Fuji Rock Festival 2018, Day Three

I don’t think anyone was expecting Bob Dylan to be one of the headliners. As far as I know, he rarely plays festivals. It turned out that his performance at Fuji Rock was a milestone, as it was either his 100th or 101st performance in Japan; the first one resulting in one of his many live albums from the seventies: Bob Dylan at Budokan.

The announcement caught me off guard, I was expecting Arctic Monkeys or Jack White, but Dylan is something else. Last time I saw him was four years ago and it was as good as always. I was looking forward to which songs from his catalogue I will hear live this time around and I was not disappointed.

On the morning of the festival’s third day some remnants from the previous night typhoon were hitting the grounds. Mountainous areas have that kind of unstable weather, one minute it will be sunny and the next one it’ll be rainy, but it went through extremes during that morning. My buddy and I were catching the Taiko drums ensemble Kodo performing at the Green stage at the start of the day and the torrential rain made me wear both my windbreaker and poncho at the same time. My friend explained to me that the group was formed in the nearby Sado island and have been performing for decades now. Despite the weather their energy was contagious and it was an excellent way of starting the day.

The following act was greeted by the sunshine that pretty much stayed for the rest of the day. They were Suchmos, a band that acquired some recent popularity due to the use of their songs in a car commercial. They also wrote the tune used by NHK as the theme song of this year’s World Cup broadcasting. To avoid the one hit wonder label, only one of those songs were performed, the soccer one. Leaving their most popular hit out of the setlist was a strange move. They’re a decent band with excellent musicians and they’re able to jam. They even incorporated a really obscure Dylan tune to one of their songs: Man Gave Names to All the Animals, which was a nice touch. I thought overall they received a lukewarm response from the audience and failed to deliver an awesome set.

Not so lukewarm was the response to Anderson Paak and his band The Free Nationals. He delivered an energetic set that included tunes like Put Me Thru, smacked right in the middle, which gave me the chance of a small breather right after it. Although the energy level was high throughout, I wouldn’t call it a memorable performance. Anderson had an expert command of the audience, both behind the mic and also as a drummer. The band is as tight as it can be, but he’s just lacking, in my opinion, that song that will put him on another level.

Jack Johnson is just not for me. I can appreciate his musicianship and charisma. The lyrics of his songs are also interesting, but the chill out surfer mood gets tiresome after an hour or so. His songs are all hummable ballads and they’re almost all at the same tempo, it’s just the type of mellow music that’s not my thing. I guess that the expectations for Dylan, who was coming up next, didn’t help. I kept looking at my watch throughout his set.

I kept my spot by the corner, front row for Dylan, though. When the lights went down a member of his band came on stage strumming an acoustic guitar, maybe as a throwback to that pre-Newport Dylan who was a one-man show, or maybe he just did it to tune up the rest of the band. Either way everyone was pumped and then, unceremoniously, the man walked on stage. He delivered Things Have Changed and It Ain’t Me, Babe as a one-two punch responding to those expecting surprises or any kind of nostalgic celebration to the apparent anniversary that was taking place. “I used to care, but things have changed”, “It ain’t me who you’re looking for, babe”, both quotes from the aforementioned songs that address sentimentality and his take on it. “We’ll just put some bleaches out in the sun and have it on Highway 61”, the third song on his setlist suggested. Soon after that he surprised the audience with a rendition of When I Paint My Masterpiece, a song he’s played only a handful of times in the past 20 years. It was moving to hear him perform Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right a song that haven’t lost an ounce of relevance in its over 55 years of history. He followed it with a completely unrecognizable Thunder on the Mountain. Other songs that I heard for the first time live were Desolation Row and Ballad of a Thin Man, both a treat to witness. There were barely a couple of lightning setup changes. The shot on the large screens remained fixed on Bob throughout the set and there was no stage banter whatsoever. The decidedly non-flashy show concluded with a rendition of Blowin’ in the Wind for the ages. Dylan confronted the audience by contrasting such a large scale event with a minimalistic approach. Once again proving that less is more and, as the artist that he is, defying all expectations.

That could’ve been an ending of epic proportions, but Fuji Rock had an extra ace up their sleeve. It was Vampire Weekend and it was impressive to see their evolution since I last saw them. In terms of size the differences were evident. From the four piece I saw ten years ago playing at a small club to the current seven piece incarnation closing Fuji Rock at the largest stage, it was like seeing the front and back cover of Talking Head’s live album The Name of This Band Is… coming to life. The Talking Heads’ influences were also present in the evolution of their sound. Vampire Weekend is now more prompt to indulge in long jam sessions than to explore the two minute punk sound they used to pursue. This changes fit the band’s image and musical influences. I thought they delivered a really strong set showcasing music from their three previous albums and even delivering a surprise guest at the end, when they invited the lead singer of Haim to join them to play a cover of Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back in Town and their own set closer Obvious Bicycle. It was a fitting end to three days of excellent music.

This year, to me, Fuji Rock featured a very strong set of headliners. Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar, with the addition of Vampire Weekend and N.E.R.D. All of them were excellent choices that, as a result, kept me away from the secondary stages. I wish some names would’ve compelled me to visit some of those stages and therefore to experience more of the incredible location of the festival. Instead I spent most of the time around the main stage area. Hopefully next time the poster will feature more appealing names under the headliners. But overall it was an amazing experience. I, for sure, will miss the butadons, fish on a stick, Johnnie Walker’s Fuji Rock Highballs, the tororo, the amazing atmosphere and, most of all, the music. All of which make of Fuji Rock one of the best music festivals in the world.

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