Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

So another festival has come and gone. Five days later, here’s what I can remember:

Best act: I’m gonna give this one to EKD, though Manu Chao made a good case. There’s something so original about the EKD sound, and so perfect for the last night of a festival. Review here.

Best visuals: The Chemical Brothers’ VJ proved worthy of the Green Field headline slot. And without him, what would that show have been?

Wish I’d seen: Tinariwen. At the time, a 10-minute walk to see Tinariwen seemed like an awful lot to ask. In retrospect it probably wasn’t.

Biggest disappointment: Walking into the Field of Heaven and realising the pizza joint wasn’t there this year.

Best drink: Yona Yona ale

Best blog comment: “Kern, you wouldn’t know a good time if it was riding your mustache.” by Darkstar1st

Best food: Don’t ask me, I’m vegetarian and there was almost nothing to eat. Fuji Rock could be ten times more eco-friendly if it threw all its garbage in one bin, powered everything with powdered rhino horns, but swapped all those meat stands for falafel stands. Or just one of them. Alright, I’ll shut up now.

(photo: EKD by Julen Esteban-Pretel)

Earlier today I gave myself a hernia. That may seem an unusual introduction to a music review, but it’s pertinent. I skipped a couple of shows today because I couldn’t walk that far to see them. It’s only music, right?
But EKD was one band I really couldn’t miss. They’re the most underrated band I know. I’m sure that you could stick them on the White Stage, not tell anyone what you were doing, and the band would look right at home.
Instead, they’re playing the Naeba Shokudo. The smallest stage at the festival, but also one of the liveliest. It’s a good fit.
As I wrote before, one Fujirocker once described them as Manu Chao meets Dick Dale. That’s bang on. EKD worked the crowd up just as much as Mr Chao did. And here’s where we get to my hernia. Even in my crippled state, I was bouncing in the mud pit, arms around other fans, grinning like an idiot, and I though it was painful as hell, it was fun as hell too. It’s the biggest FRF party I’ve been to since Gogol Bordello played the Crystal Palace. There was a man wrapped in toilet paper climbing a tree to see the show. They outdid the wild Asakusa Jinta party at the same stage on Friday. It’s a shame that tens of thousands of people paid for a ticket but didn’t catch this show.
If FRF 2011 is remembered for anything, it should be that the Naeba Shokudo produced some of the most memorable moments, and EKD’s show was one of them.

Photo by Julen Esteban-Pretel. More here.

The running joke on the Fujirocker bus home was that the Chemical Brothers were checking their emails on stage. It seemed pretty likely that the set was programmed into their laptops and they were just tweaking here and there.

In the old days, we knew what a DJ was. They put records on record players and fiddled with faders. These days it’s not so clear.

DJ-Numark had his decks, but he was using them just for scratching as far as I could tell. He had some samplers, but the majority of his set was just playing of its own accord. Even legendary turntablists have given up on the old style of six decks and lightning fast cueing. Somewhere in the world there must be kids that mastered the old-school art of turntablism just as it became redundant. Future DMC World Championships will consist of people sending in MP3 files and receiving pass or fail notifications six weeks later.

So the next question is: does it matter? People were clearly enjoying the Chemical Brothers’ set. And Nu-Mark’s show was, as the Americans say, pretty awesome.

It went from Adele to Stevie Wonder via Japanese rap trio Schaddarappa, all backed by quick switching modern hip-hop beats and topped with the man’s first-rate scratching.

He’d come on after Soil & “Pimp” Sessions, and saw his set begin with the predictable exodus that marks any changeover from live band to DJ. About 20 minutes later the Marquee was heaving again. Presumably his tunes had wafted out from the Red Marquee and persuaded people to stop stuffing their gobs with kebabs and come in for a dance.

But was it DJing? I think Nu-Mark’s style is, but perhaps the Chemical Brothers’ style isn’t. If you’re performing in front of me, I’d like you to work a bit. For Nu-Mark, it’s about scratching, switching beats and adding effects that really work (not just banging your funble fingers on a Kaoss pad).

