Another round of artists have been announced for Fuji Rock bringing the total number of performing acts to 202! The timetable has been released as well and from the looks of it, there are only two slots left to be filled. One is Sunday night on the Green Stage, the other on Mokudo Tei on Saturday afternoon.
Five years since the death of Joe Strummer, and his memory continues to live on with a recent Billy Bragg interview on KCRW reminding us of this legendary artist and activist. In the interview Bragg says “the Clash taught me that music can change the world” and to honor his passing, Bragg wanted to do more than “just another benefit gig”, putting his energies behind an instruments for inmates charity called Jail Guitar Doors. Incidentally, the name of the charity is taken from the B-side of 1978 release "Clash City Rockers".
For the past 4 years, Taiwan’s Formoz Festival has coordinated its artist bookings with Fuji Rock. Both festivals share the same weekend and cooperation has allowed organizers to share artist transportation costs. Artists who have done double duty at both festivals have included: Super Furry Animals, Dirty Pretty Things, Mercury Rev, and Moby.
This year, Formoz organizers were drooling at the prospects of bagging My Bloody Valentine as festival headliners. Negotiations proceeded well, but hit a snag when it came to appearance fees. According to Formoz staff, it was “impossible” for My Bloody Valentine to play for anything less than US$100,000. The fee was too high for Formoz who scrambled to fill the empty slot with Boom Boom Satellites, adding to an already heavy Japanese line-up which includes Mono, LM.C, Plastic Tree, Ovum, and Inoran.
And by the way, Fuji Rock may have been quite lucky to land My Bloody Valentine as this year's reunion tour includes just 18 stops with up to a week off between gigs.
//sean s.
If you actually get tired of listening to music, you can always mosey on over to the Palace Arena just outside the main entrance to catch some thrills during the wee hours. This year there's three bone-chilling distractions.
When the Gossip approach the Red Marquee next month, it won’t be hard to locate vocalist Beth Ditto...
Bo Diddley has been described as the most copied guitarist in the world, with many ripping of his “hambone” beat or what Diddley described as a "shave and a haircut, two bits".
The most obvious example is Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”, but for many, including myself, the first introduction to this distinctive beat came from the Jesus and Mary Chain who covered Diddley’s "Who Do You Love" on their 12-inch “April Skies" in 1987, following up with the tribute "Bo Diddley is Jesus" the same year.
Another fan of this former bluesman is Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream. He's covered Diddley’s “Movin’ on Up” and his newest album “Riot City Blues” has an unmistakable Bo Diddley beat throughout. Gillespie even talks about Diddley’s influence upon the band in this NME interview
//sean s.
Lately, more and more of my friends and family are settling down and having children. I guess, you know, becoming adults. And nowadays when the topic of Fuji Rock Festival comes up in late spring, their demeanor becomes wistful. A thousand yard stare comes over them. A silence, a letting go. They look over at the sleeping or cat terrorizing toddler, and say, "I'd love to go, but...well..."
Well I say: Have no fear! Bring the ankle biters...err...little angels. Fuji Rock Festival is officially Kid Tested and Mother Approved!
With today's announcement we add to the FRF 2008 lineup a few indie darlings a long-standing FRF fave and one unlikely hall-of-famer...
You thought Fuji Rock is all Rock N Roll? Think again!
Dansudansu, a user from the official Fujirockers english BBS, posted two very interesting links about some international coverage of Fuji Rock. Have a look at a cool video report from the jetsetters magazine Monocle and some pictures from last year festival on the respectable BBC News website.
Also, Shawn already pointed out that it’s possible to listen to almost all the confirmed bands on the official myspace of Fuji Rock. But why stop there? Join the social website bandwagon without restrain and share loads of info with your friends with the Last.fm group and confirm your attending on Facebook.
Sebastien
As the festival approaches, the Fujirockers team tries our best to advise festivalgoers as best we can (see the BBS if you have any specific questions). So I thought I’d start a little DO and Don’t list…
It's April Fool's Day but the 12 new acts confirmed for the festival are no joke. Meet them after the jump.
