music fests shake japan in july
July '99 in Japan grooves with two major music fests and a diverse lineup of bands to please almost any popular music tastes.
First and foremost is the Fuji Rock Festival, taking place from July 30 through August 1. This is THE major music event in Japan. The party started two years ago, but the 1997 effort was cut short by the monstrous typhoon Rosie which leveled much of the stage (this didn't seem to bother the Red Hot Chili Peppers however!). Despite the shaky beginning, Fuji Rock Fest has grown every year and in 1999 the festival rises up as one of the world's foremost rock bashes, now able to be favorably compared to the much-better known Glastonbury in England and Roskilde in Denmark.
This year the "Fuji" Rock Festival is being held Naeba, Niigata prefecture. While this may sound inconvenient, it's only two and a half hours by car/bus from Tokyo and affords festival goers a beautiful, spacious area in which to party. The bash will consist of five stages, all running concurrently, as well as restaurants, bars, flea markets, campgrounds and even a child-care facility for parents who want to drop the kids off for a while.
The headlining bands include Brit poppers Blur, big beat duo The Chemical Brothers, American rad-core rockers Rage Against the Machine, glitz grunge Hole, classic rockers ZZ Top, the reformed dance rockers Happy Mondays as well as trip-hopper Tricky.
Blur has seen its last three albums jump to number one in the charts and their latest effort, 13, presents a more musically accomplished version of these Brit pop giants. The Chemicals Brothers, Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, almost single-handedly invented the genre of big beat and their debut album Exit Planet Dust showed how powerfully rock and dance genres could be fused. Their hits "Brother's Gonna Work it Out" and "Block Rockin Beats" have been the defining moments of nineties evolving dance rock beats.
These are just the most famous of the acts appearing (check schedule for full list of bands), but the fest promises to be three days of madness. Call 03-5720-9988 for tickets, 0180-993-998 for general info, or 03-5256-1778 for transportation info.
Taking its cue from the popularity of dance music and club culture in Japan, the Future Music Festival on July 16 offers a stunning array of DJ and live electronica artists. Appearing will be Japanese heavyweight performer Ken Ishii, but the live act to pay special attention to is the rocking youngsters the Boom Boom Satellites. The DJ lineup is awesome with highly-touted English newcomers Basement Jaxx, Norman Cook (aka Fat Boy Slim) favorite Captain Funk, the widely creative DJ Krush, and one of the inventors of techno, Detroit's Juan Atkins all doing sets.
The event will be held at a new venue, Zepp Tokyo, part of the Pallet Town complex located in Odaiba, Tokyo Bay. To get there go to Shinbashi and ride the Yurikamome line to Aoume station. Tickets cost ¥8,000/9,000.
Contact Disc Garage at 5436-9600 for more info or check out the Sony website, www.sme.co.jp/Sony Techno.
Over 90 more music listings in this month's Tokyo Journal!!