Rei

For a lot of people posted up at the Gypsy Avalon at noon Friday, Rei’s set was the first show they’d see for the three-day fest. With a light rain falling and a generous line for coffee, the singer-songwriter opened up her set by jolting everyone out of their morning daze. “Yes, I’m lonely, wanna die,” she sang while strumming her acoustic guitar. “In the morning wanna die/In the evening wanna die,” she shouted, before her and her backing drummer picked up the pace and let the song explode.

Her cover of The Beatles “Yer Blues” was a jarring way to start the day, and it wasn’t the first moment across her performance where the subject matter took a turn for the grim. Only a couple songs later, she played a song called “Lovesick,” featuring sentiments like “I want to be hit by a bus tonight” and “I want to be slaughtered in front of your eyes/don’t look away.” Anyone expecting an easy-breezy start to Fuji Rock was caught off guard, though that surprise…and that willingness to get dark just as the afternoon was starting…was a clever twist. As Rei went on, the mood started getting a bit more festival-friendly, with more upbeat jaunts along with a few bongo-accented ballads. Yet it was the macabre start that really opened eyeballs.