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FUJI ROCK REVELLERS

My non-exhaustive guide to what you should bring, do, and see at Fuji Rock this year

Music. Well, I’m not going to tell you what you should see. We all like different things, and far be if for me to tell you what is best. I will say this though: Get to the smaller stages, and catch some acts that you’ve never heard of. As Lisa noted, going digging often as not finds you a gem or two. I never have enough time to properly research the whole schedule, but really enjoy a schedule that sees me wandering through everything between Red Marquee & Cafe de Paris to find something I wasn’t expecting along the way. And should you find a stinker, you will have no end of pleasure telling your mates what crap the band you saw were. I particularly recall an overweight “poet” of advancing years on Gypsy Avalon ad libbing a piece imploring all the girls (but not the guys) in the audience to take off their clothes, as it had started raining. As memorable for its pitiable patheticness as anything else I saw that weekend. Notably, none of the girls there took off their clothes, but several did take off.

That said, you’ll find me at (or trying to get to) these shows over the weekend (limiting myself to three recommends a day, and that’s hard!):
Friday:
Lee Scratch Perry & Mad Professor (White Stage)
Big Audio Dynamite (White Stage)
Kensington Hillbillys (Naeba Shokudo)
Saturday:
Battles (Green Stage)
Faces (Green Stage)
Osaka Monaurail (Crystal Palace)
Sunday:
Apollo 18 (Red Marquee)
blues.the-butcher-590213 (Gypsy Avalon)
Big Willie’s Burlesque (Crystal Palace Tent)
Special Bonus:
Joe Peacock and the Palace Arena outside shows (Palace Arena) (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday!)

We’ve told you all about footwear before. Many, many times. This year is shaping up drier than other years so far here in Tokyo, but don’t let that fool you. Naeba is a different part of the world. As Dave Grohl once told me:* “Every time I come to Fuji Rock, it rains!” And he’s been as many times as I have, if not more. I’m going with my tried & true combo of gumboots, and a pair of sandals, in case the weather does manage to stay fine. Nothing worse than wearing open footwear in mud though, never ending picking stones out of your feet. The pits.

Here are three weather reports for Naeba area:

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Naeba/6day/bot
(this one lists bottom, middle, and top, I usually take the bottom report for the Fuji Rock site)
http://snow.gnavi.co.jp/guide/htm/r0047w.htm
http://weather.excite.co.jp/spot/zp-9496292/

Whatever they happen to say, I’d be prepared for at least some rain.

Short list of essentials:
Sunscreen
Hat
Sunglasses
Wet towel for your neck
Rain jacket (if you care about being wet, I don’t really unless it’s torrential. It’s hot anyway, you’re wet from sweat inside one)
Torch
Bug spray

Money. How much should you take? Well, budget ¥600 for a beer (unless they up it on us again). Your beer budget will depend on your thirst, but remember with the heat and the merriment, it will probably be best to take your estimate and double it. It’s best to keep your liquids up, after all. My recommendation is the Tokyo Ale stand down on Field Of Heaven, much better than the Heineken everywhere else. As erstwhile FujiRocker Jinki (sadly missing from our crew this year) once noted to me, “I’ve never seen anyone drink Heineken when given a choice.” Truer words were never uttered. Whatever you choose, your instruction should be “Awa tsuku na me, kudasai!” for something that doesn’t approach a half a cup of head, as those cheeky buggers are wont to do.

Factor in food at ¥600-1000 a plate of something. And this isn’t your average crap yaki soba you get at every Japanese street festival either. My only regret about the food is that there is so much good food, and my stomach only stretches so far. Even if it seems to stretch a little farther each year. After seven years, I’m still yet to try it all, and only a couple of mediocre experiences, for the most part gastronomic delight. Well as close as you can get in the middle of country Japan.

T-Shirts run at ¥3-4000 usually, although I guess some are more than that. I can usually live without them myself, mainly due to the length of the queues at the stands, but I know some of you are completists.

Remember that there are no ATMs on site, and you will need to factor in how much you will need for the entire weekend in advance.

There are no doubt many more things that you should bring that I’ve forgotten to mention, so give it a good think before you pack your bags!

*When Dave Grohl said this to me, he also said it to the other 40,000 people in the Green Stage audience, but if I told you that at the start, you wouldn’t have got the impression that Dave and I are tight.

Photo by 近澤幸司 and used with the permission of Fuji Rock Express