Search Results for “FUJIROCK EXPRESS” – FUJIROCK EXPRESS '22 ENG Ver. | STRAIGHT OUTTA NAEBA!

Best of the Fest: Nina

nina.m.cataldo@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 10:03:21 +0000

It’s never easy to pick just a handful of highlights from my annual joy that is Fuji Rock. One thing was for sure this year; it felt like we were on the right path to Fuji Rock feeling like its old self again. International acts were back, the music and dancing went on for longer hours, and the crowds to match that passionate energy were back in Naeba, too. In the age of new normal, Fuji Rock has adapted gracefully without losing its core values. So, without further ado, here’s this year’s best of the fest.

1 – Jack White
There’s nothing else I can do than to bow down to this man. I grew up listening to The White Stripes, but I hadn’t paid too much attention to Jack White since those days (Sorry, man). But after seeing him perform right from the pit, I have newfound respect and love for him. Not only was his whole stage setup (black, white, and blue!) iconic, I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping every time he riffed his guitar; nonetheless, with his eyes closed for the majority of the time. It was an honor and a joy to experience the musical genius perform at Fuji Rock!

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2 – Japanese Breakfast
I’ve been waiting to see Michelle Zauner perform in person for so long, and I sure wasn’t disappointed. I’ve followed Japanese Breakfast since the beginning, mostly drawn by the band name and shocked to find out that she wasn’t Japanese, but Korean American instead. What’s race got to do with it? Well, as a fellow mixed-race Asian-American, she represents someone like myself, doing something she loves and being an incredible creator. She recently added “author” to her many titles and boy, did her novel “Crying in H Mart” really hit a note with me. So again, just being in the same space as her was a dream of mine, and to see/hear her live on top of that was fantastic. The ultimate peak was when the band played their Fleetwood Mac cover of “Dreams”. I got goosebumps!

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3 – Global metal bands
There’s something abut coming to Fuji Rock that makes me feel like I’m cool enough for heavy metal. Last year, I covered Japanese metal band, SiM and was hooked. So this year, I made sure to check out both Bloodywood from India and The Hu from Mongolia. Not only was it awesome to support bands that came to the festival from so far away, it was seriously spectacular to watch them perform this genre of music while incorporating sounds from their home countries.

BLOODYWOOD REPORT
THE HU REPORT

4 – Return of Thursday and evening fun
It’s so good to have Fuji Rock’s old traditions back. Last year, we barely had much of a celebration on Thursday night besides the fireworks. But this year, we had the Bon Odori as well as the special guest artists performing at the Red Marquee. People flocked to Oasis for some food and fun, and I could see many happy faces who were probably reunited at and with Fuji Rock for the first time in three years. While music stopped at midnight last year (sigh), this year, it went long into the night, which have always been some of my best memories of Fuji Rock, so I’m glad the late-night fun was back again. Let’s *hope* that Crystal Palace will be back by next year!

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5 – New food and drink options
Speaking of food, there were quite a few new vendors this year. While it’s always great to come back to the same delicious stalls, I loved being able to try new dishes. I especially loved the all-vegan food stall, Righteous Burger. The vendors themselves were so excited to be there, too! There were new drink stalls, like Iichiko sake and the Highball bar. They even served up a special “Fuji Rock Highball” which was rimmed with salt and kinako (roasted soybean flour) that I’m still drooling over now!

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Hopes for Next Year
1. Water re-fill stations: In an effort to look out for festival goers and Fuji Rock’s value in sustainability, I really hope to see water re-fill stations in the future. This year was especially *HOT* and I had to witness some folks struggling from heatstroke. The last thing we want is for people to have to cut their weekend short due to the lack of water supply at the festival. Fuji Rock branded steel water bottles and refill stations all around the grounds? Yes please!

2. Merch tent expansion and education for bringing kids to music festivals: How do these two topics go hand in hand, you say? I’ve noticed that not enough young children were wearing protective noise-canceling ear muffs. I even saw a girl suffering because her ears hurt. At western festivals, ear muffs for kids is a must, and I hope to see Fuji Rock continue to be an advocate for safe and ethical festival fun for the whole family. If we had merch tents in more than one spot (i.e. in front of the main entrance), not only would there be less queueing, families would be able to buy the Fuji Rock branded ear muffs no matter where they are inside the grounds.

Best of the Fest: Mishu

mishucallan02@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 09:38:51 +0000

What a beautiful and (mostly) sunny weekend it was! I am sunburnt, sore, and tired but incredibly grateful for time spent immersed in music and happy crowds. My first experience at this festival was a memorable one and it will be hard to choose my favorites, but I shall try my best.

In no particular order, here are my highlights of the weekend.

1- Vampire Weekend

I have been a die hard fan of this band since high school, and seeing them live was truly a teenage dream come true!

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2- Tom Misch
After this incredible performance, I can safely say that I am Tom Misch fan for life.

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3- Bonobo
Hearing “Kerala” performed live… no words. Incredible.

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4- Arlo Parks
An hour of pure joy.

