Fuji Rock & Rain

It all started with a shower and ended with sunshine. Unfortunately, all of the concerts were during the shower part-- the showers that started and never stopped all day and night Saturday. As you can see, though, it didn't stop the people from coming. Over the course of the weekend, 120,000 people were said to have shown up-- and these are the Japanese who don't go ANYWHERE in the rain!
It was a fun time, but the weather most definitely put a damper on things. The cost of one day at Fuji Rock was 18,000 yen (including a camping pass), and the train was another 12,000 or so, which brought the cost to around $300, plus a pair of muddy Pumas which will never recover. For that cost, I spent my night in a tent wet, freezing and miserable.

We did see Fatboy Slim, as you can see in the pic, and though it was a great show, I decided I didn't feel like wearing my bulky rain gear anymore, and stripped down to normal clothes-- hence the freezing cold by the end of the night. Another great new band who I heard of thanks to S, is Asian Dub Foundation-- a band of "21st century MIDI warriors" whose favorite quote seems to be "Son of a Bush!" They are kind of a cross between rock and hip hop, and I found myself in the middle of a huge mosh pit having more fun than I thought possible for being totally trampled on. Good thing I had my 3 Frenchy bodyguards with me or for sure they would have been scraping up my bits blood and bones off the ground.

Maybe everyone should try this Fuji Rock thing once, but our group agreed, next year the attendance number will be minus 119,990, minus the 10 of us. Of course next year will probably be the first year of all-weekend sunshine... Anyway, the rest of my first and LAST Fuji Rock!