Bali residents predict Fatboy Slim concert will cause chaos

Residents of a Balinese village are begging tourists to stay away from British mega DJ Fat Boy Slim’s New Year’s Eve show at a local beach club over fears it could send the area into chaos.

More than 20,000 party goers are expected to descend on the small hamlet of Berawa, located in Bali’s hipster resort village Canggu. Locals are scared their village will collapse under the pressure of thousands of additional cars and bikes.

In addition to Fat Boy Slim’s performance at Finns Beach Club, Dutch super DJ Martin Garixx is adding to fears by attracting another 10,000 party goers to his New Year’s Eve show. Garixx, who is DJmag’s 2022 world’s best DJ, is headlining at Berawa’s Atlas beach club.

“Berawa is too small with one little road in and out to the beach. Tourists looking for a party on New Year’s Eve should go somewhere else,” said Berawa resident Wati Ernawan. “Forget seeing Fat Boy Slim and Garixx. The roads are already jammed without adding thousands more cars … This New Year’s Eve will be the worst one ever.”

Roads in Berawa are narrow and flanked by tropical coconut palms, rows of parked motorbikes, roadside stalls and shops.

British expat Toni Brown lives on a lane just off the beachside road that feeds traffic to the beach clubs. She is going to Vietnam in December to get away from the endless traffic jams.

“This is mental because the wet season is coming and they will not be ready to handle the massive influx for New Year’s Eve,” Brown said. “I can see it now: Cars will not be able to move, and people will get out of them and walk to the clubs … It will be pandemonium and then alcohol will be thrown into the mix. If emergency services are needed, they will have no chance of getting in. I’m getting outta Dodge.”

Bali has 4.3 million residents; this year, tourist numbers are expected to surpass pre-pandemic highs of 17 million visitors in 2019. Infrastructure has not kept apace, and road rage has taken hold of even the most zen Balinese.

Earlier this year, a Balinese priest smacked an abusive Russian tourist in a road rage incident and now the regional government admitted last week that the island’s streets will be in total gridlock in a few years.

To combat Bali traffic, the Ministry of Transport announced plans for the light rail system to run 560 kilometers (347 miles) around the island in 2011, but it remains in the planning stages — made more complicated because temples and sacred trees cannot be displaced.

“It can take two to three hours to get to the airport at peak hour. Even though Bali is small, traffic is a big problem,” said Indonesia’s National Planning Agency’s facilities and infrastructure deputy Evran Maksum.

Traffic is not the only red flag flying above the island of the gods, which also suffers from regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Locals warn that tainted alcohol could ruin New Year’s Eve as unscrupulous operators contaminate liquor with methanol, a poisonous by-product of the distilling process.

In August, Australian man Artemiy Stakhanov, 26, was left fighting for his life in a Bali hospital with suspected methanol poisoning. A visitor from New Zealand was also hospitalized days later with a toxic load of methanol after he was found convulsing in the restroom of a five-star hotel. Earlier this year, Australian Charles Bradley, 28, died outside of a medical clinic in Kuta with suspect methanol poisoning just hours after leaving Finns Beach Club.

Alcohol safety advocate Colin Adhern runs a Facebook page titled Just Don’t Drink Spirits in Bali. He warns that methanol is almost impossible to detect as it has no color, taste or odor.

“The only safe way to drink spirits in Bali is to bring your own duty-free drinks. Buy a mocktail and add your own spirit,” Adhern said.

That will cost you, though, as alcohol is heavily taxed in Indonesia — Jack Daniel’s can cost a whopping $70 a bottle.