The guy standing next to me was a DJ Shadow fanatic who would cut off one of his hands to spend 5 minutes with the guy. He turned to me and said “this is better than Brainfreeze.” I thought so too.

Pic by 近澤幸司 more here

Soil & “Pimp” Sessions are arguably the best thing that’s happened to jazz music in the last 10 years. I say “arguably” but I’ll brook no arguments. Their debut album “Pimpin” showed that jazz didn’t have to be played in musty clubs to ponderous wankers. You could turn up at the Fuji Rock Festival and blow people’s minds.

The first time they Soils played Fuji Rock they were unsigned. That’s not that long ago, but it seems like forever.

“Shacho”, the “agitator”, still looks like pimping genuinely might be his other job, and he’s owning the stage as though he’s been at this for decades. This is a once in a lifetime event, he tells us.

There’s a drum solo. Ordinarily I’m not a fan of drum solos. You’re the pulse, not the mouth, but drummer Midorin launched into an insane beat crescendo that didn’t seem possible with only two hands and two feet. And thenit popped straight into pure party jazz. They call it “death jazz”. I think that means there’s some rock in their jazz.

Last time, the Pimps played the Orange Court in the early evening. It worked a lot better this time, with the roof on and a hard dance floor. Hundreds of hands were in the air. This was one big dance party to finish the festival.

Photos by 近澤幸司 more here

The Tokyo Fashion blog has some great pics from Fuji Rock Festival ‘11.

Click here to have a look

I’ll make this brief. Imagine it’s the apocalypse, but not in that four-horsemen, fire-and-devastation way, but the way you’d actually like the world to end. Something a bit euphoric and exciting. The soundtrack would be Wildbirds and Peace drums. Or, in a nutshell:

Drums: ✔
Steel pans: ✔
Guitars: ✘
Performers: ✔ ✔
Melodic: ✔
Soaring: ✔
Danceable: ✘
Same as everything else: ✘
Crowd: ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Good: ✔

Let me tell you how I got into country music. I was at Glastonbury. It was the second night. I went back to crawl into my tent, but some twat had stolen it.

The only place to rest was a giant tent hosted by some Christian group, but you know how Christians are. They offer you a bed, then keep yapping about a chap from donkey’s years ago who got murdered for my benefit, in line with some rules his dad had invented. Sometimes the dad or son will talk to you inside your head, but only in your head. It all sounded a bit fishy to me, and they didn’t let me sleep, so the next night I decided to just go home. Screw the festival and everyone in it.

I was walking to the exit in a foul mood, when suddenly I heard the voice of God. No, just kidding, it was Johnny Cash. It was the greatest voice I’d ever heard. I turned around and listened to the rest of his set. I got so into country music that I went to Nashville and got a job in a cheesy Grand Ol’ Opry theme park. Sadly, in Nashville they only like the rubbish modern country music. If you say you like Hank Williams, they ask which one.

So that’s how I came to skip YMO in favor of the Kensington Hillbillies. I’d also bumped into them earlier and they promised to play “Cocaine Blues”, which is just about the best country music song for a festival. It’s also a good moral lesson for the kids, teaching them that it’s bad to snort cocaine and shoot your girlfriend.

So it’s early Sunday evening and the Hillbillies should have no people at all watching them. Kazuyoshi Saito is on the White Stage, YMO are on the Green Stage, and this is the third set this weekend from the country canucks. But there’s a decent crowd of people.

The Hillbillies come on and play a trio of Hank Williams tunes. Then they play one of their own tunes, and it’s actually better than the first three (to be fair to Mr Williams, they didn’t play the songs his way). Anyway, they prove that a bunch of boys from Toronto can write country every bit as well as some grizzly old sod from Tennessee. There’s a blatant Johnny Cash riff in there, but I think it’s deliberate.

Next they play a tune by that classic country band The Clash. It’s “Straight To Hell”. The singer sounds like Bob Dylan when he sings it. That’s neither a criticism nor a compliment. It’s just an observation.
And then, well, they still aren’t playing Cocaine Blues. Have they forgotten? Did they decide not to let some random pot-bellied white boy help them with their set list?

Time’s moving on.

“We’ve got two more songs for you,” says the singer. Yes? Come ON! “This one’s from our latest album.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. It’s quite good, but it’s not what I ordered.

And so to the last song. All or nothing now. Play Cocaine Blues or I’ll rip you mercilessly in the review.
“Da dong-dong dong-dong dong-dong dong-dong dong dong dong dong, early one morning while makin’ the rounds, I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down…”

Nice. And let’s have more country music at Fuji Rock.

The JoJo Swing Quintet. Can you guess what they sounded like from the name? Yeah, that’s exactly what they sounded like. Can you guess how many there were? That’s right, 5. Wanna know what they looked like?

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Not everything in life needs to be complicated.

As I mentioned in the Osaka Monaurail review, Lincoln gave up the first 25 minutes of his set for OM to play on. What a gent.

As you can guess, at 4:25 on a Sunday morning, when the last band leaves and the final DJ starts his set, there’s a stream of people heading for the door. Lincoln’s first tune is a slow-burner, too, so most people don’t know what’s coming. I’ve heard Lincoln DJ dozens of times, and his sets can be jazz, funk, soul or rare groove. Last night it was all of that, and probably the most classics I’ve ever heard him play.

I Know you got Soul, You’re Losing Me, Funky Nassau, Tighten Up, It’s a New Day, the latin version of Wouldn’t Change a Thing, Move on Up… if this were 4 hours earlier, the place would be heaving. But it was late, and I counted around 90 people in the tent. The dancers probably loved it. It seemed Lincoln had brought some of his jazz dance mates and they were putting on a show. Every so often, the DJ would leave his records spinning and come down to boogie too. That man is about 40 years old, but dances like a 16 year old.

After his late start, Lincoln was allowed to run on past his 5am finish time, but my body wouldn’t let me. I crawled to my bed.

photo – 府川展也

If you’ve seen Osaka Monaurail before, you know what they were like here. The songs change, but the sound doesn’t. It’s 1960s funk, razor sharp, note perfect, played by a troupe of musicians in matching uniforms. The J.B.s of Japan. The intro is always heavy and fast. After a couple of tracks, frontman Ryo Nakata (James Brown) comes out in a slightly different uniform and begins yelping like someone who has 12 seconds to explain how to defuse a bomb. The trumpet players spin their horns in unison between notes, they bow together, they don’t seem to need any cues to know what’s next and when to step left or right.

“Can you do the mashed potato?” asks Nakata of the audience. If he means make like a shapeless white blob, then yes. Otherwise, no.

They play Lee Dorsey’s “Ride your Pony”. A song with just 9 words. “Ride your pony, get on your pony and ride!”. I love funk lyrics – they never try to be clever, and rarely contain more than a dozen words in total. Most seem to be lists of things the singer likes to eat. “Mashed potato, popcorn! Mashed potato, popcorn!”, or hints about sex. And really, that’s a much more honest account of our thoughts than anything Bob Dylan ever wrote.

As the set went on, my mind was wandering, thinking about what it must be like to be in this band. When I saw the New Mastersounds, Obrint Pas, Mate Power and Asakusa Jinta, I thought “wish I could play in that band”. But Osaka Monaurail? No way. You probably have 14 hours of rehearsals a day, I bet there’s no talking back to Nakata, and any money they make, after being split 9 ways, goes to the tailor to keep producing new costumes. I wouldn’t do it. Great show though. In fact, it was so good that the next DJ, Lincoln, began clapping for more. He then gave up 25 minutes of his set to hear more Monaurail.

Photo: 府川展也 (more here)

Daisuke Kuroda is the DJ I always wanted to emulate, but couldn’t. He plays very deep, dancefloor funk 45s – last night included JB, the Highlighters Band, and one rendition of Tighten Up, though  I forget which.

Kuroda is the only person I know who can mix funk flawlessly without scratching. And he likes to switch the tracks up quickly. I’ve heard that Keb Darge reckons Kuroda is his favourite DJ. Pretty easy to see why.

I know Kuroda plays original issues, so by my reckoning, the set we heard last night would have cost more than a million yen to compile.

Conventional wisdom says that crowds come to the Palace for bands, and leave for a wee while the DJ plays. But Kuroda had a packed floor – as long as you don’t count the patch that Lincoln (who would DJ later) and his pals had created for their wild jazz dancing.

Daisuke on the decks is like a doctor performing surgery. He doesn’t dance, not even a little, his hands move slowly and deliberately,  and he has a poker face throughout. You’d think he was oblivious to the crowd, except that he played a masterful set that had the place up and dancing.

Photo 府川展也 (more here)

Obrint Pas were scheduled for an accoustic mini show at the Ganban signing booth last night. I was expecting a couple of members to be strumming guitars, but the Spaniards had other ideas. The entire band crammed into the tent and began a set that would have been right at home on one of the main stages. They’d brought a crowd too.

If you saw their Orange Court show, you’ll know that Obrint Pas aren’t very good at leaving the stage. They thank the audience, play a little bit, thank the audience, leave, come back, thank the audience, leave, come back, thank the audience…

When they finally stopped their Ganban show, the crowd began chanting the band’s name, and the musicians didn’t need any more persuading to start up again. When they finally stopped, the crowd began chanting the band’s name, and the musicians didn’t need any more persuading to start up again. When they finally stopped, the crowd began chanting the band’s name, and the musicians didn’t need any more persuading to start up again.

Eventually, the singer called it a day, but the brass players headed into the crowd and carried on playing. I think they won a few fans here this year. Including me.

Yeah, it’s Asian Dub Foundation again. Fuji Rock’s favourite band. This is their 8th appearance at the festival. You know what to expect, you know it’s gonna be wild, and you know you’re never going to wish you’d seen that other band on the other stage.

This year they’re touring their new History of Now album. Any Asian Dub Foundation album  makes you want to see the band live. Listen to Temple Siren on the band’s latest album, all thundering drums and siren guitars, and you desperately want to hear it live. Preferably outdoors with the sound wailing off into the distance. Sadly, they didn’t play it. But we got Urgency Frequency, History of Now and New London Eye, and I’ll settle for that.

Unless I was knocked out in the mosh, they didn’t play London to Tokyo either, which would have surely made the crowd happy.  But we got Flyover, of course, and that’s when the moshing kicked into high gear. The only other time I’ve seen this field look so deadly was when The Pogues played.

Asian Dub have been going for about 500 years, and they still sound fresh as hell. What happened to all the other Asian breakbeat acts?

Anyway, the set proper petered out with w bit of a whimper as percussionist Cyber gently eased off the drums. This, of course, means there’ll be an encore. Nobody ends a set like that. The encore is Fortress Europe, dedicated to Japan. They tell Japan to keep bangin’ on the walls of the government until they tell the truth. I think the crowd misheard it as “keep bangin’ into that big fat white guy”. I like a revved up crowd, but I might have to watch from a bit further back next time they’re here. And for sure, there will be a next time.

Have you spotted these hearts walking around today? There are three of them, and I suspect they’re the same sorts who usually dress up as stilt-walking robot alien things to give the kids nightmares. This year they’re much more cuddly and fun, but still, this one got in my way, so I smashed her. Not really.

“Geschleizen Kunst die Verhumfen Schnauser?” or something along those lines, said the lead singer of Mate Power, in a tone indicating a question. Nobody knew the answer, or what he was asking. For the rest of the set he bantered in English, then sang in Spanish, and, I believe, sang in Japanese too. Quite the little polylingual clever clogs.

