Knotfest is back! I’ve been there both times it was organized in Japan (though I only have a blog post from the 2016 event). I had to look through my photo archives to confirm I was there in 2014 too, and I was surprised to “learn” that apparently I’d seen Korn live back then… This year the plan was different.
Knotfest this year in Japan had a really inviting lineup. The first day was rather short for me (making me wonder if it was worth at all). I started the weekend with Disturbed, and they didn’t fail my expectations (so yeah, it was worth). SiM was up next, and it was much better than I thought it’d be. Deftones, on the other hand, wasn’t very impressive for me. I don’t have Deftones in my library and that’s not gonna change. I guess it was good by its own standards, but I wasn’t converted to be a fanboy.
Day 2 was a much longer ride with more bands I actually know. While Anthrax isn’t one of those, they still put up a fantastic show. Good old heavy metal, and they played all the songs I knew from them. The Gazette was pretty nice too, though I wasn’t paying much attention to them until the second half of their set. In Flames were In Flames. I’ve seen them live a few times before, and it was no letdown. The same goes for Crossfaith and Man With a Mission too, who did a great job representing Japan among the headliners. Lamb of God, on the other hand, was much less fun live than I hoped. I don’t know if it was some problem with the sound or I simply wasn’t in the mood, but their show wasn’t exactly overwhelming. Oh and Manson. He did all his great hits, but I guess I’m too old to enjoy seeing a huge middle-aged guy throw tantrums on stage like a little emo girl. Let’s hope little emo girls enjoyed it more.
Slipknot was amazing. The crowd was of course huge, but I’d say it was much better than the last time. The sound was great and they played good old and fresh new songs as well. Their set had a huge screen where they played shots from their music videos, and if you know Slipknot music videos, you know how gorey they are. It was really funny when on the train home I heard some boys complain about how it made them feel sick. Or rather: sic. The show was fantastic.
I was looking at Reol’s tour dates when I found a surprising entry: the Arabaki Rock Festival, end of April. It was surprising because fests like that are usually in the middle of summer (see Summer Sonic or Rock in Japan) and this one, well, definitely isn’t. At first I wasn’t all that interested, since it’s held near Sendai which is quite a distance from Tokyo to go for a Reol show, but then I looked at the lineup and changed my mind.
ライブはライブにつながる。KNOTFESTの情報を知ってオープニングの魔法少女になり隊は見に行けないとわかったから、そのバンドの他の日程調べて下北沢のLUPINUSフェスを見つけた。下北の多数の会場で同時に開催される一日まるごとライブのイベントで、思った以上に楽しかった。
Have you seen the lineup of this year’s Summer Sonic? It’s pretty amazing. Sure not as amazing as Rock in Japan, but still great. It’s been 7 years since my last Summer Sonic (I was there in Osaka in 2010 and 2011). It usually has one or two artists that catch my attention, but rarely enough to get me to actually go.
This year though there were two bands on the lineup that I didn’t dare miss: ling tosite sigure (don’t get mad at me for the spelling, it’s official) and Mastodon.
Nyári fesztiválon még egyetemista koromban jártam utoljára – azt hiszem, a 2011-es Summer Sonicon (az se volt semmi felhozatal, az biztos). Persze nem-nyári fesztiválokra mentem azóta is. Írni nem feltétlenül írtam mindről, de az utóbbi pár évben minden Loud Parkon ott voltam, és akkor a két Knotfestről és Ozzfestről ne is beszéljünk.
Idén viszont, hogy már állást is váltottam, végre tényleg hosszúak a hosszú hétvégéim, végre bekerült a “szabadság” a szótáramba, és még a lelki erő is megvan. Így “hirtelen” (nem volt hirtelen) elhatározásból egy jó barátommal elmentünk a Rock in Japan első felére augusztus elején.
Ma volt a vágás, ahova én ugyan nem mentem, de cserébe a feletteseim szinte mind, aminek az lett a következménye, hogy egész nap vajmi kevés tennivalóm volt. Nem kell félreérteni, az esetek többségében alapból se lenne több, csak a feletteseim szeretnek minden vackot a nyakamba varrni, hiszen “hadd tanuljon az újonc”.
Ráadásul volt időm így megírni egy emailt, ami már nagyon régen érett, és volt energiám utánanézni néhány eseménynek, amikre terveztem menni az elkövetkező időben. Így esett, hogy megvettem a jegyemet a novemberi Knotfestre, október közepére egy sörös eseményre, meg sikerült belépőt szereznem egy társasági eseményre is.
I only found out about Slipknot’s percussionist Clown coming to Tokyo on “an emergency visit to Japan”. I figure he had to come to sort out some details about their November Knotfest in Makuhari (an event I’ll be very sure to attend). There was a “talk show” with him in Roppongi this night, but it was quite the letdown.
