Fuji Rock Festival 2009


I can't believe it's already been over 2 months since I stood in the middle of the Japanese woods listening to Rock and Roll...

It was an awesome day, it all started very early in the morning getting from Tokyo to Echigo-Yuzawa, a very famous place in Japan. In winter many people go there for the skii resorts it hosts, but during summer it's also very famous for all the onsen around. Go to one of my older posts "Traditional Addiction" to know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, it took way too long to get to the festival. First I had to travel by train for 1.30 hrs, then queue for 2 hours (yes, 2 hours!!) to get a shuttle bus from the station to the place the festival took place, and the shuttle bus took another 1.30 hours to get there.

I got there and everything was awesome I was very excited and got to see half of the Doves' set. They are good!! I had heard their music a couple of times before but I was very much surprised of how good they were live. I need to get some of their music.

By the end of their set I managed to get to the front rows of the Green Stage, place were Oasis would play at 9 o'clock (it was 3 o'clock by the time). I had a mission and my mission was to be at the front row for the Oasis part of the festival. Yeah I didn't quite make it, but you'll know all about that later :-)

I waited for the next act, which didn't have me all that excited but I just couldn't leave my spot, so I waited for Lily Allen to come out... OH MY GOD!! Lily Allen!! What can I say?! She was fantastic, she even made me dance to Womanizer... She's a great performer and a brilliant entertainer, best sense of humor and just soooo awesome... Now you can tell I have the biggest girl crush on her, but seriously she was amazing. Needless to say I loved her makeup and her shoes were to kill for.

Then a lot more waiting, Patti Smith was to come on stage... She did, she took a picture of us (by then I was already at the 3rd row) and she played her set. I need to be honest, she was just ok. I mean, she has a great band and they do a very good job all together but she's a bit too intense to my liking. I wasn't bored or anything but the whole "let's save the world" speech really bothers me (reason why I'm still hesitating on going or not going to see Coldplay)... When I pay for a concert I want to listen to music... Anyway, she was alright, I just didn't get that much into her music nor her style and the fact that she kept spitting all over the stage was really upseting me haha...

Next up would be Paul Weller and I was so damn excited about that!! I didn't know Paul Weller was playing the Green Stage too until one day before, so I was just all happy about it...

I need to mention that it never stopped raining... I was wet from thead to toes, hadn't have much to eat, hadn't have anything to drink and of course I hadn't leave my spot so no toilet using for me... I had been standing up for 8 hours already and had been traveling for a week, so yes, I was very tired already.

By the time Paul Weller came out I was a exhausted but what was my surprise!? Steve Cradock was in the band!! I totally forgot about how tired I was, I had Steve Cradock infront of me and being a huge Ocean Colour Scene fan it was simply mind blowing!!

I enjoyed the whole set very much. It was somewhat short but very good. Paul Weller is a great performer and I enjoyed every second of it, specially the whole Cradock on stage thing.

Waiting for Oasis to come out was the longest 40 minutes ever. I was already in 2nd row and couldn't wait for them to come back but I was feeling very weak...

To know more about the Oasis set, you'll have to wait for the next post because that deserves a text for itself!