Fuji Rock Festival 2012

[gweilo]

Have there been any announcements about who the Thu performances are? Sometimes it's the bands who are there the whole weekend and playing 17 times, like Inspector Clouseau. In that case, my money would be on Onda Vaga. Then again, it could be one of the Friday performers too.

[Blue Stapler]

I haven't seen any leaks for the Thursday pre-fest. Either bands are being more tight-lipped, or the people who post at the message boards I browse couldn't be bothered to do any sleuthing work. Onda Vaga does seem like a likely candidate. One more Friday act (Django Django? Electric Guest? Los Lonely Boys? Third Coast Kings?) and a few more local bands perhaps?

Oh, and they announced that tickets for Saturday are also close to selling out. Jesus.

[Al & Mel]

Oh, and they announced that tickets for Saturday are also close to selling out. Jesus.

Yikes, sounds like it is going to be fairly packed. Went to buy our train tickets the other day and bought reserved seats for the trip there no worries but coming back on Monday they said we couldn't reserve spots so looks like it is an open ticket, does this sound right to the regulars? We had planned to get on the train leaving Echigo-Yuzawa at 10:02am to get my friend to Haneda in plenty of time for his flight to Shanghai so thinking of queuing for the shuttle bus at Naeba around 8am, if it is going to be extra busy this year are we giving ourselves enough time, and how does it work at Echigo-Yuzawa station if no one has a reserved ticket?

Looking forward to seeing what they have in store for Thursday night, getting excited!

[gweilo]

... how does it work at Echigo-Yuzawa station if no one has a reserved ticket?

We always get unreserved on the way back because we're never quite sure when we'll be leaving (it's usually around noon). So we end up sitting in the stairwells and whatnot. We get our return tickets on the Thu when we get into Japan, same time as we get our Tokyo-Echigo Yuzawa tix.

I don't think they would sell out of unreserved tickets, would they?

[Blue Stapler]

I don't think they would sell out of unreserved tickets, would they?

Nope.

Apropos of nothing, this video is seriously making me consider skipping the Specials in favor of seeing Caribou's set in its entirety.

[Al & Mel]

Apropos of nothing, this video is seriously making me consider skipping the Specials in favor of seeing Caribou's set in its entirety.

Went to a Four Tet/Caribou show last year and thought Four Tet were a bit boring but Caribou were great live so they're a definite for me. Didn't think they'd be able to pull off their songs live but they did and put on a great show.

[Al & Mel]

Well, Fuji Rock was a blast. We left absolutely shattered but had an awesome time. Thanks for all those who posted advice on here, it certainly made life easier for us Fuji novices. But now we have the dilemma of being able to do Coachella (already have tickets through the pre sale) and Fuji next year!

[Blue Stapler]

Hey Al & Mel and any other first-timers, I feel like I owe an apology for any impressions I may have given that it will always rain at Fuji Rock and that proper rain gear is mandatory. The kind of weather we had over the weekend was pretty unprecedented...

Fill-in survey for anyone who feels inclined:

Best Friday act
Honorable mention
Best Saturday act
Honorable mention
Best Sunday act
Honorable mention
Best overall act
Favorite day
Best new discovery
Most disappointing act
Act you most regret missing
Most memorable artist quote
Biggest douchebag(s)
Best food
Worst food
Biggest WTF
Obligatory comment about the weather
Random anecdote

[Blue Stapler]

Best Friday act
The Stone Roses! The Stone Roses! The Stone Roses! The Stone Roses!

Honorable mention
Missing Gossip in 2008 was one of my biggest regrets of Fuji Rock that year, so it was good to finally see them put on a rocking show at the White Stage.

Best Saturday act
Saturday was kind of a weak day for me, but Caribou were pretty incredible.

Honorable mention
I know everyone here hates him, and I wasn't planning on seeing him either, but Noel Gallagher was actually really, really good. Also, Kinoco Hotel totally ripped it at the Naeba Shokudo - I expect to see them at a bigger stage in the near future.

