Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

My performance best o’ list for FRF ‘10 is as follows:

Matt & Kim — Sunday, August 1 @ White Stage (I know Kern said they did the *exact* same show on Saturday at Avalon, but I didn’t see them on Avalon and hot diggity damn were they ever fun on the White Stage)

Dirty Projectors — Saturday, July 31 @ Red Marquee

Vampire Weekend — Sunday, August 1 @ Greeen Stage

John Fogerty — Saturday, July 31 @ Green Stage

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro — Sunday, August 1 @ Field Of Heaven Continue Reading…

Best show
John Fogerty: After seeing Stevie Wonder at Summer Sonic last week, I was refortified in my opinion of what a rare and wonderful treat Fogerty’s Saturday evening set was. Though Stevie can still ram and jam with the best of them, it’s clear that those classics, as great as they are, mean less to him with every passing concert. He’s just played them too many times. Fogerty, on the other hand, went almost three decades without playing his classic CCR tunes in front of people simply because he didn’t own the publishing and didn’t think he should pay for the privilege of performing them. Now that he’s got the publishing back, it’s like he’s discovered these songs for the first time: fresh, tough, eminently sing-alongable. Now it’s our privilege to hear them again.
Runnerup: Moriarty, the best France-based, Anglophone, Irish-American-roots rock group with female lead singer. Every festival should have one. Continue Reading…

Another Fujirock has come and gone. Here are a few of my most memorable moments:

Best performances of 2010:

Alberta Cross: Whoever was working the boards of this show should be given a medal. The band’s 3-guitar attack sounded perfect, and vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee proved he could hit the same notes live as he did on album. Jeff’s review here.

Beardyman: Magic comes out of this dude’s mouth. I saw all three of this beatbox/DJ’s shows, and aside from the occasional meandering club thump, was blown away every time. Reviews here and here.

The Human Cannonball: Yes, you read correctly. This guy, in a blaze of smoke and thunder, flew out of a cannon and into a nearby net. Nightly. More on him here and here.

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Hey ma and pa, what the hell is wrong with ya’ll? Why isn’t the rest of the year as much fun as Fuji Rock?. Ahh, reality… Here are some memories to fuel us till next year:

Best Acts at FRF 2010:
Fishbone – 20 years and counting, and still one of the best live bands in the world, period. Angelo Moore may now look like a pot bellied pig, but this was FRF 2010’s best mosh pit, with no second place. Read Kern’s awesome review.
Air – 2 guys, so much sound. I can’t imagine what they’d be like with an entire orchestra, which I hear is what they’re trying to do on their next tour
Buffalo Daughter – Dressed in red, and their unique, amazing electro-jamming was at full force. Do yourself a favor and buy their new album.
John Fogerty – Way more than just a 70s rock icon. Read Phil’s terrific recap.

Best DJ set:
Fischerspooner – There was certainly Spooner, but where was Fischer? Who cares. They’ve got the tunes.

Best World Music:
Narasirato Pan Pipers – Wonderful envoys from the Solomon Islands. read more
Anyango – This Japanese girl’s a celebrity in Kenya, and with LOTS of fans! read more

Best Moment:
Fishbone lead singer Angelo Moore handing out flyers at the Crystal Palace at 3am. The flyers were cheap computer printouts and just said “Fishbone”.

Favorite Anthem:
Well, anyway, this was the song I couldn’t stop humming in my head on the bus ride home from Naeba. Riva Starr’s “I Was Drunk…” Yeah, fitting.

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Strolling back down the hill from our hotel after a quick trip to dump my gear, a quick grab of the Boom Boom Satellites can be heard as the traffic lulls and the wind blows the right way. It reminds me of what I’m missing, but it makes a long walk much more pleasant.

We always tell everyone to go to the Palace of Wonder after hours, that you’ll often have your best time of the festival. It’s probably a blessing that so few listen, because it always seems to be just the right amount of packed. But, once more, I’d like to point out that this is the kind of weird crap you can see there: a lithe long-haired dude in a creepy Jason mask dancing to Upside Down with any and all comers at Vegas In Milk, mostly guys as it happened. (Can’t blame the ladies…that mask just screams ’stranger danger’) The guy had some sick moves, and it all made me feel very very happy.

-Kern

The river under the bridge just before the White Stage is a perennial favorite hang-out at the fest. Full size photos of the throngs frolicking after the jump! It looks so refreshing I can’t believe I’m in here just writing about it! Continue Reading…

There’s only so much epic music a man or woman can handle in a single night, and after Them Crooked Vultures* and Broken Social Scene I was epic’d'out, so Muse was out of the question. Instead, I had dinner. With everyone at the festival at either Muse or !!! (or further afield), the food court was empty, and I had the rare treat of selecting the perfect meal from multiple vendors. This will heretofore be a thing which I do at Fuji Rock, take advantage of the empty food stalls while the main attractions are drawing the attention of the rabble.

