Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2011
After 3/11, there was a lot of “the show must go on” type talk about Fuji Rock. But promoter Smash had never even considered canceling the event. After 15 years, founder Masa Hidaka’s Glastonbury East is as much a part of the fabric of Japanese summers as bon odori or the Sumida River fireworks.
For German rocker Alec Empire: “Now is the time to go to Japan,” he told a crowd to a roar of approval at the Red Marquee tent, lighting them on fire with a pummeling set of digital hardcore from his newly reformed Atari Teenage Riot.
On the vast Green Stage, fellow international stars like Coldplay’s Chris Martin and G. Love crooned about being part of Japan’s healing process. There were also reminders of the disaster in the form of an Atomic Café antinuclear symposium, where rocker Kazuyoshi Saito performed his banned protest song “It Was Always a Lie,” and food was on offer from Fukushima Prefecture.
And in a talk session at the green-powered Avalon Stage, veteran antinuclear campaigner Ryuichi Sakamoto and his Yellow Magic Orchestra warned festivalgoers not to believe what they read about radiation in the newspapers.
But aside from a noticeable drop in foreign visitors, Fuji Rock 2011 was more remarkable for its sheer normalcy. Rather than 3/11, thoughts turned to a closer tragedy as typically intense rains took a life in surrounding Niigata Prefecture even as the festival was underway on July 31.
If last year was the year of supergroups like Them Crooked Vultures and Atoms For Peace, this was the year of the reunion. In addition to Atari Teenage Riot and Yellow Magic Orchestra, Mick Jones’ Big Audio Dynamite and Ron Wood’s Faces have recently had high-profile comebacks, which met the test of a Japanese audience for the first time.
Atari Teenage Riot whipped the crowd into a frenzy—even if Empire’s anarchist exhortations seemed lost on them. And with guitarist Cornelius and electronics wizard Fennesz joining them, local heroes Yellow Magic Orchestra gracefully hauled their vintage Oriental ele-pop into the present.
Big Audio Dynamite and Faces had the tougher task of acquainting an audience that largely hadn’t been born while they were active with their music, and trying to ensure it didn’t sound dated.
Although they played to a small crowd, BAD accomplished this thanks to the still fresh-sounding blend of rock, reggae, house and samples that their music pioneered in the ’80s—and the beneficent spirit of the sainted Joe Strummer. The deceased singer led The Clash with Jones, and thanks to his many appearances at Fuji and close relationship with Hidaka, serves as a kind of guardian angel for the festival.
Fronted by Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall instead of original singer Rod Stewart, who deigned not to join the reunion, the Faces played to a half-empty Green Stage. Hucknall led the crowd in some desultory sing-alongs, but the best applause of their set came for their cover of Paul McCartney’s sweeping love song “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
Some of the most spirited responses at the festival were reserved for the three excellent African acts on the bill: Tinariwen, Amadou and Mariam, and Congotronics vs Rockers. The latter brought together members of Congo’s Konono No.1 and Kasai Allstars with San Francisco rockers Deerhoof, Swedish art-rock pair Wildbirds & Peacedrums, New York electronica artist Skeletons and Argentine songstress Juana Molina.
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With 18 people exerting themselves on stage and the crowd joining in the spirit of fervent jubilation, it was one of those only-at-Fuji moments—the kind that make the festival special and ensure it will be around for many years to come.
If reunions and African allstars weren’t enough, 115,000 punters could also pick and choose from a surfeit of music including anything from Battles’ New York avant-rock to the Arctic Monkeys’ Brit-rock to the teary Showa-era ballads of what may be the festival’s brightest star—“Fuji Uji the Melancholy Maggot.”
