Tag: fuji rock 2025

Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, lead singer and chief comedian of Swedish garage rockers The Hives, told the capacity audience at the Red Marquee that this was the group’s first appearance at Fuji in 19 years, which thus qualifies The Hives as this year’s closest thing to a legacy act, at least among the lineup’s rock contingent.

The group wasted no time in getting the crowd pumped and screaming. They seemed to know all the songs, so Almqvist didn’t even have to prompt them. Pitchman that he is, Howlin’ Pelle kept plugging the band’s upcoming new album, which no one really cared about because it’s all the same crunchy riffs and huge guitar gestures with Almqvist high-kicking to the beat. Not bad for a band that recently celebrated its 30th birthday. 

The Green Stage headliner on the last day was Vampire Weekend, who have come a long way since their scrappy indie days. They had grand pianos and extra musicians. They even had a dancer. Ezra Koenig was an affable host, introducing the songs by name and designating which of their five albums they were from. Though it was tasteful to a fault, a lot of people found reasons to dance and a few even sang along to “Oxford Comma,” which by now qualifies as a golden oldie. 

The Haim sisters, who headlined the White Stage, may have been the most unabashedly excited act of the weekend. Despite projections on the back screen of variations on the title of their latest album, “I Quit” (“I quit all relationships”), they just wouldn’t. The group’s sunny California sound somehow worked well with the whole anger thing, but in any case they were so riled up that the audience couldn’t quite keep up with them as they switched instruments continuously through the set.

Given that they’re sisters and all sport long brown hair, it was probably difficult to tell who was who from the back, which is where we were standing, but they created such a united roar of rock that it didn’t make any difference. They also wouldn’t stop enthusing about being at Fuji Rock, which seemed to be a dream come true. “You’re awesome,” one of them kept saying, over and over — or maybe it was all three of them.

The sun was back Sunday morning and while clouds were always moving in, rain didn’t materialize. We checked out Mei Semones at the Red Marquee just after noon. Given the hangover state of many of the Fuji diehards, Semones’ jazzy indie pop, with heavy doses of bossa nova, was particularly soothing, though it was her command of Japanese — her impressionistic lyrics are in both English and Japanese, often in the same line — that made the deepest impression on the capacity crowd. Semones’ music is lulling and often soporific, but if all you had to go by was the reaction of the crowd, you’d think she was a rock god.

Later that afternoon on the same stage the Mercury-winning Brit band English Teacher really did try to summon the spirits of rock with a capital R, though being a decidedly album-oriented band they mixed the excitement of postpunk with often contemplative slower songs. It’s hard to say how much the crowd got, but they definitely reacted electrically to their more rocking material.

Another Mercury winner, Little Simz, soon materialized on the Green Stage just as the sun was going down. A resolutely emotional rapper, Simz betrayed more self-consciousness than you average MC, though she kept throwing down challenges that the huge Green Stage crowd rose to with bracing brio. Consequently, she grew more confident with each song and eventually let down her guard, beaming a full-bore smile to an enthusiastic audience she probably didn’t expect. It made an impression that maybe even she didn’t understand: The audience loved her candor and her capability to expose herself for the sake of love. And the audience genuinely loved her.

At first, it seemed like a lost opportunity to schedule the Argentine pop duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso in the morning, but it actually was a stroke of genius. Saturday is traditionally the most crowded day of the festival for obvious reasons, and today is sold out. C&PA thus were charged with getting the crowd in the proper mood to last the rest of the day, and they passed with flying colors, especially pink, which Ca7riel sported in an enormously puffy air-conditioned jacket and slacks combination. Paco was all in black, though the weird shapes coming off his costume made him look like a Takashi Murakami figurine. The fact that they stayed seated for the first half of their hour-long set didn’t discourage the audience from dancing themselves, which they did with total abandon, and all the way up to the tree line.

We assume we have Sony, their label, to thank for the translated lyrics on the jumbotron screens. Lots of good-natured sexual content there, and while the duo’s music zigzags from hip-hop to smooth R&B to raunchy rock and several species of Latin dance music, it’s all wrapped in a sardonic tone. The reason they’re so easy to love is because they make you feel you’re in on their secret joke. And once they stood up and started dancing themselves, Ca7riel’s bounce contrasting fully with Paco’s swish, it was already party. In fact, the problem may be that the crowd would be too exhausted to last the day. Maybe the best opening Saturday set we’ve ever seen at Fuji

The crowd at the White Stage for opener Basque ska-punk Fermin Muguruza was much smaller but quite a bit livelier. We saw our first mosh pit of the day, which is saying something considering how hot it was. Stridently political, Muguruza covered the waterfront so to speak, ranging from Kurdish independence to chants of Free Palestine! to name-dropping important figures of the revolution. Rumor has it that he’s finally retiring, but despite the grandfatherly aspect, he still puts on a fiery show and got the kids, as well as few ojisans, pogoing enough to kick up some dust. Viva la Revolucion!