Recently I just took the experience up a notch. I was in Berlin for a couple of days and was asked to see a skinhead gig while I was there. My friend's band from Utrecht, Discharger, was playing at that gig and I was quite excited when I knew I'd be in Berlin at the same time with the gig. So we went to the club, Red Club, where the gig was playing. I was bit surprised with the venue because it looked nothing like a place where a skinhead gig in Bandung would be held. It's basically a club. It looked like a club. It smelt like a club: cigarettes and beer. It's Germany in winter, after all. In Bandung, you'd get a football field (or any kind of field) filled with sweaty teenagers who sing along when their favourite skinhead/punk bands playing their favourite songs.It was a whole different experience because not only I didn't dress like a skinhead, I was also the only Asian in the club. So as you might expect, I got a decent amount of staring. I was the smallest, looking odd with my brown skin and dark hair. Plus my goofy glasses. But the guy at the door didn't even bother asking for my ID. Yay Berlin, you are so much better than Sydney or Melbourne. At first it felt really awkward, like going to a freak show, but you are the freak instead of the people on stage. There was a band playing when I arrived; my friend's band was the last act. Somehow I didn't realise they were quite well-known, even in Berlin. I decided to watch the band who was performing at that time. I needed some sort of acclimatisation before I mingled with the crowd. Got myself a beer and stood close to the stage. It didn't take a long time for me to realise that band was a bit shit.
Then my friend's band was on stage. I could see that some people were getting quite excited. When my friend (he's the vocalist of this band) said his introductory speech, I realised it was their first Berlin gig, yet people were pretty pumped. That was cool. With what's left of my partner's camera's battery, I started taking pictures of the band. I felt so much relaxed when I picked up the camera and positioned myself in front of the band. People were screaming lyrics next to me, but I didn't even notice. I was enjoying myself being the only person in the room who's taking pictures. It didn't feel pretentious or anything. It's my friend's band. I like taking their pictures in action. It's not like in Indonesia where everyone got a freakin DSLR (although I'm not sure they know how to use it properly) and too busy to enjoy the gig because they're too busy taking pictures that they won't even bother to look at once they're out of the gig.
Before the gig, we were smoking in the smoking area and talked to some people. One gay German skinhead (yes, they exist and they're super cool), a good friend of my partner, told me how cute I was in my skinhead denim jacket. I laughed and told him it was my partner's and that I wasn't even trying to look like a skinhead. He then told me that I didn't have to worry and everyone's here cool enough. He was right. Everyone was cool. One guy even thought I and my partner were cute enough he wanted to take our picture together. I guess you don't see many British and Indonesian couples in a skinhead gig.
I'm not sure yet why in Indonesia going to a skinhead/punk gig when you are not one of them often will terrorise you rather than give you any enjoyment whatsoever. I guess the culture is different although it's the same scene. A bit odd considering Indonesians are friendlier in general than Europeans. I can tell there's a sense of exclusivity when it comes to "scenes" in Indonesia. Of course, I'm generalising and I'm quite sure there are people in different scenes who don't behave in such way. I just don't see many of them. Maybe I need to go out more.
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