In a dark suit with a popped collar, a suit which had been attacked by pastel colored paint rollers (a bit of blue on the cheek as well), Jason announced the end of the sunny day and the beginning of the drizzling night with Let’s See What the Night Can Do. Let’s hope it can’t do any more rain!

He and his band really embody the laid back, beachside vibe of his music- colorful clothes, expressive faces and messages of goodwill. Ambassadors of good vibes. It almost makes your teeth hurt they are so sweet.

Jason’s songs have a benignly infectious quality not many artists can compete with, the kind of music that fits in at a festival, at a party, in a commercial, in a grocery store. It is the kind of music that makes a baby smile while his mother claps his hands for him as she sings along. Universal appeal is rare.

He warmed up and loosened up and really let his character shine on tracks like the Jackson 5 infused Unlonely, bantering with the crowd and half-rapping in a cute and childish way. Rhyming homie and pepperoni, the kind of poetry anybody can enjoy

But really, he does know how to work a crowd. He got the Green Stage crowd doing some solid call and response work during I’m Yours. He is smarmy, but he is undeniably endearing.

He also has surprises up his sleeve. Does Jason Mraz seem like the kind of guy who would have a sitar and cajón based jam in the middle of his set? No, doesn’t. But does he do it? Yes, he does! While it seems like it may have come out of left field it actually lead surprisingly naturally into 93 Million Miles. Despite his off-the-cuff airs his set was well timed and nicely paced. Slower songs found comfortable places nestled between brighter ones, never letting the good vibes dim.

In the end his set felt a lot like a big old stick of cotton candy. Sweet, airy and colorful. The kind of thing nobody could really say they wouldn’t want at least a bite of, even if it isn’t really their confection of choice.

I know ‘the first bite is with the eyes’ is about food, but let’s just say this applies to music too. If so, this Kaiyote is a rich dish indeed. Pokémon knees, pink Mickey Mouse ears adorned with Kewpie dolls, a broad canvas of tattoos extending up the throat, shocking blue eyeshadow and Anpanman rosy cheeks. A lot going on. Personally I was more drawn to the bass player’s laid back fashion. Laid back to the point of just being a silk bathrobe and trucker hat. They stood out.

Once the retinal glare died down one was able to sink into the music, which started out quite rich and soulful straight out the gate. Big but not too overly showy vocals, solidly liquid bass-lines and drums played confidently but with restraint. Synths providing texture and mood. All in all a nicely balanced band.

Once Singer Naomi picked up the guitar to add punctuation the the sound it all came together. It was more sitting in your chair and groove than getting on your feet and dancing vibes, but in the sunlight and light breeze of early Sunday afternoon sitting and letting it all wash over you was just fine.

Towards the end of the set they started to get more aggressive, increasingly crunching effects on the bass and increasingly disjointed rhythms. More screaming than crooning in a good way. It seemed to alienate the crowd a little bit, but when the set wrapped with the two vibes dovetailing together the audience was brought right back. Complicated and halting rhythms made the band stand apart from other young groups trying to seed their own plot on the groove-front.

In the end Hiatus Kaiyote did what few bands can do, they managed to be both engaging and atmospheric. If you wanted to engage they were there to meet you, and if you wanted to relax they were there to set the mood.

From songs was driven by chugging guitar riffs that made for an epic battle feel, to others combining throat singing, mouth clicking and a chorus of voices that was suggested a Mongolian spin on the movie Western theme, Hanggai kept it fresh and entertaining. The horsehead fiddle, a symbol of the Mongolian nation, plus mandolin was prominent in these driven folk epics, the sound equally familiar and unusual. It wasn’t all epic gallops across the open plains though. Midway through the set they kicked off with a “kampai” and cycled through ever-increasing tempo-changes that peaked for a jaunty folk dance party, the crowd jumping up and down shouting “Hey!”

Starting a fresh day at the Green Stage, Hanggai brought excitement and a good dose of energy to a sunny Sunday morning.

Rhythm and blues singer, Daniel Caesar, graced the Red Marquee as a heavy rain was coming down outdoors. Fortunately for the audience, they had booked an intimate, indoor evening with one of the hottest artists in the music industry. The audience inside were with a doubt eager to see this performance and weren’t just escaping he rain as Caesar’s reputation has been red hot for a number of years already.

His reputation was stoked by well publicized collaborations with BadBadNotGood and even a personal show for Lebron James and his wife. If that weren’t enough, his model good looks have drawn legions of female fans, and the interest of the fashion industry, which may have something to do with his chameleon like transformation before the media, switching from dreadlocked crooner to clean shaven singer-songwriter strumming a guitar.

Living up to this type of hype is a tall order, and maybe too much for an ordinary artist who mines so much of himself, crafting songs that are intensely personal. With this in mind, you may never know what to expect when you see a Daniel Caesar show. The anticipation of the audience was palpable, and from the start, he had the audience hooked with soft vocals and light rhythms. Gorgeous red and pink and lights bathed the stage as he came on with songs such as “Cyanide”, “Love Again” and “Restore the Feeling”.

During the tune “Japanese Denim” he worked his charm for the full audience of fans assembled inside. In the background, a constant loop of images played, with the artist alternating between astronaut and boxer, a video beautifully shot and edited, befitting an expensive cologne ad. The effect transformed this large space into a more intimate venue, especially with his name layered over the video loop.

Caesar’s sound is mesmerizing in its rhythm and soul, inflected with a touch of R&B, as his lyrics carry a powerful messages about love. His band competently carry forth his vision on keyboard, drummer, bass and guitar. There were many musical arrangement changes, with him even going solo to the front of the stage to strum guitar bringing out his sensitive troubadour side.

Caesar has been knocked or his aloofness, none of which was evident in hi band though one could say he is simply cultivating such a style as he isn’t an artist to hold back anything. In a live setting, Daniel Caesar may not be the showman that has been featured in many videos, more of a reluctant balladeer who may tend to stand behind his music. But on a night like tonight with the rain falling heavily outdoors, it was cozy environment for everyone as the soft music washed over the audience and couples held each other and even kissed. Near the end of his set (about three songs before leaving the stage to be exact) he performed “Get You” off of his “Freudian” album, with everyone in the audience swaying and singing along along to the song that brought him instant fame and fans around the world.

Though they seem to have grown a lot a band, as well as gained a larger following in the past couple years, the performance felt very familiar. One reason for this is that they performed on this exact stage only two years prior, their afternoon set this time around echoing their 2017 one.

Since that performance they have released another album and seem to have picked up a load more confidence playing live, and the set felt tighter and with less rough edges as I had witnessed before.

The band have often been compared to such young Japanese rock outfits as Never Young Beach (who also appear this year at Fujirock) and Yogee New Waves, DYGL seems to be working hard to find ways to set themselves apart from their contemporaries and their performance this time showed the band putting forth the more hard edged sound that is found on their most recent album “Songs of Innocence & Experience”.

Spreading their efforts across past and recent albums, they managed to run through fan-favorites “Waste of Time” and “Come Together” and proved to Fujirock audiences that they continue to grow as a band during their two-year gap from the Red Marquee in 2017.

Setlist:

Hard To Love
Let It Sway
Spit It Out
Bad Kicks
Slizzard
Boys On TV
An Ordinary Love
A Paper Dream
As She Knows
Waste of Time
Nashville
Come Together
Don’t You Wanna Dance In This Heaven?
Don’t Know Where It Is