Summersonic: Japan's biggest music festival delivers on Tokyo's doorstep

One week after Japan's most iconic music festival, Fuji Rock, comes its polar opposite rival, Summersonic, drafting in another wave of international music acts to play alongside a few domestic artists only an hour out of Tokyo. Attracting some 246,000 visitors over three days last year (its 10th year anniversary) the 2010 incarnation returned to a two-day line-up and drew 158,000 for an unusually eclectic, mixed bag of performers.

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Jay-Z.

Efficiency and endorsements

Summersonic is built on two pillars; bringing the very biggest names in rock music to Tokyo's doorstep, and ruthless efficiency in the running of the festival. Evidence for the former comes in recent headliners Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Avril Lavigne -- prompting some local Japanese to deem Summersonic as having superceded Fuji Rock as the must-go-to music event in Japan.

Regarding the latter, held in Chiba's mammoth Makuhari Messe exhibition centre and spreading out across nine stages that include the 30,000 capacity Marine Stadium -- home to the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team -- atmosphere is conspicious in its absence. Think Glastonbury in London's Earls Court.

Both days of Summersonic in Tokyo open with one of Japan's fast-rising new acts. Saturday sees Chiba natives FACT receive a warm reception for their prog-rock musings, while Sunday began with Monkey Majik, a unit featuring two Canadian brothers who each play guitar and sing vocals in English and Japanese and have been a revelation for the domestic market.

From there on in the line-ups are varied to say the least. Rapper NAS makes way for rockers Nickelback on one stage, while Korean boy-band Big Bang are followed by punk trio SUM 41 on another. As the fans swarm from stage to stage through cavernous halls and across vast tracks of concrete, the intentions of the clinical 'festival' are clear. Official goods stands sit next to endorsed drinks stalls, sponsored mini-stages and even a convenience store stall selling riceballs and drinks at twice the regular price. Rivals HMV and Tower Records are both on hand to empty wallets of even more yen.

Music for city dwellers

Coming across like an enormous music industry showcase, acts start and finish not a second too late in a perfectly synchronized event. When Stevie Wonder's band plays on briefly after the 9 p.m. curfew on Sunday night, staff gesticulate wildly to ensure they stop ASAP. But then for the well-dressed city dwellers who flock here every year, precision is perhaps exactly what they need and have come to expect.

Amongst the lesser-known acts, Japanese newcomer Jasmine, whose debut album "Gold" has just been released, showed off her impressive set of lungs early in Saturday, followed by Paris-based electro artist Uffie who defies what seems to be an injury to jump into the audience and bounce around the stage, working up the crowd until a special guest vocal performance from Tokyo's hottest new DJ, Mademoiselle Yulia. Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan, who recently collaborated with Japanese R&B superstar AI, delivered his own impressive and original set of poetry-like songs early on Sunday, followed by Australian singer-songwriter Orianthi who surprised the crowd with a rendition of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love".

It was left to two Scandinavian acts to deliver the best performances of the weekend though. Norwegian pop-rock trio A-ha, on their final ever tour, produced a sleek set that captivated a packed-out Sonic Stage, mixing 1980s hits with new material and more. Lead singer Morten Harket had the audience in the palm of his hands during "Hunting High and Low" near the end of which the entire stage shut down to allow the absorbed crowd to sing the melancholic refrain by themselves. Pumped up again by the lively James Bond theme "The Living Daylights" the band signed off to rapturous applause with "Take On Me" played out to its iconic Steve Barron-directed animated video.

Scandinavian delights

On Sunday Sigur Ros fans were in for a treat with the appearance of lead-singer Jonsi -- clad in hippy-like multi-colored clothes -- and a full band. Succeeding where all others had failed, he entranced the audience, bringing them out of the grey concert hall and into his own mysterious world of ethereal rock with a dimly illuminated wonderland stage and gorgeous animated images of nature. In between mesmerizing Sigur Ros-like soundscapes came his own brand of pop in the playful form of "Animal Arithmetic" and "Go Do".

Saturday night saw Hip-Hop superstar Jay-Z stand on the same stage as his wife had just one year before. Unlike Beyonce, the Marine Stadium was not packed to the rafters and he was made to work hard, playing samples from Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and U2 to entice the crossover crowd. Rolling out the hits from throughout his career, including "99 Problems" and "Hard Knock Life" didn't detract however from the sponsored t-shirt he wore throughout, leaving the feeling that like the event itself, Jay-Z had only one thing in mind.

Stevie Wonder on Sunday night had a completely different problem to worry about; his son Mumtaz. When called out to sing alongside his father it was with clear reluctance; "come on out here before I change my mind" said Wonder, before Mumtaz suffered microphone problems and missed a crucial note for all to hear.

A vast improvement on the turnout on Saturday, the stadium overfiowed with people for Wonder and it was clear that Wonder's timeless music resonated even with a Japanese audience mostly in their 20s. Even the stairwells became temporary seating areas as the audience sang along to hit after hit, vindicating what had at first seemed an unusual choice for a Summersonic headliner. Capped off with an enormous "goodnight" fireworks display the fans trudged back into Tokyo with the look of nothing but satisfaction.

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