METALLICA's 1993 Riot Unlikely To Be Repeated At Tomorrow's Jakarta Concert

According to BeritaJakarta.com, 2,694 personnel will be deployed and eight security posts will be established in time for tomorrow night's (Sunday, August 25) METALLICA concert at the 54,000-capacity Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto says the force to be deployed consists of joint security personnel from Jakarta Police, Central Jakarta Resort Police, police car brigades, the army, as well as fire-handling officers. "They will be deployed in spread-out manner," he said. "Some are placed outside the stadium with traffic officers, while some others are put at entrance and exit gates."

In addition, concert-goers will be required to go through metal detectors at the entrance to the concert area and the fans' belongings will be checked to prevent any prohibited items from getting into the stadium.

Rikwanto has also urged METALLICA fans to buy tickets from only from the counters at the stadium and avoid purchasing tickets from brokers. "If tickets in the counters have sold out, that means the tickets selling is already closed. Do not buy ticket at any other place," he said.

One of the people attending the concert will be Jakarta governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi),who has reportedly bought seven "festival-class" tickets. "It is more fun [to see the show] that way," he explained. "Watching a rock concert should be done while standing. Why should we just sit neatly in chairs?"

METALLICA's last show in Indonesia took place in 1993 — at the peak of the band's commercial popularity while they were on the road supporting the mega-selling "black" album. One of the biggest shows that Indonesia had ever hosted, it ended with a riot that saw angry fans — many of whom were trying to get into the concert for free — burning cars and destroying public property, as well as sustaining countless physical injuries while fighting with the police.