Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

Maki hand roasting his coffee

I think most people party pretty hard at Fuji Rock, so finding a place to get the caffeine fix you need to jolt you out of a hangover is an essential thing at the festival. I was lucky enough to discover Lotus Cafe, located right in the middle section of the stalls at Field of Heaven, the first time I came to Fuji and I have been going back there ever since. Everything about the place is fantastic. It has seats, tables, cool clothes, friendly staff and the finest coffee on the site. The owner of the stall is Maki and you often see him relaxing in the back of the tent, tenderly hand roasting the coffee beans to ensure the ultimate freshness. I had a quick chat to him and he said that his stall has been at Fuji right from the very first time it was held. He doesn’t have a shop but sells coffee beans he roasts to other shops in and around his home town of Nishi Oshi in Aichi prefecture. His daughter gets in on the act too, hand baking delicious brownies that go perfectly with a freshly brewed cup. At the moment, you cannot buy his beans online but he is planning to start selling them some time soon at this site.

GOMA'S SINCERE, SOBBING "SAYONARA"

Sunday at lunch, maybe you were headed to the Field of Heaven anyway for one of those delicious flatbread pizzas, or maybe you wanted to freak out dance to the didgeridoo. Either of the two, and you end up watching a fine eclectic performance by Goma and his solid backing 3-piece percussion barrage, the Jungle Rhythm Section. Somebody in the audience was doing an opposite rain dance, too, and the clouds broke, exposing rockers to more sun than had been seen for 3 days; it’s getting a little sweaty under that rain gear, huh?

Even still, thanks to all the bubbles some kid kept blowing, the deep bass-induced trance effect of the didgeridoo and the humidifying atmosphere, it felt like we were all in a submarine. And whether it was planned or not, Goma was wearing a tie-dye cut off that perfectly matched the Field of Heaven’s stage dressing! All factors considered, this was a synchronicitous occasion of emotional proportions.

The didgeridoo has never been this cool. He had a full size on a stand, and a smaller, skinnier handheld one to walk around stage with, playing like a triumphant trumpet. The thing is hard enough to play, but Goma manipulates it in ways I have never heard before. At times it sounded like a DJ record scratching, dubstep bass wobbles, low octave synthesizer riffs, or some kind of crazy flanger reverb effects on electric guitar. It was an amazing sight and sound to behold. Plus, Goma had some sweet dance moves when he wasn’t gurgling into the ‘doo, resembling a pop ‘n’ locking octopus on acid!

Before the last song, Goma tells the audience he was in a car accident 2 years ago and had some brain damage, erasing much of his memory. It has been a long road, but here today, he feels he has arrived. After the last jam, he grabs the mic, already on the verge of tears, and gives the most raw and genuine “Hontouni arigatou gozaimasu” of the festival (really thank you very much). He drops to his knees, and now beyond the verge of tears, the sobbing drops falling from his eyes, too struck with gratitude to move, thanks everyone for coming a few more times, then his band mates come to console their emotional brother, and he embraces each of them one-by-one with big bear hugs. They walk to stage front, give another bow, and exit stage left. I didn’t see that kind of gratitude and emotion from any other acts, and can’t say I have ever seen it after a music show, so it is safe to say Goma gets the Fuji Rock 2011 Grammy winning Thank You speech award; First rate music from a first rate fellow, along with the amazing and talented Jungle Rhythm Section.

Photo courtesy 北村勇祐. More here

Rebel Music

If any band at Fuji Rock required a crib sheet it’s Tinariwen, a collective of Taureg nomads from northern Africa who turned to the guitar as a means of expressing their rebellion against those authorities (mostly Libyan) who would restrict their lives. There are at any one time more than a dozen members, but only four came to Fuji, and while guitar freaks may be disappointed that the full complement of Tinariwen’s axe-slingers didn’t make it this trip (nomads’ lives are difficult to pin down), the ones that did show up were more than equal to the task of blowing away the jaded Field of Heaven habitues. Continue Reading…