The Rookie A Go-Go stage located up there near the Palace of Wonder will once again be presenting unsigned bands and wannabe rock stars in all their glorious callowness. Do you have what it takes to make a total fool of yourself in front of dozens of drunken, hard-bitten punters? Well, why not give it a try anyway?
Ok folks, it has begun. Smash has just announced that sales of Hayawari (Earlybird) tickets go on sale February 16th. Buy a three-day ticket that week and you save 7,000 yen (regular price: ¥39,800 earlybird price: ¥32,800, tax included).
The sale lasts for one week only. For instructions and information, look here
Jonesing for a beer, but got those half-full blues?
Weather reports, as of now, are saying there is a chance of a bit of rain for tomorrow night's pre-fest party, but that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be dry! Hopefully things stay this way.
Panting to know where OCS might be next? If you miss their date in Naeba -- Friday 6:20 at the Red Marquee -- cause you're sitting at home watching "Sympathy for Mr. Vengence," don't worry Ocean Colour Scene is coming to the Pentaport Festival in Incheon, which has a mean line-up on its Big Top Stage (Strokes). Fuji spreads ...
The Durutti Column are out (the official FRF English web page is citing illness as the reason) and J.A.M are in.
Grace Potter joins the growing list of acts doing free Tokyo showcases to complement their FRF '07 appearances.
C'est bientôt le temps de faire son sac-à-dos pour Fuji-Rock. Année après années il y a des choses que j'oublie ou que j'aurais aimé avoir avec moi. Aussi plusieurs de mes amis qui s'apprêtent a vivre l'expérience du festival pour la première fois me demande conseils sur ce qu'ils devraient apporter. Vêtements, nécessaires de camping, chaussures etc. Voila donc ma liste personnel de trucs essentiels à emporter...
Battles will follow up their Sunday night performance on the White Stage with a (nearly) free in-store performance in Tokyo on Monday July 30.
C’est dans moins de deux semaines que débutera la onzième édition du Fuji Rock Festival. Au programme, plus de 150 artistes locaux et internationaux prendront la relève des différentes scènes des montagnes de Niigata pour faire vibrer une foule dépassant les 100,000 spectateurs. Parmi les artistes attendus, de gros nom comme les Beastie Boys ou The Chemical Brothers attireront sûrement plusieurs festivaliers. Cependant, les couches tard et amateurs de music électronique auront l’occasion d’assister à un véritable débarquement des héritiers de la french touch. À Smash, organisateur du festival, on s’est donc tourné vers moi pour couvrir l’événement dans la langue de Molière.
photo (c) Joe Dilworth
More midnight music movies at this year's Fuji out near the White Stage...
There's something called the Stone Circle at the Glastonbury Festival and this new area out near the Orange Court most certainly has some sort of psychic connection.
One of the craziest sites I came across at Fuji Rock this year was located on the street leading up to the Prince Hotel.
Walking back to our rooms around 2 am on Sunday morning to drop off some of our gear before checking out POW one last time, Dom, Jeff, and myself were all shocked to come across a snowman. I know we are at Naeba Ski Resort, but it was almost August and the temperature was like 35 degrees Celsius. Frosty had no reason to be there what so ever. However, there he was standing all by his lonesome quietly waiting to greet all who passed by. Guess he got sick of just being around in the winter and missing all of the FRF fun in the summer.
Miss Kurara Chibana is conquering the world
The Fujirocker team was short of one of his prettiest member this year while Miss Kurara Chibana was busy doing nothing less than more glamorous Miss Universe contest this summer. Formerly part of our reporters crew, the Okinawa born Fujirocker, won the prestigious title of Miss Japan last April. Frustrating the 4,000+ other entries of this year national pageant title, she got her ticket to Los Angeles and showed-up aside the most beautiful women on Earth to get the ultimate title of Miss Universe. Winning the award for the best national costume wearing a futuro-sympatic samurai outfit, our diva lost the galactic beauties contest only to Miss Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera. Nevertheless being the first runner-up of such an event is huge and all the 2006 Fujirockers want to salute this most stylish accomplishment and hope Kurara's going be back on our reporter team next year!
