Another year down and they just go by so fast, don’t they?! In a go-around that many Fuji Rock frequenters originally lamented online as “underwhelming” when comparing previous years lineups, it sure didn’t feel that way in the end. Those out there who were worried solely about a roster of big names in bright lights need only look a bit deeper to find that there is far more on offer at Fuji Rock. For me, these were those in 2024:

1. group_inou

Huge disclaimer here: Extreme bias as a group_inou superfan who has waited nearly a decade hoping to see them live once again finally gets their wish. On top of the boundless energy and creativity that these two consistently bring, I think what makes group_inou so great is their ability to be just as endearingly goofy as they are untouchably cool. Rapper CP’s peppy staccato lyric delivery never fails to conjure up weird and wild imagery (amplified by frequent visual collaborators AC-BU), while producer imai thrashes uncontrollably behind his bank of samplers like they were giving him electric shock. I was hyping up this long-awaited comeback performance in my brain and body for months leading up to the festival, and to say that it exceeded even those expectations says everything you need to know about group_inou.

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2. PAS TASTA

This raucous six-piece collective are probably not the group of pompous partyboys you’re picturing in your head. A veritable dream team of Japanese electronic music nerds, PAS TASTA combine their diverse influences in the most haphazard way yet it somehow always ends up hitting harder than anything you’ve ever heard on the dancefloor. The venue also worked to their advantage, making the grassy mountaintop Daydreaming stage feel like a no-holds-barred backyard summer house party. Joyously slicing and dicing their way through a sound salad of what seemed like hundreds of samples and sound effects, the crew were in a frenzied battle over who took control of what wild tunes were allowed to be squeezed out from the samplers next. You’d get the idea that they’d be having just as much fun up there goofing off together even if they were playing to an empty field.

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3. Summer Eye

Quick, what do these 3 things have in common:

1. Pineapple patterned swimwear
2. Melted blue ‘Garigari-kun’ ice-pop juice trickling down your arm while riding bikes with friends
3. The sound of screaming cicadas

If you answered pure summer vibes then my friend, you’d be correct, and those were exactly what jovial pop band Summer Eye brought to Naeba Shokudo on Friday night. Strutting onto the stage with a huge blue/orange striped parasol and a huge smile, frontman Tomoyuki Natsume and the entire band exuded unadulterated happiness, bringing the entire crowd along with them into their world of beachballs and watermelons. “Today’s microphone cable is 40 meters long!”, Natsume joked as he bounded out into the center of the crowd and sung merrily atop a ladder with his parasol as if he were the most cheerful lifeguard on the entire beach. Summer Eye’s vibe was so summer-y, you could almost smell the coconut suntan oil.

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4. hobnob

I could see absolutely nothing “rookie” about Rookie A Go-Go entrants hobnob. Mysterious and dressed in all white, hobnob confidently blended heavy and extremely technical live drumming with atmospheric synths and robotic vocal samples bringing a hard-edged electronic mood to the performance. All this was elevated by the group’s visual artist who created lighting scenes on-the-fly, projecting them directly onto the band and animating their actions. Shoutout to fellow rookie entrants peterparker69 and Salmon Pink, but based on the enthralling performance here, I think I’m giving the edge to hobnob.

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5. KRAFTWERK

As far as this year’s big-name acts go, nothing else came close to carrying the weight that true legends KRAFTWERK had. Their influence is evident across the entire spectrum of music in the past half-century and needless to say their performance felt like a monumental occasion. Beyond a moving emotional tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto, the performance was at once engaging, political and energizing. Each moment brought with it a feeling of gravity that we were able to witness KRAFTWERK still playing together some 50+ years into their influential careers.

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