Review/article by Sam Frank from The Ocean Bun, an internet music magazine dedicated to music in Japan.

For two days straight in early August Osaka and Tokyo were simultaneously overrun by hordes of musicians and fans looking to let loose in honor of the summer season.

While Ozzfest and Lollapalooza wreak havoc across American soil, Summer Sonic is Japan’s way of getting into the action and contributing to the summer rock festival frenzy which has become traditional worldwide. In its fifth year, Summer Sonic has been successful in attracting talented artists from across the globe to perform in Japan. Such artists include Coldplay, Radiohead, The Beastie Boys, NAS, Green Day, and James Brown to name a few. What makes the Summer Sonic festival unique, however, is that it takes place in both Osaka and Tokyo at the same time. How does a rock festival concurrently take place in two cities more than 300 miles apart from each other? Being a two day event, the artists who are scheduled in Osaka on the first day take a two hour bullet train ride to Tokyo for the second day, and vice versa. With Osaka and Tokyo being Japan’s two major areas for international entertainment, this system gives fans in both cities an equal opportunity to witness their favorite musicians. Spread across five different stages in each city, this year’s all star line-up was nothing less than spectacular as groups like Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Weezer, Slipknot, and Public Enemy exhilarated the thousands of enthusiastic fans.

Trent Reznor’s triumphant return to Japan was a breath of merciful air complimented by bittersweet beauty. The mysterious Reznor has undergone a few changes since he last performed in Japan during the Fragility Tour more than four years ago. The most obvious change was in his appearance: short, buzzed hair and arms that resembled Hulk Hogan’s 12 inch pythons. The other change was the new band line-up which included Alessandro Cortini (keyboards, sample sounds), Jerome Dillon (drums), Aaron North (guitar), and Jeordie White (bass, guitar), formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez from the Marilyn Manson Clan. Despite these exterior changes the one thing that remained unscathed was the demonic soul that has always seemingly possessed Reznor’s body during a show. His sound penetrated and complicated audience members as far as the eye could see during the seductive “Closer,” which sounded as fresh as it did during its release over a decade ago While other songs like the tormenting “Terrible Lie” and “Something I Can Never Have” from Pretty Hate Machine (1991) sounded as translucent as ever, it was songs like “That Hand That Feeds” and the title track off the new album, With Teeth (2005), which got the crowds jumping and slamming into each other. During his majestic rendition of the song Johnny Cash borrowed for his epitaph, “Hurt,” Reznor, under one bright spotlight brought the crowd to a standstill. Despite there being many slam dancing moments throughout the set, Reznor’s humor did make an appearance as he halted the song “Starfucker” in mid-head banging madness to thank everyone in attendance. “Now we return to this aggressive rock song,” politely exclaimed Reznor before returning to the loudest and most ferocious part of the song. The high-powered set came to a close with the Nine Inch Nails classic, “Head Like a Hole.”



While Nine Inch Nails brought the heavy artillery to the show, Oasis, however, revealed transcendent beauty mixed with the comic workings of Liam Gallagher. With a brite-lite looking backdrop consisting of stringed light-bulbs in front of a red curtain, Oasis took center stage and Liam, wearing huge black-framed glasses like Uncle Junior from the Sopranos, immediately made his presence felt as he appeared to size up members of the audience. Although they began their set with Don’t Believe the Truth’s (2005) first track, “Turn up the Sun,” it was not until their second song, “Lyla,” that the show officially got underway. Zak Starkey’s (son of ex-beatle Ringo Star) powerful drums became the beat which fueled synchronic claps from the crowd. Not only did Starkey bring his father’s expertise from behind the drums, but he also brought the family nose and beard. While he supplied the beats Noel used his guitar to rip through lively versions of “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” and the Velvet Underground-esqe new track “Mucky Fingers.”

