Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

Radiohead's Thom Yorke on the Green Stage in 2010

While the first wave of Fuji Rock acts are usually announced in early March, seeing as how Smash broke from tradition and revealed headliners The Stones Roses back in November it’s not that surprising that today they released the news that Radiohead will also be headlining FRF ‘12.

This will be Radiohead’s first time to play at FRF.  Frontman Thom Yorke performed on the Green Stage at 2010’s fest with his Atoms for Peace side project.  Reviews of that show were mixed, but I’m guessing a proper Radiohead will draw mass accolades from rain slicker sporting scribes and fans alike.

So we’ve got Radiohead and The Stone Roses on board already for FRF ‘12.  Who’s your guess for the fest’s third headliner?

Thom Yorke photo by Hiroshi Maeda and used with the permission of Fuji Rock Express ‘10.

The plan was to post this earlier, but we’ve all been swamped over the last few weeks.  Anyhow, better late than never, right?

So usually FRF officially announces the dates for the next edition of the fest on New Year’s Day.  Then they release the first wave of acts at the beginning of March.  Breaking with tradition, in November Smash revealed that FRF ’12 will take place from July 27 – July 29 and shared that the recently reunited Stone Roses will be one of the headliners.

Early bird tickets for FRF ’12 will go on sale in early February.  Other acts likely won’t be announced until March (like past years), but we’ll keep you posted if any more names come out before then.

Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown’s voice was a wee bit rough when he performed on the White Stage at FRF ‘10.  Hopefully he’s in better form next summer.  Check out a review of Ian Brown from FRF ‘10 here.

Amadou and Mariam were nothing short of amazing @ FOH

Here were my top-five fave performances from FRF ‘11.  Click on the links to read live reviews of each act’s set at the fest.

1) Amadou and Mariam @ Field of Heaven (7/29) — review here

2) Warpaint @ Red Marquee (7/31) — review here

3) Battles @ Green Stage (7/30) — review here

4) No Age @ White Stage (7/31) — review here

5) Tie: Washed Out @ Red Marquee (7/29) — review here & Obrint Pas @ Orange Court (7/30) — review here

As always, I had a blast in Naeba and hope y’all did too!

Photo by Julen Esteban-Pretel

DAMN, THAT WAS F#CKIN' YUMMY

On Saturday morning I walked by the “Japannize Style Handmade Hamburger Shop” that was located near the wristband pickup area.  When I saw their sign boasting that they made “Fuckin’ Yummy Hamburger!!” I knew that I had to try one at some point during the fest.

Feeling a little hungry late Sunday night, I decided to swing by the stand on my way to the Palace of Wonder.  Man, am I ever glad I did.  For 500 yen, I was served up a good-sized burger with cheese, egg, and bacon.  The cook used a mini blow torch to melt the shredded cheese on top of the burger.  How badass is that!

Sticking true to their word, the burger was pretty f#ckin’ yummy.  So much so that I ordered another one after stumbling out of the Palace of Wonder sometime after 6 am on Monday morn.  The second one was even better than the first!

Otuka Hiroyuki getting lost in the music at Gypsy Avalon

I never expected to be covering Otuka Hiroyuki to Madre Tierra at this year’s fest.  A Sunday afternoon meeting with our site’s esteemed head honcho forced me to miss out on one of my assigned reviews.  Looking to pick up another act to write about instead, I noticed that none of our staff was tapped to write about Sunday’s night’s Gypsy Avalon headliner, so off I went to see Otuka Hiroyuki to Madre Tierra.

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Envy in the Red Marquee

Envy have a very dedicated local fanbase.  Don’t believe me?  There were people literally running through the Oasis food court and into the Red Marquee as Tokyo five-piece took to the stage at dinnertime on Sunday evening.  These folks obviously wanted to ensure that they caught as much of the act’s hour-long set as possible.

Focusing on material from last year’s “Recitation” early on, Envy’s post-rock/screamo hybrid sounded stellar on “Worn Heels and the Hands We Hold” and “Dreams Coming to an End.”  During the latter cut, Tetsuya Fukagawa jumped onto the platform between the stage and the photo pit to holler out his impassioned lyrics while guitarists Nobukata Kawai and Masahiro Tobita thrashed around wildly. Continue Reading…

Folks grabbing Merch from their fest faves

With a massive crowd of people crowded around the Green Stage for Yellow Magic Orchestra, there’s absolutely no queue for t-shirts.  Popping up for a quick look, I was surprised to see that the most expensive tee at the fest is for Asian Dub Foundation, who are charging 4,000 yen for a shirt.  There are a few acts charging 3,500 yen, while the rest are charging between 2,500 – 3,000 yen to sport their moniker across your chest.

