Saturday, August 9th
Preface: This festival was held in Chiba, about a 30 min train ride out of Tokyo, no one, and I do mean NO ONE drives to an event like this, so the train was packed solid with kids like me, and the occasional family going to Tokyo Disney, which is also on the same train route. This will come into play on the train ride home. The event was mainly in a very large convention center, so three of the six main stages were indoors, out of the sun and air conditioned. Thank fucking god. The main stage is a baseball stadium that is located across the street, which unfortunately takes about 10-15 minutes to walk to with the crowds (note: Japanese people walk slow, annoyingly slow). So this came into bearing when I had to plan out where and what shows I wanted to see. The other two smaller stages were adjacent to the main stage, one of them on the beach, but all the bands on that one were unknown to me, so I only took a stroll there in the afternoon. Food everywhere. Lots of drinks. And what blew me away the most is seeing how Japanese kids will stand in line for almost two hours to score a t-shirt and a towel. I will get back to the towel thing later. That being said, to the music! Note: All reviews in the order I saw them.
Los Campensinos: I stumbled on these guys at the main stage while wandering the grounds, getting my bearings. I will probably start listening to them if they sound as good on their albums. I have heard of them before, but never gave them a listen. A little pop-ish, but a enough of a rock soul to warrant further investigation.
Blood Red Shoes: I got a little lost wandering back from the main stage, so I missed most of These New Puritans, save their last song. A good majority of the people cleared out and I felt I could get a good close look at Blood Red Shoes, who I have never heard of. As soon as they took the stage, I was mobbed by a throng of sweaty teenagers intent on moshing at and generally making asses of themselves. Bad idea to get close. I got to do a good deed and saved a lady from getting trampled. The dude who almost moshed all over her got a good red, white and blue shove from yours truly, and was never seen again in my sector. Serves him right. The damsel in distress gave me a sweaty hug and then ran off. Good music though. I made note of the "rush the stage" when it starts tendency and stayed out of the line of fire the rest of the weekend. What worked to my distinct advantage is that standing a foot taller than most of the people here means I could have a clear view of the stage no matter where I stood. So I hung out by the sound booth most of the time, it always sounds the best there anyways.
Yelle: My favorite little French girl pop star. Sure it's music for little ladies who are boy crazy, but what the hell, she plays a good beat, and a good show. Note: her DJ and drummer had shirts in a nice distressed font that read: Dance or Die... need to keep that in mind when I start making t-shirts again when I get back to the states.
Band of Horses: I've wanted to see these guys live for a while since I kept missing their shows in New York. Downright good live players, but the lead singer kept yelling "Wooooo!" after every song. Most of the people around me were somewhat baffled by this, but by the end of the show they were doing it too. They gave me the tingles when they played "The Funeral", nothing beats a rising sound on a really loud sound system.
Santo Gold: As advised from my sister and other people, I caught the first part of her set before going back over to the main stage for Zebrahead. Definitely picking up more of this music when I get a solid internet connection or the HMV in Shibuya.
Zebrahead: Rocked out. Sadly this show was my introduction to Japanese meatheads (though not really meat-y, they just acted like it). Probably drunk in the middle of the day on Smirnoff Ice and too much sun, there was a lot of water bottle throwing and people pushing each other around. I left before they finished the set.
Johnny Foreigner: Actually pretty good, if anything a little sloppy, but they're probably four years younger than me, if the keep it together they could be pretty good. Going to keep my eye on them for now, but not impressed enough to purchase.
Panic at the Disco: Meh.
Tokyo Police Club: Another band I have been really eager to see, much less a Toronto band in the city they are named after. I saw a bunch of punk kids leave as soon as they took the stage, guess they thought they were a Japanese band. HA! Suckers. Mighty fine showing by the TCP, all the more validation for how much I like them. The lead singer seems like a really nice kid too, typical Canadian.
The Pillows: My first Japanese band that I have seen in Japan. I've known about these guys for a long time, as they did most of the music to my favorite anime of all time "FLCL" (pronounced: Fooly Cooly). This was the same stage as Tokyo Police Club, but there was three times as many people, DUH, it's a Japanese band! They rocked, as I expected, and left me feeling all warm inside as I braved my way over to the finale of the evening.
The Verve: Caught the last two songs after walking over from The Pillows. I walked in just as they were starting Bittersweet Symphony, and then ending on a new song which I have heard but can't recall the name. In true form, Richard Ashcroft just walks off stage before the last song is even finished, no thanks, nothing. What an asshole. Verifies a lot of what I heard about him being a real dickweed. Perhaps he was sore they didn't get top billing over The Prodigy.
The Prodigy: 1996, while cruising around Saginaw with my BFF Hiram, he plays some electronic music, a genre which I am just beginning to take interest in at the time. "Who is this?", I asked, "The Prodigy, they're from London, and they're amazing" he says with a very sure tone. Now, almost 12 years later, I finally get to see them live. Oh my lord was it worth the wait. The stage set was crazy, the lights seizure inducing, and the music hit me square in the chest as if a sumo took a nose dive into my sternum. As if I wasn't already soaked from a day of music and sun, the never-ending beat and chanting from the crowd was enough to whip me into a frenzy. Loved every minute of it.