If you want to follow the new career of the sexiest rocker to intend the 2005 Fuji Rock Festival, I suggest you visit her fans club web-site www.kurara-chibana.com, or see her profile on the official Miss Universe pages at www.missuniverse.com/delegates/2006/files/JP.html
Kisses Kurara, a` l'anne´e prochaine!
The server for Fujirock Express, where photos and more concert reports will be uploaded, is still having problems. So for the time being, look here for details, gossip, mishaps, adventure and other fun fest stuff here on the blog. Try the blog's Japanese version for pix that the J-team photographer's have uploaded
My niece Emma flew up from Australia last year for her first taste of the Fuji Rock experience. Now she's hooked. She flew back again this year for more. And both times she has managed to convince three of her friends to join her in the adventure - last year her flat mates and this year three girlfriends from high-school.
If you're just tuning in, a little 411 on our server situation: the FUJIROCK EXPRESS SITE is having server problems, so the English team are posting here for the time being. Please keep checking EXPRESS SITE because once it's up again there will plenty of pictures and content. thanks
The festival opened exactly at 6 pm Thursday for those who have the kind of freedom that they can take off work or whatever to party with the natives on a Thursday night. The air is cool and the threatened rain hadn't arrived, though the right kind of clouds were there. Everybody flooded into the Oasis for chicken wrap and curry, Boddington and red wine, fortifying themselves for whatever the night had in store. Tomorrow is just the beginning.
As reported earlier, the Fuji Rock Festival will be the first event in the world to introduce the Global Cool campaign, whose aim is to reduce carbon emissions by persuading people to cut back on electricity use. On Friday, the festival proper will open with a speech from Smash President Masa Hidaka. Leonardo DiCaprio, who is in charge of the California campaign, had planned to join Masa for the opening, but for reasons having to do with Hollywood priorities he will not be able to attend. However, he has made a film that he has asked to be shown at the opening of the festival, preceded by a video in which he says, "It's great to see that the Fuji Rock music festival was the first concert in the world to go carbon neutral, and now is hosting the launch of Global Cool, an international campaign to wake up the world about global warming, and encourage everyone of us to do something. I made the film you're about to see to help educate and motivate people to take action now to combat global warming." However celebrity freaks won't be disappointed. Orlando Bloom, who is also involved in the campaign, is now slated to show up in Leo's place, along with his girlfriend (Orlando's, not Leo's) Kate Bosworth. It's the second trip Orlando has made to Japan in the past two weeks! He must really love Japan.
Select FRF performers will be signing autographs and playing acoustic shows at the Ganban/ MTV booth and at the Ganban official goods shop throughout the weekend. This is a great chance to meet some of the great bands you've seen play and possibly get to witness a much more intimate performance.
The weather forecast for Naeba on Thursday and Friday isn't looking too promising. Hopefully Saturday and Sunday will be nice though. You can follow the weather forecast as it changes throughout the week at http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Naeba.0to6bot.shtml
earplugs - you may need them to sleep or for a few moments's peace
Rain Boots - looks like a muddy one, folks
Genki drinks - these have been in surprisingly short supply on-site. when you need a boost at 3am, a lukewarm cup of coffee only gets you so far
Best spot to see bands up close: the Food court and Palace after 2
Best spot for a snooze: Top of the field @ Avalon (many acoustic bands, mellow atmosphere)
Best spot for a tryst in public: The woods a few meters from the boardwalk
Best spot to be when it rains (and it WILL rain, friends): The gondola, the Red Marquee (just after getting a drink), the Lark Cigarette pavilion @ Orange Court.
Due to doctor' orders, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have been forced to cancel their Japanese and Australian tours. This means, of course, that they will be unable to perform in Red Marquee on the Saturday evening of the festival.
