If you hold tickets to concerts in Jakarta that are scheduled to take place this month, you might want to prepare to have your heart broken — even though it’s for the greater good.
Jakarta’s Capital Investment and One Stop Integrated Service Agency (PMPTSP) said it has suspended the issuance of permit for three concerts with international headliners scheduled in March, as a precautionary measure toward the novel coronavirus outbreak after the first two cases on Indonesian soil were confirmed on Monday.
“There are three [concerts] that are included in the temporary list of performances that we have temporarily suspended: Head In The Clouds, Babymetal, and Foals Live in Jakarta,” Head of PMPTSP Benni Aguscandra told Kompas yesterday.
Benni said his agency had issued the permit for Head In The Clouds music and arts festival, which was scheduled to be held at JIExpo Kemayoran this Saturday, but it has been retracted following confirmation of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. American label 88rising, who organized the festival, has also announced that it is postponing the event indefinitely.
English rock band Foals and Japanese kawaii metal band Babymetal — whose shows are scheduled for March 10 and 29, respectively — had not been issued permits. The shows’ organizers have submitted their requests, but the agency has now decided against the concerts.
At the time of publication, promoters for Foals and Babymetal concerts have yet to announce the latest updates for the concerts.
Meanwhile, the organizer for headbang fest Hammersonic, scheduled for March 27-28, announced yesterday that it is currently coordinating with artists and the Jakarta government regarding a possible postponement. Two of the headliners, South African death metal band Vulvodynia and Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil, recently pulled out of the festival as they canceled the rest of their tours in Asia.
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According to Benni, his agency has only suspended permits for events between March and April and that only the three concerts mentioned above have been affected. The agency is still collecting information on other events to be reviewed.
“The suspension will take effect on events in March and April, after that, we’ll see how the condition goes. Hopefully the prevention measures can be effective, so when the condition gets better and conducive after April we can retract the suspension.” Benni continued.
Jakarta’s Governor Anies Baswedan said yesterday that the city’s government will not be issuing new permits for events that gather large numbers of people, and those that have already been issued will be reviewed again due to the “urgent situation” of the coronavirus outbreak.
