Fuji Rock is an annual 3-day music festival held at a ski resort in the mountains a couple hours outside of Tokyo. We got there by taking the bullet train from Tokyo (too bad we have to travel half-way around the world to experience modern-day transportation technology!) and then a quick shuttle bus organized by the festival. This was a nice change from taking a full day or longer road trip followed by hours sitting in traffic to get to music festivals in the U.S., that's for sure.
It rained most of the weekend, which was unfortunate because we were sleeping in a cheap ($25) tent that we picked-up at Wal-Mart before leaving the U.S., and by the first night most of our things inside were soaking wet. Ryan and I fashioned a sturdier rain fly with a tarp and some other bags the next day, and while it was probably the most pathetic looking tent at the festival, it did the job.
The whole weekend was wet and muddy and needless to say, a little uncomfortable. But the music made up for it all. We saw some great bands at the festival - some of our favorites that we've seen many times before (New Mastersounds, Widespread Panic and Dark Star Orchestra), and plenty of new stuff from Japan and elsewhere that we got to check-out for the first time.
Here's a little review with some video clips from the internet (not taken by us).
Coldplay was the opening night headliner, and they sounded good. With an enormous crowd and a big well polished performance, it had a stadium concert feel to it - something we're not very used to but enjoyed.
New Mastersounds
This jazz-funk band from Leeds, England, one of our favorite groups, played two nights at the festival. Both sets were pretty short (~ 1 hour), but this isn't the kind of band that needs three hours to show you what they've got. A highlight was the second night when they were joined by a four-piece horn section from another funk band (didn't catch their name) that played earlier in the weekend.
Amadou & Mariam
This is a well known group from Mali, described on their website as "music for the world" with "roots deeply planted in Africa", that we saw for the first time and we were really impressed. Amadou is a real solid guitar player, as you can see towards the end of the video clip below.
Dark Star Orchestra
The Grateful Dead tribute band closed out the Field of Heaven stage the last night of the festival with two sets totaling almost four hours. It was their first and only time playing in Japan, and they didn't hold anything back, playing an incredible set list full of Dead favorites such as Terrapin, Shakedown, Help>Slip>Frankin's, China>Rider, St. Stephen, and Eyes of the World. It was so much fun seeing Japanese Grateful Dead fans digging the music. They refused to leave after the show was over, which you can see in the photo below (if you look closely, you can see us!).
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
This band, which has been on the Japanese music scene for over 20 years, describes themselves as an "eclectic mix of traditional ska, jazz, and rock". This is a great party band!
Sakerock
A Japan-based jazz-rock band - all really talented musicians. It was cool to see the trombone featured so prominently.
Some other bands that we enjoyed were Ra Ra Riot, Beach House, Cornershop, the Kimonos and Digitalism. A few bands that didn't get a chance to see but wished we did include Wilco, Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, Washed Out, the Middle East, and Reggaelation Independence.
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