Dengan selera musik yang beda jauh, saya dan istri saya Elok, jarang nonton konser bareng. Susah menyatukan gemuruh Judas Priest atau dentuman Megadeth dengan untaian syahdu Rossa dan lantunan manis Kahitna.

Hanya sedikit pemusik yang masuk dalam irisan diagram venn musik kita. Salah satunya Coldplay. Yang kita tonton bareng di Bangkok beberapa tahun lalu. Dan tentu saja yang barusan konser semalam: Dewa 19.

Ini kali ketiga kita berdua nonton bareng konser Dewa. Sebelumnya kita pernah nonton saat Dewa manggung di Pasar Festival. Di akhir 90an. Saat belum nikah. Masih Ari Lasso periode pertama. Yang kedua saat Dewa manggung di Kafe Barbados Kemang.  Vokalisnya sudah Once. Dan semalam yang ketiga sepertinya yang paling berkesan.

Nggak tanggung-tanggung, memperingati 30 tahun mereka berkarir, Ahmad Dhani mengajak seluruh personil Dewa 19 untuk manggung. Yang dulu dan sekarang. 4 vokalis. 5 drummer.

Dengan harga tiket yang relatif sangat murah dibanding konser-konser yang kembali berjamur di Indonesia (apalagi K-Pop), konser semalam memenuhi prasyarat untuk disebut “Pesta Rakyat”. Tiket sudah sold out sejak lama. Beruntung kami dapat tiket gratis dari teman Elok, setelah saya sudah setengah pasrah cari tiket dari calo yang mark-up harga dua kali lipat lebih.

Alhasil, 75.000 orang hadir memenuhi Jakarta International Stadium. Bukan hanya rakyat kebanyakan, tapi juga pejabat dan pesohor. Prabowo, AHY, Anies, Rocky Gerung (you can see the pattern here) bergabung hadir dengan Bu Iriana Jokowi dan Budi Karya Sumadi. Membuat jalan sekitar macet total. Saya yang datang mepet dengan harapan hadir sebelum Dewa manggung jam 7 malam, baru bisa masuk jam 7.45. Itu pun sudah bela-belain berjalan 30 menit meninggalkan mobil yang dibawa sopir terjebak dalam kemacetan di Jalan Lodan.

Tapi ternyata banyak yang senasib. Sehingga panitia pun memutuskan untuk memundurkan jadwal Dewa manggung. Pas kita masuk, tepat dengan berkumandangnya lagu “Indonesia Raya”. Lucky for us. Alhamdulillah.

Band ini memang spesial. Sudah kategori legend di Indonesia. Katalog lagunya sudah lintas generasi. Semalam Gen X seperti saya dan Elok berbaur dengan Gen Millenial dan Gen Z yang tak kalah hafal lirik lagu. Lagu yang populer tidak terhitung. Bahkan dalam 4 jam konser, walau sudah 37 lagu yang ditampilkan, masih ada lagu yang kita harap tidak muncul. Saya menunggu “Satu Hati”. Elok menanti “Kamulah Satu-satunya”.

Kendati demikian, kami terpuaskan dengan suguhan musik semalam. Walau sound system kurang sempurna dari atas tribun tempat kami nonton, Dewa 19 sukses mengaduk emosi penonton.

Heboh, saat lampu panggung menyala dan lagu pertama “Angin” dimainkan.

Histeris, saat layar besar menampilkan sosok Tyo yang hadir saat “Roman Picisan”. Drummer ganteng yang dirindukan banyak fans wanita.

Kagum, menyaksikan permainan gitar Mr. Perfect Andra Ramadhan. Persis di kaset (eh ketahuan generasinya).

Haru, saat lagu “Selimut Hati” yang syahdu dinyanyikan Virzha. Mengundang puluhan ribu flash light dari penonton. Awesome spectacle.

Berjingkrak, saat lagu terakhir “Separuh Nafas” dinyanyikan oleh Once, Ari Lasso, Virzha dan Ello sekaligus.

Kaget, terhibur saat Andre Taulany tiba-tiba muncul sebagai guest star, menyanyikan lagu hitnya di era Stinky.

Haru, saat lagu “Kangen” dilantunkan. Seluruh pengunjung sontak berkaraoke berjamaah. Dengan penuh perasaan mengingat kekasih hati. Atau mantan yang dulu. Yang Alhamdulillah buat saya, nonton bareng di sebelah.

Tak salah kalau saya sematkan konser semalam dengan label album terbaik mereka: “Terbaik Terbaik”.

Song List and Observations:

