When event organizer Smash first approached the residents living around Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture about hosting the Fuji Rock Festival in 1999, they had reservations.
¡°The residents and farmers were nervous. They wanted to know if the noise would affect the birds ... and where exactly the orchestra would play,¡± Smash promoter and international booker Johnnie Moylett says. ¡°But after that first festival, they reported that the Fuji Rock crowd was better behaved than the winter skiing community.¡±
The music festival has been based in Naeba ever since, and this year¡¯s edition, held from July 26 to 28, marks the 25th anniversary of Fuji Rock¡¯s Niigata debut. Just as older Japanese associate the summer with Bon dancing and fireworks, there¡¯s a whole new generation for whom summer means a weekend camping trip soundtracked by Foo Fighters, Bjork or Franz Ferdinand.
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