jakarta by Pelita Air. Side story, I wanted to try Pelita because people say that it's quite comfy despite its affordable price. And it is! The legroom was spacious, the chairs weren't so upright, and they even gave out snacks. Although there was a 15-minute delay, it was still forgivable. Very recommended for those on a budget but want a safe and comfortable flight 👍 

Another type of drama, just one day before departure, my stomach decided to act out. But this is purely my fault, I ate too much sambal at Bebek Kaleyo. My stomach hurt, grumbling non-stop and I had to do number 2 just 15 minutes after eating, I even had to leave early in the middle of dinner with my friends. Luckily, everything was fine on D-day thanks to Polysilene.

I landed in Bali around 4:20 p.m. (very rasta). It was a pretty bumpy flight but thankfully I could keep my cool throughout. I was kind of on the verge of having a panic attack at some point though but managed to control my breathing. Before we go, because my main reason for coming here is to watch a music festival, I told my mom why not go with GrabCar or GoCar, but my mom felt like it's more convenient to rent a car + driver. I agreed and it is rather more comfortable for her. My mom contacted the driver, Pak Nyoman (not his real name) who used to drive us around during my Dad's work thing in Bali in 2020. We bought Solaria for dinner and drove straight to the hotel.

After long searching and deliberation, my choice was down to Amaris Pratama. I calculated the price and distance to Peninsula Island, and this hotel fits the criteria the most. It only took 5 minutes to the venue by motorcycle, and there's even Alfamart nearby. I spent about Rp1.000.000 for four days, booking the double twin-bed room. Basic amenities were provided like mineral water and towels. If you run out of water, there's a dispenser in the hallway. Breakfast is included although the taste was alright at least for me, considering the price. All and all it was a pretty comfortable stay, but they don't seem to provide extra beds so my mom and sister had to sleep together in a pretty tiny bed hehe sorry. 

The distance from the hotel to the venue

After showering and finishing our dinner, my sister and I went to the venue to catch M.I.A. Because she was the headliner on Friday, she played at 9:45 p.m. And since the trip there only took 5-7 minutes, we went there by GoJek & GrabBike at 8:30. A little bit of explanation, Peninsula Island is inside Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (IDTC) area. When we arrived, some random dudes charged us Rp20.000 to be able to enter the area via motorbike and it wasn't even an official fee. But since it was our first time there and it was quite dark, we paid anyway. Turned out that the motorbike could only reach the parking lot and we had to walk another 200 meters. Me and my sis were confused because the area was quiet even though there were still a few people around. Again, the entrance was dark but thankfully we saw some fellows who just arrived as well and some Joyland peeps. Upon entering, we had to pass by the beach first, and we could hear music from afar, at that time Tulus was on stage. We also passed by some restaurants by the beach along with tourists who were enjoying dinner, my sister said "Lucky people get to hear free music" 😆. When we entered the concert area, the first impression I got was that the place looked quite grand though I couldn't really soak in the whole atmosphere because it was late but I could feel its splendor. Due to exhaustion, we decided to chill first and went to Plainsong Live Stage, where Black Country New Road (BCNR) was playing. I didn't know the band,  but that's the beauty of coming to music festivals, you get to see bands or musicians you've never heard of before. Around 9:10 we moved to the Joyland Stage to wait for M.I.A. The stage was already set, it was very cool, forest-themed with leaves and greenish hues. And the most eye-catching part, there was this orange giant tiger made of flowers on the left side of the stage.

If you're not familiar with M.I.A, she is a rapper from London whose music is heavily influenced by her Sri-Lankan roots. To be completely honest, I am a fan of hers but not that much, her music was just always around growing up. Always on MTV and radio. But, when she was announced to be part of Joyland's lineup I was quite excited. When else was I going to see this legend live? 

