white stage – The Japan Times @ Fuji Rock

Final farewells: The Hives, Vampire Weekend, Haim

Philip Brasor on July 28, 2025

The Hives at Red Marquee | Ruriko Inagaki

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.

Vampire Weekend at Green Stage | Taio Kishida

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.

Festival of love: Mei Simones, English Teacher, Little Simz

Philip Brasor on July 28, 2025

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.

Top billing: Tatsuro Yamashita, Vulpeck, Four Tet

Philip Brasor on July 27, 2025

Tatsuro Yamashita at Green Stage | Junichiro Nomi

As already noted, one-day tickets for Saturday were sold out, and if any one artist on the day’s roster was responsible it was probably Tatsuro Yamashita, one of the architects of city pop, who rarely plays live any more. The rain had stopped by the time he showed up on the Green Stage at dusk below red-tinged clouds. The crowd was densely packed and rapturous. Yamashita, wearing jeans and a watch cap, looked to be in exceptionally good shape for a septuagenarian, but more importantly his voice was as supple and pliant as it was when he was a youngster.

Tatsuro Yamashita, his band and his wife, Mariya Takeuchi (right of Yamashita), at Green Stage | Junichiro Nomi

He played his hits and brought out his wife, Mariya Takeuchi, as a duet partner and backup singer, which got a lot of applause since in many ways she’s more famous than he is. Yamashita’s band, many of whose members are as old as he is, were also in fine form and got funky when the song demanded it. The smiles were contagious and irresistible.

Vulfpeck on Green Stage | Johan Brooks photos

But Yamashita wasn’t the designated headliner. Vulfpeck, an American collective that plays funk almost exclusively, was, even though they don’t have what one would call a following in Japan. Still, people seemed to know what to expect and were dancing from the get-go.

Four Tet at White Stage | Masanori Naruse photos

The headliner over at the White Stage was Four Tet, better known by his friends and family as Kieran Hebden. It was a stylish and eclectic set of electronica that mostly stuck to danceable material with plenty of break beats.

Hebden himself was mostly invisible behind his decks, so in way it could have been anyone up there, but the ease with which he transitioned from one pattern to the next is pretty much his strength as a musician and difficult to copy.

Who will stop the rain?

Philip Brasor on July 27, 2025

The avant-punk band YHWH Nailgun (pronounced Yahweh Nailgun), played at the Red Marquee at 2:00 pm when it was still hot outside. By the time they finished 45 minutes later, it was still hot outside, but it would start raining soon. Despite their very unconventional take on punk, the audience soaked it up in a head banging way. Lead singer Zack Borzone writhes and convulses in line with the group’s fitful industrial rhythms, screaming incoherent lyrics into space. It was bracing stuff and we admire the folks in the shed who actually tried to dance to it.

By the time Faye Webster took the White Stage it had already been raining fairly heavily and continued doing so through her set. (The laundromat backdrop was appropriate seeing as we had all really been thoroughly soaked by the downpour.) The sizable crowd was even more subdued due to the precipitation, but Webster’s quiet soft rock doesn’t provoke a big reaction anyway. As expected she brought out Japanese singer-songwriter Mei Ehara, with whom she’s worked before, for a duet.

Friday night’s all right for …

Mark Thompson on July 27, 2025

Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, ruled the Red Marquee around dusk as the sky outside turned purple. A fitting color considering Hadreas’s dramatic stage presence and the melodramatic tone of his songs, which range from gentle piano ballads to full-on glam rock.

Perfume Genius at Red Marqee | Daiki Miura photo

Twisting and writhing in line with the tenor of a song, he seemed almost elastic onstage, and the crowd absolutely adored it, cheering every dying swan routine and impossible arched back swoon. Skinniness was never so sexy.

Perfume Genius at Red Marquee | Daiki Miura photo

OK Go’s early evening set at the White Stage was well attended by a very polite crowd that was obviously into the American band’s punchy power pop, though it would have been hard to tell if you only heard the show and didn’t see the swaying, bopping bodies.

OK GO at the White Stage | Johan Brooks photo

Ably assisted by bassist Tim Nordwind’s fine soprano backing vocals, the group’s aural component was studio perfect. Leader Damian Kulash tried to connect with the audience directly by asking if there were any questions. Some wise guy asked what their favorite Japanese food is and each member answered appropriately, though drummer Dan Konopka was the most honest: “Beer,” he said.