Alec Ounsworth, the guitarist and vocalist of the highly-touted, Brooklyn-based act, began to have problems with his voice during the band's recent European dates resulting in his doctor telling him to take a break and rest his vocal chords.
On July 12, it was announced that Kiyoshiro Imawano, the semi-official "King of Fuji Rock," cancelled his appearance on the Green Stage July 30 due to illness. According to newspaper reports, Kiyoshiro was experiencing discomfort in his throat in June and went to get it checked out. It was discovered that he has cancer of the larynx. He is now hospitalized and undergoing treatment.
The 55-year-old singer and songwriter has played at every Fuji Rock Festival from 1998 to 2005 except for 2003, and in many of those years he performed on more than one stage. Undoubtedly one of the most eclectic, not to mention eccentric, pop stars in Japanese music, Kiyoshiro formed the legendary folk group RC Succession in high school. His subsequent solo career has embraced every style of music, from blues to hard rock to soul (he once toured with Booker T and the MGs)--all of which he's played for the folks of Fuji.
Best first meal on-site: Ostrich Kebabs and cold beer from Solomon's Ethiopean Cafe
Best place to chill between shows: The sake bar between Green and White, next to the river. In years past they've had opera playing, and shone laser-light patterns on the cliffs across the river. Looked a bit like snow falling.
Best View: The Gondola as it passes near Green Stage
More to come. Anyone else wanna add a few?
Part of the appeal of the Fuji Rock experience is the way the site itself has been altered in a way that dovetails with the sensory-heightening function of the music. The trick, of course, it not to alter things in a way that hurts the environment or gets in the way of the festival's operation. The boardwalk that snakes through the forest from the White Stage to the Orange Court is a perfect example. Great care has been exerted to make sure no vegetation is displaced or harmed; while at the same time the structure itself allows the people who use it a proximity to Naeba's natural beauty that is unique in quality.
With this concept in mind, Australian environmental artist Craig Walsh has been invited to install a work he calls Humanature at various locations on the festival grounds. Using animation and special lighting, the installations transform plants and trees into giant portraits after dark. Because plants and trees can often mimic in outline the shape of the human body or head, these natural objects take on the properties of holograms when human forms are projected against them in a certain way.
Chartattack.com, the web site for Canada's leading music magazine, is reporting that Broken Social Scene are planning to go on hiatus after their tour dates this fall. The collective is comprised of musicians from some of Canada's top indie acts (Stars, Metric, Feist, Apostle Of Hustle, Raising The Fawn and many more).
Staff and fans of Fuji Rock often call Masa Hidaka "Taisho," which translates into something like "Big Boss" or "Generalissimo." I guess he fits that role, but in person he's pretty laid-back. I interviewed him for the Japan Times recently, as this year is FRF's 10th fest.
As I said before, the tent at the Palace of Wonder has to be seen to be believed. As does Eddie Egal's fireshower
Last week I was interviewing the head of the Formoz Festival, Freddy Lin, and he talked a bit about hanging out with Fujirock founder/guru/boss Masa Hidaka.
A quick intro of Formoz: it's Taiwan's biggest - well, actually, now it's Taiwan's only truly international rock fest with major acts, and is now in its 12th year. This year's Friday headliner, Super Furry Animals, plays Sunday at FRF, and last year shared acts included Moby and Lisa Loeb. Connections also helped set up a(n early morning) set at the Red Marquee for Taiwan's Tizzy Bac last year, and has also helped the Taiwan fest get in touch with some big Japanese acts. This year's Formoz will feature at least 14 bands from Japan, including Nanase Aikawa.
That's what Masa Hidaka, FujiRock's big boss-man demanded, and this year, more then ever, he's getting it. Cheers to Koichi for his help with (and link to) my Japan Times article on the Palace of Wonder. Dunno if it truly came across in print, but the Palace is my favorite place at FRF. Has been since 2002, actually. But due to space constraints on the page, I had to leave out a lot of interesting Palace info, which I'll post here...
