You Could Have It So Much Better, If You Tried - A story about The Pursuit of Franz Ferdinand

I tried my best to write this story in english. pardon the broken english. :3

Franz Ferdinand on Embassy Playground Jakarta was the best concert i've ever seen in my entire career life as an avid music fan. There are several international bands had come to Indonesia, but none of them are my favourite. Except for Suede in 2003. So i can not miss this opportunity to make the most of my fangirl heart.

Since i heard the news on twitter that Franz Ferdinand were going to play Embassy Playground this November, I had had feeling that this would be a surreal experience for me. It's Franz Fucking Ferdinand, my friend. They've been my favourite since my college years. I imagined myself taking picture with Alex Kapranos, he signs my CD and any other things that a fan girl can dream on. But i do understand that there's little chance of me meeting them after/before set. Well i might not have privilege access to the backstage, but surely i could put myself on the first row from the stage.

So there i was, waiting for almost 3 hours with my friend Febi, watching 3 bands and 1 DJ performance that i barely know. Only to took a stand for my best spot, first row on Bob Hardy's side. That time i could feel my back, my waist and my legs were killing me. They weren't so cooperative. Then i remembered that i hadn't eaten nor drunk anything that evening. oh well.

Their performance was GREAT!  And being at the first row was so magical. It feels like it's just me and the band, making love connection, sing along and dance to their song like mad while secretly cry my heart out. :) i was a happy bunny.
To hell with it, they finished up the set with a trancey-outro of Lucid Dreams. *heck yeah, i was stunned O_____O*
One by one, they walked out the stage. Alex walked out by jumping off the stage and grab crowd's hands from middle row to the left. Feel gutted that I was on the right side, oh me and my poor soul, hoping he would come back. but that didn't happen, yeah.

There was a hole in my heart after that performance, i dunno, i just felt like something went missing. I wandered around the event site and met several friends. I met Adit, my 'ticket agent' haha, he gave me important news that they stayed at Mercure Hotel, and then my high school friend Relly, she told me that a group of girls in front of her said thing like this " Gila! The Killers-nya keren banget ya" ("Fuck yeah, this ~THE KILLERS~ band is so cool ya!") muahaha.. lulzworthy. Then another friend of mine, Marsha, she was going to backstage, she asked me to come with her, maybe i could catch a glimpse of Franz Ferdinand. But i refused, knowing that i couldn't pass the security guard nonetheless. Then she called me on the phone and said, i should've come with her earlier because they just ready to leave the gig and give hug to several people. Well there goes my dream to meet them in person. *sigh*

Me and my friend Febi, who i went with, decided to walk out the gig. We had this crazy thought "why don't we go to the hotel, maybe we have the chance to catch them up." Well, It's 1am already, no buses and if we tried to get a taxi it's equal with robbery, From Ancol (in North Jakarta) to my house (in Tangerang) is MILES AND MILES AWAY. So yeah, we just follow our heart, we walked to the Mercure Hotel, please note, even though this hotel is still located in the same area with the event site, but it's quite a distance between them. And we tried to reach there on our feet, Yeah i was wearing boots that night, i barely can feel my feet, but i hummed The Stone Roses' Fools Gold in my heart:

These boots were made for walking, The Marquis De Sade never made no boots like these

Fortunately i didn't wear backpack that could cause my back from aching and its straps would cut me like a knife. :p

We got there at 2am, We sneaked out at the parking area. We sat on the bench that usually used by driver for waiting. We had no plans at all. Because we just walked and walked and walked without knowing what would happen next. Oh such a useless girl we are. The only thing we did believe for an excuse of this crazy thing we do is that they're gonna fly home the next day. And here we are already, in front of the hotel where they stay. If we went home now, we do understand what we're loosing. If we went home now, we would regret this forever in our lifetime. So we stayed on that bench, sat quietly. I know two of us were actually nervous, especially me and my twisted mind. I'm just afraid people will judge us as a stalker, no we didn't want to stalk them, in creepy way. We had all the reason to be here, beside we didn't know how to get home at that time of hour. And we already been there! So yeah we just waited silently. No plan at all. In the cold of the night. Oh well. i felt shallow. :(

