Fuji Rock - last festival standing?

[Mulboyne]

With widespread illegal downloads and CD burning, one anticipated knock-on effect in the music business was to see a higher value placed on live performances. On the principle that people begin to "devalue" what they get for free or minimal cost.
Whether you buy that or not, around Europe, for whatever reason, this has been happening - especially with the boom in festivals. Glastonbury Festival sold out immediately.
It is difficult to say for Japan since downloading has barely taken off but, undoubtedly, the summer festivals are a much bigger deal than a handful of years ago. Overseas, however, some have been are arguing that hype and festival fatigue has made these events far too mundane an experience. The club boom of the 90s faded (or morphed into something else, depnding on your standpoint) so there is plenty of precedent..

So this news is interesting...

Lollapalooza Cancelled!
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com
In what can only be considered one of the most depressing comments so far on the state of independent music, all dates on this year's massive (and massively reported on) Lollapalooza tour have been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. In a statement on the Lollapalooza website this morning, tour organizer and all-around freak Perry Farrell made the following statement: "My heart aches along with the bands, and all of our employees, whose hard work developed one of the most exciting and important tours that this nation was to see. My heart is broken."

In a slightly more informational statement, co-founder Marc Geiger stated, "I am in utter disbelief that a concert of this stature, with the most exciting line-up I've seen in years did not galvanize ticket sales. I'm surprised that given the great bands and the reduced ticket prices that we didn't have enough sales to sustain the tour. Concert promoters across the country are facing similar problems. Many summer tours are experiencing weak ticket sales."

Lollapalooza was to feature bands like Morrissey, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Modest Mouse, Le Tigre, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Broken Social Scene, The Von Bondies, The Walkmen, Pixies, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, The String Cheese Incident, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Polyphonic Spree (all 83 of them), TV on the Radio, The Thrills, The Fire Theft, and Elbow and was regarded by the music press as the "Best lineup in a decade"

A number of these acts do well in Japan and play live regularly. Three of them are due to play in a few weeks. I'm wondering whether Fuji will be one of the last festivals left in a few years. Anyone know how ticket sales are doing this year? I see they decided only to sell three-day tickets this time.

[AssKissinger]

Last year I went to SummerSonic and it was great. The sound was awesome and it was well organized. It only took a minute to get a beer. There were plenty of toilets, no long lines, good reasonably priced grub.

I think often in America it takes 30 minutes to get a beer, 30 minutes to piss on a mountain of turds in a clogged up port-a-john and so on. Good bands be damned, if I spent the last festival waiting in lines half the fucking time I ain't going back. I'll wait around and catch the bands one by one as they play smaller venues.

BTW, fuck if I'm paying 38,000 yen to go to FujiRock, either. I already saw the Pixies at Briston Academy in London during their Doolittle prime, so there!

[emperor]

Anyone know how ticket sales are doing this year? I see they decided only to sell three-day tickets this time.

I dont think Fuji Rock Fest. has ever sold out due to the massive area of site they hold it on.

Im thinking of changing the date my plane ticket home in order to go to this:
has anyone been before? or planning to go this year?

[gomichild]

Went two years ago - but I worked the whole time writing for a website. After the first day you begin to feel like you've entered some new reality. You can't imagine another life. Lots to do - people are generally pretty good. My biggest complaint is that there weren't enough chairs and tables to eat at - yet a lot of space.

Wandering around you can meet up with all sorts of people - had many interesting conversations (good for star-spotting if you are into that).

Seriously lost my love for the Red Hot CHilli Peppers after their very mundane gig - Queens of the Stone Age with Dave Grohl on drums rocked as did Jude and Jane's Addiction.

Never been without working though might be different.

I usually go to SummerSonic and went to the winter one this year - Sonic Mania as well - highlight was definately Brian Setzer.

[Cubed]

My biggest complaint is that there weren't enough chairs and tables to eat at - yet a lot of space.

