Spring has barely sprung, but ya still gotta start planning for summer festival season in Japan. Let’s see how the two behemoths have shaped up recently…
Summer Sonic – Score one for the poptimists. Aw-shucks country pop star Taylor Swift will now play Summer Sonic. Please leave your horribly outdated Kanye jokes at home. The festival also added Nas, better known as the guy who cut Illmatic. Remember when Jay-Z and Nas hated one another? Now they are buds and will be playing the same Japanese festival. Also now in – Delphic (whose song “Doubt” I’ve been digging a lot after finding it via that Baroque remix a few mouse clicks below), Eels and Broadway Calls.
Fuji Rock – I’m still partial to Summer Sonic as a whole, but Fuji Rock is trouncing it when it comes to the number of Japanese bands highlighting the weekend. Latest native additions – blaring guitar bros OGRE YOU ASSHOLE, bound-to-be-huge rock outfit The Bawdies, and alt-rock girls Super Junky Monkey. On the foreign side of things are !!! and…wait for it…John Fogerty. I unironically want to belt “Centerfield” out during his set.