Peterpan and Nidji in Banda Aceh

Jesse likened this to Pearl Jam and Madonna playing in a Kansas City community center. These are two of the biggest bands from Jakarta and they were playing an outdoor gig in a town with less than 400,000 people. I wish I had brought my camera. Everybody under 30 in the city was there. The basketball rebels, the university good-kids, the NGO peeps, everybody. To get in, the men and the women had to pass through separate gates and into separate areas in front of the stage. Except that was the end of it. Everybody and their mother was hopping the fence. I've never seen a 5 foot fence be more useless [insert Shakespearian Wall quote here]. You get the idea that Sharia Law isn't like real law in the way its observed. Jesse also says that it is much less strict these days than even a few months ago. Anyone who comes here expecting strict and authoritarian rule of unhappy people will be disappointed, or at least look for different things than I am.

The concert was like all other outdoor shows, which is to say very reassuring about humanity. All the hand waving jumping and dancing by everybody included the jaobob'd girls was so heartening. It also ended with the sunset breaking through the clouds (the show needed to be done by 7pm) to make a double rainbow during the last song. I wish I had my camera. Banda Aceh doesn't get many big acts, and everybody said afterwards that kids more chances like this to express themselves.

I can't get to everything I have done here- you'll have to seek me out later for that- but I will say that I played a little show on my new guitar (!) at a community center yesterday (after teaching them how to make pancakes, don't ask). It was officially the first stop of my world tour.