Dewa 19 announce first five dates of 30-city 30th anniversary tour

Indonesian rockers Dewa 19 have announced the first batch of dates of their 30-city tour celebrating their 30th anniversary.

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The band have unveiled the first five dates of the 30 Years of Dewa 19 tour, which all take place in Indonesia: Dewa 19 will kick off in Surabaya on May 27 and then head to Medan, Palembang, Samarinda and Makassar across June and July.

Tickets will be available exclusively through Web3 site TicketNFT, which means all tickets purchased for the event will come in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Ticket prices for each of the five tour dates announced so far will be revealed on April 25.

VIP and VVIP passes will be available for the tour dates as well, with the VVIP ‘Baladewa Terbaik’ passes granting holders a backstage tour as well as a chance to meet and dine with Dewa 19. A raffle will be held for all ticket holders with the chance to win backstage tours, and those interested in winning will be able to purchase ‘Baladewa 30 Pupus/Kangen/Cinta’ NFTs in order to secure more raffle entries.

Frontman Ahmad Dhani had previously said the tour will call outside of Indonesia, with Detik reporting in October that two of the 30 dates will be in Malaysia and Singapore.

Per Hai Online, the band said at a press conference that they will play 30 songs at each show, in keeping with the 30th-anniversary theme of the tour. Dewa 19 will also be joined by both new vocalist Marcello Tahitoe and former vocalist Virzha on the tour as they will be playing songs from throughout their career. Ahmad Dhani compared both vocalists to previous Dewa 19 singers: “Virzha’s voice is like Once [Mekel]. Ello [Tahitoe] however sounds like Ari Lasso.”

Ahmad Dhani also shared his thoughts on the band’s longevity: “Thirty years is something to celebrate because it has not been easy, especially for Andra and myself,” referring to Dewa 19 guitarist Andra Ramadhan, who is the only other original member of the band to remain in the line-up since their founding in 1986.

Dewa 19 recently released a new single earlier this month titled ‘Juliette’, their first original track in 12 years and the recorded debut of Tahitoe. ‘Juliette’ also serves as a preview of the veteran band’s upcoming material, with a press release stating that the track will kick off a string of releases for Dewa 19.

Tahitoe was announced as the band’s new vocalist in March this year.

Dewa 19’s 30 Years of Dewa 19 Tour dates so far are:

Friday, May 27 – Surabaya, East Java
Saturday, June 11 – Medan, North Sumatra
Saturday, June 18 – Palembang, South Sumatra
Saturday, June 25 – Samarinda, East Kalimantan
Wednesday, July 6 – Makassar, South Sulawesi

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