My sister and I decided to stay in the middle, we didn't want to be in the front near the barricade. For me, it was best to be in the center because we got to see the whole stage and hear the crisp acoustics. Exactly at 9:45 p.m., the show started. M.I.A wore a simple white oversized T-shirt paired with baggy white pants and she wasn't alone, accompanied by a gorgeous and super talented dancer in a green ensemble. I didn't expect to see so many guys amongst the crowd, not that it was a bad thing, just unexpected hehe. From start to finish, there were no such things as dull moments, she meticulously picked the setlist so that we enjoyed every song. She slipped in some banters here and there but not too much. She told the crowd that she was living in Bali for a while and had to go back to London in 2019, she regretted the decision because she thought "it was better to do the lockdown here than in England". Truthfully, I didn't listen to a lot of M.I.A's songs before, but during her performance, there were many of these 'I KNOW THIS SONG!' moments. When it comes to the crowd, quite packed but there was still a lot of space for me to dance (unlike Phoenix, more on that later). And what's cool was that there weren't any annoying drunken people around me. In summary, it was a 10/10 experience, I was surprised to know that she's 47 and still got it. We went back to the hotel around 11:30 by GrabBike after eating bakso. 

The next day on Saturday, I decided not to come because there weren't any performers that I wanted to see. Besides, I wanted to be a tourist for a day. So it was a pretty busy day, we went to Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Melasti Beach, and closed with Kecak Dance in Uluwatu. We didn't go far from the Nusa Dua region because we were too lazy to deal with traffic jams. 

So here's a little navigation bit, there were 3 stages: Lilypad Stage (located by the beach), Plainsong Live Stage, and the main one called Joyland Stage. We hung out near the Lilypad Stage post-photo booth session to watch the sunset, but it turned out to be behind the stage 😅. But, it was still a beautiful setting nonetheless. We spent almost an hour there and took off to the prayer room (yup there's one! With a decent ablution area too) to perform the Maghrib prayer, although it was a bit hard concentrating and hearing the Imam's voice since it was located adjacent to the Plainsong Live Stageㅡwhere Kunto Aji was playing. But hey, better than nothing. The room itself was clean and quite spacious. After finished praying, I offered my sister to buy dinner but we both weren't too hungry yet. And I just remembered I wanted to go to the merch booth, so we went there and bought 2 tiny water bottles for Rp100.000. The merchandise they sold was cute and the price was reasonable. There were standard ones like t-shirts, bags, and hats. But there were also rare items like scarves, raincoats, and even lunch bags. I'm a bit regretful why didn't I just buy a T-shirt 😔. Because the queue was rather long I was finally hungry and went to look at the food booths. I assumed there seemed to be only a few halal options and I was too lazy to search the entire booths, I ended up buying one chicken kebab, one sausage stick, and Teh Poci. I know that F&B at a music festival is expensive, but this one is extra. On the first day, I spent Rp100.000 on 2 bowls of bakso. But it's okay, it is what it is. We watched GAC on Plainsong Live Stage while sitting and eating. Not bad indeed. The funny thing that I noticed was, most international acts perform with minimal outfits, while the local ones are mostly fully dressed in costumes. Maybe because they're used to the heat, because let me tell you, it was blazing hot but the wind, fortunately, was not. GAC performed wholeheartedly since this is their first comeback stage. What I like about them, they can make songs with Bahasa Indonesia lyrics, yet the music sounds "international", so to speak, and doesn't sound cringe-y at all. I personally like their song 'Bahagia'. 

When GAC finished, we moved to the main stage to secure our spot and yes, again, we took the center area but a little to the front. We waited for a while and Hindia took the slot. They were pretty good actually, the visuals during the performance were great, very gen-z? Maybe? Oh man, I sound like a 100-year-old. 

When Hindia finished, some of the people in the crowd dispersed and we could move even further, but my sister reminded me to stay in the center so that we could still see the whole stage and the recorded video wouldn't sound like it came out of a cheap Bluetooth speaker. While we were waiting, White Shoes & The Couple's Company were on the Plainsong Live Stage. For about 45 minutes, our ears were spoiled by their 70's nuanced songs and because of that, I was a little bit sleepy even though I took a nap earlier. I wanted to chat with my sister but she was busy memorizing lyrics. So I closed my eyes for about 15 minutes but didn't fall asleep. Around 9:20 p.m., the people around me were starting to stand up, and I unwillingly stood up as well. A rush of sadness passed by me. This might sound ridiculous but  I had been waiting for this moment for months, this was the highlight that I'd been waiting for. Now, when the moment was literally in front of my eyes, I was sad because it was going to be over soon. Does that make sense? I can look for other highlights anyway in the future. Okay, back to Phoenix. The reason why I wanted to see them is that they've been to Indonesia twice, and this is their third time, I couldn't just pass this up. Their new album 'Alpha Zulu' recently came out and I like a lot of songs in it. Phoenix is a band that constantly makes good albums yet each time is always different and timeless. The last reason is their performance is always good, and they've been around for 20+ years. Like consistently good. A lot of people said they're "one of the best bands you will ever see live". I'm sold. Plus, just like M.I.A., I grew up with their songs. So the puzzle pieces were coming together. I have to watch them with my own eyes. 

