On Friday morning, the first official day of the festival,
we went in a group of 7 up the Dragondola – the 20-minute mountain gondola that
gives you a view of the entire festival site - up to the Day Dreaming and Silent Breeze area.
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| On the Dragondola |
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| At the Day Dreaming and Silent Breeze stage |
The first act I wanted to catch that day was Rag-N-Bones Man. A rapper/singer
from Brighton, UK with an incredible soul voice. He was a very satisfying and
enjoyable opening act. We watched him at the mainstage, the Green Stage, where
we parked our chairs for the day and chilled out. We also caught some of the Radwimps - a J-pop band who did the soundtrack for the 君の名は film. I thought it would be crap, but it was actually a good performance and I'm kind of glad to have been able to see some live J-pop that didn't make me want to throw up.
As Matt only had a one-day
pass, we figured we would spend the day exploring and trying to see as much of
the site as possible. We made it all the way to the Field of Heaven, before an
intense downpour struck. I started freaking out a little, as I thought that
would be it for the remainder of our time there – but luckily it passed and we
were able to watch Father John Misty in peace (and love). He put on a great
set, and I was glad to have discovered his music a few months prior to watching
his live performance. The guy was charming, talented and highly entertaining. I don’t
usually care much for lyrics, but I certainly have time to listen to his. His
honest insights are really refreshing.
The main problem for Friday was the insane scheduling with
QOTSA and Gorillaz. I had been
anticipating this issue for weeks beforehand. As my favourite band of all time,
it was imperative for me to be there to support QOTSA. However, I had seen them
before, and knew that Gorillaz on the mainstage would be an unmissable show. Chez had decided to go to the Green Stage
beforehand, relax and check out The XX. Matt hung back with me to get a good spot
for the opening of QOTSA at the White Stage.
Catfish and the Bottlemen were playing the White Stage first,
I was curious to hear their music as some of the people in our group had made a
point to leave Father John Misty early to catch their full set. It didn't take long
for me and Matt to agree that they were completely awful, and their music was way
too rubbish to stand through, so with time to kill, we sat by the river and had
some beers and a giggle.
We bumped into the band of Rag-N-Bones man and were
able to complement their uplifting performance that we had seen earlier that
day. It feels good to give a compliment where deserved.
We also irritated some snobby Americans in an incident over
some nori at a ramen booth, but its not worth delving into.
When QOTSA came
on, I cried – naturally – and danced and sang like a crazy person for the start of
their set, and then after around 40 minutes or so we decided to make a B-line
for the Green Stage. We had anticipated getting stuck in crowds for a very long
time, so we were diligent in working our way through to the Gorillaz.
Amazingly, we only missed a small portion of their set and had
moved between the two stages within record timing (about 5 minutes I’d say). We
found our seats easily and joined Chez and the others in watching a really
amazing show. They played all the old hits and some new ones. I didn’t really
dig the new album when I gave it a try a few weeks ago – but watching the
tracks played live lead me to reevaluate my opinion. Each song was done really well, as
expected, a great choir, musicians and visuals. The Gorillaz live is
everything you would hope it to be and I’m glad I saw them. Damon Albarn was
full of energy and was a superb front man, he had a great command over the crowd and really hyped us all up. He, in particular, really exceeded my
expectation.
Still…. I felt that I could have caught a little more of
QOTSA. I thought I was satisfied in the moment, but upon reflection I wish I
had stayed for a couple more tracks. I
felt bad that the crowd was thinning during QOTSA’s set. I can’t believe how
poorly the scheduling was. How can they overlap two major acts like that?
Getting back to The XX, apparently they were terrible. Their
two performers were making arrogant higher-than-god remarks to the audience in
between songs. Nothing insulting, just pure cockiness. They came off as “assholes”,
according to live witnesses. As for myself, I wasn’t really fussed to see The
XX, I never have been, and found their new album to be a bit “meh”. I’ll also
state that I am a fan of the solo stuff Jamie XX has put out so far. In contrast, I love Blur and the Gorillaz, but
really didn’t dig Damon Albarn’s solo album. You see, you just can never tell
with these things.
Check out my Fuji Rock 2017 Playlist on Spotify:
Check out my Fuji Rock 2017 Playlist on Spotify:
