…tickets.
There is no announcement of artists for the fest yet, but that doesn’t stop the true fans from getting their festival passes.
Smash and the Fuji Rock Festival have announced the first round of sales of “Hayawari” early bird tickets from Feb. 12 to Feb.20, 2011. Continue Reading…
Alberta Cross - Petter
I’ve stayed opening to closing note at only two shows at this year’s Fuji Rock festival–the absolutely phenomenal Them Crooked Vultures on Friday night, and the golden great John Fogerty on Saturday night. This afternoon I added Alberta Cross to to what will probably be my final full set viewing of the fest. Continue Reading…
The Real Jam
How many Sunday morning jam sessions (official ones) can there be at Fuji Rock? The answer is: your guess is as good as mine. I mean, Sunday morning is clearly for the keeners and the freshers and those of us that have to do this. Everyone else is ripening in their tents, sleeping off Saturday’s boozy festivities. So Sunday morning jam sessions are, like, soooo not on their radar. But there must be a few, since I ended up at one on the Avalon stage when I should have been at another at Field of Heaven. Continue Reading…
Go Chic
Or so they claim. The three gals from Taiwan (and a drummer guy that smacks out their straight ahead rock beats) opened Saturday night’s Rookie A Go-Go stage with an energetic dance pop set that had more than a few people braving the rain to see them. People like me. Continue Reading…
I meant to see the Cro-Magnons on the White stage around 6:30 tonight but I couldn’t. Someone old me they were canceled, or got in a car accident on the way up here, or there was food poisoning involved, or something. Well, that’s what I thought I heard when I was talking to another Fuji Rock staff wri–err, I mean friend–at the Green stage watching John Fogerty. There are times at a festival like Fuji Rock where the festival takes over. You have no control. Circumstances are dictated to you. Such was tonight and the wonderful Fogerty performance on the Green Stage. While I hade every intention to watch only half of the set, and then duly hit White stage for some awesome Cro-Magnon-ness, I just couldn’t do it. John Fogerty was the feel good hit of festival, belting out songs that are not just hits but STANDARDS at this point in time with a voice that has on ly gotten stronger with time. “Just one more song.” That’s what I told myself. Then one more. I kept waiting for “Fortunate Son” while Nick was hanging out for “Proud Mary”. We got them as a one-two punch right at the end. From the moment they came on stage til the last barre chord I had shit eating grin on my fest. This is the way way music at the festival is supposed to make you feel. You dance like you just don’t care. You sing just because you wanna. You play a little air guitar. Sorry but sometimes the best laid plans get overruled. I asked Shawn about the Cro-Mags. He said they were “awesome,” and that it was “packed to the tits.” So there you go.
It’s sparse but very groovin’ here at Orange Court right now. The rain has stopped and Haitian chanteuse Emeline Michel is serenading an appreciative audience in sultry French with a conga drum rhythm and a guy on like a 25 string bass.
She moves from ultra silky from the heart odes to up eat Haitian dance rhythms with ease. Long red dress and cornrows and hips all over the place. The crowd is making deep mud pits in the area in front of the stage from dancing and clapping. I’ve got a big smile on my face. I don’t think it’s as big as the beautiful Emeline’s right now.
Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks just stepped onstage at Field of Heaven. Blues licks, crunchy rhythm, backbeat and some tasty Hammond organ. And her voice is soaring. Rain? What rain.
Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks
The xx
I made it from Taylor Hawkins at the Field of Heaven to The xx at the Red Marquee on Friday afternoon in record time – in no small part due to the panel van driver with a case and a half of warm lemon chu-hi strewn across the dashboard and bench seat of his truck. Sometimes getting to the gig on time means taking your life in your hands. Thanks Dom – for flagging this dude down.
ANYWAY, The xx. I busted a move and risked my neck to see their set and honestly I have to look back and say, “Why?” Don’t get me wrong, I quite like The xx with their valiumy Cure bass lines and their telling-you-a-secret-in-the-middle-of-the-night singing, but at 6:30 on Friday night it’s a fucking downer. The sun is down, the moon is up, it’s time to get your cocktail on and reach for the stars (or at least the blinking lights) and this was more like falling asleep in your car and slowly succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. With a couple thousand other people. Who started ahead of you.
It’s not the band’s fault. This what they do. I could have chosen any other band playing at that moment at the festival, but I chose them. So really, I only have myself to blame. Oh, and the schedule organizers. Like, WTF?
Sorry Double X’ers. I don’t mean to be harsh. I like your music, but that set was just wrong venue, wrong time. You need a late, late set in a much more intimate venue.
The xx at Red Marquee
The stage here at Field of Heaven has cleared out – probably due to !!! and Muse, but that just means the hangers on are savoring it that much more.
