Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2011

Legions of Japanese youths donning identical Air Jam and Hi-Standard logo t-shirts marched towards Yokohama Stadium in their Converse and Vans on the morning of September 18. For them, it was a special day that marked the revival of Air Jam, an indie rock event launched by Japanese melodic punk band Hi-Standard, who have re-united for the first time after 11 years.

When Metropolis arrived, desperate would-be festival goers were holding up signs that read “Please give me your ticket” as their last resort to get in on the action—mostly without much luck. Inside the stadium, the Isobe Masafumi Band was opening on the Air stage, while 10-Feet were setting up on the Jam stage. The arena crowd expressed their enthusiasm for screamo bands like Pay Money to My Pain by running around in mosh circles. Similar bands that played nonsensical Engrish songs followed, almost non-stop.

During the intermission, skaters and BMXers set up their half-pipes set up in the middle of the arena. Unfortunately, the hype that the MC tried to muster in front of the dispersed and unimpressed crowd outweighed the performance level of the practitioners. At least the occasion served as an opportunity to practice in a city of ubiquitous “no skateboarding” signs.

Though the fans were crazy about Scafull King, Fact and Murphy’s Law, by the time KDGR—the only hip-hop act—was on stage, half of the arena seemed to have already headed out to Chinatown for lunch, just as we were doing. On our return, Turtle Island, a 14-member tribal orchestra, were sending refreshing vibes to the audience with their unique sound. Then, Wagdug Futuristic Unity’s industrial hardcore brought back some head-banging and got everyone ready for The Hiatus, whose popularity caused the arena entrance to be regulated. Japanese songs with Japanese lyrics—something that seems quite out of the J-punk trend—covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, were actually a nice change of pace.

During the chaotic transition to Maximum the Hormone’s stage, sweaty and smelly bodies were pressing against each other to the max, barely leaving room for breathing or vision. Everything the band said and played was good—until we heard them say, “Air Jam has stirred up a storm (arashi),” as an excuse to cover Johnny’s boy band’s song, “A-Ra-Shi.” After Brahman played, their vocalist Toshi-Low announced their appreciation to play again at Air Jam as he crowd-walked and gave it away to Hi-Standard who played a dozen songs to which everyone sang along with great emotion.

Having had enough of the J-punk scene, we bounced out of the arena well in advance, to avoid being engulfed by a mob of 30,000.