Then I sat down and took in a bit of Yuzoband at the Shokudo stage.

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He was enjoying Zappa so much I didn’t have the heart to stop and ask his name.

Once I was at a BMX race when I was about 12 and I saw this Journey hat for sale at a stand, and I really wanted it and I asked my mom and she was just about to buy it for me but then it turned out it was kind of dirty and so she didn’t. I’ve never told that story to anyone before. Also: I don’t even wear hats!

-Kern

Well the others have summed it up pretty succinctly, I think. Not much more to say, other than don’t listen to anyone on what you should like.

But we don’t go for the music. Nope. If it were the music we went to see, then we’d shell out like the rest of you do. Then we could actually relax and enjoy said music. I remember a few years beck, our esteemed leader commented that he was having a near perfect weekend, catching up with old friends, and if only the bands would shut the fuck up and give them some peace it would have been truly perfect! Continue Reading…

“Fuji Rock won’t really be like Glastonbury until the Emperor shows up in a pink wig.” – Jon Helmer, Fuji Rock documentarian

In case you’re looking for the perfect Christmas present for a fellow Fuji Rocker, the chance comes early this year. Jon Helmer is bringing his double-DVD documentary on ten years of the festival to Naeba. It’s called Tents & Bugs & Rock N Roll, and he’ll be screening the four-hour video at a mobile cinema that will move around the festival grounds. He’s also selling copies for ¥2,000. Instead of a history of rock stars, legendary performances and big name acts, Heller has turned his camera on the fans, the staff and occasionally the artists back stage. This is a people’s history of Fuji Rock, with no narration, no titles, and a roughly chronological structure that covers the years 1999 (Fuji Rock’s first year in Naeba) to 2008. The video was produced in 2009, and now it’s ready for it’s grand debut. A few of the gems you’ll witness amidst the sprawling 245 minutes of the DVD’s length include Joe Strummer planning out the lot that went on to become the Palace of Wonder, Henry Rollins getting psyched up to hit the Green Stage, Jam Master Jay backstage at the Red Marquee…. Continue Reading…

The one bit of advice that I give to those attending Fuji Rock for the first time (or those coming back after a long hiatus) is to figure out your footwear!

Going back to your hotel room or pup tent in between sets is probably impossible as you should be prepared to mosh around in one pair of shoes the whole time. That said, you better decide what it’s gonna be, and trust me, there are a million good choices out there such as Tevas, Keens, Wellies, Saucony (Kern’s pick), Blundstone, Crocs.

Personally, if I were to buy a pair of shoes for the festival today, I would take my friend Dave’s advice (a fellow blog writer) and get a pair of Gore-Tex lined, ankle high Nike ACG. This half-boot provides enough wet weather protection to muck your way around every footpath at the festival. It also has enough bounce to keep your knees happy on the Red Marquee’s concrete floor. And more importantly, it will give you enough traction to stay upright on the slippery slope near hilltop Heineken tent at the Green Stage.
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While this doesn’t affect bands plaing directly this year, it’s worth noting that Melbourne music institution the Tote is reopening tonight after a long battle.

For the last 30 years, the Tote hotel has provided a venue for the craziest of touring and local bands. It was, along with the Corner and the Espy, one of the cornerstones of the music industry in a city that became, through these and a slew of other great venues (as well as no small amount of help from the two excellent independent radio stations RRR and PBS), the centre of Australia’s live music scene, and the incubator for many of the best bands Australia has produced. It all threatened to come crashing down in the mid 90s when Victoria allowed hotels to hold gaming licences, and we lost many venues to the insidious pokies. Only the strongest willed of operators managed to resist the temptation to sell their souls to this cash cow and keep doing what they knew was right. Bruce Milne of the Tote was one who will be going up, rather than down, when his time comes. Continue Reading…

Just some random shots taken as we stumbled around the Festival. As Canadian icon Art Bergmann once rasped, “I love the people I eat and the food I meet…”

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At the very beginning of Jon Helmer’s DVD Tents & Bugs and Rock N Roll, we see a dreadlocked Aussie or Kiwi or Brit (damned accents) standing outside the Naeba hotels getting totally excited about the fact that, somewhere within the walls of that hotel is Limp fucking Bizkit (profanity added by the present writer to better portray said excitement). This first section having been filmed in 1999, I concluded that either a) this was exactly the sort of time-warp nostalgia experience you look for in a DVD like this, because clearly the memo from on hipster high that the Bizkit suck hadn’t yet been circulated, or quite possibly b) this gentleman just thinks for himself. (For the record, I still think “Break Stuff” is one of the top 5 greatest raging angry songs ever.)
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