I went to the summer festival ROCK IN JAPAN FES. 2010, August 6–8.
☆☆☆ Artists I saw and quick impressions ☆☆☆
<Grass Stage participation key>
★ Front of standing zone
☆ Middle/back of standing zone
○ Relaxing in the seat zone
“·” means a stage other than Grass Stage.
◆ Day 1 (August 6) ◆
· RHYMESTER
→ Got held up in the shuttle bus queue from Katsuta Station and only caught a little.
☆ BEAT CRUSADERS
★ Perfume
→ Third time seeing them, after the 09/10 countdown and GO!FES.
· Cocco
★ MONGOL800
→ Second time, after Summer Sonic ’09.
○ RADWIMPS
○ the HIATUS
◆ Day 2 (August 7) ◆
☆ Kishidan
→ First time. Copying the choreography is half the fun.
· NICO Touches the Walls
· YUI
→ The Sound of Forest stage was pushed way beyond capacity. Almost got heat stroke.
· flumpool
○ ACIDMAN
★ Spitz
→ Spitz songs with a beautiful sunset sky behind them — perfect match.
○ Unicorn
◆ Day 3 (August 8) ◆
○ POLYSICS
☆ Kazuyoshi Saito
★ Ketsumeishi
→ Being the last day, I pushed forward to maybe row 10 from the front. Got absolutely crushed in the crowd but it was electric.
○ Okuda Tamio
☆ Dragon Ash
→ The man himself showed up at the DJ booth afterward. Got to see him up close.
○ Group Tamashii
→ Only vaguely knew the name going in, but they left me speechless — the members, the lyrics, all of it. Definitely not for broadcast TV.
○ Chatmonchy
☆ YUKI
→ Seriously talented. Her voice has real power — fitting for a headliner.
Some overall impressions in bullet form:
· For its 11th year, the event was impressively well-run. Worth every yen of the ¥10,000/day ticket.
– Toilets everywhere — almost never a queue, remarkable given 56,000 people.
– Large screens on both sides of Grass Stage, plus one in the center-back — good sightlines from anywhere.
– Spraying water toward the crowd at Grass Stage was the right call. It cooled things down and made the front section safer.
– The seat zone on the right side of Grass Stage is elevated toward the back, so you can actually watch from a sitting position.
– Police were patrolling inside the venue too — felt secure. Scalpers outside were virtually nonexistent.
For a first-timer, I didn’t run into major trouble, but one thing stood out:
– On day one only, the shuttle bus between Katsuta Station and the venue was absurdly backed up (1-hour wait each way). Started worrying about the last train.
→ Found out about the JTB direct bus from Tokyo Station and used it on day three — much less stressful and I could stay until the end.
Now that the three days are over, it feels like waking up from a dream.
Blue sky all three days — no rain showers, maximum sunburn. I absorbed a year’s worth of sun.
Made some genuinely good summer memories.
I want to go again next year.
Though it depends on circumstances — whether I’m still in Tokyo, whether work is manageable…
Well, I pretty much pushed through and made it happen this year, so maybe I can pull it off again.
I had a tough time getting tickets this time, so next year I want to buy a three-day pass in the very first presale without hesitation.
Finally, photos from all three days are posted here:
http://h.keikun.info/~kei/gallary/20100808
Ah. Summer.
