Blog - World Happiness: report

World Happiness: report

Last Sunday I went to World Happiness, a summer music festival organized by Shindō Mitsuo (C.T.P.P) and Takahashi Yukihiro (YMO). Held in a large green space at Yumenoshima (Shin-Kiba station), the event was quite unlike other music festivals, it had a picnic feel where everyone was given their own small leisure sheet, and even families with little kids were welcome. People could freely sit, stand, dance, rest, eat... I had brought a lot of food from home which we ate slowly throughout the day, contributing to the picnic atmosphere. The weather was perfect, with just enough clouds so that the sun wouldn't melt us down.

The show went on non-stop on two stages, the large main stage and a smaller "left stage". That way there was no waiting time for set changes. Also there was no moving from a stage to another. My friend Miwa and I sat in block B-1, a bit towards the left, and not so far from the front. There was a large screen on the main stage that helped to see the artists closely. I had also brought binoculars that I received from my parents recently, they were quite useful! The sound was generally just great too despite it being outdoors!

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We arrived as opening act anonymass were playing their set on the left stage. I don't remember much from it except that they used some horns and a pianica. I'd realize only later that so many bands at that event were using pianica.

After the two organizers showed up on the main stage to give a welcome word, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra came up all wearing gray suits. They did a great job at getting the party started. Although I heard a bit of their albums before, it was the first time I got to see them live. Very good energetic show!

On the left stage came Lastorderz, some sort of one-time(?) joke band led by Anzai Hajime, wacky illustrator best known for his weekly TV appearance on Tamori Club (pretty much the only show I try hard not to miss). They had a punkish sound and very silly lyrics. Anzai had some hard rock style make-up.

Main stage, Suzuki Keiichi Captain HATE and The Seasick Sailors feat. Sokabe Keiichi did a pretty good set. Earlier this year was released an album by the two. I wasn't familiar with the songs but I remember the opening song that went something like "alright senchō" ("alright captain"). Suzuki Keiichi wore an appropriate outfit with a striped navy and white top with an anchor mark and a sailor's hat.

On the left stage was then Kuchiroro, one of the acts from label commmons that had a big place in organizing the event. I had heard of them many times but was only vaguely familiar with one song. Their sound has lots of keyboards and mixes elements of J-pop with some rap. The lead singer/keyboardist was especially great.

Next up on the main stage was pupa! One of the acts I had been very much looking forward to. pupa is the recent all-star unit of Takahashi Yukihiro (YMO, Sketch Show) together with Harada Tomoyo, Horie Hirohisa (Neil and Iraiza) and others. The sound is electronic but feels organic, very nice songs, not quite the type of stuff I usually listen to, but I enjoyed the show very much! Each of the 6 members had their own song on which they sang lead vocals. Harada Tomoyo looked very cute and stood at the front with Takahashi (except for the parts where he went to play drums). I was very curious about an instrument she played sometimes, which looked sort of like an electronic recorder. pupa can be heard on recent album "floating pupa".

On the left stage came another act I had been eager to see, the bossa nova guitar duo naomi & goro. I first knew about them from a song they contributed to Escalator compilation "Henry", and later heard more of their music by coincidence in a shop that played their Christmas album as BGM, and I had instantly recognized Naomi's beautiful unique voice, and I couldn't resist buying it. This time were accompanied by a full band, and played mostly songs from their recent cover album "Bossa Nova Songbook 1" out on commmons, but also a few originals.

On the main stage was then Bonnie Pink. I'm not much into what she's been doing for the past few years, changing her image to maybe try to appear to a wider J-pop audience, I prefer her sound from when she was closer to the Shibuya-kei scene. The show was alright though. I surprised myself at especially enjoying recent hit "A Perfect Sky", but that's probably because I've heard it so much in the mainstream.