Best deal of the fest seems to be from The Get Up Kids who are selling hoodies for 3,500 yen.  It may be summer, but it gets cool in the mountains after dark, so that GUK sweatshirt could come in handy later tonight.

A Whole Lot Of Rock From No Age @ FRF

A large crowd gathered at the White Stage for No Age’s Sunday afternoon showcase. With the sun finally shining and the temperature rising, rain suits were tossed aside and the crowd was dressed in proper summer attire making it much easier for all to move along to the Los Angeles duo’s noisy rock anthems. Despite things heating up, guitarist Randy Randall sported a toque early on. He wisely abandoned it half-way through the act’s 50-minute set to reveal a sweaty mess of hair.

Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt were in fine form as they unleashed a full-on rock assault on the Fuji Rock masses. Tearing through distorted gems from last year’s lauded “Everything In Between” and older cuts like “Boy Void” from 2007’s fittingly titled “Weirdo Rippers” there was no shortage of awesome tunes to be heard blasting from the White Stage’s large speakers.

Proving that size doesn’t matter, No Age turned out a whole lot of rock ‘n’ roll with just two dudes. Pausing briefly to address the audience, Spunt opted to keep things simple and shouted “We love you guys.” Judging by the roar from the audience, the feeling was mutual.

Photo by 古川喜隆
For more photos go here.

Oh Sunshine Help Usher In A Sunny Sunday At FRF

On Friday, Sunny Day Service were unable to stop the rain at FRF.  Oh Sunshine fared much better, though.  The light rain that had been falling all Sunday morning let up right before the act took to the stage at 10:20 am.

Despite their early starting time, the Tokyo-based band were still able to half-fill the Red Marquee.  The duo of vocalist Emily Connor and guitarist Mikio Hirama brought along a backing bassist and drummer to help them flesh out selections from their eponymous debut EP.

Connor bounced around and sang while the group knocked out solid bluesy rock.  Hirama got his chance to shine on “I’ll Take You Down To The Riverside.”  The track had a bit of a southern rock feel and included a searing solo from Hirama who hoisted his guitar above his head and shook it as the track came to an end.

Making an effort to look as good as they sounded, during the next cut, Connor paused mid-song to compliment Hirama’s fashionable footwear, exclaiming “I love those shoes.  Those are some great fucking shoes for Fuji Rock.”

Photo by 佐俣美幸
For more photos go here.

Takeshi Hosomi, the frontman of Tokyo’s The Hiatus, hurt himself last weekend while in Hokkaido for the Join Alive Festival and is wearing a walking cast.  His management doesn’t want any pictures of this circulating around, though, and blocked journalists from taking photos during The Hiatus Saturday evening White Stage performance.  I’m not sure exactly why they went to all this trouble.  How many music photographers focus on musicians’ feet?

Emerging onstage with a slight limp, Hosomi’s walking cast was occasionally flashed across the White Stage’s projection screen.  And you know what?  No one seemed to care.

The large crowd at White Stage was much more interested in The Hiatus’ music.  Hosomi was all smiles while leading his group through tracks like “Monkeys” and “The Ivy” from last year’s “Anomaly.”  The quintet sounded great onstage and delivered all of their punked up dramatic rockers with infectious energy.  Considering Hosomi was previously in Ellegarden and The Hiatus also includes former Thee Michelle Gun Elephant bassist Koji Ueno and the fantastic Takashi Kashikura on drums from Toe everyone who would expect anything less?

Nearly a dozen years later, Something To write home about still excites the masses

Get Up Kids’ vocalist Matt Pryor greeted fest-goers at the White Stage on Saturday evening with a hearty, “What’s up Fuji Rock?  It’s good to be back.”

Since their last visit to FRF in 2002 (which was on the White Stage as well), the Get Up Kids have broken up, reunited, and released their first full-length in seven years, January’s “There Are Rules.”  Drawing a good-sized crowd, the act opened with a new song before breaking into “Action & Action” from 1999’s “Something to Write Home About,” far and away their best loved piece of work.  The crowd roared their approval at the track and excitedly sang along with Pryor.

That basically sums up The Get Up Kids 50-minute set. Continue Reading…

Seoul rockers Apollo 18 are only the second Korean band to play FRF since 2005.  And it appears that the Red Marquee staff are happy to see them!

I visited briefly with the group this morning before their Red Marquee set (which starts in 20 minutes) and they were backstage answering questions from stage staff about where to get good Korean BBQ in Seoul.  The happy workers were eagerly scribbling notes with directions and restaurant names.  Nothing like some tasty Korean eats to bring people together!