If you read the JT piece (see link below), then you know that Joe Rush and the Mutoid's are bringing their massive, post-apocalyptic sculptures again. If you've never seen them, think Max Max-meets-Alice in Wonderland. Will post some more pics here soon. What I didn't have room for was to tell you the fire-breathing dragon may make an appearance, the car-eating ant won't, and the English Taxi cab that's been used as everything from a dinosaur body to a fur-lined lounge was seriously damaged this winter as it lay next to the mountain. The entire hood was crushed under the weight of the snow, so expect to see the cab in a new form (hopefully).
Global Cool
One of the Fuji Rock Festival's most admired qualities, especially by visiting musicians, is how clean the festival site stays throughout the weekend. There are, of course, a number of reasons, the chief one being the presence of NGOs who police the festival site, constantly reminding people to separate their refuse and place them in the proper bins. There's a kind of nagging efficiency to this policy that anyone who's lived in Japan for a length of time will recognize from train platform announcements ("please don't rush through the doors") and even weather reports ("be sure to bring an umbrella today"). But probably the most important underlying reason is that the kind of people who attend the festival are conscientious about such things.
It seems only right, then, that this year's festival will mark the opening of a ten-year world campaign called Global Cool, a new initiative to stop global warming. Fuji has for a number of years been a carbon-neutral festival, meaning that all carbon that the event produces over the weekend is offset by means of a variety of initiatives, such as planting trees and funding sustainable energy projects. Global Cool goes further, but attempting to spread carbon-reduction initiatives to the individual level. The idea is to get one billion people to save one ton of carbon dioxide each per year by simply switching off electrical appliances and not leaving them on standby, as well as turning off cell phone chargers when they aren't in use.
I received a mail from an old friend of mine called Saltz saying that he is coming to FRF with Happy Mondays. He was of the 4 vocalists of the Jazz Defektors who made sensation back in the mid 80's and the major force of Dance Jazz movement at the time. The music was great but their presentation on stage of the vocalists' unique dance was amazing and Their style was called Northern Style, mixing break dance with some factors of ballet, in comparison with the Southern Style of I.D.J. (I Dance Jazz) based in London whose dance was a mix of break dance and tap dance.
The impact of them with the whole lots of the new jazz, then to be called acid jazz, gave massive influence to Japan and it really gave a birth of a club land here. One of the major forces of the movement at the time was Kyoto Jazz Massive with Mondo Grosso and the main man behind was Shuya Okino, a wicked DJ, spinning discs on Friday at the Palace of Wonder before Katteni Shiyagare getting on stage.
One of the most exciting spots of the Fuji Rock Festival where the heart of festival culture is found is what we call, "Palace of Wonder". One of he creators of the vibes there is Joe Rush of The Mutoid Waste Company based somewhere in London and this was a photo of him taken by hanasan last year at the site.
One of the staff and regular contributors of Japan Times wrote pretty good piece on that aspect of the festival for the paper and you could check it here. Please do check.
Also a report by Fuji Rock Express '05 are found...
Joe Rush & The Mutoid Waste Company
New Sculpture at Palace of Wonder
The photo is featured with courtesy of Fuji Rock Express.
You may have known about this, but there used to be an English version of fujirockers.org untill 2003, which is what "They call" a fan site of Fuji Rock Festival, but it was not realistic to keep it running without having enough staff and financial support as fujirockers.org is not run by the organizer of the festival or any corporation as such but an independent web site run by a bunch of individuals loving festivals and particularly Fuji Rock Festival.
Simply there were not enough people and time of those who involved at the time. But we kept some space of English articles and reports in Fuji Rock Express, On Time Web Magazine, reporting what is happening at the festival site straight way by fujirockers.org. The reason was simple. Just because we love Fuji Rock and it is not just a bunch of shows of a band, but there is something we wanted to tell you about and a side of alternative culture normally never been reported by major press along with we wanted to say, "Don't waste your time checking a bloody monitor, but come around and have fun together to realize what a life is all about."
