As their name suggests, Superorganism is a large group with five members: Orono Noguchi, Harry, Tucan, B and Soul. Each member takes on a number of different roles depending on the song and performance. To complete the biological theme, Superorganism’s backdrops followed nature themes with videos of things like water droplets, space, and foliage.

Superorganism’s music is conducive to a good time. The classic verse/chorus structure is easy to follow and the repeated lines throughout each chorus can be picked up even by first time listeners. Their sound is largely psychedelic pop with some indie and electronica influences. The electronica side of their sound was very evident in their opening number World Wide Pop. A filter was put on Noguchi’s vocals to make it sound like her voice was heavily autotuned. Mixed with Noguchi’s style of speak-singing, their songs have a certain feeling of ease to them.

What made Superorganism’s concert super memorable was their closing performance of Something For Your M.I.N.D. With a little bit of extra time in the set, Noguchi called members of the audience and crew to join the band on stage to dance and sing with them. She began by calling up particularly enthusiastic audience members, then calling up people with Superorganism’s merch while making a joke that merch sales would suddenly go up. Finally she looked for a harmonica player in the audience with little success. We didn’t hear a harmonica part in the final song so it may well be that it was irrelevant, but we will never know.

An incredibly personal performance, Superorganism made their audience want to see them again and again.

Knowing how to make an entrance rule number one for a star, and Suzuki knows how. First his band took their places, paused, and entered into the opening bars of SPY, Suzuki coming on stage to the feux James Bond riff in black pants, black sequined cummerbund, red shirt, white sport coat with polka pots and, of course, sunglasses. He said it was his first time on a Fuji Rock stage, but it certainly wasn’t his first time on a stage. He had the fluid and comfortable movements of a stage performer, and he knew how to sell the story of his songs with body language alone.

The crowd really started moving with Chigau Sou Jyanai, a funky little number which got feet tapping and behinds shaking (even if just a little bit). It gave Martin a chance to shake his stuff too.

Songs like Slow Ballad gave him a chance to slow things down and show how he earned the title Father of Love Songs. His voice is perfectly suited for Chanels-style throwback songs like this one, and he could belt it out well. Songs like Hurricane started off a portion of the set that showed this doo-wop skill off even more clearly, thanks mostly to his special guest vocalists.

It should also be mentioned that White Stage saw over-capacity crowds for this performance, going so far as stopping crossage from Tokoro Tengoku because the crowd was so thick. And people of every age were getting down to this set, and getting down hard.

Every culture needs stars like this, the showman singer staples that you and your parents can both enjoy, even if just a little bit ironically sometimes. And it isn’t hard to see how Martin earned the legendary status he has.

Just a man and his guitar, Aratani (member of up-and-coming rock group yonawo) crooned and lightly strummed through a short catalog of his solo work. More sparse and pared down than the work done with his band, his strengths going-it-alone lie in his unique voice and singer-songwriter chops with a penchant for soaring melodies.

Fans of the band were of course on hand, and happy to hear that Aratani also managed to work in a few yonawo songs which were stripped down and simplified, presented in a totally different mood.

Joined by other members of the band late in the set, what began as a meandering and peaceful set took on a more fleshed out sound with additional backing instruments in the mix.

Speaking on a personal level with a few fans in the audience, making jokes and telling stories, Aratani connected well with his fans and gave them a memorable experience with his sparse yet moving songscapes.

Consisting of seven members, BIM, doooo, VaVa, in-d, JUBEE, heiyuu and PalBedStock, the group is collective of rappers, producers, videographers and designers who push the boundaries in the creative industry. Overall, they are known mostly for their clothing drops and original music. Their clothes sell out pretty damn fast and often resell for a pretty decent resell price on Mercari. So it’s safe to say, whatever they’re doing is definitely working.

While they operate as a collective, each member also works on their own projects, may it be music, fashion, artwork, etc. At Fuji Rock, they performed both a variety of different songs in which different members of the collective take the lead mic. That was pretty unique and special to see in a set.

Compared to all of the other shows I have seen at Fuji Rock thus far (bear in mind, I’m just beginning Day 3), CreativeDrugStore displayed the most energy from any performance at the festival. They were dancing like crazy on the stage, engaging directly with their audience and genuinely just having the best time. They used autotune in their mics from time to time so when they would yell things like ‘WADDUP FUJI ROCK’, it would have that Travis Scott-eque sound to it, which made the crowd super hyped up.

In the middle of their set, one of the members brought out a small blow up globe with ‘Creative Drug Store’ on it. It was about the size of a beach ball, or maybe two basketballs combined. One of the members took the mic and said something along the lines of ‘I had this idea to bring this globe and throw it in the crowd, but then I watched Vampire Weekend last night and saw that the had the same globe, just 100x bigger and like, 100 more of them’. The crowd laughed and cheered, and continued to vibe out to the next song.

CreativeDrugStore’s performance at Fuji has definitely put them on the map for me personally, and I’m going to keep tabs on their progress from now on. They’re making waves, and creating a community in the process.

The group prides themselves in their diverse sounds from song to song which they showed off with their Fuji Rock set. They had surf rock, psychedelic jazz and alternative beats changing song to song giving the audience a taste of everything. The one thing all of their songs have in common is their danceability. Even their more groovy jazz songs were paired with a catchy guitar solo that fit together unexpectedly well.

The group members began a little more reserved, sticking mostly to their respective spots on stage, but as they got going they loosened up a bit to banter with each other and interact with the audience. Namely bassist Inaba had some awesome dance moves that were wildly entertaining.

We know these guys aren’t amateurs given they stepped up for this live performance at the last minute. What was even more impressive was that they powered through what seemed to be some technical difficulties during their set. During a song, a couple of crew members had to step on stage to fiddle with some chords and musicians kept their cool. They paid no mind to this hiccup and carried on with professionalism. Luckily, it seemed like the issue was quickly resolved and the set didn’t have any interruptions! Helsinki Lambda Club is not easily shaken!

The show began with Sunflower, a track featured on their most recent release, Father of the Bride. The backdrop of the stage showcasing a globe, honoring the album cover. A couple songs into the set, the band experienced some technical difficulties. Despite this, audience members were cheering them on and clapping throughout the entire ordeal. Vampire Weekend came back stronger after a quick sound fix, performing classics such as Step, from the album Modern Vampires of the City.

Vampire Weekend’s colorful discography offers an array of possibilities for a stellar setlist, but Father of the Bride was the star of the show. Lots has happened since their last visit to Fuji Rock in 2018, vocalist Ezra Koenig mentions, but he is thrilled to finally be able to perform their tracks from Father of the Bride to an audience in Japan. Koenig wooed the crowd with his Japanese skills, “Otsukaresamadesu” he exclaimed between songs.

For the die hard Vampire Weekend fan, it was a true treat to witness some of their classics such as Unbelievers and Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. And for those just getting to know them, it was a colorful night in spite of difficulties.

Their lyrics “We’re surviving, we’re still living, are we stronger?” are more prominent now than ever and a true testament to the era we are living in. Indeed, we are living and we are listening to sensational music along the way!