Anyway, let’s talk music. It was a ska, cumbia and rock mash. I couldn’t have chosen a better band to knock the hangover from my head. The Orange Court was surprisingly busy for 2pm on a hangover day, and people had come to dance.

The Power had the crowd on their side with a singalong whose only lyrics were “Nihon, Nihon!”. I wondered how they’d play the song in, say, the Federated States of Micronesia.

Mate Power’s big surprise was to introduce Tetsuya Kajiwara from the Blue Hearts, plus a couple of other blokes who may or may not be famous. It gave the band some serious percussion section. It also meant they could finish their set with a cover of the Blue Hearts’ “Linda Linda”, and although I wasn’t close enough to see for sure, I think it was the Mate Power crew that was singing the Japanese lyrics.

Photo: Julen Esteban-Pretel

The worst thing about FRF 11 is the lack of pizza at the Field of Heaven. That place was not just the best grub at the festival (if you could handle the one or two hour wait), but it was a lifeline for vegetarians. Now it’s gone, and so has the veggie food stand in the Avalon field. Which leaves… not very much to eat. Here’s one option – in the World Food Court. Tofu in a pita with coleslaw. It’s not exactly high gastronomy, but it is food. For strict veggies, there’s also a pizza place in the Oasis area, and the Levain stand in the Field of Heaven. Anything else? I can’t find it. A bit poor for a festival with so many hippies.

So the Manu Chao set at the Palace of Wonder was pretty wild. There must be some bruised torsos this morning. And just about the only band this year that could reasonably follow that was Obrint Pas. The only problem was, there was an hour of Don Letts DJing in between. Ordinarily that would have been a nice set, but sandwiched between these two manic sets, all it did was thin out the crowd.
By the time Obrint Pas came on, I half wanted to run and tell everyone to come back, and half wanted to crawl into my bed.
For the rest of the set, whenever there was a lull, my legs turned to spaghetti my eyes starting drooping and I shuffled towards the door. Then they’d suddenly rev it up again and I had to come back and dance.
There were an awful lot of people on the stage, including a DJ, though I couldn’t tell what he was contributing to the sound. I’m pretty sure they could leave him at home and split the fee between fewer people. But it’s up to them, I guess.
Anyway, can Obrint Pas recreate anything close to that when they play the Orange Court later today? Only one way to find out.

Photo: Julen Esteban-Pretel (Supported by NIKON)

Told you all so. I’ve been banging on for ages about how Asakusa Jinta at the Naeba Shokudo was one of the shows to see.

Sure enough, they brought the biggest crowd and the biggest sound that the tiny Shokudo stage has ever seen. They turned a little mud pit into a party, and hopefully a few more people found out how great this band is.

I knew they’d put on a show – I just didn’t know how they’d do it on this tiny stage. The answer – they left their sound system bike thing at home, and brought a regular bass instead of the giant steel thing. They forwent the flags and whatnot that makes their shows a spectacle, but they didn’t change a thing about their sound. The brass was blaring, the bass was pounding, everyone was dancing and I hope like hell someone at Smash saw it and books them for the Crystal Palace some year soon.

Photo: 直田亨 (Supported by NIKON)

I got to the White Stage very early. The roadies were doing their soundcheck for New Mastersounds. I was standing at the back of the field, drinking a beer, chatting to my pal. The soundcheck was pretty good. A bit too good. Then my pal said “this must be the band – roadies don’t play like that.” He was right. The band were on stage, doing their own soundcheck by playing a mini set. “Don’t listen yet, this isn’t the real show,” says one of them. But the field was already jumping and the Mastersounds can claim the Best Soundcheck of the Festival award.

Twenty minutes later, they’re back. “Would anyone like to hear some music?” asks Simon the drummer. I wouldn’t mind.