Noel also connected with the audience during his heartfelt performance of “Wonderwall” from (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995). Enhanced by the soothing organs (from the guy on stage who looked hauntingly similar to the late George Harrison), “Wonderwall” incited a mass-sing along as Noel’s energy radiated throughout the crowd. Meanwhile, the other half of the Gallagher brothers, Liam, gave the set a comic flare through his wise cracks and interactions with the crowd. Whether dedicating songs to crackheads and lesbians or ordering everyone in the crowd to raise their chopsticks in the air, Liam’s highly-charged personality was a crucial ingredient to the group’s hour long performance. His amusing antics slightly backfired, though, when he made everyone on stage laugh so hard that they missed the three-count to start “Wonderwall” and had to take a few seconds to properly adjust themselves.

After Oasis finished their cover of The Who’s “My Generation,” Liam left the audience with some final words of appreciation, “You’ve been very very odd! Now we have a strip club to go to.”

Since the concert was held in Japan most of the foreign artists seemed to be compelled to test their Japanese ability in efforts to communicate with the audience. While people like Preston from The Ordinary Boys used Japanese to order the masses to go crazy during their hit song “Boys will be Boys,” Weezer and Slipknot, who have both previously performed in Japan, incorporated the audience into their set through the use of the language.

Rivers Cuomo (lead singer of Weezer), a man with a penchant for Japanese women, used some key phrases like “konnichiwa” (good afternoon), “genki?” (How are you?), and “sugoi” (awesome) to capture the hearts of audience members. Women immediately responded to his humble words with a rambunctious “kawaii!!!” (which means cute). In between Rivers’ crowd pleasing Japanese, Weezer managed to squeeze in a hair-raising set comprised of songs which spanned from the Blue Album (1994) all the way through the exciting new album, Make Believe (2005). Playing behind the backdrop of Make Believe’s cover (minus the famous W sign), Songs like “Buddy Holly” and “El Scorcho” were as well received as new material such as “Beverly Hills” and “We Are All On Drugs.” To Witness Weezer rile up this crowd of thousands was unbelievable compared to the days when the group toured for Pinkerton in 1996. During that tour Weezer played to smaller audiences in more intimate settings like clubs or small halls. While the size of the venue and audience may have expanded, the intimacy of the performance remained unharmed. This was evident as the crowd unified their voices to help Rivers close Weezer’s set with their ode to surfing, “Surf Wax America,” from 1994’s Blue Album.

Slipknot, however, displayed a much higher level of Japanese language proficiency as lead singer Cory Taylor (a leather-face looking character, colorfully known as #8) gave the crowd detailed commands throughout their set. In between pounding the audience with songs like “Duality,” off Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (2004), Taylor ordered the crowd to sit still on the ground until he said, “Tobe!! (jump!!)”. Once the magic word was spoken, thousands of fans jumped towards the skies, resembling a stampede of wild animals imploding on themselves. One of the more amusing anecdotes came as Taylor, with a fierce gusto, used his Japanese skills to order audience members to raise their middle fingers to the sky. Throughout this dialog with the crowd, the drummer pulverized empty garbage-can drums with baseball bats causing a hypnotic tribal-like beat which consumed the larger-than-life sound system. Thousands of avid rock fans showed off their middle fingers with pride as though the essence of anarchy surmounted the Open-Air stage. With most of the big name bands performing at the Open Air Stage (which was the only outdoor stage in Osaka) the weather inevitably played a large role throughout the day’s events. Even before Nine Inch Nails took center stage a freak torrential downpour drenched audience members for only a few minutes then suddenly seized as the set began. But not all headlining bands placed the audience in a position to succumb to Japan’s fickle weather system. Duran Duran (touring Japan for the first time in more than twenty years with its original line-up) headlined the Mountain Stage, which took place inside a separate annex building about five minutes from the Open-Air Stage. Interpol also graced the mountain stage with a rocking set comprised of such high-spirited songs like “Slowhands,” off their newest album Antics (2004). A Tribe Called Quest’s poetic prophet, Q-Tip, eloquently vocalized some wicked rhymes during his headlining performance at the Zepp’s Urban Stage. The most awe-inspiring indoor performance, though, came from the effervescent hip-hop faction, Public Enemy (PE). Turning 45 this past August 1, Chuck D proved that wisdom does come with age as his shouts of war opposition and peace rang throughout the mountain stage sound system. This Public Enemy line-up was slightly modified with renowned turntablist Terminator X being replaced by DJ Lord and Flava Flav absent due to “passport problems.” In spite of their absence, PE sounded as thunderous as ever performing such well-known hits as “Welcome to the Terrordome” and “Fight the Power” off their seminal classic Fear of a Black Planet (1990). The bass projected during these tunes made the mountain stage vibrate like the world’s largest tickle-me elmo.



