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!

Guernsey-born electronic music producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Mura Masa has been making moves around the world, performing at Glastonbury earlier this year. Back at the Fuji Rock stage 6 years after his performance at Red Marquee in 2016, Mura Masa did not disappoint.

Mura Masa always brings someone on stage with him, since he himself, does not partake in any of the vocals. Before his set, I was wondering who he would bring to Fuji Rock. I was praying for either Rocky or slowthai, but I knew that was a little bit of a stretch…

He brought out singer Fliss, who completely took the stage with her vivacious presence and amazing dance skills. She completely blew me away. The entire audience LOVED her energy.

Not going to lie I did not know the first 3 songs, so I was just head bumping in the crowd, but on the 4th song he played ‘bbycakes’ off his new album and my hands left my phone (taking notes at the time), and joined the thousands of hands in the air.

He performed most of his bangers including ‘I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again’, ‘1 Night’, and of course finished off with back-to-back showstoppers, ‘Love$ick’ and ‘Firefly’.

The mood in the audience was incredible. People were letting everything go, as it was one of their last chances to at Fuji Rock, before returning to reality. At the end of the set, Mura Masa threw two of his drumsticks in the crowd; one to the right and one to the left. I was situated to the left of the stage, and I saw him throw his stick into the crowd, but didn’t think much of it. I see this happen at so many concerts, but I never think it’s actually going to be me. However, the second drumstick started coming closer to me, and I thought to myself ‘oh damn, the people in front of me gonna get lucky’, and then to my surprise, the stick fell on the ground in right in front of me, just before my dirty beaten-up Dr. Martens. So I picked the stick up. Never in a million years did I expect to catch Mura Masa’s drumstick in the crowd but hey, here we are.

Some girls catch flower bouquets at weddings, I catch Mura Masa’s drumstick at Fuji Rock. And I’m not mad at it. Mura Masa was a great way to end an amazing weekend.

【SETLIST】
DEMON TIME (Fliss on vocal)
NUGGETS (Fliss on vocal)
1 NIGHT (Fliss on vocal)
BBYCAKES (Fliss on vocal)
I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS AGAIN (Fliss on vocal)
DEAL WIV IT (Fliss on vocal)
DOORMAN (slowthai cover)
LOTUS EATER / HELL
2GETHER (Cosha on vocal)
BLESSING ME (Cosha on vocal)
HOLLABACK BITCH (Cosha on vocal)
E-MOTIONS (Cosha on vocal)
COMPLICATED (Cosha on vocal)
WHAT IF I GO? (Cosha on vocal)
LOVE$ICK (Fliss on vocal)
FIREFLY (Fliss & Cosha on vocal)

Experienced performer at Fuji Rock, Bryan played this year at Day Dreaming stage. His selection mixes together electronic, techno and house.

TV and radio personality by day, member of punk band “SAFARI” and DJ by night, Bryan wears many different hats. He is actually one of the producers of Fuji Rock’s “All Night Fuji” and “Day Dreaming”.

Byran participates in Fuji Rock every single year. In fact, he actually attended the first-ever Fuji Rock, and recalls that at the time there were only about eight people operating in the staff department. Now it takes a village, probably hundreds of people behind the scenes to make Fuji Rock happen.

It was pretty cool to see Bryan perform, as someone who not only has performed at Fuji Rock multiple times, but has such a strong connection to the overall festival and its roots.

After doing some research, I discovered that it is the Mont Bell Lightweight Trail Chair that weights only 363g and can hold up to 80kg of weight. The chair is so small it can fit into the side pocket of a backpack.

Might have to get one before my next Fuji Rock.

Curry rice served in a little paper bowl with a nice soft onsen tamago on top is what I had for a late lunch yesterday. You can add other toppings such as cheese and fried chicken.

I lined up 30 minutes for this curry with no regrets. 10/10!

Located at the main food area just by Red Marquee, ‘La Locanda del Pittore’ offers authentic pizza in a variety of kinds. However, if you’re not vegetarian, it’s my strong recommendation to order the Fuji Rock Special.

The Fuji Rock Special features half margherita half sausage, it’s really that simple, yet oh so delicious. Prices are a bit high at this stall, the half size of Fuji Rock Special being (980yen), but the pizza is restaurant quality.

It’s day two and I’ve had the pizza twice, not even ashamed. Might even go back for a third one before the festival ends!

Usually located in the Kids Zone area near Orange Cafe, goes Kappa, in Japanese known as 河童 (orカッパ), a mythical Japanese monster that was popularised by Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s 1927 novel ‘Kappa’.

Kappa was luring both kids and adults to come play with him. After doing some reading on what Kappa’s do, I think those kids should stay far away…

Pro tip, apparently he likes cucumbers so hide those when you see him!

Signed to Music and DJ collective tokyovitamin, LITTLE DEAD GIRL is both a DJ and producer. Their DJ style which is highly centered on bass music has attracted a fair bit of attention. Having grown up loving music since a young age, LITTLE DEAD GIRL skillfully integrates various experimental instrument sounds into their set.

Situated at Day Dreaming, LITTLE DEAD GIRL’s set was a great start to the day. While some people opted to dancing right in front of the dance floor, others lay horizontal on the grass, or situated in their foldable chairs (which I opted for), basking in the pleasant weather accompanied by LITTLE DEAD GIRL’s unique selection.

Their set was quite minimal, with elements of jazz mixed into it which is was really got people grooving on the grass.

In conclusion, I think LITTLE DEAD GIRL is a pretty awesome DJ. Their doing what they love and they look pretty great doing it.

Meirin first got into music in junior high school when she met a boy who liked punk. I feel like a looooot of us can relate to this. Through that young love, she started going to punk lives, and buying various CDs and her love for music grew from then on.

Candid and completely unapologetic, ZOMBIE-CHANG stated in an interview with JAPAN Forward just days before the show that she can “blow away the tent” with her music at Fuji Rock 2022.

Situated at Red Marquee at near 3 in the morning, ZOMBIE-CHANG came on with so much energy that she helped me stay up and awake. Red Marquee was bumping, and the energy was most definitely there.

One of the most memorable songs from her set last night for me was her new song “Stress”. Earlier this year, Meirin released her 9-track album ‘STRESS De STRESS’. She mentioned in an interview that while she was working on the album, she was in a hard techno phase, which shines through in some of the songs, like STRESS for example. While she sang the song to a very boozed-up crowd, in the background screen in huge block letters read the word ‘STRESS’ over and over again. This had a major effect on the whole performance of that song. She also got on the mic and started talking to the crowd asking people ‘ARE YOU STRESSED’, ‘WE ALL GET STRESSED’, etc. People were loving her interactions, especially because she was yelling over an auto-tuned mic.

Another song of the album ‘STRESS De STRESS’ that she performed was ‘Ping Pong’, to which she started throwing signed ping pong balls in the crowd. I’m sure we’ll be seeing those on Mercari very soon.

Meirin once said in an interview that she goes to clubs alone because she doesn’t want to be seen dancing and prefers to dance with strangers. And why I bring this up is because, I think there were quite a lot of people in the crowd of her set alone, and having the time of her life.