1 – Ei Wada Electronicos Fantasticos
When I said these are not in any particular order, I lied. Because number one was Ei Wanda’s Saturday Night Naeba Shokudo performance. Feeling like a festival put on by and performed for broken appliances, it was something that needed to be seen to be believed. Pure weirdo magic.

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2 – Dinosaur Jr
This was the show I was looking forward to the most, and it did not disappoint. I have been a fan of Dinosaur Jr since I was a teenager, and to see them and have them still be this good was a total dream come true. J Mascis Rules.

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3 – Terry Riley with Sara Miyamoto – Everything and Beyond
It was super cool to see a legend like Terry Riley perform in the flesh, and even cooler to see him perform with my friend Sara Miyamoto. My only request would have been for a little more cloud cover because boy was it hot! But that didn’t stop it from being an amazingly good time.

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4 – Otoboke Beaver
I love this band. I have been a fan since they just started over a decade ago, and they rule every time. I am happy to see them get the attention they deserve, and I was super pumped to find out that they were the secret pre-festival artist on Thursday night. Sex, shibazuke and rock n’ roll!

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5 – The Weather
It didn’t really rain! Unprecedented! It was hot, but not too hot, perhaps a little too sunny, but at no point was I suffering with wet socks and a wet phone all huddled into my rain gear. Thank you Naeba!

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Hopes for Next Year
Bring back the Oasis bakery! Having a croissant or some kind of pastry in the morning helps keep me sane, and Fuji Rock this year had a shortage of bread keeping me happy. Runner up is bring back the artist name pun cocktails now that alcohol is back. A Jack White Russian? Tom Michelada? Mog-wine cooler? Lemon Dino-sour Jr? The possibilities are endless!

They came on to their “Tamashii no Ibasho”, which is very popular as it was used in a car commercial. So people in the crowd who weren’t even major Macaroni Enpitsu fan’s recognized the jingle and vibed along.

Vocalist Hattori has a very strong and emotional singing voice, characteristic of most J-Pop bands.

Their electro pop-rock tune “STAY with ME” was a crowd pleaser. People hand their hands in the air to the rhythm of the song, in synchronization. Whenever I see a J-Pop band live, I always find myself so impressed by how synchronized the audience is. It’s almost as if they practiced their hand movements together before the show.

In the audience, I could feel the passion for music. Especially on the last song, which was titled “hope”, a calm and beautiful melody that resonated with the hearts of the crowd-goers.

I knew of the name ‘Macaroni Enpitsu’, but I couldn’t say that I knew of any of their music before attending their set. I have a couple friends who are big J-Pop fans, and they pretty much knew every song. One comment that my friend said was that they performed a lot of songs off their new project, which isn’t necessarily all the older songs that everyone in the crowd knew.

Red Marquee was packed to the brim. People were even situated along the sides, outside the stage to listen and catch a glimpse. Quite a stellar show and turnout for their first Fuji Rock!

Unfortunately for fans of the band, their keyboardist could not make the performance due to testing positive for covid, but nonetheless he chimed in to say hi via call at the beginning of the set. A true sign of the times!

Shota Takagi (高木祥太), the band’s vocalist and bassist led the band in style in a flowy white top. Their instrumental set felt like an intimate jam session between good friends, and with strong bass lines and a talented saxophone player aboard, it made for a great opportunity for newer fans to get a feel for their music.

To make up for a missing member, they welcomed a few guests to the stage. The singer sarasa joined them to perform Kasa ga Nai (傘がない) along with a collaboration with TENDRE, later in the set. Although missing a crucial member to their group, they managed to pull off a fun, groovy, and refreshing performance for devoted fans and new. Sometimes in unexpected circumstances, one must improvise. I would say that Breimen did so in style.

This kind of attitude shown brightly throughout their appearance which was characterized by thrashing guitars that soundtracked MC Nouchi’s hip-hop verses.

Influenced heavily by 1990’s alternative music, Nouchi and guitarist Koshi were joined on stage by a supporting drummer and definitely dusted the cobwebs from Sunday morning audience members groggy morning brains by cranking up the volume as loud as it would go. Nouchi’s verses were peppered with English and sometimes imploded into full-on word salads and scatting.

Their influences (think Rage Against the Machine-type alternative rap/rock) are not unlike fellow rookie band Eiji who appeared Saturday on the same stage, but Kanna wanted audiences to know that they were a completely different band.

Active since 2001 in the Nagoya area of Japan, Kanna is definitely hoping their brand of heavy alternative rap rock resonated with fans enough to earn them a spot on a larger stage in the future.

Forgive me if this is hard to explain… but this is a breakdown of the musicians. Two wadaiko drummers using mallets on TVs. A percussionist using three TVs and bare hands like bongos. A performer using a barcode reader and a board of various barcodes (as an instrument). A TV shamisen and a TV guitar player. A fire alarm bell player. And a standing electric fan player. Sounds strange? It was!!!! Imagine the sound of a bunch of discarded electronic devices at a junkyard having a matsuri. Basically that. First time that during soundcheck I’ve heard someone ask to have the monitor lowered for the electric fan player.

The set started sloppy, the bar code reader player’s bar code reader wouldn’t work, but the honest truth is watching backstage music professionals try to sort out the technical problems amid this madness made the late start completely worth it.

Once the show got underway you realized that underneath all the weirdness there was some legitimate artistry. The TV guitar and TV shamisen worked remarkably well as instruments, and the noisy near-guitar solos from the electric fan were legitimately compelling. If you are still reading this I applaud you. Because these words are nearly nonsense, and we have just gotten to the point where the normal human bon-odori dancers joined.

After a member introduction (Ei Wada was playing a Tele-caster by the way, har-har) the group was joined by a legitimate Enka singer to teach us the bon-odori steps so we could all join in the madness. And join in we did. Hard not to at that point really.
The second song was Den Den Ondo, the lyrics all being based dead words and phrases mostly related to outmoded tech. And it had another dance to learn! This one sped up incrementally so by the end the whole crowd was frantically trying to keep up with a bunch of people playing TVs and fans. Beautiful.

Was this the weirdest thing at the festival this year? Yes. Was it the best? Quite possibly. Should everyone try to find a way to see Ei Wada Electronicos Fantsticos at some point in their lives? Absolutely.

Quite possibly one of the hottest (temperature wise, that is) sets I’ve attended, toconoma kicked off the second day of the festival with nice instrumental tunes that had being jamming both on their feet and in their seats.

Referring to themselves as “weekend band-men”, toconoma is made up of office workers who continue their salary men lifestyle on weekdays, and carry out band activities on weekends. While they have gained quite notable success in their music career, such as performing at various festivals like Greenroom, Asagiri Jam, Fuji Rock, etc., toconoma do not necessarily feel the need to quit their day jobs. Therefore, they carry out a hybrid lifestyle, which makes them just like anyone in the crowd, who works a ‘conventional’ job by day, but perhaps is involved with music activities on the side as passion projects. In this sense, I think toconoma is a really great inspiration to many people, and it makes sense why they have garnered such a strong and loving fanbase towards them.

As I sat in my foldable char at Field of Heaven, sipping on a nice fresh OJ, I was impressed with their technique and ability to create not only music that requires a lot of technical skill, but also cultivate an overall relaxing and welcoming presence with the audience. There was no gap between the listener and the performer. The melodies of the keyboard spread throughout the area. I felt quite relaxed the whole time while listening to their set.

As I read a few interviews on them after their show, I found it really unique and cool how the members of the band are very proud of living the dual life of corporate job by weekday, instrumental band by weekend. This really gives anyone the inspiration that they can do it too, and don’t necessarily need to quit their job in the process.