MONSTER baSH

On Sunday I went to Monster Bash. The title is correctly capitalized above, but the tagline for the tenth anniversary of this outdoor concert fest was "10 Times of Hard Play." Let me tell you, it just got more awesome from there.

Hideto, Aya, and Local Nate picked me up around 7:30am and we drove for about an hour into the neighboring prefecture, Kagawa-ken. We parked and took a shuttle bus to the concert area, which was formerly an amusement park, Aya explained. The entrance was lined with food stands, as were many of the paths on the outskirts of the concert field. People brought umbrellas and tarps and staked out places where you might sit and chat, eat something, or take a nap between favorite bands, as quite a lot of people seemed to do. If you wanted to see a band in action, all you had to do was walk a little ways towards the big stage or the little stage and find a good spot in the standing area.

There was quite a mix of musical styles, from light island music to heavy metal. The first band we caught was Kariyushi 58, a reggae-esque rock band. I liked a hard rock band called Acid Man, and all of us enjoyed Begin, an Okinawan band that's coined some very famous songs like Nada Sousou. Based on the band t-shirts people were wearing, the most popular band was Maximum the Hormone, a heavy metal band kind of like System of a Down. The guitarist/singer looked sort of like a crazed Chinese lion, another "singer" provided ample screaming, the bass player flung his long hair over his tatooed chest and back constantly, and the female drummer rocked out and did most of the talking between sets. I didn't particularly care for their music, but watching the fans go crazy was entirely worth styaing for. Imagine a field of Japanese people under 35, including girls in sundresses, headbanging. Awesome!

In the middle of the day, to break things up, DJ Kaori mixed up a fusion of Japanese and American dance music on the small stage, where a bunch of us really got down. Another highlight was Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, a set of men in pink suits playing ska swing music. Everyone went all-out with the crazy dancing on that one!

The headliner for the day was Chatmonchy, a three-woman band that comes from another neighboring prefecture, Tokushima-ken. As the main act, they sang 8-10 songs rather than the 4-5 most groups got in (they keep to a strict schedule at Monster Bash :-) The lead singer plays the guitar, and the bassist and drummer provide background vocals. My three companions were really looking forward to seeing Chatmonchy, and I could see why. They've got some great tunes, and they're all really talented musicians. Shangrila is probably my favorite, and not only because it's pronounced Shan-gu-ri-ra in Japanese.

Throughout the day we made several food runs, and they had quite a cornucopia of options. We all opted for the kebab sandwiches being offered on the outskirts of the area; how often do you find kebab sandwiches in Japan? Since it was extremely hot, some of us made a mid-afternoon run for kakigori, shave ice; I got the Korean style one with very light syrup, fruit and red bean, but Local Nate got an even better mango one with a passion-fruit center and light cream on top. I went with vegetable curry for dinner, thinking I would try to be healthy, but then Nate mentioned that they had corn dogs, and I succumbed just before Chatmonchy.

After the Chatmonchy concert was over, we all went toward the exit, and everyone lined up in orderly fashion to wait for the shuttle buses. And by orderly fashion, I mean we lined up in neat rows of four and calmly sat down to wait our turn. All of us. Even the drunks. People chatted, sure, but there was no rowdiness, and everyone waited patiently. It was amazing.

I was the first to be dropped off, a little after 11, and I was absolutely exhausted from all the jumping around, but it was a fantastic experience, and all the more so because Local Nate and I were the only discernable foreigners there.

Check it out! This is the first time I'm posting a web album, so let me know how it works for you.