The Clapton-esque blues rock from the Japanese roots rock stalwarts offered a little more laid back vibe than what was going on at the White and Green stages. Lots of camp stools and beers in cup holders were tuning in and crashing out to the stages last performer – and lots of air guitar helping out the vibe, too.
Some blues-Ed out covers, like The Beatles’ Ticket To Ride helped get people singing along and jamming with their air instruments.
Hard not to enjoy as a music fan what with no rain, the Tokyo Ale tent nearby and trippy lights projected all around the dark green mountainous backdrop.
If you don’t want to be in the cattle call of the main stages, a little Char grilling fits the order just right.
John Paul Jones
Rain ain’t nuthin. Them Crooked Vultures are somethin’. And the Green Stage was definitely thumpin’ on Friday with its second to last performance of the day.
Dave Grohl had already made an appearance up at the Field of Heaven sitting in on the kit with Taylor Hawkins and his Coattail Riders about 90 minutes earlier, so he was already primed. The crowd was, too, as evidenced by the huge eruption of applause when Grohl walked out on the Green Stage to his drum set. In fact, each member of the quote-unquote “supergroup” got their applause as the took the stage, but even the venerable John Paul Jones’ reception paled in comparison to that of Grohl.
From that point on, there wasn’t a lot of talk and a whole lotta rawk. Blasting through pretty much every song from their self-titled album, the Vultures stomped like rhythmich mnachines through time changes, key alterations, double stops and double kicks and an incredibly tasty solo from touring guitar player Alaines Johannes that lasted so long I thought the rest of the band was going to come out in new costumes. It could have gone on longer, for all I cared, because Johannes finger-picked his Fender Mustang into tone drenched state of bliss that was a complete left turn from the rest of the sets proceedings and showcased just how much each member of this band contributed to the sum of its parts.
I mean, this band is tight. And the only act so far that I stayed to watch from the rain soaked walk onstage to the last fading guitar note dissipated into the mountains. And I still wanted more.
I mean, let’s face it: how can you go wrong with Mssrs Grohl, Jones and Homme all onstage together? Easily the hardest rock act of this fest, one of the more technically proficient, and with degrees of separation that fan deep into modern rock iconology; this was a destination set that lived up to its bill. Hard to dance to? Yep. Easy to bash the shit outta your air drum kit? Fuckin’ right.
Mutemath had ‘em bouncing around at the Green stage on Friday afternoon, coming on strong with a driving first song, “Set It On Fire” – well at least that was the refrain – and some monster drumming courtesy of Darren King.
The New Orleans natives just set to pounding out some serious tunes with driving crunchy guitar provided by Gregg Hill, steady workman bass lines from Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, keyboards all over the place from leader Paul Meary (with help at time from Hill), and again, King’s powerhouse small kit monster drumming.
Song four saw Meary and the Hill both on some heavy synth duties, and bass player Mitchell-Cardenas joining King on the kit bashing the shit outta the toms.
And, yes, there is some keytar more than involved in the Mutemath set, making it easy for Meary to shuffle around guitar style around while playing.
I must have missed something the past few years because all the Japanese people around me seemed to know all the songs, so perhaps I’m just not that cool anymore. Even if they didn’t know the songs, the crowd swelled about halfway through to almost double the size and people started going off. I’m sure they made 10,000 new friends on Facebook today. And it’s not hard to see why. With some beautiful keyboard melodies between the driving rock progressions – sort of an American cross between U2 and Snow Patrol – and an energetic stage presence, they are an easy band to “Like”.
Mutemath on Green Stage
Grapevine on White stage
I don’t know much about Grapevine, the Japanese band that took to the White stage here at Fuji Rock around 1pm. My J-team colleagues advise me that they’ve been around for about ten years so it wasn’t much of a surprise to see the stage area packed with people there to rock out with them.
The surprise artists playing the Red Marquee tonight have been announced:
Hanafusa (Welcome)
Mustang
Beardyman
Narashirato
Last Orders
Cubismo Grafico 5
They start at 8 pm with Koichi Hanafusa welcoming all to the party – and then we rock!
Fuji pre-fest artists
Go Zen
It goes without saying Fuji Rock presents some serious logistical challenges to those people that want to see all their favorite bands, but my first recommendation for folks is something like this: go zen. Continue Reading…
Power Wellies
This one-ups the footwear debate for me – a guy with an admitted Wellies-and-short-shorts fetish.
These scintillating new gum boots from Orange can charge your mobile devices with the heat generated by your feet, and should be all the rage with the power hippies.
Developed for (and showcased at) the recent Glastonbury festival by Orange Mobile and renewable energy experts, Gotwind (ahem…), these boots:
“…use a unique ‘power generating sole’ that converts heat from your feet into an electrical current…”
A current they call – wait for it – “Welectricity”.
