Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

Best feat of engineering

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…

What you see is what you get

What a difference four years make. The last time Scissor Sisters played Fuji the reaction was underwhelming. At the time the band was touring their second, less exuberant album, and their headlining set at the White Stage started great and just sputtered out. This time, they got the “special guest” position on the Green Stage to officially close the festival, and fulfilled their mission perfectly, or should I say gorgeously. Continue Reading…

Scissor Sisters @ Zepp Tokyo, Jan. 2007

Scissor Sisters are slated as being “special guests” on Sunday night on the Green Stage, which would seem to indicate that they’re going to close the festival. Some may find that blasphemous, since, originally at least, that slot was reserved for some rip-roaring “world beat” act with all sorts of PC cred. Either that or a bona fide electro-dance artist. SS is neither PC nor particularly electronic. They’re the campiest rock band on the planet, and I think that’s exactly what this year’s festival needs, especially after two hours of Massive Freaking Attack. Continue Reading…

Smash has revealed the latest batch of artists who will perform at this summer’s Fuji Rock Festival.  17 acts including a blast from the past that we mentioned as a definite possibility last week are listed after the jump.

Continue Reading…