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Hopes for Next Year:

I would absolutely love to see the return of alt-j to the Fuji Rock stage. I would also like to see refillable water stations!

Best of the Fest: Mika

mika — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 05:00:07 +0000

This was my first time ever at a festival and I can see why people love them so much! I am already making plans for what concerts I can see next just to scratch the itch. In no particular order, here are my top 5 highlights from this year’s festival!

1- xiexie
This small Rookie a Go-Go band totally took me by surprise! I liked what I had heard of their stuff on Spotify but there’s some sort of magic that comes with live music. It was so fun to dance with the band members and the smaller stage just made for such an enjoyable experience.
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2 – Snail Mail
If you read my intro post, you’ve seen that I was most looking forward to Snail Mail’s set. And boy, did it deliver! I’ve been a fan of Lindsey Jordan’s work for years now and hearing Pristine live was everything 2018 Mika could have hoped for. I was also secretly hoping she would open with Valentine, so when she did I was PUMPED!
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3 – Asakura Saya
Asakura Saya was too dang cute. Her energy was perfectly matched with the Gypsy Avalon stage and the whole performance just brought a smile to my face. Her singing voice was so uniquely beautiful too!
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4 – Kaho Nakamura
It’s difficult to explain how amazing this set was. I was seriously blown away by Nakamura’s talent! She’s a fantastic performer who clearly put a lot of love and care into this festival. Calling her just a singer would be selling her far too short.
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5 – Dragondola / Day Dreaming
I loved getting to ride the Dragondola for all of its amazing views and getting a ropeway car to yourself is kind of awesome in the middle of a crowded festival. The Day Dreaming stage was relaxing, breezy and beautiful! Super worth it to go if you can swing it.
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Hopes for Next Year
I would love to see some of the artists that had to cancel at next year’s festival! Namely artists like YOASOBI, Say Sue Me and 八木海莉 were all on my festival bucket list but fate had other plans this year.

Thank you Fuji Rock 2022 for an unforgettable weekend! Until next time!

Best of the Fest: Karen

karenlynch97@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 01:13:48 +0000

Back home, and my legs, feet and ankles are still aching but it was all worth it. I’m already finding myself listening to songs that I saw live such as Mura Masa’s “bbycakes” and Syd’s (The Internet) “Hold On”.

Summer doesn’t really feel like summer until I’ve been to Fuji Rock, so it’s safe to say that it finally feels like summer. Without any more delay, check out my best of the fest below. Enjoy!

1 – Syd

2 – CYK

3 – Tom Misch

4 – JPEGMAFIA

5 – Bonobo

Hopes for Next Year

Really wishing to see Tame Impala and FKA Twigs next year…fingers & toes crossed!

Also hoping to see more vegetable / fruit options at the food stalls. Could’ve used a nice fresh juice or a smoothie after Saturday night’s 1-5AM Red Marquee back-to-back sets!

Best of the Fest: Park

prkbkr@gmail.com — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 15:20:07 +0000

Though it seems the consensus among everyone this year was that Fuji Rock has not quite returned to pre-2020 levels of excitement, that definitely doesn’t mean that it lacked memorable performances. Here’s a round-up of the five most noteworthy acts that I caught at this year’s festival. In no particular order:

– JPEGMAFIA

I’m glad JPEGMAFIA’s assault-on-the-senses White Stage performance went down on Friday afternoon instead of late in the weekend because I don’t know if my tired body could have handled all the bone rattling bass, skittering chopped up beats and ear-splitting, lightning quick scream-rap three days into a festival. My brain can’t seem retain any memory of a particular highlight, probably because the whole set was just pure non-stop energy. He ended each song drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, and he made sure we were all right there along with him. In terms of raw and in-your-face edginess, nothing else I saw this year came close. It hurt so good.

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– DONGURIZU

I had honestly never heard of wild and wacky hip-hop duo DONGURIZU until hours before their Saturday Red Marquee appearance, but I got intrigued after clicking on a youtube video of the pair’s pulsating hip-house floor filler “NO WAY” and decided to find out what they were all about. It ended up being the most fun I had the whole weekend. The reason? Rapper Mori and producer Chomo were up there having even more of a blast than I was.

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– MURA MASA

I’m always impressed by Mura Masa’s ability to hand pick his collaborative vocalists from a smorgasbord of worldwide backgrounds with unmatched skill. Rough-around-the-edges Slowthai’s grime/punk in “Deal Wiv It”, Charli XCX’s ultra-catchy bubblegum pop on “1 Night” and the Jamaican dancehall floor-filler “Blessing Me” with Pa Salieu + Skillibeng all draw from vastly different musical influences. Then HOW IN THE WORLD did only two women (guest vocalists Fliss and Cosha) channel the personalities of all these wildly diverse performers so perfectly and still inject their own vibrant persona and flair into each and every song? Big-time hats off to these two majorly talented ladies. Plus we got some sneaky previews of upcoming, yet-to-be-released material which also sounded fantastic.