Go Chic
And by this, I mean bands, not attendees or virgin Fujirockers like Clay.
One of the things myself and fellow Fujirockers really look forward to each year is getting a chance to see which new (or near new) bands get to give it a shot on the Rookie A Go-Go stage late in the evening at the Palace of Wonder. Continue Reading…
Asian Kung Fu Generation
They throw their own annual arena festivals, they look like button down rock and roll geeks rather than the anime super heroes their name suggests, and they’re the darling of the Japanese music industry’s record release cycle. They are: Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Continue Reading…
The Cro Magnons
For those of you arriving to Japan and the Fuji Rock Festival this year from outside the country, the plethora of choices for Japanese bands can be overwhelming, if not downright intimidating. All those kanji and kana band names looking like squiggles and doodles don’t tell you diddly. Well never fear. The kind people here at Fujirock.com can help point you to some great Japanese artists that just might be in your strike zone. Shawn has already touched on Ogre You Asshole, Coglione on Straightener, and there will be plenty more coming down the stretch。You can also access our shifty search button in the top right for past posts on Japanese bands you may not know of. [ED: We should supply a link for that]
I’m gonna start off with an easy one for those who like some straight ahead, stage breakin’, converse high top wearin’, three chord playin’, up and down jumpin’ rock: The Cro Magnons (ザ・クロマニヨンズ). And they certainly won’t be hard to find at the fest. Continue Reading…
Human Cannonball and Wheel of Death
Quietly slipping in under the radar the other day (Don Coglione’s Crystal Palace update notwithstanding) have been some minor tweaks to the Fuji Rock 2010 line-up.
The complete Palace of Wonder, Gypsy Avalon, Day Dreaming and Silent Breeze details have been scheduled, as have announcements for the death spectacle that is the Palace Arena, Fischerspooner at All Night Fuji, and DJ Alexis from Hot Chip added to Sunday night’s Red Marquee lineup. Continue Reading…
Codeine Velvet Club
You might know Jon Lawler, the songwriter and founder of Codeine Velvet Club, better as “Jon Fratelli” the singer, songwriter, and guitar player for Scottish band The Fratellis.
I liked The Fratellis for about five minutes in 2006. For those five minutes though, I really liked them. The Glaswegian styled drawl and dark humour on “indie” rock tunes like “Henrietta” and “Chelsea Dagger” of that first album Costello Music was good train riding music, as I skulked my way around the ¥250 生ビール (draft beer) oyaji salaryman joints with my cheap friends in Kanda and Ueno where I was working at the time. It got old real quick, though, as yet another rash of similar styled UK indie guitar rock broke out yet again on the arms of Japan that year.
Unfortunately, their second album, 2008’s derivative Here We Stand didn’t even make it my to iPod. I don’t think it even made to a shuffle list.
Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders
Someday, Taylor Hawkins may decide to step out from behind the shadow of his 13 year day job as drummer for rock stalwarts the Foo Fighters. When he does, his fairly extensive musical work experience with Grohl and others he’s played and wood shedded with – like some guys from some band called Led Zeppellin and some other dudes from another band called Queen – should come across in honed chops, creativity and confidence. With journeyman cred like that, he will most likely have found a way to offer something uniquely his own, and when he does it could be wildly entertaining. Until then, though, his current side project, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders, is pretty much just that, but that ain’t all bad. Continue Reading…
The xx
They go by the name The xx, (”the double x”) and this young trio of friends from Wadsworth, London have created a quiet little noise about themselves over the past year.
They are also one of the most recent additions to the Fuji Rock 2010 lineup. Continue Reading…
Miike Snow
And I know that you pronounce their name as “Mike Snow” because I heard them say it themselves in this brief interview clip here.
Go figure. They’re cool Swedish guys. Well, two thirds of them, at least. There is a cool American singer/songwriter involved, as well. And when you’re cool, you drop cool names like Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (the controversial director of Ichi the Killer), or at least you borrow cool romaji versions of Japanese names who you then say influenced your moniker.
The original Fuji Rock Festival 2010 line-up announcement had me most excited about Them Crooked Vultures, Massive Attack and Broken Social Scene playing. I mean, those were my scan-the-lineup-quickly-and-tell-my-friends highlights (with a dash of Vampire Weekend and Hot Chip so I could still look cool). But a funny thing happened on the way to these forums – I dusted off my old digital copy of Air’s Moon Safari and I started chillin’ – and riding some new wave Fuji Rock Festival connections. Continue Reading…
Broken Social Scene 2006
It’s been a few years since Broken Social Scene has played at Fuji Rock Festival (they were last here in 2006). It’s nice to have some solid representation from the The Great White North and so early in the lineup announcements. Continue Reading…
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