Bunch of Hillbillies Entertaining Folks On The Boardwalk

The second of Kensington Hillbillys three FRF performances took place Saturday afternoon on the Mokudotei boardwalk stage.  The laidback forest surroundings were a perfect fit for the Canadian quintet’s country tunes.

Drawing a sizable crowd early on (that continued to grow with each song), the group sounded great on takes of Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Lookin’” and a fantastic version of The Clash’s “Straight to Hell.”  Frontman Steve Ketchen’s twang-tinged vocals and slowed down drawl fit both wonderfully.

Several numbers included fiddle and stand up bass, both of which added an extra kick to the group’s old time anthems.  And Stew Crookes’ pedal steel guitar sounded fantastic throughout the 45-minute showing.  While the band’s covers proved to be popular, originals like “Dyin’ (is Just a Part of Livin’)” and “A Country Road” were just as well received with folks on the boardwalk clapping along and a few even kicking their feet up and doing a bit of two-stepping.

Photo by 中島たくみ
More photos here.

Rib Dinner

I’m a big fan of The Simpsons “Homer the Great” episode and love Patrick’s Stewarts’ line, “In honor of this momentous occasion … we’re having ribs!”

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Walking along the boardwalk today, I saw that someone had written “Girls Generation” in big letters followed by the names of the K-pop act members and “Korea” at the very end.

Girls Generation thankfully won’t be appearing at Fuji Rock, but their fellow countrymen Apollo 18 will.  The post-hardcore and post-rock trio won “Rookie of the Year” at the 2010 Korean music award and played at SXSW this spring.  And although they are a far cry from K-pop and have a whole lot less sexed-up outfits and dance routines, I’m banking they will still be pretty damn entertaining.  They play on Sunday morning at 11:30 am in the Red Marquee.  They’ll do a short acoustic performance and interview Sunday afternoon at 3 pm at the InterFM booth, too.

Washed Out At The Red Marquee

Admittedly, my expectations for Washed Out’s 11 pm Friday night Red Marquee set were low. Band mastermind Ernest Greene and his backing players made there Japan debut back in May at Freaks Music Festival ‘11.  Reviews of that gig were far from glowing.  One friend simply said, “Yep, they definitely sounded washed out.”

That wasn’t the case in the Red Marquee.  Greene was a full on rock star as he lead led his group through chillwave anthems from his new “Within and Without” full-length debut.  It was a huge party onstage with one of the supporting musicians sporting a headdress and Greene bouncing around and waving his arms to rile up an already excited audience.  Hopping off the stage onto the platform above the photo pit, he ran end-to-end clapping his hands above his head, causing the crowd to follow suit.  Getting back onto the stage he shouted “Pick it up” to both his bandmates and fest-goers before starting another mass clap-along.

Sadly the act wrapped things up five minutes before their scheduled finish time.  Everyone definitely would have been happy with one more song.  Before exiting, Greene called out, “Thank you so much.  It’s been incredible!” He wasn’t kidding.

Photos by 府川展也.
More photos here.

Techincal Difficulties Can't Slow Uhnellys Down

Tokyo duo Uhnellys set started five minutes later than scheduled while sound issues were sorted.  When it was finally time to begin, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Kim started making several a capella vocal loops to provide backing for the first cut.  And then things crapped out.

I’m not sure what exactly went wrong, but suddenly four techs were on stage messing with the amps in an effort to get things sorted.  Wanting to keep the people gathered at Gypsy Avalon entertained, Kim called for the stage’s MCs and told them to make the delay into a “talk show” by asking him questions.

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A Little Post-rock to go with your lunch

One of the three Taiwanese bands playing at FRF, there was a good turnout at Gypsy Avalon for Sugar Plum Ferry’s Saturday lunchtime set.

One guitarist was seated on a chair, the other embraced the classic shoegaze pose of staring at his feet while playing, and the bassist faced the drummer with his backed turned towards the crowd.  Despite the low-key start, the act’s instrumental post-rock music was strong enough to pull in bodies walking from White Stage to Gypsy Avalon.  There were lots of quiet pretty buildups, and the loud distorted bits that followed had many folks nodding their heads in approval.  A handful of people were even dancing on Avalon’s muddy hill. The seated guitarist eventually stood up and did a bit of trashing around during the noisy parts, but not too much … it was pretty early in the day after all.  He’s obviously learned the importance of pacing yourself at multi-day summer music fests.

Photo by 輪千希美
More photos here.