All together now

Japan’s premier jam band, Dachambo, has played the Field of Heaven at least once before because I remember seeing them there. They were good, but I was startled to see the crowd that had assembled for their Sunday show, which happened to greet a rather hot sun. Obviously, a lot of people knew more than I did, and as soon as the show started it became obvious: These guys had become more intense, and they were intense to begin with. As far as jam bands go, Dachambo are closer to Juno Reactor than to Phish, but they go light on the electronics and effects. And while all jam bands worth their wah-wah pedals reference world music, Dachambo actually plays it: Latin, African, reggae, hip-hop, even Bo Diddley figure centrally in their songs. Continue Reading…

There was a noticeable skip in the step of Todd Rundgren as he took the stage on Saturday evening. His band appeared first, and he entered later pacing the entire stage and exhorting the audience with his  microphone. The tune was “Real Man” and at the age of 60 plus, he was doing his best that he could keep up and even overtake many of the other younger performers at the fetival.

The song was a work out, coming in at a heady 8 minutes, complete with hand waving and foot stomping, as if to show everyone that Rundgren was back and was going to make the most out of the opportunity to perform.

An expert arranger and producer, Rundgren could be counted upon to recruit some of the best musicians in the US to go on tour with him. The band was tight and ready, moving easily to numbers such as “Espresso” and “Oh Baby Baby.”

The crowd filled the Field of Heaven and enjoyed everything that Rundgren and his band delivered. Rundgren was equally happy as well, saying “Thank you for packing this place, and thank God it stopped raining.”

Indeed, the heavens seemed to smiling upon this musician tonight, with not a drop of rain falling, and wonderful music and light filling this spectacular stage set high in the mountains of Naeba.

Ever wonder why the lighting is so awesome at the Field of Heaven. Well, besides the fact that this stage was custom built for jam band Phish about 10 years ago, the lighting in this area is being managed by Kurosawa Lighting. This is the same group affiliated with that famous famous director of not so long ago who brought the world famous film “Rashomon.” Stop and see the light show if you have a chance, it starts when it goes dark, and continues late into the night.

THESE FOLKS PLAY EXCELLENT FOLK MUSIC

Banjo, upright bass, steel guitar, electric guitar, and Ms. Nakamura’s more authentic than authentic can throw a stick at authentic vocal sounds and flawless acoustic guitar. They start the set unassumingly, no frills, just straight skills with “Some Happy Day.” And it is for me, increasingly as they take me on a trip back to my homeland America’s musical heritage, as good or better than the originals. The next track’s refrain, “Gonna build me a log cabin on a mountain so high,” certainly resonates with campers, commiserating in their tent cabins set up here in the mountains of Naeba.

The Field of Heaven stage decorations this year provide one of the best settings for this kind of roots music, too. Pine branches draped and disguising the huge speaker stack scaffolding, blending with the backdrop of pine beyond. Perhaps this venue 2^nd best, only to a campfire in the hills of North Carolina, cooking beans in a can, chewing spit from a tin, and washing it down with moonshine for the win! Continue Reading…

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.

It takes two

I was shocked–shocked–when I showed up for Amadou and Mariam’s Field of Heaven show Friday evening and found the venue very sparsely attended. Hadn’t anyone heard how awesome this Malian couple was? Superstars in Africa and later an equally huge draw in Europe, they are veterans of a certain musical style almost as prominent as James Brown. Their professionalism precedes them, or it should, so why the low turnout? Continue Reading…

Ron will not start a riot

The Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith appeared frequently at the first few Fuji Rock Festivals in Naeba, and at perhaps the first one a female member of the web team who didn’t know who he was met him by accident at the World Food Court one night and they talked. Later, a few of us noticed and told her who her interlocutor was. She was surprised. “We talked for about fifteen minutes and he never mentioned once that he was a musician.”

