B’z, Sigur Rós, Radiohead: Our Staff’s Unforgettable Festival Nights

Yes, the day before yesterday.

It really was intense. I heard part of Makuhari Messe was even used as an evacuation shelter.

It did happen. I overslept a bit and got there around 1pm, but it was running as normal. The trains were delayed, but the venue itself was operating fine.

There were no cancellations due to rain. Actually, thinking about it, I’ve been going for over ten years now, and I don’t really have strong memories of severe downpours. There was only one time, one day, when the Beach Stage couldn’t run because of strong winds — otherwise everything has always gone ahead properly. I think that’s pretty impressive. As far as I’ve experienced, I don’t really have memories of heavy rain causing problems.

So, this is a festival story I actually mentioned during our Girlfriendz interview too. I think it was 2017 — I went to Fuji Rock for all three days, and since I was camping, I had free time in the mornings, so I was swiping through Tinder (a GPS-based matching app). After the three days of Fuji Rock ended, I went home, took a bath, and while brushing my teeth I checked Tinder again — and up popped DAY WAVE. A foreign guy whose profile said “guitar.” I thought, wait, didn’t I see DAY WAVE at Fuji Rock? And sure enough, the photo was really him. Now, DAY WAVE is more of a solo artist with support members, so he wasn’t an official member, just a support player. But still, I thought, I can actually connect with this person!

Did you end up messaging him, by the way?

I sent a Super Like and he replied, so I told him I’d seen him at Fuji Rock, and he wrote back saying he was already back in the US but that Fuji Rock had been really fun. It was a heartwarming exchange. I also remember thinking, wow, people actually put their band name front and center in their profile like that.

Also, I didn’t realize people from overseas actually use Tinder.

I think overseas users probably treat Tinder more casually.

Oh really? I honestly assumed it was a Japanese app.

It originally came from overseas — it’s an app that started in the US. I think foreign users tend to be more open on it. Even athletes are on there sometimes — when I was using Tinder for a while, I remember noticing a lot of foreign guys in basketball uniforms showing up (laughs). Turned out it was around the time foreign basketball players were visiting Japan.

Overseas people really are pretty open about it in general. They don’t seem to have that same fear of being recognized when it comes to Tinder. Ever since then, I’ve used Tinder at every festival hoping to match with another performer, but I haven’t had that kind of luck again since. There are a lot of music industry people on there though, so it ends up being a good opportunity to find friends to talk music with. And honestly, I make a ton of friends too — it might be the time of year I match with the most friends overall.

That makes sense for festivals. I never would have thought of that.

I feel like I just learned a whole new use for Tinder.

Since everyone within a 3km radius is basically at the venue.

That’s great — a quick way to match with people who share your interests.

Lately, though, I’ve mostly been doing single-day festival visits, so I don’t really have time to sit and use Tinder anymore.

By the way, I can’t really remember from when I went to Fuji Rock — does the signal actually work well out there?

It depends on where you are. Right in front of the Green Stage, where huge crowds gather, the signal barely works at all. But if you go over to the campsite, there aren’t as many people, so it connects perfectly fine.

I see. I was just wondering whether there’d even be signal out in the mountains, but I guess there is.

I do remember there being times it wouldn’t connect at all. It seems to change a bit year to year, depending on the crowd size.

Maririn, in terms of performances, which band or artist has left the biggest impression on you at a festival?

Sigur Rós and B’z.

Was the B’z one at Summer Sonic?

It was ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL. Honestly, out of all the domestic artists I’ve seen, B’z’s festival performance is the most incredible one so far.

Did the vocals sound just like the CD?

I heard a rumor at the time that their appearance fee was higher than usual. Apparently there was a condition attached — that they’d only play well-known hit songs. If they played normally, there was a chance they’d include album tracks only hardcore B’z fans would know, so the request was for them to stick entirely to major hits. The whole set really was songs everyone knew. Inaba’s stamina was honestly incredible too. Right before B’z, I’d watched ART-SCHOOL, so I’d just been thinking, wow, this is the least stamina I’ve ever seen — and the gap between that and B’z was staggering. It really drove home the difference between the weakest and most powerful vocalists I’ve seen in Japanese bands.

That’s interesting — so both experiences landed with you.

ART-SCHOOL’s Riki actually said during the MC, “I don’t have the grip strength to hold down guitar chords.” It made me think — wait, are both of these things I’m watching really supposed to fall under the same category of “rock band”? It really showed me how wide-ranging “rock band” can be.

By the way, Maririn, what’s your all-time best festival act?

Sigur Rós at Fuji Rock in 2016.

Sigur Rós is a band I want to see at least once before I die.

I can’t quite picture what a Sigur Rós live show is even like — what’s it like?

They had a fair number of support members, and everything just felt incredibly shimmering and radiant. It was actually the first time I’d seen them, and I didn’t even like Sigur Rós all that much before, so I was just sitting casually toward the back. But partway through, I was crying so hard I could barely see the stage. It was like — I couldn’t believe something this beautiful existed in the world.