Left stage, illustrator Lily Franky came to sit with his guitar, accompanied by a band, I think. I chose this time to go for a toilet break and also go look around the shops. I was sad to find out that all the T-shirts and goods of interest were sold out, well yes I was a bit late. However I was very happy to find the nice designer I know from C.T.P.P selling ice cream. I bought that (the only ¥200 I spent all day!) and got back to my spot. Lily Franky was finishing his set with a large Oden-kun mascot, character that he designed. He said that it was the first time he sang Oden-kun's theme song.

Ganga Zumba was next on the main stage. It's a large band led by a guy from The Boom. There seemed they had really a lot of fans, but I didn't care much for them. Instead I sat and ate while taking some photos. Photos of the stages and artists were prohibited, which is why there's not more.

I had been keeping an eye on the left stage on which event curator Shindō Mitsuo was busy setting up the stage of his unit NRT320 (reads Narita Mitsuo). Most of the smallish stage was occupied by a gigantic 6-feet tall pro photo flash umbrella, looking sort of like a plane reactor. Narita Masaki (who has done programming work for many Shibuya-kei related artists), the unit's main instrumentalist, performed from his laptop, while Shindō-san accompanied with his Kaossilator like at his DJ set a few weeks ago. The first song sounded sort of lounge-y and experimental, maybe almost beatless, but then kick in a club beat that would lead the rest of the set. On the main screen were C.T.P.P fun clips. I liked one of a woman folding a black piece of paper saying "NRT-320" and putting it into her mouth, over and over.

After one or two more tracks, it was time for Nomiya Maki's appearance! She wore a long blue-ish dress and stood in front of the flash umbrella, while Shindō-san moved around her and took photos. The wonderful thing was that just a few seconds every time after the flash went, the photo that was just taken showed up on the huge screen! Maki had things written on different parts of her arms and hands and on her back, and these were revealed one by one in the photos.

Maki's part was to sing 2 covers, Koizumi Kyōko's "Fade Out" and Amanda Lear's "The Queen of Chinatown", both arranged in a club style. That was just great! I really hope we won't wait too long until a NRT320 release.

The next set on the main stage would be the most rock of all day, with Sheena & The Rokkets! It was also probably the worst sound of the day with a lot of feedback whenever the band stopped playing between the songs. Well, they rocked! I only know them from remix album "Electrokkets" (with remixes by FPM, Ken Ishii and more) which I really liked. I was happy to hear "Lemon Tea" towards the end of the set.

On the left stage was then Tokyo Bravo, an early 80's new wave band with Takagi Kan and Bravo Komatsu (the latter who played guitar for Pizzicato Five). I enjoyed it but don't remember so much. Maybe I was a bit distracted because I was eagerly waiting for the last act of the day...

HASYMO! That's the three of Yellow Magic Orchestra, they should really need no introduction as they're probably Japan's most important electronic units since the late 70's. Only recently they've been getting back together under new names like Human Audio Sponge or HASYMO, and this was the first opportunity I had to see them on stage. I'm not a huge fan, meaning not that I don't love them but just that I don't know all of their repertory like certain others. :) However I do love many of their songs and it felt like a dream to be able to see them performing live.

The three of course played their respective instrument (Sakamoto on keyboards, Takahashi on drums and Hosono on bass). The three also sang, and were accompanied on stage by 3 guys from pupa. There was video projected on the large screen, different for each song. Throughout the show I recognized songs that I had heard before, such as the recent News23 theme song "tokyo town pages", although what really did it for me was the encore: "Rydeen 79/07" and "Cue"!

The three walked to the front of the stage to salute the audience. Sakamoto put on a hat (the two others already had one on for the whole show) and they walked towards the exit as the large screen zoomed on them walking out without looking back, the effect was just perfect. The audience laughed and applauded, fully satisfied. Awesome show!

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Well that really was a fantastic day, just my type of music festival. I really hope that there will be another World Happiness next year!

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Posted on August 15, 2008 at 23:04 | Tweet |

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