A busy man

After playing Naeba Shokudo on Friday night, Little Creatures performed on Saturday afternoon at Field of Heaven.  Clad completely in White, the trio’s tight psysh-tinged, jammy grooves kept the FOH faithful dancing.  Playing bass and keyboards, perhaps Masato Suzuki could give Battles a helping hand later today.  The players in the fantastic Green Stage act are constantly playing two instruments at once, something Suzuki showed he can handle with no problems.

Photo by 北村勇祐.
More photos here.

Hanggai Get The Avalon Hippies Drinking and Moving

Hanggai are playing three sets at FRF in the span of 24 hours. The first was on the very cool Mokudotei boardwalk stage, the second at the slightly bigger Gypsy Avalon, and the third will be in the large Orange Court. If the septet could have worked two more performances into their schedule, we may have seen them gracing the Green Stage before the weekend was over.

Based out of Beijing and comprised of Chinese and Mongolian musicians, Hanggai use a mix of western and traditional Mongolian instruments along with throat singing to create a dynamic hybrid of entrancing world music and folk.

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Olde Worlde and Pal On The Boardwalk

Olde Worlde is the stage name of solo artist Sohhei Numata.  For his Mokudotei appareance on the FRF boardwalk, Numata brought along another guitarist to help him flesh out tracks from his newly released sophomore effort, “The Lemon Shark.”  The disc coincidently includes a cut called “Have You Seen the Rain,” something we’ve seen all day long today.

Around 60 people hung out in the forest to listen to Olde Worlde’s 45 minute folk set.  When he sings, Numata’s soft voice has a slight feminine edge to it that makes his vocals unique.  While I thought little stood out about his performance, he’s gigged at Summer Sonic and Rock in Japan in addition to FRF so he’s obviously doing something right.

Near the end of the concert, he launched into an arty acoustic rocker.  The song’s opening was peppered with a series of F-bombs.  And although I’m in no way against some good “olde” fashioned cussing, shouting out “fuck” several times seemed really out of place in Mokudotei’s lush, serene surroundings.

Photo by 府川展也.
More photos here.

Sunny Day Service On The White Stage

In 2009 a reunited Sunny Day Service played at Field of Heaven.  The next year they released their first full-length in a decade, “Honjitsu Wa Seiten Nari.”  And with new material to share, the Japanese rock trio were bumped up to the White Stage for this year’s FRF.

Despite their name, Sunny Day Service didn’t deliver any sunshine to the Naeba Ski Resort.  With rain falling steadily throughout their set, the act kept soggy fans happy with a mix of new tracks and old favorites.  The low-key performance featured little movement from the calm band members, but most in attendance at the White Stage didn’t seem to mind.

Photo by 岡村直昭.
More photos here.

Kegawa no Maries Opening Up The White Stage

Kegawa no Maries frontman Ryohei Shima had a lot of love to share during the Tokyo quartet’s White Stage opening performance.  The singer and his bandmates were fired up for their 11:30 am set with Shima shouting “Come on people!” before delivering a textbook perfect rock ‘n’ roll kick that was met with cheers from FRF’s early arrivals.

Clad in matching military officer outfits, Kegawa no Maries 1960s and ‘70s garage rock jams went over well with the bopping rain jacketed bodies up front.  Dancing around and spinning his microphone high in the air, the animated Shima was easily the star of the show.

Having a lot of love in his heart, Shima blew kisses to the crowd while the act showcased material from their upcoming third full-length, “Kegawa no Maries no Hello London” (out in early September).  When bassist Hiroko Kurimoto took over lead vocals for one track, he walked over and pecked her on the cheek while she was singing.  A few cuts later, Shima dropped his mic in the middle of the stage, ran to the far end and extended his arms wide towards the audience before sending more smooches there way.

Photo by 岡村直昭.
More photos here.

As previously reported, Buddy Guy has canceled his Sunday night Orange Court headlining set because of health concerns.  The New Mastersounds will be filling in for the blues legend.  The group are playing this afternoon on The White Stage and then will stick around to close things out at Orange Court on a funky note.

Fujirock.com Writer J Monkeying Around

The FRF Kids Land just got a whole lot more fun!  This year they’ve added a very cool tree house in the forest next to the entrance for young Fujirockers to hang out in and unwind.

There’s a sign posted in front of the area saying that the new play park is only for kids.  Luckily a handful of Fujirock.com writers were able to check out the tree house last night before the area was officially opened to the general public.  The area’s staff were happy to let us embrace our inner children and climb up into the tree house (which smells wonderfully pine fresh).

There’s a small stage nearby with log benches.  I didn’t see a schedule posted anywhere, but I’m guessing there will be some kid-friendly performances scattered throughout the weekend.