They came to Japan last year or the year before, right?

They did, they did.

I regretted not going. I was on the fence about it.

That show had strings added in, so it had a different flavor and was really good.

I’m looking at some footage and photos and live reports right now — everyone’s playing guitar with a bow.

Oh yes, that’s right — they play with something like a violin bow.

The number of strings is incredible.

I really want to see it at least once. You should definitely check it out next time they come.

For me though, it’s next year’s Radiohead.

Oh, right, that’s a hot topic right now.

I wonder if it’ll be separate from Summer Sonic this time — maybe just a standalone show?

That would be great — I’d love for them to come as a standalone show. The last time I saw them was at Summer Sonic, so I’ve never seen them play solo.

Wasn’t the last time when they played “Creep”?

Yeah, that time I was crying too hard to see as well.

I was there as a volunteer staff member that year, and it was near closing time so everyone was cleaning up. Someone told us, “There are leftover food tickets, go buy yourselves something.” So another staff member and I were buying stuff from the food stalls around Marine Stadium, and with our hands completely full of shaved ice and food, “Creep” started playing from inside the stadium. The person I was with suddenly panicked, going, “They’re playing ‘Creep’ right now!” But we couldn’t get back in because our hands were full of food, and he said, “It’s my birthday today too!” I wanted to say, “I’ll hold it, go ahead,” but it was way more than one person could carry alone. I asked him, would you go even if it meant dropping everything? And he said, “I’ll just stand here and listen to it while I cry,” and stayed put.

Seeing “Creep” live is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but not being able to see it sounds like it’ll definitely turn into a great memory too.

I really can’t forget how flustered he was.

That’s become a great memory. That “Creep” moment was in Tokyo, right? I think I went to the Osaka venue that time. I was waiting for Radiohead to come on with my sister. The intro music playing on loop was this intense, mentally draining kind of sound. Radiohead still hadn’t come out even after about 50 minutes. My sister started feeling sick and said, “Being surrounded by this music is going to drive me crazy.” Right around then, we found out The 1975 was playing on a different stage, and she said, “That’ll be easier to handle.” So somehow, despite going specifically for Radiohead, we ended up not seeing Radiohead at all and closed out the night with The 1975 instead.

That’s on Radiohead, honestly. Just come out already.

The intro music played for around 50 minutes straight. I remember thinking, they’re really not coming out, did something happen? So I do want to go next year.

All we can do this time is hope they come out quickly.

If it were a standalone show and we got kept waiting that long…

If they’re going to make us wait, the least they could do is play music that doesn’t make people feel sick.

True. Though I guess Radiohead fans are probably fine with that kind of music. My sister was just especially sensitive, I think.

Yeah. I might be misremembering, but even at the Tokyo show it took a while for them to come out — though by that point it wasn’t about the intro music anymore, it was just pure nervous anticipation, knowing they were about to appear.

Is there a specific year and day that stands out as the single best festival you’ve ever been to?

Let’s see… hard to pin down a year, but on that note, Carly Rae Jepsen came right up to me and touched my hand at Summer Sonic.

I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of things. Going to summer festivals with other people is nice, but I’ve realized it’s better to go with someone who can act independently too. Back when I was working with yabori, I once asked for artist recommendations for that year’s Summer Sonic, and Wolf Alice came up. But their set overlapped with someone my friend wanted to see, so we tried to split it fifty-fifty — except moving between stages took longer than expected, and by the time I got there, it was already over. I think the ideal is going with someone who can say, “I’ll head to this stage, you go to that one,” without any issue.

Right, that kind of problem does come up when you go with friends.

Especially when the timing overlaps.

True. I actually saw Wolf Alice’s first-ever Japan appearance at Summer Sonic, and it was absolutely worth seeing. That was 2015.

That year, I went to see Marilyn Manson instead.

Oh right, I saw Marilyn Manson too.

I was watching right at the front by the aisle, and Manson came down and reached out to the crowd. I touched his hand, and it was so slippery it didn’t even feel like human skin. His makeup had completely melted from sweat, and his hand was slick too — it genuinely shocked me.

Maybe Marilyn Manson is an artist you’re better off not seeing up close…

Takita, are there any other artists whose stage performance really blew you away?

A stage performance that really blew me away… Actually, yeah — BABYMETAL last year. It was the first time I watched them properly from start to finish, and I thought they were incredible. I’d gone in feeling pretty neutral about them, but once I actually saw the performance, I was genuinely moved — like, this really is a world-class artist.

Exactly — once you actually watch BABYMETAL, you can’t help but become a fan.

Yeah, seriously. They’re properly cute, their performance is solid, they play well, and the band itself is amazing too.

There’s really no reason to dislike them.

Only reasons to like them. The crowd around you feels the same way too — people start out just watching out of curiosity, but before you know it, everyone’s dancing along, doing the choreography properly. It really made me think — for artists with that kind of buzz, that world-class level, you should catch them whenever you get the chance.

That reminds me — BABYMETAL was actually a favorite of my host mom in Australia and her British boyfriend.