But its not all just a headlong dash, the band dials it down and lets the congas and keyboard have a quiet duet with the tinny tones of muted trumpets adding flair. It’s soon back to dancing with a mambo featuring a snaking alto sax solo. “Mambo Jambo” continues the sultry mood, oozing suggestiveness that’s only aided by the setting of the Cafe with its mood lighting and voluminous drapes.

The band features two guest members from Bandares in Dategen and Tinnen on congas and steel drum respectively. Dategen is incredibly emotive on the congas, riding every slap of the congaskin with a facial grimace. He gets to demonstrate his abilities as he lets rip with a fast, slapping melodic solo He feeds off the crowd’s energy and plays with them, letting their clapping along fall flat with fakeouts and grinning mischievously.

Their last song, “Sakura Sakura” brings us back to Japan, combining Japanese influences with Latin America passion. The song is at a breakneck pace with piano and sax melody wailing melody with percussion propelling all forward. The set finishes in a final flourish of brass to mass applause but the crowd’s attention is quickly caught by the return of the interval pole dancers. It’s a bit of a shame they couldn’t have at one last song together, maybe an idea for next year!

Begun in 1998 and mainly based in Tokyo ,the band are a hard rocking outfit which credit inspiration from both Nirvana and Radiohead. While this may confuse some, it is something that seems to work for this group. At a break out performance at Fuji Rock Festival in 1999, the band have been regular repeats, performing many times and always entertaining the audience with high energy and performance.

When the band appeared on stage, Masashi Yamada welcomed the onslaught saying he welcomes “the power of rain” but I think he was exaggerating. The rain did stop near the end of their set, giving the audience a chance to dry off as they went to well known songs in their catalog.
The band came together at mid stage for a type of rock pyramid, foisting frontman Masashi Yamada up in the air.
The Back Horn have long relationships with Fuji Rock and great performances during difficult situations like today have won them over some more fans and will make them frequent guests for many years to come.