As you’d expect, the Mastersounds brought the funk. As usual, they mixed revved up versions of their recordings with a funk and jazz jam session. The band were lined-up along the front of the stage – no back row for the drummer – and it’s obvious why. Not only is the sticksman the most talkative character, but there’s no backseat for any of these boys. Even when they’re jamming, they’re tighter than a (insert clean or smutty analogy here, as you please).

When Eddie Roberts gets crazy with the jazz guitar, it’s clear why musicians rave about this guy. He took his guitar lessons way more seriously than I did.

After a set of mostly ups and a few mellow moments, they end with the massive “Nervous”, but take it through rolling funk, a kind of free jazz and probably tons of other genres. I missed Manu Chao for this, and it turned out to be worth it.

They also announced they’ll be replacing Buddy Guy on Sunday night. Good call.

Photo: 北村勇祐 (Supported by NIKON)

There are people at Fuji Rock that weren’t even born when Little Creatures formed. I suppose that’s true of every band, because people bring their tiny kids to the festival to give them an early taste of tinnitus and mud. But still, LC formed in 1987, which is like a long time ago.

Little Creatures are playing the Naeba Shokudo, the smallest stage at the festival. About 200 feet away, Coldplay are playing the massive Green Stage, and for some reason they’ve attracted the bigger crowd. Both bands play dreamlike music, but only one of them puts you to sleep.

I should confess that I wasn’t exactly watching Little Creatures. I had my back to them, drinking ale in the World Food Court. But I could hear them, so I think it still counts. And part of the Fuji Rock experience is having a top band as background music.

When the first song ended, wafts of “Yellow” came across the trees, and everyone shared a moment – giving the giants a miss and choosing the minnows. Then the Creatures kick off again and drown out Coldplay.

I’d describe their music, but I was only half listening. I asked the people at the table to give me some comments for this piece, but all I got was: “quite tasty, aren’t they?” and “they know how to slap a bass.” Hopefully that’s enough.

Photo: 直田亨 (Supported by NIKON)

So I’m at the Gypsy Avalon stage. It’s pretty grizzly weather. There are about 50 people standing in their rain gear. Aoya Asuka comes on with her two pals and starts playing… I asked the guy standing next to me what kind of music it might be. We settled on NHK children’s telly singalong. Picture a little cartoon train chugging along, mouthing the lyrics with a big smile. The song even ends with a “bom tiddly bom bom, BOM BOM.”
Then Asuka and her pals leave the stage. Then someone comes on to introduce Asuka and her pals. It seems a bit late, one tune into the set. “Is everyone OK? No problems?” asks the announcer. I think the rain constitutes a problem, but I didn’t say anything.
Then Asuka and her mates come back on and they seem to be a different band. This time they’re playing Gypsy Avalon music, which is dreamy, happy, wavy jazzy folk pop about happy things. It would’ve been better in the sun, but it was what it was.

Photo: 北村勇祐 (Supported by NIKON)

I was walking past the Ohashi Trio to get to the Cafe de Paris, and very nearly stayed there. That show sounded bloody great. But I had Cassette Con Los circled in the schedule and I persevered. Glad I did.

Can someone at Smash book these guys for the Field of Heaven next year? They were the best start to the festival I could have asked for. They play calypso, but they seem to have stretched the genre a bit, getting jazzy in places, rocking out elsewhere, and I suspect all the tunes were their own, since the melodies were new to me and the lyrics all Japanese. I’m pretty sure one song was called “O-ha, baka da na” which is a pretty great title.

“We’re not used to being so far from the crowd,” says the singer. If I had to guess, I’d say they were about 20 inches from the crowd. Not sure where they usually play. But the quintet is clearly happy to be at Fuji, thanking us relentlessly, telling us they love us. It’s a feelgood start to the festival, everyone’s dancing, and even when the bassist snaps a string, the place grooves on until he fixes it.

They’re playing in ShimoKitazawa next Friday. I suggest you check them out.

