Japan has traditionally shied away from big outdoor music festivals because of concerns about hedonistic behavior, but one of the country's promoters is about to take the plunge in a big way. On July 26 and 27, a national park at the base of Mt. Fuji will play host to the Fuji Rock Festival, which will include performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day and Weezer. Negotiations are underway with the Foo Fighters, Elvis Costello, Primal Scream, and Southern Culture on the Skids.
Tickets to the show, which is expected to attract thirty-thousand people, will run 12,000 yen (about $120) for one day and 22,000 yen for both. Plans call for the festival to be sponsored by a soft drink company.
"It's the first time [Japan] has created a site that has to be controlled and staffed," says a source who represents two American bands confirmed to perform at the festival. "It's a huge undertaking. I'm sure they have to convince the authorities kids would be well behaved."
Those kids will get the first listen to material from the forthcoming Green Day album. The punk trio enters the studio next week to record the follow-up to "Insomniac," but the album's first single won't be released until after the festival. The Chili Peppers will headline the first day, and talks are underway to get the Foo Fighters to headline the second. Japanese punk rockers the Hi-Lows, the Yellow Monkey and Tomoyasu Hotei will also perform.
"I always look forward to going to Japan," says Rick Miller, frontman of the kitsch-rock band Southern Culture on the Skids, which will open both days of the festival. "They have the best TV commercials over there. They have girls in op-art mini-skirts go-go dancing in the Pacific Ocean selling kitty litter or hemorrhoid cream."
Tak