Best Sunday act
Radiohead.

Honorable mention
The two old farts - Elvis Costello and Yosui Inoue - were brilliant. And New Cool Collective totally brought down the house at the Cafe de Paris.

Best overall act
I have to give the edge to the Stone Roses, a band that I never, ever thought that I would get the chance to see live.

Favorite day
Sunday without a doubt.

Best new discovery
Django Django, although I wasn't too enamored of their live show (the sound could've been better, IMO). Love their album though.

Most disappointing act
I didn't really feel Purity Ring. Sorry.

Act you most regret missing
Not that it could have been helped, but Yael Naim. I got all giddy and excited when I found out she was playing, so imagine how crestfallen I was when it turned out that she conflicts with Yosui Inoue. Also, everyone kept going on about how awesome Explosions in the Sky were, but I was just too damn lazy to make the trek to the White Stage...

Most memorable artist quote
I don't have the exact quote (which was in Japanese anyway), but the lead singer of Kinoco Hotel ridiculing fans for having to sleep in tents while she got to stay at the Naeba Prince Hotel was pretty funny. I'm pretty sure I would've found it hilarious even if I wasn't lodging at the Naeba Prince myself.

Biggest douchebag(s)
The Radiohead fanboys who started rushing forward while Costello was still playing.

Best food
My experience with pasta at Fuji Rock has been pretty bad in the past, but the basil pasta with summer vegetables I had at the Field of Heaven was AWESOME.

Worst food
The "mango smoothie" I had at the Gypsy Avalon was basically just mango juice with bits of crushed ice in it...

Biggest WTF
My cell phone being totally useless from the Green Stage and beyond. I never had that problem before - seriously, wtf? Screw you, KDDI. Oh, and whatever the hell Ian Brown was doing with those Bruce Lee toys during the extended interlude for "I am the Resurrection."

Obligatory comment about the weather
I'm still gasping with disbelief. Honestly, a little rain wouldn't have been bad, especially on Friday when the heat was somewhat punishing.

Random anecdote
I'm regretting including this now, because I can't think of anything good. Spotting a Japanese celebrity at the hotel, I guess (weak, I know).

[gweilo]

The kind of weather we had over the weekend was pretty unprecedented...

I would call it a sign of the apocalypse. It was incredible that it started coming down on Monday, just as we were getting into a taxi.

[gweilo]

Best Friday act
I'm going to call it a tie between the Stone Roses and Gossip. But the SR mean a bit less to me than they do to other people.

Honorable mention
The Very Best. Too bad I got there late.

Best Saturday act
Saturday was weak for me too. I guess I have to give it to Spiritualized since I saw very little else.

Honorable mention
A tie between Onda Vaga at the Naeba Shokudo and Seun Kuti.

Best Sunday act
Radiohead.

Honorable mention
Fucked Up. Any other year, this would have won show of the day if not for Radiohead. It was barely controlled chaos, and the crowd got bigger and bigger as the show went on ... always a good sign.

Best overall act
Radiohead.

Favorite day
Sunday.

Best new discovery
Since I only started listening to them because of Fuji and because everyone was saying how great the new album is, I'm going to say Japandroids. I didn't really like their first one, but "Celebration Rock" is fantastic.

Most disappointing act
Ray Davies -- hate to pick on an old guy, but he just didn't have it.

Act you most regret missing
At the Drive-In.

Most memorable artist quote
Pink Eye of Fucked Up -- multiple.

Biggest douchebag(s)
Anybody who wears a huge backpack in a dense crowd and dances by swinging back and forth.

Best food
The Fuckin' Yummy Burger, the pork on skewers (as usual) and the Korean joint at the Orange Court, which was criminally (but conveniently) underpopulated.

Worst food
Can't say I had anything horrible.