OK GO leader Damian Kulash | Johan Brooks

Apparently, there were electrical issues all day at the Green Stage, thus forcing Fred Again’s set to be pushed back by 90 minutes. We caught Ezra Collective’s set at the Field of Heaven. Though ostensibly a jazz group bassist-spokesperson TJ Koleoso insisted that the Field become a big dance hall, and they definitely brought the funk while trying out rock concert moves — getting the entire audience to squat and then jump up on cue, that sort of thing—that everybody was totally cool with. We only caught a bit of Fred Again’s set at the end, but though he’s categorized as a dance artist, Ezra got more bodies moving in our estimation.

Delay on Green Stage for Fred Again .. — Tech staff fill the stage ahead of the delayed performance of Fred Again .. | Johan Brooks photo

But the highlight of the day may have been Shintaro Sakamoto’s midnight gig at the Red Marquee. The shed was predictably packed and the self-effacing former Yura Yura Teikoku leader eschewed the psych rock his old band was famous for, concentrating solely on his solo material, which leans heavily toward yacht rock. A fantastic guitarist who can move from delicate melodic riffs to sky-high note-bending, he and his very able band just kept going from strength to strength, and all without the usual Japanese stage chit-chat. It was serious pop music, which means everyone left very happy.

Fred Again .. at Green Stage | Masanori Naruse photo

A great start to Saturday

Philip Brasor on July 26, 2025

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!

Playing the audience

Philip Brasor on July 26, 2025

After a brief light shower on Friday afternoon, the sun came back out with a vengeance. The White State was even hotter after the South African-Australian singer-songwriter Ecco Vandal started her set. She and her two resourceful sidemen delivered a canny blend of metal rap, reggae and pop fizz, and while the crowd was fairly thin they were a game group. The extra space was just right for dancing.

The audience grew considerably for Niger master guitarist Mdou Moctar, who pretty much played the audience as skillfully as he did his instrument. Repetition is a plus with the so-called desert blues, and as his tight, rocking rhythm section kept up a solid wall of beat, Moctar kept shredding and shredding, until it seemed the distant thunder was a reaction to his powerful noise.

“You guys are the best,” he told the audience, meaning Japanese people, whom he genuinely admires. Twice he left the stage to play his savage solos surrounded by ecstatic bodies. There was a lot of heart in that show.

Two ways to kick off the day

Philip Brasor on July 26, 2025

Us at Green Stage | Masanori Naruse photo

The first day of the festival opened under partly cloudy skies, with a sparse crowd gathered at the Green Stage for Danish blues garage rockers U.S., who also played Fuji last year. They’re becoming a habit, it would seem. They dedicated one song to Fuji Rock founder Masa Hidaka, who they said “is a lover of blues harp.”

A rather different vibe commanded the White Stage soon afterwards when Otobake Beaver did their comical start-stop hardcore thing before a very large crowd as the clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled. Wearing colorful summer dresses and making sport of the long-haired middle aged guys in the audience, the quartet challenged the rockers to try and dance to their fitful music. Super entertainment for people with lethally short attention spans.

Chvrches: Getting in the last word

Philip Brasor on July 30, 2018

As far as Scottish bands go, Chvrches is rather strict. They tend toward a pure pop sound that doesn’t countenance any lo-fi sloppiness. Their late night set at the White Stage effectively closed out the weekend, since they came on stage after Vampire Weekend went off of the Green Stage. Naturally, there was a surge of people for the show, since there was nowhere else to go, but politeness held sway and there was little stress with regards to settling everyone who showed up,

Lead singer Lauren Mayberry seemed to think that nobody knew who they were, even though they’d played Fuji before. “Did anyone ever see us before?” she asked, as if puzzled by all the people who showed up. The music was pleasant synthpop burnished by the members’ longtime experience as professionals in other bands. I liked the songs without necessarily thinking I wanted to hear them again. It was the moment that mattered.

Kali Uchis: Give me more

Philip Brasor on July 29, 2018

The hot new R&B singer Kali Uchis shows a lot of skin, which, of course, is purposed to gain attention to her music. Some might say that’s hardly necessary given the quality of that music, but you do what you’ve got to do. (Ironically, photographers weren’t allowed to shoot this show.)

Her late afternoon set at the White Stage was unusual in that such a sensual performance was scheduled when most people are a little sleepy, or maybe that’s the point: Wake them up, godammit.

