Concert Year 2017 (Part 2)

This week the government decided to lift the national emergency status, which means that slowly -hopefully- things will be getting back to normal. Concerts are, I think, included in the last part of the step by step plan designed by the government to open the economy. In the meantime I don’t think there will be any shows in the horizon. Surprisingly there are a few big events, all happening during the third week of September. Thrash Domination, the recently announced Trooper Entertainment anniversary festival and Summer Sonic. Time will tell if those are happening. Fuji Rock, as it now, it's still scheduled for late August.

Back in 2017, during the second half of the year, I attended the Fuji Rock Festival for the first time and it was quite an experience. Of the three editions that I’ve been to, this one was my favorite. On the first day I saw Japanese electronic artist De De Mouse and R&B artist Gallant, both at the huge tent that’s the Red Stage. At Field of Heaven I saw Father John Misty and to be honest it wasn’t a memorable show. Unlike The XX one, which was the best of the day. I first saw them in 2010 when they released their first album. This time around their years of experience on the road made a huge difference. I finished the day with Gorillaz at the Green Stage. Another entertaining show.

The second day started with a brief glimpse of Cocco at the Green Stage. I later found out that she rarely performs live. The weather was not great on that day, with pretty much non-stop rain from the afternoon on. In terms of music it was definitely the best day. First with Chronixx. The reggae singer was joined by a whole band and sounded fantastic at the White Stage. He was followed by Death Grips, which were more engaging and menacing than ever. I once saw them years ago with Zach Hills playing a set of empty buckets like a NYC busker. This time, being behind a proper kit made a difference. The night ended at the main Green Stage with one of the best -if not the best- shows I’ve seen in Japan. Aphex Twin just destroyed. I remember being up front, it was freezing and raining heavily, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The whole flow of the show combined with the visuals culminating in a 20 minutes wall of sound, was an exhilarating and unique experience.

The lineup was unbelievable on the third day. First starting with Real Estate and their solid brand of Indie rock. Followed by Slowdive, a short but mesmerizing set by this important shoegaze band. I ran from the Red Stage to the other end of the festival grounds, to the Field of Heaven to catch Sturgill Simpson. I thought that with all the hype surrounding him it was going to be packed. Seems like Japan didn’t get the memo, because the place was empty, I easily got a spot at the rail up front. He didn’t care about the relatively small turnout and proceeded to rock the place, it was a cool show. Later I ticked a box from my bucket list with the headliner. Bjork performed joined by electronics and a strings orchestra. I felt really old noticing that some of the attendees were not familiar with her. She played a bunch of classics too. The last act I caught at the festival that year was Wednesday Campanella. She played at midnight at a packed Red Stage. The funny thing was that during the process of the show she moved from the stage to the back of the venue. I was at the very back and got to see her up close at the end of her set.

In August I saw Jane Birkin performing songs written for her and other artists by Serge Gainsbourg at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall. I’m a huge Gainsbourg fan so it was a treat to listen to his catalogue performed by a closely related and -in her own right- legendary artist. The sound of the full orchestra was sweeping, especially in one of my favorite songs, Manon. The following month, at Club Quattro I got to see Mayhem performing their legendary debut full length album. I was a bit disappointed because they didn’t quite capture the atmosphere of that record. The performance felt shorter than the album itself. Sigh and Defiled opened that show.

I went to Paris in October and got the chance to see what was my favorite show of the decade. For the third time, after seeing them twice in 2008, I got to see one of my favorite artists: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.  Unlike the other times I saw him, this show was not at a theater but at an arena, the Zenith. At this venue the seats allocation is on a first come first served basis. I got there early to get seats in the first row behind the large floor area. Like most Nick Cave shows, the first few songs on the setlist were slow burners developing a motion that exploded by the fifth song, From Her to Eternity. Their renown energy was in full display, same for Cave’s famous audience interaction. He came really close to the area I was seated during The Weeping Song (see picture above) and invited a whole bunch of people on stage for Stagger Lee. The movie Distant Sky, shot at a Copenhagen stop of this tour, captures the magic of this performance. I really like to check clips from it from time to time.

Later that month I saw Cornelius, but him and Burzum are the only two artists I can recall not listening to due to their repulsive behavior. At the time I didn’t know what I now know about him, so I’m not going to write about him because I don’t listen or care about his music anymore. The Master Musicians of Joujouka at WWW in Shibuya was a hypnotic and fun show in which the drone of the rhaita joined by those drums were king. It exceeded my expectations. Same for the Terry Riley show I saw afterwards in November, but you can read about it more in detail here. 

  
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