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Summer Sonic 2003
was held at Makuhari Messe and Chiba Marina Stadium in Tokyo. It was a
two day event, and we went to the Sunday which featured Radiohead, The
Strokes, The Doors, Blondie and more. Here we are near the Indoor Stage,
posing with some prankster. Peace out dude! |
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Most of the punters at
Summer Sonic put a lot of effort into what they were wearing, even if it was innappropriate
for the 30 degree weather. I should have re-taken this photo though because the girl on the left
pulled a full on stoner face. |
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The girl in the
middle spoke American which made asking for a photo a hell of a lot easier.
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Interpol's
light show was really good. They didn't sound too shabby either and were
wearing suits which made me take them seriously. Unfortunately they'd come on
after we'd seen The Rapture so everything else just seemed disappointing. |
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The Mars Volta,
are essentially two guys, Omar Rodriguez (guitar) and Cedric Bixler (vocals),
formerly of Texan combo At The Drive In. They were incredibly intense,
kinda like a mash of Frank Zappa, Fugazi, Tool, Pink Floyd and MC5 with
really Robert Plant-esque vocals. They were twirling their guitars and
jumping off their amplifiers which made Ben and I cack ourselves. |
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Great food in
general and all types of booze to be had! None of the plastic cups with
light beer you get at Oz fstivals. You could shout yourself a giant mug
of full strength Heineken, grab a G&T or get the chirpy bar-guys to whip
you up a cosmopolitan if you were feeling a bit more saucy. I just went
with some tortillas and a bottle of water. |
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Elvis lives and
runs a burger store at Summer Sonic. Really, that's him in the middle,
straight from his sell-out Hawaiian show. |
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Sweet dreams kids. |
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These girls tell
you how to put your bottle in the bin. I'm not joking, the girl on the
right seemed totally confused until one of the Bin-Maidens showed her
the true path. |
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"We don't need
no-one to tell us what to do!" The ladies dig The Living End. |
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This is the Outdoor
Stage at Summer Sonic, where Blondie was playing when i took this
photo. |
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Me with Michelle and
Ben just before The Strokes started. I'm not sure what the
symbol on my new hat means. We reckon its Arabic for "dumb white guy"
or something. |
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This guy was seriously
doing the 'i'm not worthy' worship thing at me for taking his photo. I
dunno what his name was, but lets call him Phil. Seeing bands at a big
festival with a stadium filled with Phils can be a little weird because
they don't seems to talk much, especially between songs. They just clap loudly
when the song ends then go completely silent. Its a little unnerving. |
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Chicks dig The
Strokes. |
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We were a little
too far from the stage to take any decent photos so i took shots of the
video screen. This is that guy from The Strokes with the cool hair.
The crowd went bananas for these guys, because they are rad. |
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Again, i took
this photo from the video screen during Radiohead's amazing closing
set of the festival. They are without doubt the best band on the planet
but Thom looks like a demented pixie. When they finished (their last song
was Creep) there was some great fireworks, then we lined up for 30 minutes
to leave the venue, then walked another hour to the train station. insanity. |
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We went to see
The Rapture and Polyphonic Spree play the Summer Sonic After-Party
at The Liquid Room in Shinjuku on the monday night, which turned
out to be one of the most amazing gigs i've ever been too. It started
really early at 7pm, and wasn't cheap (Y5500 each) but it was worth
every cent. The Rapture from New York, who we also saw at Summer
Sonic, are my new favourite band! |
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This is the Polyphonic Spree,
a 24 piece indie-pop orchestra from Texas. They dress in red robes,
sing about the sun and make you feel like this crazy life thing might actually
mean something. Seeing them in Shinjuku was like a religious experience,
it blew my freakin' mind!
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