We were pretty woke from the beginning, and not just because of the provocative costume. Uchis’s slinky music is commercial candy, the kind of R&B that draws you in with the shamelessness of its purpose. She’s a natural dancer, and given the reaction I would say more people were intrigued by her visual component than were enchanted by her music, but that’s neither here nor there.

She won the crowd over with the sheer appeal of her songwriting whether they knew it or not. The skin and shimmy is just gravy.

Kacey Musgraves: Texas, Japan

Philip Brasor on July 29, 2018

We had a hard time deciding whether to attend Andersen.Paak’s show or Kacey Musgraves’, since they occurred at exactly the same time. Though it was raining heavily and we were closer to the Green Stage, we trekked out to the White to catch Musgraves’ set, simply because of her professed love of Japan and that this was her first-ever show here. As a country artist, such gigs are rare and far between.

We weren’t disappointed. It was still raining when the concert started, and the band, dressed rather disconcertingly in matching outfits, shades, and all sporting facial hair (they looked like a batch of Father John Misty clones), took the stage before Musgraves arrived dressed in a mirrored combo bra and miniskirt, covered with a clear plastic raincoat. Her eyelashes were perfect.

A guy in the audience was waving a flag that we first though was North Korean: a comment on American-Trump triumphalism? No, actually it was the state flag of Texas, where Musgraves is from. She appreciated the gesture and followed up that appreciation with “Family is Family,” song about how you can’t renounce your birthright, no matter how inconvenient.

“There are only so many trips around the sun,” she sang in her signature song, “Follow Your Arrow,” which gives creedence to those who don’t adhere to conventional standards. “Does That Make My Crazy” perpetuated this idea even further, with full on rock guitar antics and a throaty vocal from the star. “Can I get a yee-haw?” she asked. No problem.

For her final song she brought out a Japanese dance company dressed as maiko and geisha to give substance to the disco song “Seen Enough.” At that point, no one could refute Musgraves’ love of Japan. Let’s hope there are enough fans around to provide her with a genuine invitation to tour Japan in a more legitimate capacity.

Starcrawler: Show-biz kids

Philip Brasor on July 28, 2018

Fronting youth and the kind of fearlessness youth carries with it, Starcrawler, a quartet of L.A. teens who worship at the throne of Lemmy, took the White Stage in mid-afternoon while clouds gathered overhead. As it turns out it didn’t rain, but it did bleed a bit.

Fronted by vocalist Arrow de Wilde and guitarist/vocalist Austin Smith, Starcrawler is pure Los Angeles, though it’s an L.A. that probably hasn’t existed in actuality since the late ’70s. De Wilde, as it turns out, is the daughter of one of the members of Beachwood Sparks, an august indie rock band of the ’90s whose music sounds nothing like Starcrawler’s. Does that qualify as skipping a generation?

In any case, de Wilde is definite Hollywood Babylon material. Painfully skinny, she’s all sharp corners and jutting elbows. Dressed in white fringed jeans, ribbed tank top, long, blonde hair streaked with red, she was just itching to be hurt, and the lyrics to their profane rock songs are about childish animosities and victimization. A sucker for the camera, she gave the YouTubers her best crazed expressions, all bugging eyes and evil smiles.

Of course, the other shoe eventually dropped and she bit down hard on a squib and blood poured out of her mouth. It was Hollywood in its purest form. Motorhead may be dead but as long as kids like Arrow de Wilde deign to listen and figure they can do that as well, Lemmy will never be forgotten.

Esne Beltza: Basque in the sun

Philip Brasor on July 28, 2018

The big sold-out Saturday has arrived, so it isn’t going to be as easy as it was yesterday to get around the festival grounds. So we were surprised when we arrived 10 minutes early to Esne Beltza’s early afternoon White Stage show to find it almost empty. Is The Birthday that popular?

In truth, Esne Beltza, the backup band (or most of it) for the great Basque activist ska punk singer Fermin Muguruza, is the kind of act that attracts its own crowd after the fact. As soon as they took the stage and tore into one of their patented supersonic ska songs, everyone passing through to other destinations stopped and joined the ever-widening mosh pit that immediately formed and kept depositing punters on the other side of the security fence.

That fence didn’t stop the various members of the band from interacting directly with the audience. In fact, half the members seemed to have spent half the show in the mosh pit…or cruising the fence to shake hands with grateful fans. Given the time of day and the normal enthusiasm level of people who’ve just arrived, it was easy for the band to get them to chant Basque phrases (which could have said “screw Abe” as far as they knew) in unison and crouch down and then jump up during a break beat, something they did quite a few times.

