Despite his calm, unassuming demeanor, President Joko Widodo grew up listening to metal and is a headbanger (figuratively — there has been no photographic or video evidence of Jokowi headbanging) to this day. In fact, his love for heavy metal is quite well-documented, leading to legendary bands like Metallica gifting him priceless rock memorabilia, only for the president to give them up to avoid accusations of graft.
Metallica isn’t the only band that’s aware of Jokowi being a metalhead. British legends Judas Priest, currently on a world tour to promote their new album Firepower, is scheduled to perform in Jakarta on December 7th and it seems they’re eager to have Indonesia’s leader as their honorary guest.
Dear President @Jokowi – We cordially invite you to attend our show on 7th December at Echopark Ancol and will be extremely honoured by your acceptance – Judas Priest are very excited to visit your beautiful country and perform in Jakarta! Best Regards Judas Priest
— Judas Priest (@judaspriest) August 3, 2018
Jokowi has not responded to the public invitation but it’s likely the president would take a day off to rock to Judas Priest in December considering he already saw them in concert in Singapore in 2012.
Jokowi’s music preference is not just limited to heavy metal, though. Last year, he was spotted among a bunch of millennials watching Charli XCX and Kodaline in concert at We The Fest festival in Jakarta.