Biggest WTF
The spotty cell phone reception was definitely annoying. And if we're interpreting "WTF" as just something to be surprised by, the fact that our hotel was staffed almost entirely by ladies from Zhuhai (convenient since one of our party speaks Chinese).

Obligatory comment about the weather
Again, a sure sign of the apocalypse. But man, it got dusty.

Random anecdote
After the Radiohead show, the next three hours were a blur. All I remember is that we were trying to stage giant fights -- I mean, fights between the biggest people we could find -- at the Palace of Wonder Arena following the Bir Khalsa Dal performance. And we were eating everything in sight.

[Al & Mel]

Finally got around to adding my highlights, had a great first Fuji Rock experience so hopefully we can make it next year.

Best Friday act
Stone Roses for me, major nostalgia factor here as last saw them in 1995. And yes, he’s not the best singer but my ears were drunk so didn’t care!

Honorable mention
Did a lot of exploring on Friday so didn’t end up seeing a lot of acts but Django Django seemed like they were having a lot of fun and the crowd enjoyed it.

Best Saturday act
Caribou, their closing song was epic.

Honorable mention
Good to finally see Spiritualized and playing some Spaceman 3 songs too. Admittedly Saturday was quiet for us as the cumulative Thurs/Fri hangover was kicking in and ended up spending more time queuing for the Dragondola than planned so the list of acts we saw was fairly small.

Best Sunday act
Very hard to go past Radiohead, great show.

Honorable mention
Hard to pick between Jack White and Elvis Costello, really enjoyed both sets.

Best overall act
Radiohead, easy to see why their live shows are highly regarded.

Favorite day
Sunday, we camped at the main stage all day so hard to beat Jack White -> Elvis Costello -> Radiohead

Best new discovery
Admittedly we stuck to acts we knew but I didn’t mid Toe’s set on the main stage.

Most disappointing act
No one I saw really sucked but Ray Davies was a bit tired despite giving it his all (I don’t think he’s got much left to give these days) and didn’t really do much for me.

Act you most regret missing
Quickly realised the difficulty in getting between stages so had to drop some acts from our list, I guess The Shins, Explosions in the Sky and The Gossip were the ones we most reluctantly had to drop.

Most memorable artist quote
No real memorable quotes, although did read that Liam dedicated a song to his brother Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Smurfs, no love lost between those two!

Biggest douchebag(s)
The proportion of douchebags at Fuji is way smaller than big Australian festivals so no real issues.

Best food
Fuckin’ Yummy Hamburgers lived up to its name but the overall standard of food was good.

Worst food
Didn’t have anything bad, but the BBQ’d fish on a stick (just after you crossed the bridge into the Oasis area they were on the right) were inexplicably popular to me. You could smell those things a mile away, personal taste I suppose!

Biggest WTF
Queues for merchandise. Couldn’t believe the length of lines, needless to say I didn’t end up with a single shirt as by the time the queue was manageable (when we were leaving on Saturday night) all the ones I wanted had sold out.

Obligatory comment about the weather
Certainly no complaints about the lack of rain. My friend was completely unprepared for any rain (only packed shorts, t-shirts and flip flops) so we were stockpiling the plastic bags they were handing out at the entrance but thankfully didn’t have to try and fashion rainwear for him!

[Al & Mel]

By the way Blue Stapler (or anyone else) did you make it to The Field? I'm interested to find out what the show was like. Probably should've been on my 'regret missing' list but 3am was never going to be very likely. Wasn't up for much more after The Stone Roses finished off a long Friday for me...

[gweilo]

the BBQ’d fish on a stick (just after you crossed the bridge into the Oasis area they were on the right) were inexplicably popular to me. You could smell those things a mile away, personal taste I suppose!

We actually had some during our Sunday post-Radiohead insane consumption binge. I was very drunk and thought they were all right, though I wouldn't make a beeline for them in the future. A friend I was with decided to eat the entire thing, head to tail, bones and all. He was obviously drunker than I was. I pitied his colon.