Haha. You don't really ummm .. do festivals do you?

You could as easily say "It was like gross n' stuff there was all this like grass n' mud n' stuff. And there was no heated toilet seats. Can you believe that? Euuuw."

[gomichild]

Hardly Cubed. But if I was running a cafe or bar there I would make sure that people had a place to chill out and buy many drinks. It's a music festival, not a fucking episode of Survivor.

[Taro Toporific]

....It's a music festival, not a fucking episode of Survivor.

It always seems to rain when I go to a festival here. :P
Reggae pleasure at YomiuriLand

[Mulboyne]

Main problem with Fuji in Naeba is accomodation - since only three day tickets are on sale, more people are staying the weekend so camping maybe the only option - not a bad option unless you get another mud-fest. I think JR are still selling some packages which include tickets/trains and minshuku but I'm not sure.
The bill this year was looking good but they have had a few cancellations. Still not a bad line-up, mind you, so I'd go if you can. But, at 36,000 yen a throw, you'd better like some of the bands...

[Cubed]

It's a music festival, not a fucking episode of Survivor.

Absolutely. I've never seen an episode of Survivor, but I can imagine lots of people with paper plates of food in a field saying "There's no tables to sit down at. THERE'S NO TABLES TO SIT DOWN AT!!!"

The horror.

[AssKissinger]

It's a music festival, not a fucking episode of Survivor.

Absolutely. I've never seen an episode of Survivor, but I can imagine lots of people with paper plates of food in a field saying "There's no tables to sit down at. THERE'S NO TABLES TO SIT DOWN AT!!!"

The horror.

Go fuck yourself cunt. Why the fuck shouldn't people expect to be comfortable when they've paid good money for entertainment? Once you get into over twenty dollars for a show it ain't punk rock anymore it's just corporate cocksucker bullshit. If they're gonna charge Sinatra prices I want some swanky comfort. And for the record you don't know a quarter of what I do about rock'n'roll.

[emperor]

Why the fuck shouldn't people expect to be comfortable when they've paid good money for entertainment? Once you get into over twenty dollars for a show it ain't punk rock anymore it's just corporate cocksucker bullshit. If they're gonna charge Sinatra prices I want some swanky comfort.

Its astounding whats happened since big business got involved in music festivals: where you have the company logo splashed over everything and the gigs names are being changed to include the company name or simply consist of the company name followed by the year its taking place - with all the money being tossed in by the corporations - youd expect ticket prices to drop - but the opposite is happening !

[Mulboyne]

[sumyunguy]

you all should check out Bonnaroo, it just happened in Tennessee for the third year. Now there's a festival for you. If you don't know what it is, that just means you're not cool enough.

Sold out 90,000 tickets with no advertising for the third straight year. Lollapalooza, HAH! That was cool back in '94. What a joke.

[Cubed]

Go fuck yourself cunt. Why the fuck shouldn't people expect to be comfortable when they've paid good money for entertainment? Once you get into over twenty dollars for a show it ain't punk rock anymore it's just corporate cocksucker bullshit. If they're gonna charge Sinatra prices I want some swanky comfort. And for the record you don't know a quarter of what I do about rock'n'roll.

Umm, you're an American aren't you?

I'm under this impression because like your good president you take personal gripes out on those around you because you're too insensed to mobilise yourself. If you don't like the mud, DON'T GO TO FESTIVALS, YOU WHINEY OLD FUCKWIT.

There, that was painless wasn't it?

[Mulboyne]

Bonnaroo appears to carry its own risks
Two Deaths Mar Third Bonnaroo

More than 90,000 hardy fans braved sweltering heat and the occasional severe thunderstorm to watch 80 bands take the stage on a 700-acre farm about 60 miles south of Nashville.
...But while Bonnaroo 2004 was a huge success operationally, musically and financially, the deaths of a 22-year-old woman believed to be from Kentucky and a 20-year-old Michigan man attending the concert definitely tempered other achievements.
Both attendees were taken from the festival grounds to Manchester Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. Authorities suspected drugs as a factor in both cases, but an autopsy found that the male's death came as a result of a congenital heart defect.