By the end of the 50-minute set the whole field was crammed with sweaty, dancing people. And according to a friend back home, the number of viewers on YouTube was 15,000, as opposed to 40,000 for The Birthday. Pretty good for a band from Basque country.

Post Malone: Nice work if you can get it

Philip Brasor on July 28, 2018

The rapper Post Malone made his Japan debut at the White Stage headliner on Friday. Given that his show started 15 minutes after N.E.R.D’s ended, security expected huge numbers of people to make the trek from the Green Stage, but it didn’t really happen. Though it might be assumed the same kind of people like both N.E.R.D and Post Malone, one of the most popular hip-hop artists in the US right now, that isn’t necessarily the case, and it’s not so much that Post Malone is white. It’s mainly that his fans are.

And whether it was sign of confidence or hubris, he was alone: no musicians, not even a DJ. Just recordings, including his own raps that he doubled upon. That said, he gave a passionate performance and seemed truly humbled by the reception. But one couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all set up to make him happy rather than the fans. He was drinking beer throughout the show (once out of a sneaker) and stated unequivocally that he intended to “get fucked up.” I mean, isn’t that what the festival goers are supposed to do?

Albert Hammond Jr.: Very happy to be here

Philip Brasor on July 27, 2018

Albert Hammond Jr., who used to be the guitarist for the Strokes and is the son of 70s singer-songwriter Albert Hammond (“It Never Rains in Southern California,” an odd observation for a British citizen to make), held forth at the White Stage in the late afternoon Friday. Dressed in a blazing red shirt and crisp white jeans and sporting a halo or adorable curls, Hammond couldn’t have been more excited about playing Fuji.

“We’re so happy to be here and play you our new album,” he said at least twice. The audience was happy to give him their opinion of the record, and they seemed to approve, if only because Hammond’s poptastic take on indie rock was so infectious. How could it not be, with him talking profusely about mic cables and running back forth across the stage like a munchkin. He even played some perfunctory guitar. It’s a far cry from the toxic cool of the Strokes, so obviously his heart was always in this. Who’d a’thunk he wanted to be Tom Jones all along?

Parquet Courts: Conduits of clear electricity

Philip Brasor on July 27, 2018

I was surprised at how small the crowd was for Parquet Courts, whose reputation as one of the most vital New York indie bands of the last decade apparently hasn’t preceded them in Japan, though this is the second time they’ve played Fuji. Under increasingly misty skies and with a light breeze kicking up nicely every so often, they played a blistering 50-minute set consisting mostly of songs from their latest album Wide Awake!. The angular guitar parts and eruptions of punk fury made a huge impression on the small crowd, which reacted viscerally if not necessarily in a demonstrative manner. Guitarist Austin Brown kept responding in a way that was difficult to gauge. Was he taking the piss when he said, “Thank you, goddammit.”

No matter. There was definite connection. As lead singer A. Savage sang in one song, “We are conduits of clear electricity.” The off-centered melodies were reminiscent of Pavement, if Pavement weren’t so cooly Californian. PQ is intense as if by design. When Savage sings, the words seem to explode out of his mouth before he’s aware of it. The rhythm section of bassist Sean Yeaton and drummer Max Savage is jittery, propulsive, insistent. “I’m in the chaos dimension,” Savage sings, and he seems barely able to keep it together.

Though the audience clearly preferred the punkier numbers, they came most alive for the title cut from the new album, where they were joined by a supplemental percussionist and got their disco freak on. The fact that they can stop on a dime while all around them seems to be falling apart is their saving grace. The crowd didn’t know what hit them.

Major Lazer: Just a party, y’all

Philip Brasor on July 30, 2017

We’re a bit cynical when it comes to performing DJs. We tend to think that there’s not much to actually “performing,” since the DJ could conceivably just make a long file and then pretend to be mixing and switching as gestures to the audience. Major Lazer, the collective dance music project headed by internationally famous producer Diplo, doesn’t bother with the conceit when they play live. Though there is a guy behind the boards (Diplo? Not really clear), the music is accompanied by all sorts of performative nonsense — streamers, giant plastic globes, pyrotechnics, dancing girls — that pretty much set the stage for what their concerts are: Just a huge party. And the audience was only too willing to participate.

And it was a kind of crude, regressive party, which may be the best kind and copacetic to the hip-hop value set. The dancing girls, for instance, were obviously at the beck and call of the male hosts, who made no bones (no pun intended) about using them for their own pleasure. At one point, they called on everyone to take off their shirts, and when very few people obliged they had to moderate the request by asking people to just grab something to throw in the air. As parties go, it was a makeshift affair.