Sexsmith’s unassuming personality is central to his high reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter, though it doesn’t do much to his reputation as a performer. Probably the most exciting thing about his show at the Field of Heaen was his boldly striped jacket. Backed by a tasteful three-piece group, he ran through almost two dozen of his three-and-a-half-minute songs, almost all of which use common cliches as titles: “Hands of Time,” “Get in Line,” “Thinking Out Loud,” “Hard Bargain.” It might be too much to expect Japanese audiences to “get” Sexsmith’s clever word play and sad sense of the world, but they definitely get his way with a melody, and there were a lot more people fixed intently on his show than you might expect. The guy definitely has fans here (Smash, the Fuji organizer, once released one of his albums on its short-lived boutique label), and in the late 90s he used to tour Japan almost yearly. For some reason, he doesn’t any more, though he’s continued to release albums fairly regularly. In a way, his professionalism got the best of him during the gig. He clearly wanted to communicate with the audience but had to fall back on other cliches. (”It’s great to be here,” “I hope you like it…”)

The need for a connection was so acute that during one song, he sang the line, “heavy clouds hanging around/the sun refuses to shine,” and pointed his guitar at the grey sky, and though the audience reacted, it seemed it was not an acknowledgement of the dodgy weather but rather a performance tic. He did the guitar-point thing several times afterward.

But he was definitely affected by the reaction. He dedicated his last song to Japan, which he said “has had a tough year. Please know we’re pulling for you.” The song is “Former Glory,” as in “your eyes will return to their former glory.” Being able to overcome adversity is something Ron Sexsmith knows about.

photo: Julen Esteban-Pretel

For those who can’t get enough of shopping, you will be happy to know that this little outlet is located just a few meters from the stage.

You will find everything from T-shirts of bands who are performing on this stage  (special notice for Noah and the Whale fans) as well as distinctive FOH t-shirts.

Prices range from 2,500 to 3,500 yen and its kind of a nice option considering the long lines at the other official shops.

And, we made this photo B&W to give it an old-timey, folksy feel which is sort of what this stage and surrounding area is all about. Expect a big crowd when jam band extraordinaire, Widespread Panic, play tonight and tomorrow at 9PM

Masaya Kasai remembers hanging with  Joe Strummer in the parking lot outside Fuji Rock in 2001 and 2002, one time getting into his car, driving around and sharing some smokes. That same year, he traveled to Mexico City to hear Marcos, the hooded leader of the Zapatista revolution who presented a speech to 200,000 people.

“My Spanish is not that good, but I would still feel the power of the event. I felt it in my body and on my back as so many people were here for this social movement.”

Kasai is a world traveler, frequently making trips through Latin America. This was an interest he shared with Strummer, and he believes that these travels have taught him an important lesson about life and the difficulty that many less fortunate people in the world face.

For the past 10 years (aside from being incarcerated between 2005-2008) he has been operating a T-shirt stall near the back end of the Field of Heaven. His work ranges from images celebrating the Zapatista leader to other iconic images from the counter culture such as Maria Sabina the mushroom shaman who treated such rock royalty like Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. He also has tees featuring John Lennon and a Jerry Garcia tribute with 4 skulls.

And regarding that John Lennon tee that is striking  similar to Bob Gruen’s iconic image of the artist (Masaya’s version has a glow in the dark galaxy in the background), Bob Gruen actually stopped by this stall a few years ago and gave his tacit approval after sitting down with Masaya and sharing a smoke.

The Stylish Yoshinori Ohashi

The Field of Heaven has such a fantastic vibe it is always an excellent place to hang out for lunch. The tunes for Fridays diners came courtesy of Yoshinori Ohasi and his laid back jazz crew. Playing guitar as well as banjo, Ohashi’s very poppy sounding voice provided a very relaxing backdrop for enjoying the hippie run stalls and fine food in this area. If you would like to check out Ohashi play again he is performing at Universal Studios in Osaka next month. Details here.

Photo by 近澤幸司 (Supported by NIKON). More images here.