Good looking line-up:

Bob Dylan, the Dead, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews & Friends David Byrne, Primus, Wilco, Burning Spear, String Cheese Incident, Ani DiFranco, moe., Gov't Mule, Los Lobos, Galactic, Yo La Tengo, Femi Kuti, Gomez, Yonder Mountain String Band, Damien Rice, North Mississippi Allstars, My Morning Jacket, Gillian Welch, the Del McCoury Band, Taj Mahal, Sam Bush Band, Kings Of Leon, Neko Case, Calexico, Leftover Salmon, Cut Chemist, Chris Robinson, Maroon 5, the Black Keys, Bad Plus, Donovan Frankenreiter and Medeski, Martin & Wood

I saw the North Mississippi Allstars in London a few weeks back and they blew us away. Kings of Leon in at Quattro earlier this year were pretty decent too.

[mr. sparkle]

Despite the dead gaijin, were there tables to eat at? were there long lines at the bathroom? did you have to wallow in mud??

The best outdoor concert I ever went to was probably the Jazz and Heritage Fest in Nawlin's. Sonny Rollins, Etta James - good times. Plenty of food, no lines hardly nowhares!

[Mulboyne]

From the Tennesean.com
MANCHESTER, Tenn. — The three-day party in the cow pasture, officially known as Bonnaroo 2004, is over.

As crews on Friday continued to haul away a mountain of trash created by 90,000 visitors, Coffee County residents had begun sorting through a mountain of concerns about the annual event.

With two deaths of patrons, the first in the event's history, many have said the festival is no longer just a weekend of good vibes and good fun. Some Coffee Countians have said the honeymoon with Bonnaroo is over. They have raised questions about security with such a large crowd and what they think is a ''wink and nod'' attitude toward drug use.

Others note that organizers have been good corporate citizens on their way to making Bonnaroo one of the top music events in the world and making Manchester a destination spot for tourism.

To many Coffee Countians, however, the Bonnaroo organizers' greatest accomplishment is making good on their promise to improve traffic flow.

ROCK 'N ROLL!

[AssKissinger]

Umm, you're an American aren't you?

Yep, and just being an American makes me more of an authority on rock'n'roll than you.

[Mulboyne]

Yep, and just being an American makes me more of an authority on rock'n'roll than you.

From that premise here are some other superior authorities on rock 'n' roll - George W Bush, John Kerry, Jack Nicklaus, Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Billie-Jean King, Dan Rather, Nancy Reagan...

[AssKissinger]

Yep, and just being an American makes me more of an authority on rock'n'roll than you.

From that premise here are some other superior authorities on rock 'n' roll - George W Bush, John Kerry, Jack Nicklaus, Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Billie-Jean King, Dan Rather, Nancy Reagan...

At least they're all the land of creation and not from one of the many lands of imitation. USA USA USA

[Cubed]

At least they're all the land of creation and not from one of the many lands of imitation. USA USA USA

From a country that's so good, you don't live there, and if you did go back you'd be strip-searched and interrogated for living too close to North Korea.

I bet when you do go back there you whinge all day about America too.

[Mulboyne]

Japan's rock festival calendar reaching breaking point

TOKYO — Amid Japan's post-bubble economic hangover and the battering the music business has taken from file sharing, the explosion of music festivals over the last decade has come as a silver lining to the clouds of gloom hovering over the country.
...Music festivals have had a checkered history in Japan, however, with Reggae Japansplash and the Newport Jazz Festival coming and going over the years, depending on the vagaries of financing and popular taste. This year sees three major rock festivals, UDO's Rock Odyssey, Smash's Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic, competing for attention on successive weekends, something Shimizu deplores but says is partly unavoidable due to Japan's short summer school vacation.

