As the sun set over Naeba, the festival’s easternmost stage, Pyramid Garden, was lit by hundreds of candles and the moon occasionally peaking its head through the thick clouds.

AO YOUNG & Friends played an acoustic set featuring a pedal steel guitar played by Miyashita Kosuke and hand-played percussion by Yao Bong, along with the lead, AO YOUNG on guitar. A quaint set with about 30 attendees – many of whom were curious and wide-eyed kids, it made the set feel more like a conversation at a house show.

For it being such an intimate setting, the crowd was energetic in its own way; responding to AO YOUNG’s comments, laughing along, and full immersing in the evening set as many were winding down for the night. With Pyramid Garden being located in such a secluded spot, surrounded by campers’ tents, it made perfect sense for AO YOUNG’s first of two sets at this year’s festival to be a chill one like this.

Many audience members sat in the the hula hoops laid out the ensure social distancing, and some stood, swaying to the lullabies that the band plucked and played. All around us, tiny creatures like crickets sang along to the music, perfectly blending their natural tones to those that were human-made.

AO YOUNG played many songs from the two new albums he will be releasing next month. For some, he even changed the lyrics to fit the mood and environment of this year’s Fuji Rock. As he sang about heaven, he reminded everyone that there’s no heaven because Fuji Rock is already so.

As the set came to a close, many stayed around to enjoy the bonfire while some others went off to dreamland. A perfect close to day one.