Fuji Rock Festival 2019, Day One

It’s an incredible experience to go to Fuji Rock Festival. Those three days of long walks in the midst of nature, in an environment that makes a conscious effort of respecting that privileged location and treats it with care. Enjoying an eclectic lineup with multiple options, depending on one’s taste. With a food offer that amazingly improves with each year. For all these reasons and more Fuji Rock is definitely an event to look forward to.

The first day this year was unlike my previous two experiences. Those Fridays were the least attended days in each of those editions. That doesn’t mean scarcely attended, it means that there’s still the possibility of moving around with relative ease. But this was the year that Ellegarden played Fuji Rock. After an 11 year wait since their last appearance at the festival, the fans eager for their pop-punk fix came in droves. I’d say that at least two out of ten people walking around the site were wearing an Ellegarden t-shirt. The lines at their exclusive merch table went over the three hour mark. The bridge over the river that connects the Green and White stages was impossible to go through. It was an unusual busy start for the festival and was by far the day with the biggest turnout. 

In my case the day started with my traditional tororo breakfast in the Oasis area, joined by my buddy at the place we go to at the beginning of each of our festival days (this year we broke the tradition and on the last day went to a different place). After that we headed out to the other end of the site to catch the last half of Kaho Nakamura’s set. Hers’ was a refreshing approach to J-Pop. Unlike the run of the mill kind, Nakamura’s music feels effortless and not forced when exploring funkier rhythm patterns. She was joined on stage by a horn section. Her dancing moves and charisma were contagious.

After that I went back to the gate area to get some official merch, just a t-shirt really. The hour and a half wait I estimated was accurate, so I had enough time to grab some curry at the famous Heidi place on my way to the next act, one of two that were at the top of my list for this day. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard was going to play their first ever Japan show at Fuji Rock’s White Stage and I wanted to grab a decent spot. Got there about 15 minutes before start time and got close enough to the stage. If there’s a current somewhat major band that represents eclecticism this is the one. In 2017 they released 5 albums, each with a unique concept and this year they released a synth driven boogie effort that will be followed later by a thrash metal one. As a matter of fact they opened with a few tracks from their upcoming album. I got to admit that I was skeptical at first (death to fake metal, and all of that), but their songs were quite good and benefitted from the live setting. The audience agreed and mosh pits took shape. Ironically the moshing thrived with their more prog oriented run of songs from Polygondwanaland and Nonagon Infinity. Those odd time signatures in a psychedelia context are the embodiment of tasty prog and that’s what they delivered. That run of four songs from Crumbling Castle to Gamma Knife sounded to me like what Genesis, King Crimson or Yes would sound now. They closed their all too brief 50 minutes set with a couple of songs from their upcoming album, leaving everyone wanting more.

At the Green Stage, the festival’s main one, Janelle Monáe played her second show in Japan, after a Tokyo one just a couple of nights before. She’s in the cover of Rolling Stone, but in Japan she’s opening for Ellegarden at four o’clock in the afternoon. It didn’t matter, though. When the lights went down and the Also Sprach Zarathustra intro hit, it was on. Crazy, Classic, Life and Screwed form her latest album opened with a bang, tail-ended with some old school flow rapping that went in full mode, delivered from a throne, in Django Jane. "Momma was a G she was cleaning hotels, poppa was a driver, I was working retail / They kept us in the back of the store, we ain’t hidden no more". Enough said. Those lyrics resonate. Her message of empowerment was loud and clear and yet not preachy. It all flowed effortlessly within a myriad of amazing songs. The space funk sound of Parliament Funkadelic was present in the tunes from her second album, Electric Lady and Prime Time. The latter including an extended Purple Rain guitar solo coda. After a costume change she returned for the most pop friendly trio of songs: Pynk, Yoga, I Like That and got the whole audience chanting along: “oh me oh me oh me oh my”. She then delivered a blistering rendition of the Prince-influenced Make Me Feel and then took things down a bit with a slow version of Cold War from her first album. By the end of the song she took time to reinforce her message and personal views asking for the longed for impeachment of the President of the US. The set closed with the obvious choice. I remember hearing Tightrope for the first time nine years ago and my jaw hitting the floor. It was, to me the perfect balance of forward thinking and tasteful tip of the hat to the forebears. The James Brown dancing moves in the video, that break when she says “ladies and gentlemen the funkiest horn in Metropolis” and those drums. I was mesmerized seven years ago when I first saw her performing it at a small theater and I was mesmerized by this performance as well. Her evolution in those seven years, her immense talent and artistry was in full display in a set for the ages. Nothing beats witnessing an artist reaching for sublimity.

  
Janelle Monáe proved to be a tough act to follow. I did see some 15 minutes of Ellegarden from the distance to see what the fuzz was all about and their type of effective pop punk was not my cup of tea.

I then headed out to the indoor Red Marquee and saw that stage closing act: Mitski. There’s no denying of her songwriting skills. Her songs include some tasty chord choices and strongly delivered interesting melody lines. I don’ mean to sound reductive, but her deadpan tone and performance proclivities make the St. Vincent comparisons unavoidable and I think that Annie Clark is the easy winner on that one. That’s not to say that Mitski is not a daring artist exploring venues dissociated from pop and mainstream, which I think it’s commendable. It’ll be great to see when she finds her true original voice. This type of performance with props, in an inscrutable stance, has been done before. This time it involved a table as the main prop and she sung seating behind it, standing on top of it, using it as a shield, etc. Her modern dance skills were actually pretty good, but I can’t say her performance was as memorable as the songs are good. In other words, I don’t think that gimmicky presentation do justice to the songs.

I left 45 minutes into it as she was performing Your Best American Girl. I would’ve stayed for the whole set but was afraid to not make it to the White Stage on time for Thom Yorke. Not only because the whole Ellgarden fan takeover of the site, but also because I had to go through the Green Stage where The Chemical Brothers were about to perform their fifth headlining set in this festival’s history. It turned out that the Ellegarden factor actually worked in my favor because after they finished playing it was easier to walk around. I made it on time and got a decent spot. A couple next to me from England told me Yorke was the reason they came to Japan. I agree with them, to me there’s no doubt the man is a legend. The choice between him and The Chemical Brothers was no choice and choosing him over the festival headliners was not a disappointment. If the records sound a bit underwhelming (I think multiple listenings are in order), the live rendition of his solo work is another story. It was a beautifully crafted set with songs from all of his side projects, including a couple of Atoms For Peace tunes, that showcased the most experimental and electronic aspects of his sensibility as a songwriter. In contrast the main set closer was the minimalist, Dawn Chorus, a sparse stunning rendition of the song from his latest album, with Yorke seating behind a Fender Rhodes type of keyboard. He returned for a couple of more uptempo tunes for the an encore and surprisingly for a second one, when more than half the audience were on the way to the gates, to perform Suspirium from the movie soundtrack he wrote for the recent Luca Guadagnino’s remake. This generous 90 minutes set was the perfect closer to a truly impressive first day at Fuji Rock.

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