Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

Taiwan Fuji Rock Facebook Group

We’ve  heard a lot about the artists  and now it’s time to hear from some of the fans!

Yesterday, the Taiwan Fuji Rock Facebook group help a meeting a the Le Beau Lieu, a trendy, French-themed coffee shop which offers little aside from US$5  lattes  and tiny platters of ginger snaps.

A dozen people were seated at tables that had been pulled together in one long line. Some clutched swatches of weather-resistant material (silver on one side, black on the other) which one member bought in bulk and was freely sharing with others.

While similar in age, the group was divergent in terms of profession and work experience. There was the owner of a popular downtown music store that specialized in Korean pop, a Warner Music executive, a bank employee, and a pony-tailed dude whose previous festival experience included going to  Japan’s Loud Park on two occasions.

Despite their differences and unfamiliarity with one another (this was the 2^nd meeting of the group), they chatted easily, and quite noisily in this low-ceilinged café.  Securing a private table near the entrance, far away from the din, I talked casually with Gina Lee, the founder of this Facebook group estimates that there are 300-400 fans of this group with around 30 individuals making the trip this year. Of this number, nearly 2/3 are camping.

For many, this group has helped assuage some of their fears about making the long and expensive trip to Naeba. She said the most frequent question the group had was “can we bring in booze?”  ( no bottles or cans, please) followed by   “how do we recharge our cell phones?” (not an official service offered by the festival, but some stalls will do it for a small fee).

These were legitimate questions, especially given the language barrier, and something probably best answered by someone who had attended the festival in the past. Unfortunately, Taiwan seems to be a bit of a newcomer to Fuji Rock, and the only person with Fuji experience, aside from myself, was  one woman at this meeting who work a pink T-shirt decorated with the 2009 band line-up.

This year, however, promises to be entirely different as Taiwan will be sending a hearty delegation including this  Facebook group, the top management of local livehouse, The Wall, the mostly girl rock band performing at Rookie Go-Go Go Chic (interviewed here), and this blog’s very own Chinese language writer and DJ about town, Spykee.

In case you were wondering what bands this group are interested in seeing, Muse clearly tops the list, followed by The XX (selling well as the local record store),  Air (a one member is fond of the group as it coincided with her dalliance into psychedelia, and Them Crooked Vultures (the group’s founder is arriving in Tokyo a few days early to catch their pre-Fuji performance).

Though most of the members of this group will arrive at the festival separately, they hope to re-group in the camp ground, or otherwise assemble around this flag. (English translation, colloquial slang for .. “I am Taiwanese”)

Taiwan Facebook Group Flag