Day 2 (8th August 2009):
After arriving at Kaihin Makuhari station at around 12pm, we headed straight for the Makuhari Messe, it’s a very warm day – 30 – 33 degrees – hot, very hot! After we arrived at Makuhari Messe, we first went to luggage control, and then collected our wristbands.
We had a quick lunch of fried noodles, and then went down to the big hall where you can buy lots of lovely food and drink. Also HMV had it’s own booth there.
I sent a quick email to my friend in England at the internet booth where laptops were available for free. It’s 1pm – time to head to the Mountain stage… :
Paolo Nutini – Mountain Stage 13:10 – 14:00
It wasn’t hard to find a good place, we were in the second row from the front of the barrier, in a not too crowded hall. Paolo Nutini seemed quite popular with Japanese girls as we could only see girls at the front. I loved his first album, but haven’t heard the second album yet (I still haven’t yet at the time of writing this). The mixture of folk, jazz and pop is very easy on the ears and a nice way to start the second day of the festival.
Mando Diao – Moutain Stage 14:20 – 15:00
This Swedish 5 piece band is very popular in Japan and Germany. I remember when I saw them for the first time in Tivoli in Utrecht (Holland) back in 2006, more than half of the audience were German. Their debut album ‘Bring ‘em In’ was a Motown/soul’ inspired, brilliant album. I thought most of the girls would have left after Paolo, (and I thought I could get to the barrier) but they didn’t! Which means I remained in the second row (still not bad at all).
The lights went down, the boys came up on the stage, then…I should have known…“Sheep Dog”! The whole crowd went mental, waving from the right to the left, left to the right and from the back to the front. Everyone at the front was jumping and waving with their bodies. I couldn’t move any more, I tried to keep calm, but I nearly fainted, so I called a security guy for help, but he didn’t hear me. I called him again and waved my hand to him to rescue me. A guy who was standing behind me heard me and he called the security guy too. Finally I got ‘rescued’ by one of the big security men. He took me out of the mad sea of people. I said thank you to him and ran to the back of the crowd. Compared to the crowds at the front, the people were pretty quiet at the back, so I had plenty of space on my own to dance.
They had an autograph session (like Kasabian had done on day 1) just after their gig, but this time I had no ‘official’ merchandise, so I wasn’t allowed to get their autographs.
16:00 – 17:00: Time to rest and eat (fried noodles again as it was cheap and we didn’t have to stand in a long queue). Many people were sitting and sleeping on couches in the hall. Some unknown painters were painting on the walls which was called ‘Sonic Art’.
The Ting Tings – Sonic Stage 17:30 – 18:30
Makuhari Messe had 3 stages – Mountain (biggest), Sonic and Dance stage. Sonic and Dance were next to each other, but the Mountain stage was in the other side of the Messe (about a 10 minute walk). I had never been to the Sonic Stage before; it was smaller than Mountain, but not the smallest at the venue. Standing in the second half of the venue on the right side, I said to myself: “From here I can easily escape if the crowds get wild…”.
After the first songs, I knew I was right. The crowd started to get wild again. “Let’s get away from here to the safe area!” I thought. I walked slowly to the right side and finally reached the barrier where I had a good view of the stage and could enjoy the band while I was dancing again.
After The Ting Tings left the stage, the Sonic stage was filled very quickly with people who had come to see Joan Jet & The Blackhearts, CSS and the headliner The Klaxons.
I wasn’t staying however, and I had to run to the Mountain Stage through the big hall for the next gig…
Elvis Costello And The Imposters – Mountain Stage 18:30 – 19:50
After running through the big hall for 5 minutes, I arrived at the Mountain stage where Costello and his band had just started to play. It wasn’t very busy in the beginning, so I could easily get a place at the front of the barrier. I saw Costello at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam 2 years ago. It was a good gig, but I expected this time would be different as he had his Imposters with him – more of a ‘back to the roots’ feel, and yes, my hunch was correct…
‘Oliver’s Army‘ and even my all the time favourite ‘Alison’ was played. I sung along with ‘Alison’ and realized how beautiful the song is. “Enjoy The Specials!” said Costello to the audience as he left the stage.
Costello produced the album ‘The Specials’ 30 years ago and now they were both standing on the same stage. Life isn’t bad at all!
The Specials – Mountain Stage (Headliner) 20:15 – 21:30
What can I say? I can’t find any better words to describe their gig than I DANCED FOR MY LIFE and really really enjoyed it. Just brilliant.
There were about 10 VIP people standing just in front of me, on the other side of the barrier and they were all fairly old, but believe me, they danced as much as I did. All the people from different backgrounds, cultures, and ages etc were in it together to enjoy the gig.
Just because you’re nobody,
It doesn’t mean that you’re no good.
Just because there’s a reason,
It doesn’t mean it’s understood.
It doesn’t make it alright,
It doesn’t make it alright,
It’s the worst excuse in the world,
And it, it doesn’t make it alright.
Just because you’re a black boy,
Just because you’re a white,
It doesn’t mean you’ve got to hate him,
It doesn’t mean you’ve got to fight.
It doesn’t make it alright,
It doesn’t make it alright.
It’s the worst excuse in the world,
And it, it doesn’t make it alright.
Thank you to The Enemy, Kasabian, Paolo, Mando, The Ting Tings, Costello, The Specials and many other bands I didn’t manage to watch.
Thank you to the people who shared these fantastic 2 days with us in Makuhari Messe and special thanks to the security guy who saved me during Mando Diao gig!
Thank you Summer Sonic, see you next time!
(Sent in by reader mimmihopps)
Brilliant again Meemee 🙂
You should have stayed in the front where all the fun was!