1. Angin (Virzha dan Ello) – the first song of concert, and the mood erupted from the get go. The two young vocalists brought high energy and vibe.
2. Arjuna (Virzha dan Ello) – Virzha and Ello’s high pitch and wailing voices were awesome.
3. I Want to Break Free (Virzha dan Ello) – at start we didn’t know what song. Until the riffs, then everybody cheers. Head bang and sing along.
4. Restu Bumi (Virzha dan Ello) – Dewa’s deep cuts. Virzha said, it might be Baladewa’s favorite song. I approved.
5. Cinta Gila – (Dhani) – coming from genius mind of Ahmad Dhani, when he might be influenced by Nu Metal scene, popularized by Korn in 2004. As result, another hit transcend to different genre and era.
6. Lagunya Ello – (Ello) – Sorry I don’t know the title this song. I guess coming from Ello’s solo album
7. Aspirasi Putih (Ello) – With the presence of opposition leaders in the concert, this song sounds like a kind of anti-establishment from current government. But actually, the song was created in pre-reformation era, back in 1997. Interestingly, the lyrics and the messages are still relevant to this date.
8. Tak Akan Ada Cinta Yang Lain (Ello) – featuring the great outro solo by Mr. Perfect Andra Ramadhan. He is so good. He didn’t miss one single note.  
9. Sudah (Dhani) – One of songs from supergroup Ahmad Band, which members aside Dhani and Andra were Slank’s former musicians: Pay and Bongky. Released in 1998.
10. Sang Pangeran Cinta (Virzha) – Dewa’s take on Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song
11. Selimut Hati (Virzha) – the rise of thousand flash lights
12. Kuakui (Virza) – amazing to hear Virzha’s voice. He is effortlessly sing Once’s songs, bringing his own character and grit.
13. Lagu Cinta (Virzha) – see above. Virzha did it again.
14. Hadapi Dengan Senyuman (Dhani) – Dhani came up to front stage with acoustic guitar, with sly dig to police corps. Haha.
15. Sedang Ingin Bercinta (Dhani) – brought surprise guest legendary Dangdut singer Elvi Sukaesih to sing together. Before playing, Dhani asked camera to display his mom, who sat beside Prabowo. Maybe it’s her request to invite Elvi?
16. Pupus (Virzha) – ten of thousands joined in-stadium karaoke. Can’t beat the feeling.
17. Lagu Dangdut (Elvi dan Mulan) – Elvi Sukaesih and Mulan came up and sang a Dangdut song. I assume it’s Elvi’s song. But unfortunately the voices of these two ladies were barely heard. And why Mulan wore that white wedding dress?
18. Antara Aku, Kau dan Dia (Dhani) – interesting Dhani played this song after Mulan performed and gave her kiss in a cheek. Story of their love life? LOL
19. Munajat Hati – (Lucky Laki) – this is Dhani’s sons band. They played The Rock’s hit. Surely they’re talented. But bringing them to this concert it’s a bit too stretch for my liking. But anyway… the younger crowd were quite entertained.
20. Superman (Lucky Laki) – the Band introduced Andra Ramadhan”s son to join them playing guitar. He looks cool as his dad, and invited loud cheers from young female fans.
21. Love is Blind (Collaboration Band) – it’s a video clip display from Dewa 19 recent collaboration with Jeff Scott Soto, Derek Sherinian, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot and Simon Phillips. Honestly, I found the video clip looks a bit cheap in production quality. Such a pity, as the artists playing in this song were world class talented musicians.
22. Roman Picisan (Once) – Tyo, the original drummer of this song entered the stage. And whenever his face was displayed in big screen, you could hear loud cheers from every corner.
23. Perempuan Paling Cantik (Once) – song from Republik Cinta album, which was released in the period when I wasn’t listening so much to Dewa 19 newest albums.  
24. Dewi (Once) – Once’s trademark vocal came out strong here.
25. Kosong (Once) –  Taking the script from “Pupus”, this is a follow-on ballad released in the subsequent album. Not as popular, but still a hit nonetheless.
26. Cemburu (Once) – the most Queen-esque song from Dewa. As you might know, original members of Dewa are big fans of Queen. This one was written by Once and Dhani, though. Apparently also a very popular song for the fans, as the crowd erupted.
27. Risalah Hati (Once) – Another hit from Pandawa Lima album. The lyrics could only be written by the ever-confident Ahmad Dhani: “Aku bisa membuatmu jatuh cinta kepadaku mesti kau tak cinta… kepadaku… beri sedikit waktu, biar cinta datang karena telah terbiasa…”
28. Cinta Kan Membawamu Kembali (Ari Lasso) – featuring dynamic duo of Ari Lasso and Ahmad Dhani. The whole crowd sang. I literally cried. It was one of the songs I love singing in bath room back in the days. No matter how bad I sang.
29. Elang (Ari Lasso) – one of deep cuts from Dewa. But I was surprised to look around and found many Gen-Z and Millenials knew the lyrics and sang the song with me.
30. Aku Di Sini Untukmu (Ari Lasso) – coming from arguably Dewa’s best album, “Terbaik Terbaik”, featuring violin section appeared in concert
31. Mungkinkah (Andre Taulany) – another surprise guest. The now rich and famous Andre Taulany sang his band Stinky’s hit back in 1997. Entertaining and funny.
32. Tangis Terakhirku (Ari Lasso) – Dewa’s newest song. A ballad. The first song from Ari Lasso with Dewa after 20 more years. They displayed the lyrics in big screen so we could try to sing. It’s quite catchy, so I won’t be too surprised it adds to Dewa 19’s rich catalogue of hits.
33. Kirana (Ari Lasso) – featuring the original drummer – Wong Aksan. My mind flew back to Ramadhan in Pogung Jogja, when I head this song for the very first time back in 1995.
34. Aku Milikmu (Ari Lasso) – featuring the original drummer in the second album: Rere. One of my favourite Indonesian drummers. Formerly from famous Surabaya’s rock band, Grass Rock, which Ahmad Dhani mentioned was already famous when Dewa made their first record in 1991.
35. Kangen (Ari Lasso) – the first song which brought Dewa 19 to stardom. An instant hit from their debut album. The song represented my feeling when I was in backstreet relationship with my girl friend. The rest is history. Dewa is a legend. And my girlfriend is now my wife.
36. Separuh Napas (Ari Lasso, Once, Virzha, Ello) – what can I say? A fitting end to a great concert. Everybody was on their feet. Dancing around, sing along through the whole song. Including the section where each vocalists asked the audience to sing Ee-Aaa-Ooo… Freddy Mercury style. Such a blast.