But an effective one. When they said “jump,” everybody jumped. When they said “crouch down on the ground,” everybody crouched. It was nasty in the best sense, and once Bjork’s show was over, that party joined this one. People are very adjustable.

Asgeir: In the mood

Philip Brasor on July 30, 2017

Bjork wasn’t the only Icelandic artist on the bill this year. Asgeir Einarsson held forth on the White Stage in the early evening, and while his brand of pop is just as chilly as Bjork’s, he doesn’t go into beats or extreme feelings. If anything, Asgeir is perfectly honest about his vision of the world, which is stark and natural. His songs trend toward the contemplative, and his mix of guitar theatrics and electronic filigree, and English lyrics that actually mean something, gives him a reputation as an overly sensitive individual. For the most part, his show was subtle to the point of being insubstantial, but the field was packed, so obviously a lot of people get the message.

Bonobo on the White Stage

Mark Thompson on July 30, 2017

Battles

Philip Brasor on July 24, 2016

Reduced to three members, the math rock band Battles still refuses to call it a day. As a matter of fact, they seem to be thriving after the departure of founder Tyondai Braxton. Which isn’t to say they’re the same band, only that they’ve adjusted admirably.

They’ve also thrived. Dave Konopka, the group’s bassist commented halfway through their headliner gig at the White Stage Sunday night that they never expected any such “honor,” but in any case, just being able to play Fuji at all was a privilege.

Battles | Mark Thompson photo

At their starting time coincided with the end of the Chili Peppers’ show. But as they added to their sound, gradually and eventually they presented their beat-heavy, angular rock style, people showed up, stayed, and rocked out accordingly.

Battles | Mark Thompson photo

It wasn’t necessarily easy to do. Battles’ music is tricky to the point of confounding. Generally, founder Ian Williams starts the process with a guitar or keyboard loop, and then Konopka adds to it with some bottom and top (he also plays guiitar). But as sonn as drummer John Stanier shows up ad starts pounding away, all bets are off. First of all, Stanier is such an imposing physical presence that the audience can’t help but sit up and take notice. He sits center stage, not in the back, pounding away for all to see.

Battles | Mark Thompson photo

Since it’s difficult to say where one Battles song ends and another begins, we can’t quite put our finger on anything that might be considered definitive. Nevertheless, since Tyodai left, there some openings, at least in the shipping dept. Who knows? It may end up being the perfect job.

Deafheaven: Stoke the mosh pit

Philip Brasor on July 24, 2016

Just as Rhythm & Funk were the main musical themes at the eastern end of the festival yesterday, today the main theme seems to be hard rock, or, at least, it is at the White Stage. Following Bo Ningen’s set, San Francisco band Deafheaven reigned with an interesting blend of metal attitude and shoegazey drone.

Deafheaven | Mark Thompson photo

The band’s vocalist, George Clarke, sings with that carcinogenic growl that death metal singers like so much, which means you can’t understand a word he’s saying. Though the band’s press materials mention death and depression, he could have been singing about Pokemon for all we knew. The band behind him kept up a repetitive two-chord hum that ebbed and flowed, eventually breaking into a sustained metal thrash.

Deafheaven | Mark Thompson photo

Clarke, dressed in black, would gesticulate and conduct imaginary musicians, sometimes kneeling when he wanted to particularly make a point that we couldn’t understand anyway. His dancing was . . . unique. And at the end of every song he would punch his chest. At first we thought he was trying to hurt himself, but he was only expressing his solidarity with the audience.

As with Bo Ningen, the audience was pretty much just waiting to act out, and during Deafheaven’s own apocalyptic closer, the mosh pit overflowed like a busted dam, and whatever it was that Clarke was trying to communicate, it obviously made the intended effect. Guys emerged from the scrim punching the air in triumph. It’s great to win.

Bo Ningen: The time of their lives

Philip Brasor on July 24, 2016

London-resident but Japan-born, the dark psychedelic quartet, Bo Ningen, opened the White Stage on Sunday morning under a blazing sun and in front of smattering of people who managed to wake up early. Dressed characteristically in black–except for guitarist Yuki Tsuji who wore bright red–and with enough hair to to launch a J-horror franchise, the band looked out of place in the stark light of day, but they hardly cared.