Afraid of getting caught by the security, i made up a scenario about two of us:
We are two college girls from Bandung who went to Jakarta just to see Franz Ferdinand live. And we waited for our bus back to Bandung that was scheduled to be arrived at 10am.
I'm such a masterplan, i also plan how we would get in to the lobby hotel. I know hotel is open for everyone, but we are such a mess that time. I didn't think the security would be pleased by it. :p It's 4am already. We were still waiting outside the hotel, then i thought we need someone to notice our existence here in this parking area, so that we could play the scenario about two college girls from Bandung and ask permission to wait in the lobby hotel or just to use the toilet. Then here comes the godsent security, noticing us. Then Feby handled the talking, because i'm no good at lying. hehe. Finally we got the bless from security, he said it's okay if we want to wait in the lobby. Well i got to think, we could've just done this at first place, waiting at the lobby from 2am, but i think i'm just afraid of what people think about us when they saw us. We wanted to be as invisible as we can.

2 stages of the plan had been done. We're in! *so much win* it's almost 5am. My next plan was to catch them up while they're having breakfast. 6am and my stomach is swirling like hell. Morning sick mixed with panic attack. Toilet is the answer, we went in to the toilet back and forth. just can't handle the anxiousness.

Well well, All of sudden Nick showed up (!!!) He was alone, and heading to the restaurant, He passed us by and noticed these 2 strange girls. Eyes contact between me and Nick and i got freeze like a stone cold ice. DANG!! fuck yeah! :O

We didn't know what to do next, shall we come to him while he's having breakfast? NO! shall we wait him finished his breakfast? YES! so we waited again. I went to the toilet, AGAIN! This time i bump into Nick, who's just finished breakfast. i ran into the toilet, hahaha. so nervous!

Nick went upstairs with lift. We are so shallow, we got no guts just to say hi to him. oh stupid! now we waited for another more hour. We also moved to a better spot. Then here comes our man, Alex Kapranos himself, my friend. He's coming from our back, Febi noticed him and we both smiled to him, he smiled back and said "Hello, there!", (!!!) we went "Helloooo :)))" as he passed us by i asked him (foolishly) "When were you leaving?" (WTF! grammar fail!) he rather confused at first but then he answered " Oh not sure about it, maybe later" (well i kinda forget what he actually said, i already amazed by his -after shower- look) Then he continued walking to the restaurant. I noticed his walk is kinda bouncy like Alex James! :D Oh my! my fan girl heart is screaming, i can't not to smile, we were the happiest girl in the room.

Afterwhile,  we saw him running to the lift, Febi called to him "Hi, Alex" and then he stopped. We asked to take a picture with him, he said it's okay! but i must be sure first that he wasn't in a hurry, and he said it's allright. We may take a picture with him, SQUEEEEEEE!! XD He even liked the Fujica M1 vintage cam i brought , i put a "NADYA" label on it and when he saw it he said, "That's a nice camera, i like her" :DDD he said HER!! gagaggagagagaga!! i'm so flattered.
He's very kind and humble to his fans. We talked about the gig, he said that night was very hot! haha talked about twitter, that he's got so many replies. and Febi said, we've been waiting for you for 6hours, then he went "oh really?, why didn't you met us last night, after the gig?", it's because we're late sir, (we walked for an hour just to get to the hotel) hehe. Febi said to him that she looked forward to see Paul, He said if we still want to hang around, we could get back to the hotel at 5pm, that's the time they checked out. He said we could meet all of the guys that time! Awww!! sure we couldn't refuse that invitation :)) hee.. We said Thank you very much for his time and he went upstairs.

Weeeeeee..... i felt so much WIN! it felt like 15yo all over again! When i came back to meet the other. I felt the lobby room was heating up. Too much Messer Franzypants in one room, we busy asked permission to take a photo, oh i even took a picture with Peter Hook! :O another WIN! When they ready to leave the hotel, One of the crew came to us and gave us this precious pick of Franz Ferdinand. I went bonkers and felt thank you so much to him. Geez!!! Could i be more happy than this? i don't think so. I now achieve level of an avid fan girl. Please don't kill me. :)

2009, i thought you're gonna be as sorrow as the late 2008. I was wrong! Summer 2009 and late 2009 is the bestest moment i've ever been into.
Fuck yeah pasttimes! :DDD

Can you imagine what would happen to me if Blur ever come to Indonesia? Because i can't. xD

---------------CHEEEEEEEERS!!-----------------------

xxxx

ps: will put some more photos on my flickr when i finish with the film process and print them out.

Your truly with Alex Kapranos

Yours truly with Bob Hardy

Yours Truly with Peter Hook

Yours truly with Nick McCarthy