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– DINOSAUR JR

Though I know their bigger hits well enough from back in the day, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a Dinosaur Jr fan. But with all the original members performing on stage together and the fact that they’re a literal living legend of a band still going hard today, you didn’t have to be a Dinosaur Jr super-fan to truly appreciate and understand the gravity of what was going down.

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– KIKAGAKU MOYO

Kikagaku Moyo is one of those bands that have found greater success overseas than in their own native Japan. I count myself lucky to have witnessed one of their final performances and was impressed by their distinctive and complex building jams, so much so that felt surprisingly easy to lose yourself in their meandering, swirling structures. Though it seems their time as a group is quickly coming to a close, as skilled and talented as they all are, I’ll bet we can expect some very interesting solo work from these adept musicians.

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– HOPES FOR NEXT YEAR

Please please please bring back Palace of Wonder. I understand that in these trying times we can’t have massive crowds packed into smaller enclosed venues, but I’ll cry real tears if the offbeat atmosphere of the Crystal Palace Tent and accompanying Palace of Wonder area are lost and gone forever. Also, dropping in on Jim’s Vinyl Nasium in its beloved shack-type form near Naeba Shokudo was always a late-night treat. I want that back, if Jim is up for it. If we’re going to talk performers for next year, I’d like to kindly request invites sent out to HAIM, Jungle, Parcels, Frank Ocean, Brockhampton, Hot Chip, Still Woozy, Vaundy and a group_inou reunion for 2023. Oh, and an exact repeat of this year’s near-perfect weather would be nice.

Best of the Fest: Jonathan

warmbeverage@gmail.com — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 03:57:27 +0000

It was so, so good to have Fuji Rock feeling like Fuji Rock again, though here’s hoping next year will be even more normal, with less cancellations and more fun surprises. That being said, it was a blast and, true to Fuji Rock form, it was hard to pick just 5 things that made this year special. Here they are, though, in no particular order:

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!

Go cashless at Fuji Rock

nina.m.cataldo@gmail.com — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 05:57:34 +0000

The festival is moving more towards a cashless system, where you can use your Suica (and other transportation cards), credit cards, and even your Seven Bank Nanaco card. But do we ever plan enough funds on those? At least for me, my Suica ran out by the end of Day 2.

But worry not! There are charging booths right outside of the main entrance into the festival. Both a Nanaco Card-specific booth and a Suica charging booth that is also an ATM (provided by Seven Bank) are available at this station. Since there is only one ATM machine for the whole festival, lines may get long so be sure to go early.

Opening hours: 11:00AM – 8:00PM
Number of ATMs/Top up machine: 1
Number of Nanaco Card machine: 2

A must-have item for kids at festivals

nina.m.cataldo@gmail.com — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 05:43:34 +0000

You may have seen some kids at Fuji Rock (or other festivals) rocking colorful ear muffs. But what are they for? They’re of course used for noise-canceling purposes: loud music, crowds, fireworks, and other high frequency noise making events. They’re very comfortable and perfect to keep kids feeling safe, and to protect their sensitive ear drums (really important!).

Fuji Rock sells their own branded set of ear muffs that come in three colors: pink, blue, and yellow. For ¥2,500, these comfortable ear muffs also come with branded bags to keep them safe in. They are sold at the merchandise tent so get a set for your kids – it’s not too late today, or for events in the future!

The not-so-secret gift deal at Brew Dog

nina.m.cataldo@gmail.com — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 11:23:54 +0000

If you venture to the eastern corner of the festival – i.e. Gypsy Avalon – you’ll find a whole wonderland with plenty of seating, sponsor tents, delicious food and drinks. Among them is Brew Dog, a Scottish brewery that has gained popularity in Japan over the years. While Jonathan already covered Brew Dog’s beer on this post, you may be excited to be in on the secret of how to receive a free Brew Dog t-shirt.

It’s simple: you get a Brew Dog sticker with every beer purchase (and the beer is cheaper here, ¥550, compared to other places) and when you’ve collected five stickers (in other words, buy five beers), you get a free shirt! The minimalist tee comes in black or white and has the company logo on it – quite stylish. If you work out the math, you get five delicious craft beers AND a shirt for ¥2,750. That’s a deal you won’t want to miss. Be sure to hurry before they run out!

Catch the late-blooming hydrangeas at Fuji Rock

nina.m.cataldo@gmail.com — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 03:46:51 +0000

If you’ve walked between the Green Stage and White Stage, you may have noticed the row of full-bloom hydrangeas right in front of Kids Land. And if you haven’t noticed them, where are you looking! You really can’t miss them.

While June is the most prominent time for hydrangeas, Naeba miraculously has reached peak hydrangea season, right in time to greet all the folks at the festival.

The white (and some blue) flowers complement the pastel colored flags well. Whether it’s rain or sunshine (so far, lots of sunshine), these flowers are here to stay for the weekend and make your walk to the eastside of the festival a beaut.

Check them out for yourself! And let us know what other flora you spot around the festival!