GOMA DIDGERIDOODLING

Goma & the Jungle Rhythm Section is a side-project of lead didgeridoo player, regularly called just plain old Goma (which means “Sesame” in Japanese). They bring a nice world beat festival vibe with creatively-titled tracks like “Riodidgenero,” and “Omotino,” full of droning didgeridoo (Goma has been winning didgeridoo competitions since 1997!) hand drums banging out the beats, and energy enough to give even the most exhausted Fuji Rockers on Sunday afternoon a little “Rhythm and Breath” (first album drop).

Since living in Japan, I have heard over and over how Japanese aficionados of any particular passion, be it food, music, fashion, etc. go to the utmost extremes to master their art. This dedication brings some of the best Italian food in the world (including Italy’s own) to restaurants in Tokyo, the best baguettes to bakeries run by bakers who have studied under French tutelage, and in this case, excellent tribal rhythms with a menagerie of ethnic instrumentation played with dexterity to rival the natives.

Continue Reading…

It’s hard to imagine anyone knowing the lines to Cornershop’s 1997 mega-hit “Brimful of Asha” because of its many Bollywood references, including a tip of the hat to the grande dame of  playback singing, Asha Bhosle. That didn’t stop the song from becoming a decade long hit, aided by Norman Cooke and Fat Boy Slim remixes. Topping the success of this tune would be a tough task for any group, but when your band contains 2 brothers named Singh and a sitar player, it verges on impossible.

Speed the clock forward another 14 years, and the band has released 4 subsequent albums but slowly faded from public fame. Things got so bleak the band resorted to crowdfunding it’s last release “Cornershop and the Double ‘O’ Groove Of,” on Pledge music including the above heartfelt plea on YouTube.

But like all good Bollywood movies,   Continue Reading…

Amadou & Mariam

As a rock festival, Fuji has always strived to be as inclusive as possible, but never has there been this many A-level African acts in the lineup: Three groups who have transcended the limiting label of “world music” to become global influences in their own right. Any one of them would sell out immediately in a major world capital. Take Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia, the blind married couple from Mali who now make their home in Paris. They’ve been professional musicians since the 1970s, though it wasn’t until Spanish polymath Manu Chao took them on as a production project in 2005 that they became well-known outside of Africa and Europe. Purists and diehards bemoaned the “crossover” flavor of Chao’s ministrations, an opinion that inadvertently insulted their artistry. Amadou and Mariam have too much experience as seasoned performers to fall victim to some producer’s idea of what white kids might like. They treated the rock guitars, the synths, even the occasional English lyric as if all of it were theirs to begin with, and then they casually blew everyone away. This isn’t to downplay the beauty and excitement of their more traditional songs of love, harmony, and social responsibility (one of their best tracks is a plea to truck drivers in Mali to be careful and not run over wild animals), which they can deliver effectively with just Amadou’s plaintive guitar and Mariam’s head-clearing vocals. But this is a rock festival, and this is a couple who can boogie with the best of them. (Also, note that Manu Chao is playing at the festival as well, so there’s a distinct possibility he’ll show up to jam if scheduling permits.) Continue Reading…

Q: How many jam bands does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Only one, but it takes them three hours.

Heck, I've got all day up here.

There are some evil little beasties at this festival that suck blood from you and leave you with a grapefruit-sized swelling. The medics translated the name as “gnat”, but these things are no gnats. They’re some kind of super-strength vampire flies. And when they coordinate an attack by biting you all around the ankle, it also cripples you. I had to hobble to see Ozomatli, limping like I was wounded in some war. I wondered if I’d be able to stand through the whole set.

It took 3 or 4 seconds of the show before I was jumping around. They opened with “Ya Viene”, and played it even more furiously than usual. The crowd was bouncing and so was I. Anything less would have been letting the vampire flies win.

The first sign of the new album was “Malagassay Shock”, another big party tune to get the crowd romping.

On a tangent, I’ve heard Muse described as the best live band in the world. I saw them two days ago and it was just some blokes on a stage with lasers. Ozomatli are the best live band in the world. They take up the whole stage, they throw instruments at each other whether or not they need to. They don’t let the set go for two songs before pulling out something to get you jumping to. And they have crowd interaction that nobody comes close to.

