Sunset Live!

So over the weekend I went up to the neighboring prefecture of Fukuoka for a big music festival called Sunset Live. It was a tad expensive and it was a bit of a long drive (2 hours) through areas I’ve never been before so I was little hesitant at first to spend my entire weekend to go to a show. But after some convincing of a few ALT friends nearby I decided to live it up a bit. Tsun and Peter (in the second photo) went ahead of us and set up camp on the beach while Spike and I drove up on Friday afternoon, got turned around a few times but made it just in time to see one of the big headliners who ended Friday night. The weekend was excellent! The music for the most part was great. There were three stages with different kinds of tunes at all times, tons of food, drinks and really outgoing people. It was pretty wicked hot and of course as we camped on the beach the sand got everywhere. By the time we came back I was sunburned, stung by a jellyfish, slightly hungover, and dead tired, but it was totally worth it.

Here are some of the bands that really stood out and a link to some of their music that hopefully works:

Dragon Ash – first night closer band, who had a mix group that kind of blends rock with a little hip-hop at times. They had some fun energy on the stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbBPZsTPfAE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJzSGuDRIbA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_qSMx8-PPU&feature=related

Doberman – Easily my favorite band at the entire show, amazing ska group that really rocked and even did a cover of Bella ciao with the keyboardist playing an accordion, who by the way is hilarious, at times standing on his keyboard which required half the stage crew to come out and hold it up to keep it from breaking. I highly recommend them

Akai Taiyou (Red Sun)
Shasho Wa Nekoron Da Mama
Leap For Joy

Black Bottom Brass Band – we only caught the last two songs they played the first night, but they paraded around the festival periodically playing like a marching band. Quite fun to watch and I think just about anybody could like them. They've got 3 songs on their myspace playlist.

BBBB's Myspace

Aside from the music it was pretty fun as well. On the second night things got a little crazy as it was the highlight day with the best bands and the most people there. Back at the campground I met some guys who were playing soccer on the beach and after kicking it around for a little bit, they gave me their soccer ball. Later Tsun and I made a bunch of friends by just wandering the beach and talking to people which turned into going from tent to tent having drinks and talking, and in some cases singing along with people on guitars, bongos and ukuleles. It was really neat to have that cool sense of community where everyone on the beach was welcoming and wanted to get to know us, though that could be just because I was really outgoing and obviously a Gaijin (your Japanese word for the day meaning foreign person –I get this one a lot). I got the feeling that was actually a cool thing there though the way people treated me instead of shocking and strange. I even got dragged around by this guy who was so excited, introducing me to all of his friends after we had only talked for like ten minutes!

Excellent times with excellent company