Photo: 古川喜隆 via fujirockexpress.net

Ready? Fuji Rock Festival 2011 starts today. We’ll be reviewing over 160 acts, as well as trying to capture all the peripheral stuff that makes this festival so much more than just a bunch of bands. You can also follow us on Twitter (@Fujirock_com).

Let’s get this party started.

(Photo by Riko, from http://fujirockers.org)

Last year, a friend of mine came to Fuji Rock for a day. She checked out the Red Marquee, the Green Stage and… absolutely nothing else. That’s extreme, but I’d wager most people miss at least one stage. Here’s a little guide to the little stages.

Naeba Shokudo
I went to Fuji Rock Festival for three years before I figured out where the Naeba Shokudo stage was. I’d seen it, but never realised it was an official performance space. I thought it was just a noodle stand inviting their mates to busk. It’s fair to say that every act performing here is too big to perform here, and that’s what makes it so fun. This year’s lineup is the strongest ever: EKD, Asakusa Jinta and the Kensington Hillbillies should all be top shows.

The Pyramid Garden
This stage debuted last year in the campsite area, only for campers. Well, they deserve something for having to sleep in a tent on a mountain, in the shadow of a comfy hotel. It’s produced by the same people that set up those candle displays by the entrance to the Field of Heaven. This year, Sandii of Sandii and the Sunsets ought to be fun, and Takeshi Hosomi of Ellegarden and The Hiatus will play a solo set the day before his band plays the White Stage.

Cafe de Paris
It’s outside the festival proper, past the Orange Court, down by the river. The Cafe de Paris seems to be appearing every other year now, with a Frenchy cabaret theme. Big Willie is bringing his Burlesque show to the tent ever day, and JoJo Swing Quintet will also play three times. And then there’s this.

Day Dreaming & Silent Breeze
No idea. Never been to this stage in all the years I’ve been going to Fuji. But Fujirocker Dom says it’s worth a look. And you get to try the world’s longest cable car ride.

Mokudotei
A little wooden stage in the woods, and one of my favourite spots. You’ll find it halfway along the boardwalk that connects the White Stage to the Field of Heaven and the Orange Court. The Kensington Hillbillies and Olde Worlde ought to be worth checking out.

The first time I saw Osaka Monaurail (and the second, third and fourth times) was at an event called Searching. It was in La Fabrique, hosted by DJs Lincoln and Daisuke Kuroda. Fabrique doesn’t exist any more, and Searching hasn’t happened in a while, which is a shame because it was the best funk event in town.

Saturday night at the Palace of Wonder this year has all three acts, making it a sort of Searching revival. I asked Lincoln what he’s got in store for us.

You play jazz, rare groove, northern soul and deep funk… which can we expect at Fuji?

My little set is in the early morning, after Osaka Monaurail, so I’ll play Funk 45s, a few classics mixed with some rare bits… from the ’60s and ’70s to some of the great new funk band stuff like New Mastersounds, Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, The Bamboos and Speedometer. I’ll also play some northern soul, uptempo stuff, Archie Bell, Jackie Wilson, and from that maybe go into a some classic ’70s soul – Stevie wonder, Isley Brothers, Curtis Mayfield. Just all good, uplifting music that makes you dance with a smile on your face.

You played the same tent in 2007. How was it?

Last time I played was a ball. It was great being in the big tent, although the DJ decks were a bit far from the crowd. I like to play some tunes and dance along with everyone to them, but that didn’t stop me from running back and forth a few times. Good fun. Bring your dance shoes in a plastic bag. It’s great to play this obscure black music to a crowd that may not have heard those sounds before. So long live Fuji Rock.

Lincoln is playing the Palace of Wonder at 4am on Saturday. Osaka Monaurail plays the same stage from 3.15am, with Daisuke Kuroda on before them, at 2.15am.

The New Mastersounds will play the White Stage on Friday at 3.40pm.