The only foot Ozomatli ever put wrong was to get Jack Johnson singing a song about how being rich doesn’t necessarily make you an arsehole. J-Lo already wrote a song about that, and we didn’t believe her either. Jack’s not here today, but we still get the tune, with Raul and Asdrubal on vocals. At least it’s more uptempo here.

Raul, the shaven-headed guitarist-singer, then decides to rock out, going all metal on us as the rest of the band make devil-horn fingers. There’s a time and a place for rock guitar solos, and this seems like both. It fits the moment and the crowd loves it.

Next up, “Nada For Free”, from the new album. It’s a great party tune, and likely to be repeated tonight at the Crystal Palace. It also sounds like it was written for Biz Markie, with bouncy rap about a girl kicking you in the nuts. We get a stripped-down, heavier take on “Saturday Night”. Rapper Justin starts surfing the crowd as a taster for what’s to come. Ozomatli, as always, end the set by taking their instruments into the crowd and jamming. How are they going to top that tonight?

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…

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are, of course, named after the members of the band, but if we’re being pedantic it should be Kitty, Daisy, Lewis and Mum & Dad, because it’s the mum on double bass and the dad on guitar.
All the while I’m watching them, I can’t help thinking of how people stress about Facebook invites from their parents, but K, D and L were asked to form a band with their olds. And they said “yes”.
I watched Kitty, Daisy, Lewis and Mum & Dad last night at the Crystal Palace. Or to give them their full name, “Kitty, Daisy, Lewis and Mum & Dad and Mum & Dad’s friend Eddie on Trumpet”. It was a great show, and Lewis later told me that he loved playing speigeltents, but I enjoyed their Field set today more. It’s not easy to explain why, but though the music is old-time perfect for the spiegeltent, it was more fun in the open air. If you looked around, the staff at most of the food stands was jiving and grinning.
In the course of the show, the kids played guitars, a ukelele, drums and an accordian, which suggests that although these parents seem like the best parents on Earth, they’re probably hard-tasking, whip-cracking, autocratic bastards. Be thankful that your old folks just watch TV all day and can’t remember what you do for a living.
PS. Since this is supposed to be a music review rather than a family appraisal: they played rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll and a bit of Hawaiian music. All good. Read Jinki’s review of last night. It was like that but with more air.

Carlos and Temjin of MMK

It’s all about the brass. Bursting onto the stage and quickly picking up a pace that didn’t let up, Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro made pulling myself out of bed after a few scant hours and making an hours trek all worth it.

This booty shakin’ sextet are tearing up the stage with a crowd of ravelers singing along to every word of “Baggy Pants” led by Bobsan on guitar. That’s right, everyone here knows both words. By heart. Even the guys from Ozomatli are approving, off stage right. Temjin on trumpet and Carlos on sax are the frontmen and face of the stageshow, but it’s Ginger on bass that gets the biggest cheers of the set as he leads us briefly into Run DMC’s Walk This Way. Brilliant stuff. Continue Reading…

Susan Tedeschi And Derek Trucks

I’ve already done a pretty extensive overview of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi here. I was curious to see what kind of crowd they would draw here, as I don’t believe they travel abroad much, so whatever fans they have in Japan would be hell-bent on catching this show.

Continue Reading…

Theatrebrook at the Field of Heaven

The Field of Heaven was rocking this afternoon as Japanese band, Theaterbrook, took the stage with their unique brand of rhythm and blues inflected rock and roll. The lead guitarist had a big afro-style hair and the audience was mostly standing up front and clapping. About halfway back they were on fold-up chairs and other camping stools. Me, I was carefully tucked away in a stall selling organic coffee (hot or iced) with a shot of Kahlua. It was reasonably priced at 600 Yen, and you could enjoy the comfort of a few benches and some overhead shelter if you purchased something here. It was just what I needed this morning, and even a film crew came buy and got me on camera. I wasn’t looking my best, but happy for a moment to be listening to good music and having my morning coffee.

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