Well, that’s it! Another year done! This festival felt like a fast one, it was over in the blink of an eye. But inside that blink there sure were a lot of good shows, good food, good people, good drinks. Good memories!!

Runners-up include (and there are some big ones!) Mogwai, Thurston Moore Group, Umei Misaki, Neco Nemuru and Charan po Rantan.

And now I submit to you my top five of the fest, in no particular order –

1 – Sakamoto Shintaro
I may sound like a broken record, he always shows up on my lists if he performs, but this time was extra special. On Sunday they announced he would be playing a Crystal Palace secret show and that meant all my other plans went out the window. Sorry Lausbub, you were one of the acts I wanted to see the most! Needless to say, Sakamoto Shintaro in the moody intimacy of Crystal Palace was incredibly special. It will probably go down as not only one of my favorite performances of the festival, but of my life.

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2 – Susumu Hirasawa and EJIN
Again, no surprise here!!! I was really looking forward to seeing him on the big ol Green Stage, and he certainly did not disappoint! His theatricality worked so well in such a large space, it was hard not to get completely entranced by the performance. But it isn’t just the theatrics, the music was also phenomenal, due in no small part to the work of EJIN, this time decked out in black and white monitor heads. Sorry Angine de Poitrine, I had to go with the other costumed weirdos on Sunday.

3 – Tocago
Despite being a Rookie a Go-Go act, Tocago really, really impressed me. They felt like road-tested veterans, especially leader Chizuru Oki. Her smoky voice and bluesy guitar, backed up by a top-notch band, was like a formula designed to win me over. And guess what, it did! Speaking of bluesy guitar picking women…

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4 – Inoue Sonoko
This one came as a big surprise for me. I had no real idea who Inoue Sonoko was, just roughly that she was a folksy singer-song writer. Did I ever only have half the story there. Turns out she is a badass bluesy ax-woman on top of that. Her charisma and chops combined to win me over out of nowhere. Already looking forward to seeing her again.

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5 – TESTSET
Man, these guys really know how to put on a show. I mean, with legends like these there’s nothing surprising about that. Their set was bangers from start to finish. It really did a great job setting the mood for the festival to come, a year of magnificent musicians having fun doing what they are good at doing.

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Another one down! A lot of memories, a lot of surprises, a wonderful amount of blues. Great food, wonderful people. Three days a year being a part of a beautiful community.