summersonic05

When I was 18, there were no outdoor rock festivals in Japan. I remember when I used to dream about going to Glastonbury festival, Reading Festival in the UK, and Lollapaloozain the US, which sadly never came true. But now, I don’t need to go abroad to see great bands playing live in the outdoors, they come to Japan instead! Last weekend, I went to Summersonic which is one of the biggest outdoor festivals in Japan.

Fuji Rock Festival(since 1997) and Summersonic(since 2000) have over the years matured into really big events in Japan. Whereas Fuji Rock gears towards an outdoorsy, camping type of audience, Summersonic takes place close to the city. Therefore, it is easy to join in even when you are festival beginner or you have low stamina (me). It seems that Japanese music fans have started warming to the idea of outdoor festivals and now they show up well-prepared to have great time.

Summersonic takes place in both Osaka and Tokyo on a Saturday and Sunday. The acts who play in Osaka move to Tokyo the next day and vice versa. Anyway each day more than 50 bands play ( in total, 15,5000 people showed up last year.) Each year, Summersonic gives us a big surprise by inviting exceptional bands. For instance in 2000, they invited Weezer who hadn’t played for past few years at that time. And in 2003, Guns N’ Roses (Axl Rose) showed up to play. This year, Summersonic announced reunions of La’s which kick some major ass!

There are about 6 stages in each venue, therefore sometimes it happens that your favorites bands are playing at the same time. But hey, that’s life. The day I went to see the show, Oasis was the last band to play (the other day, Nine Inch Nails was the last band). Everybody gathered together at the main stage area for the last act, Oasis. I was pushed and stepped on by the people who wanted to go this way and that way. Excitement hit high gear, and finally Oasis showed up. They played everybody’s favorite songs such as “Live Forever,” “Champagne Supernova,” “Wonderwall,” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” Man, literally everybody sang along to, “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” and that was just beautiful.

Up to that point, I was angry at the guys who pushed me or annoyed by the loud couple next me, but suddenly, everything was A-OK. They saved The Who’s “My Generation” for their last song. I danced, sang, shouted, and cried. My summer is over for this year :)

Written by Kyoko

Summersonic05

Osaka Venue. Artist waiting room area

Osaka Venue. Oasis's waiting room

Osaka Venue. Catering area

Chuck D！(I was chickened out)

video games to kill time

Osaka Venue, preceding day

Band's rehearsal

Band's rehearsal

Back stage area. Gears are ready to go

during rehearsal. back stage area were so busy

Big screen

Bands only bathroom

8/13 Osaka. Oasis's Liam and Andy walking down the street.

8/13 Osaka. Audiences are rushing to the venue

8/14 Tokyo Chiba marine Stadium

8/14 Tokyo. After the show. in the station.

8/14 Tokyo. In the subway. It was stinky as hell!

Osaka-garbage bag. Recycled from plastic bottles.

Tokyo-garbage bag

7 Comments

1. feel music

   Posted by: kurye on February 16th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

2. thanks for subject. it is very intersting post

   Posted by: nakliyat on February 28th, 2008 at 3:18 am

3. thanks for subject. it is very intersting post

   Posted by: konteyner on December 24th, 2010 at 5:52 am

4. I wish I had the patience to do all that, and the confidence to prance around posing for photos once it’s all done.

   Posted by: perdeci on December 24th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

5. So “improvement” does not necessarily mean “make it look all futuristic and cool ooh this would look great in my new hover car”. However, the rash of designers setting out to improve the design of the humble clothes hanger are actually managing to combine some pleasing designs with a marked improvement in the actual functionality of the design, too. Well, most are.

   Posted by: amed on December 25th, 2010 at 12:19 pm

6. maurers

   Posted by: maurers on February 22nd, 2011 at 2:05 am

7. goruntulu sohbet edin super bir yer ya girin amk ne duruyonuz

   Posted by: goruntulu sohbet on August 6th, 2011 at 2:13 am

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