It¡¯s hard to know what the organizers at Fuji Rock Festival were thinking when they decided to have Jack Johnson headline the main stage on the event¡¯s last day. Not the infectious cheer and endearingly kitsch theatricality of The Flaming Lips, who performed directly before, or even the guaranteed singalong power of anthem-merchants Franz Ferdinand and Arcade Fire, who had closed out the prior two nights, but Jack Johnson ¡ª a man who presumably gets most of his airplay from people on hold to understaffed call centers.
The decision may well be understood as: ¡°We¡¯ll end with who we want, and you¡¯ll come back next year regardless.¡± And you will, because when all is said and done, Fuji Rock continues to be a consistently brilliant music festival.
This, my sixth time in attendance, was the year that I rediscovered its delights, thanks in no small part to the glorious weather: unusual for a festival normally subjected to the volatile changes of its mountain microclimate.
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