That was the end of day one. The train ride home was long and smelly, as everyone and their brother was leaving at the same time. I got back to trusty capsule number 5022 and called it a night after good long soak. For day two will surely be twice as good.
Sunday, August 10
Preface: I ended up sleeping in a bit, and didn't leave the hotel until 9:30, which meant I wasn't on my way to the show until 10:30 after slurping some ramen for breakfast. But by now I knew my route and wasn't in any hurry to get a shirt or any other swag.
The Ting Tings: I just started listening to them before the trip when someone clued me into a video of theirs that was rather flashy in a good way. And the singer is mad, mad cute. They were on the second biggest stage, and I was rather surprised at how many people were there. A damn fine showing, but I got the sense the cuteness of the singer was diminished at how much she was barking orders at the sound people for her guitar to be lower or louder, throwing the mic stand this way and that... well, she's a rock star I guess, what else can one expect. ANYWAYS, they played their hearts out and the crowd loved them.
MGMT: Hot damn I've been waiting to see these guys. They rocked out a lot more than I thought they were, seeing as I perceived them mostly as a pop electronic band. They had a lot of guitars, loud and full of sound. Love, love, loved it.
Mutemath: Ummmm, holy shit? These guys rocked it hard. I'm talking handstands on the piano, jumping off of the amps, everyone beating the drums and then taking the kit apart and throwing it around, to a massive tribute to The Who in modern style by bashing the hell out of a wicked midi guitar. So impressed. I must buy. I must see again. They, at this point, are number two in the amount of energy put out next to The Prodigy.
Crystal Castles: Decent. Not the best. But good. Was expecting a bit more. One of the few instances during the festival where the band sounds distinctly better on the album rather than live. And they're supposed to be DJ's!!!
Junkie XL: After the Crystal Castles show I was a little dodgy on another DJ set, but I was hoot'in and holler'in like a banshee in a blender once he got on stage and dropped the beat bomb. Hell yes. I tip my hat to you Mr. XL, you have done right by me.
Does It Offend You, Yeah?: Another band I just started listening to, and entirely satisfied by their set. Oh most certainly. Loud guitars, dirty beats and vocoder, baby! It makes me happy.
Boom Boom Satellites: Japanese band I have not heard of, but judging from the crowd, they are mad popular. It was evident once they started playing. A mixture of Muse type guitars, with a lot of Gravity Kills type distortion and drone, and solid vocals... though I had no idea what they were saying. Oh well, definitely going to pick this one up before I leave...
Justice: My head officially explodes. The quest to find a recording of this set begins once I get back state-side. Epic. Simply epic. I heart Justice. An audio barrage like this is akin to the likes of Daft Punk. What is it in the water in France that produces DJ's of this caliber? Whatever it is, it WORKS. They had a wicked intricate set, which was a bit of a problem since they had complications with a light rig and they came on about 10 minutes late, all the more of an anticipation builder. Everyone was losing their collective shit. Hot damn here I am, in Tokyo, listening to Justice bring the house down after seeing an already massive lineup of superb shows. My heart is filled with joy at this moment. They did a remix of the track Stress (one of my favorites) that started out with an orchestral arrangement, with the stage lights going all red... the hair on the back of my newly shorn mohawk was on end. Pure electric energy.
Devo: Yup... that's Devo all right. Still coming down from Justice, I feel the energy seeping out of me.
Coldplay: Boooooooooorrrrrring. More validation that they're SO six years ago for me. Slow and melodic, I almost nodded off while sitting in the bleachers of the baseball stadium. Maybe Fatboy Slim can wake me up...
Fatboy Slim: Nope. Also music that I listened to six to eight years ago, and liked it then.. and he really hasn't changed at all. I left after 10 minutes, so I could beat the crowds and get a seat on the train back to the city.
On the train back home, when the Disneyland stop came up and I was already nodding off. I blinked awake and saw two kids staring at me, one of them with a look of absolute fear in his eyes. I realized that I had my sleeves rolled up, so my tattoos were in full view, a newly cut mohawk, and I probably smelled like hell as well. Eye contact was made, and I winked, at which the child started screaming and hid behind his mom, who was looking at him wondering what was going on. I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be sleeping. My stop was only a few away, and when it came up, and I looked around again, the train was mostly emtpy. Glad I still terrorize children that aren't related to me.
Here ends another blog post done at the Ginza Apple Store. Love this place. I told one of the people that work here that I work for Apple in the states and got a worried look on his face and rushed off and got a manager, who introduced himself and asked if I wanted to have a look around. I explained that I'm a technician and just visiting from the states, he laughed and said the employee thought I was from the corporate division in the US and was doing some kind of inspection. HA! The rest of today is taking it easy after the concert, as all and every gallery, museum and absolutely anything art related is closed on Monday. It is as if Buddha himself said there is to be no art on Mondays. Well, in that case I'll head over to my favorite game parlour in Akihabara and get my ass kicked once again by adolscents playing my favorite Gundam game.
Video and photos to follow shortly. That's all from here folks... on the final stretch, and man does a good slice of American pizza sound good....