Again, at 09:45 p.m. sharp the lights started to dim. My adrenaline started flowing fast and subconsciously I was screaming while stamping my feet, signs that I was very excited. One by one the band members were visible on stage. The concert was opened by 'Lizstomania', their biggest hit. I MEAN IT'S FREAKING LISZTOMANIA 😱 this song never left my playlist ever since it came out in 2009. I want to make a confession, I honestly didn't memorize their lyrics because even though they are a French band, their English lyrics are quite a handful. So I just went with what I've got. Surprisingly my weakness in memorizing their lyrics didn't diminish the experience. Their eye-gripping performance added with really mind-blinding lighting was enough to make me smile and dance throughout the night. This is one of the bands with the best lighting set ever, very fitting to each song. The crowd in which  I was surrounded was quite packed (and sweaty) but not brutal, this is Phoenix, not Slipknot. Thomas Mars also didn't say much, just occasionally talking about how this is their last show after months of touring and then they would've taken a break for a while. He also asked how many people come from outside of Bali. The reason why he said he didn't want to talk too much was that they could play more songs. Their set ended with Mars coming to the crowd (accompanied by one of my favorite songs: Identical) He always did this bit after ending a show. In the United States, he even went up to the audience on the balcony. I didn't get to get a hold of him or anything but I was close enough. Anyway, I was left feeling very satisfied! (and also sad). Another bucket list was checked. In total, they played 16 songs. 

After Phoenix finished, we were both quite sweaty and went straight to the F&B area to buy drinks. My sister bought Iced Coconut Water and I ordered cold Teh Poci. We didn't come back to the hotel because we wanted to wind down a bit. We sat down in the charging station area because my sister's phone battery was low. Far away on Plainsong Live Stage, Dougy Mandangi aka Blood Moon aka ex-singer from The Temper Trap was performing. He has a solo career now and actually lives in Bali, don't know much about The Temper Trap though. At 11:20, suddenly Dougy was playing the infamous 'Sweet Disposition', we ran toward the stage to watch and record it. Fortunately, I still had time to see and capture the performance. After the song was over, we returned to the hotel around 11:30 p.m. 

On Monday, March 20, we had no plan of going anywhere other than straight to the airport. And just like that my vacation was officially over.

As a first-timer of Joyland, I'll confidently say that it's probably the best music festival I've ever been to. Why?

• Reasonable ticket price, so the budget can be allocated for accommodation and lodging. 
• The venue is gorgeous, literally surrounded by beaches.
• There are no queues at all and it's quite easy to reach either by private or public transport (Grab, GoJek, Maxim, etc) and they also provide shuttles.
• Complete facilities: there are regular toilets, clean porta potties widely scattered in several areas, and the most important thing: the prayer room.
• This is a family-friendly festival! Many families come here. There's a nursing room and White Peacock area which is fully air-conditioned so kids (and adults too) can do some arts and crafts activities. Even the place for smoking is separated in the far corner. Although there are some people who still vape and smoke but not many. And I read in the comments that if someone was caught or didn't know and was still smoking in public areas, the officers immediately directed the designated area quickly.
• The quality of the sound system. There are no hoarse voices that are unpleasant to hear.
• On-time! All performers play on schedule.
• Cute merch. Sometimes this is what many festival promoters (Ahem, Soundrenaline) overlook. When I came to the merch booth, quite a lot of people queued and bought it because the designs were really cute.
• Because I use Telkomsel一which is one of the sponsors一I have zero problems with the signal.
• There weren't too many sponsor placements on the stage. And I just realized that sponsor placement sometimes makes stage appearance looks tacky, even though it's not a major issue either.

Photo & Video Source:

Personal