Chuck D also made his opinions of the Bush Administration and war known as he led the crowd in a Make Love/Fuck War chant before instructing the masses (in English unlike Slipknot) to raise their middle fingers in the air. Public Enemy then went into the Professor Griff-produced anger-fueled jam, “Son of a Bush” from their most recent album, Revolverlution (2002) which incited a “fuck bush” chant that permeated throughout the venue. PE slowed things down for their final cut by performing the soul clenching title track off the He Got Game Soundtrack (1998). Chuck’s message of peace came with perfect timing considering the fact that two days after this performance marked the 60th anniversary of the Pacific side’s departure from World War II.

Although international artists such as Oasis (England), Nine Inch Nails (America), Rammstein (Germany), and HIM (Finland) gave Summer Sonic a worldwide feel, a large number of popular Japanese artists kept the party vibe going throughout the two-day festival. Orange Range used their J-pop (Japanese pop music) bazooka to shoot a missile into the crowd, causing a mass outbreak of rampant bouncing among crazed fans of the six person boy band. The hit single “Locomotion” (a cover with of the lyrics redone in Japanese), sent everyone into a frenzy while crowd surfers in front of the stage flung from side to side. Although Orange Range gave J-pop enthusiasts a reason to dance, there were some lesser known musicians whose power level even surpassed that of the headline acts.

AIR, not to be confused with the French band of the same name, happened to be one of those artists. This writer made the mistake of thinking this was the French group until it became evident during the final sound check that AIR was, in fact, the name of a Japanese musician, not a group. By the time AIR took center stage, crowds had gathered from other stages to catch a glimpse of this underground hero. Sporting the truck driver look with his hat, wife beater tank top, and tattoos, AIR opened his set with a quiet acoustic melody. This set seemed calm enough until the other band members walked on stage. Like the calm before the storm, the next song was a heart-pounding hard rock anthem that created mosh-pits and crowd surfing reminiscent of a Nirvana show. While songs like “Natsu no iro wo sagashini” (Look for the Summer Colors) wooed audience member, the smashing “Me, We” sent those soothing sounds through the coffee grinder. Drifting between soft and hard rock kept the crowd on its toes; but by the end of AIR’s set, the crowd had been completely tenderized.

Summer Sonic 2005 was definitely the biggest and best party of the year in Japan. A mist of satisfaction was in the air as thousands of music fans headed back to the closest train station to return to their normal daily lives. The smiles brought on by these two days of musical bliss pierced through even the most tired of faces. One downside to this phenomenal event was the conflicting schedules of performers, which inevitably forced concert-goers to make some tough decisions. Duran Duran played at the same time as Nine Inch Nails while Bloc Party’s performance overlapped that of Weezer’s, and so on. With the unbelievable amount of talented entertainers on the roster, Summer Sonic housed spectacles at all five stages, despite the impossibility of witnessing them all.

As a loyal member of the MTV generation of the 90s, seeing bands like Nine Inch Nails or Oasis perform live epitomized “cool” for music fans, and instantaneously developed status among peers. These were the kinds of concerts that led one to pick up extra shifts at work just to earn enough money to be in attendance. Hearing about famous artists from around the world performing for thousands of Japanese fans were always exciting stories, but often too far removed to have any lasting effect. Once Summer Sonic 2005 finished these generational icons not only left a lasting effect on Japanese fans, but also on foreign fans who grew up idolizing them in their home countries. It is these music festivals like Summer Sonic that unite the entire globe by assembling a worldwide cast of talented musicians to travel from country to country to perform for thousands of avid music fans. Let’s hope this tradition does not end anytime soon.

Sam Frank ©2005

Journalist
The Oceanbun
www.theoceanbun.com