Bo Ningen | Mark Thompson photo

In fact, leader-bassist Taigen Kawabe sounded particularly excited to be back in Japan and at Fuji in particular. His keening, mostly meaningless singing cut through the group’s harsh, swirling sound. It’s punishing, but not without humor.

Bo Ningen | Mark Thompson photo

Still, the thing about a Bo Ningen show is the last song, which grows into a massive thing that takes on a life of its own. The crowd which had been waiting patiently in front of the stage quickly formed a mosh pit and went sailing over the barrier, only to run around and do it again. It seemed way too hot for this sort of thing, but everybody seemed to be having the time of their life. Kawabe eventually joined them down in the photographers pit, egging them on and screeching at the top of his lungs. A huge cloud of dust kicked up above the mosh pit. Where are the water cannons when you need them?

Disclosure

Mark Thompson on July 23, 2016

We were a little late to the Disclosure show at the White Stage and by the time we arrived the party was going full blast, the area one would normally call the mosh pit a churning mass of humanity.

It was just the Lawrence brothers on stage, sans high-profile vocalists, who were represented by recordings, so most of the action was in the audience. Disclosure’s frantic, bass-heavy, poppy dubstep almost never lets up, but the crowd didn’t seem to require a break, at least not while we were watching. When they launched into “Carnival,” you could finally understand the title. It was a song made for this kind of huge, unhinged crowd.

In the end, vocalists would just have been an unnecessary distraction. It was certainly the biggest dance party we’d seen at the White Stage in a long time. We’re tired just thinking about it. (text: Philip Brasor; photos: Mark Thompson)

Todd Rundgren: A true star

Mark Thompson on July 26, 2015

We arrived about a minute late for Todd Rundgren’s set on the White Stage and wondered if we were in the wrong place or whether or not Rundgren cancelled. There was a hip-hop DJ on stage playing classic rap and R&B. Then, he suddenly started yelling at the crowd. “Put your hands together for Todd Rundgren!”

And out he came, with two female dancers dressed as anime characters. Potbellied and balding (but what’s left of his hair frosted), he didn’t seem to care about the impression he made, but nevertheless word skin tight pants and a sleeveless T-Shirt. He was a modern star, or at least his sardonic version of one.

And for the next hour he but on a real show, one with strong songs and singing, and even choreography that he joined in with in his own feeble way. If the crowd had come for the hits they would have been disappointed, but they weren’t. Most of the material was from his new album “State,” which is electro-pop, with lyrics that, per Rundgren’s mission, tend to be zeitgeisty, with mentions of Miley Cyrus’s ass and the Internet age. But it wasn’t gratuitous grandstanding. If anything, the words were secondary to the music, which Rundgren has always been fussy about. The audience fell for it.

Of course, there had to be at least one hit, and after the four left the stage, the DJ came out again and incited the crowd, which was on its way out. They returned for “One Dream,” the only song approaching a hit, and a nice showcase for a guitar solo. Some things just don’t change.

Lost & found

Mark Thompson on July 25, 2015

Mark Thompson photos

You could fill the love at Saturday evening’s Belle & Sebastian show and Stewart Murdoch could do no wrong, rocking his new threads, purchased in haste after his luggage was lost in transit. His said his new shoes hurt but when you have fans this adoring and perform so perfectly, he could have worn a striped tank top and sweat pants, and we still wouldn’t care.

Twenty One Pilots: High flying

Mark Thompson on July 25, 2015

It’s difficult to pin down the two-man band called Twenty One Pilots. They took the White Stage a little after 4 in horror show costumes to a hardcore stomp. Was this a death metal band? Well, only for a song, but it’s one of the group’s hallmarks that whatever style of music they’re playing they make a point of playing it very well. With his neck and hands smeared with greasy soot, lead singer Tyler Joseph certainly looked like an art rocker, but his smooth transitions from piano to ukulele to bass and back again betrayed a more rounded musical education. Meanwhile, drummer Josh Dun, tattooed and burly with prominent red circles painted under his eyes, provided both a solid backbeat and a visual foil.

It’s almost saying too little to mention that no two songs sounded alike: hip-hop, reggae, dub, even Elton John style piano rock. And as the opening dramaturgy showed, Joseph knows how to engineer theatricality to the show’s advantage.

Obviously, there was a contingent of people who were already fans because they knew the lyrics, but it’s also safe to say the the two men just added a few hundred more. It was one of those rare instances where you could sense a wonderful discovery being made. Come to think of it, that’s one of Fuji Rock’s most salient features.