"Rather than there being too many festivals, the problem is that they are grouped too closely together. In Europe they take place from June to August and are spaced more evenly. If they were spread out in Japan, I think there's enough of a market. Having them on successive weekends is a problem."

[emperor]

From that premise here are some other superior authorities on rock 'n' roll - George W Bush, John Kerry, Jack Nicklaus, Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Billie-Jean King, Dan Rather, Nancy Reagan...

http://www.electrasrockandrollband.com
http://kerryrocks.com

Yes, The Electras... its shocking (excuse the pun), but they dont sound that bad do they?

[emperor]

Japan's rock festival calendar reaching breaking point

Same thing everywhere I reacon - theres a glut of them heaped at the end of summer and then fuck all most of the rest of the year..

Im quite distressed the way ticket prices are going though.. Im seriously considering hiding in a heavily obese persons pants to get in..also known as the Trojan Pants manuveur...in some parts of..Siberia...

..im sorry

i should go to bed..and stop drinking( IM SORRY ULTRA!!! )...

[emperor]

YEAH!!!!!

..so I just found tonight that im going to Fuji Rock!!

Anyone else up for some polite-moshing?

[Mulboyne]

Should be there. I've booked a ticket so just need to get into the country

[AssKissinger]

I just watched three hours of coverage on Wowow and I have to say 'Thank God I didn't go to this 1000 dollar Pixies concert' cause everyone else, including PJ Harvey and Lou Reed, sucked! How many shit bands does Japan have anyway? It's fucking painful to watch really...wannabe Specials, wannabe Grateful Dead, wannabe Frank Zappa. Hopefully the White Stripes will be ok. I saw them at Club Quatro last year and I was more impressed with the Strokes at Summer Sonic. I mean, even at that huge space the Strokes out-rocked the White Stripes in a small club.

[Mulboyne]

The headliners at Fuji were way off the pace but, luckily, the smaller bands made up for it. Even the Smiths cover band ("These Charming Men") who were rushed in at the last moment to cover for a missing Morrissey were better than some of the lauded J-pop bands.
Sadly, not an event for classic rock moments. I won't be buying a DVD.

[AssKissinger]

I didn't know that Morrissey didn't make it. His new record, We Are The Quarry, is pretty good so that must have been pretty disappointing.

[emperor]

The headliners at Fuji were way off the pace but, luckily, the smaller bands made up for it. Even the Smiths cover band ("These Charming Men") who were rushed in at the last moment to cover for a missing Morrissey were better than some of the lauded J-pop bands.
Sadly, not an event for classic rock moments. I won't be buying a DVD.

Hey Mulboyne - shame we never got to meet up - but my Au phone coverage was sucking down there at Naeba

I was only there the last day - but i thought Ash and The White Stripes were AWESOME.

I caught a few minutes of "These Charming Men" - I think i wouldve appreciated them alot more if I was more familar with The Smiths material - Those guys still play tiny venues here in Dublin for fairly cheap entry - must listen to some Smiths and get in there some evening..

I thought Simple Kid and Keane were good and SanboMasutaa (katakana) were great..

I wouldve loved to have seen the Chemical Bros and Pixies - but alas my guest pass was only valid for the last day - some crappy new rule..
in fact the organiser were total nazis this year - the artist i got my guest pass from couldnt go and visit a friend (in their dressing room) who playing on a different day - cause the pass they had only entitled them to enter the dressing room on the day they were performing !?!

and my guest pass would normally aloow me backstage - but not this year - however only security guards above a certain level of seniority seemed to be aware of this - so when i attempted to get backstage flashing my guest pass and gaijin face the low level guys on the gates let me waltz on by.. i was in free beer and food heaven ..... until someone more senior saw me and had me ejected

I did quite like The lesbians, next to the disco-ball, next to the guy passed out on mushrooms (literally)




And the dancing Oji-san



I think ill be going back - if not next year - definitely the year after.