Driving through the fog warnings on highway overpasses entering Niigata, and thanks to the blanket of cloud, sometimes sprinkling and completely blocking out an otherwise beating brother sun, I think I like the weather in Naeba this year, so far, so good…

On everybody who is anybody’s mind now is WHO the heck is going to open up the festival tonight with an explosive performance (not just because there are fireworks) for the locals and anyone who made the trek to the Red Tent – you don’t need a wristband for the Thursday night intro party; and if you don’t know, now you know. If you start driving from Tokyo now you will just make it in time!

My picks for the night, totally guessing here as there are usually three or four surprise acts, are as follows:

1) The young and folky chant rockers Local Natives, for their genki youthfulness and vitality factor

2) Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba, since last year Onda Vaga had a very similar FULL festival schedule, playing around 6 official shows on various stages, and because they already came THIS far – from Mali!

3) Very Be Careful OR Soil and Pimp Sessions, because they are both energetic styles involving horn power, and heck, one “pimp” is actually called “The Agitator”

4) Turtle Island. Yes, this one is a long shot I know, but check out their live footage on youtube and you too will know the strength in numbers and utter chaos present when a punk rock singer teams up with Japanese taiko drummers and an entire entourage of noise ballistics. And, because I simply cannot come to grips with the fact that their ONLY other scheduled spot is at 10:30 in the freaking AM on Sunday morning way back on the Orange Court…Really?!

Strolling around as setup and sound-checks continue I can already smell a smorgasbord of ethnic foods as vendors cook up scrumptious eats from Ethiopia, Thailand, England (pies) and more.

Wandering around the grounds of Green as wide-eyed volunteers coming to Fuji Rock for the first time get their tour, a pleasant excitement washes over me, like the calm before the storm. And here, I am not talking about the weather.

OK, so here is the ACTUAL lineup… I got one right! TURTLE ISLAND BABY YEAH!