Summer Sonic 2006

Audience watching the band 10Years at the Open Air stage

This was just DAMN awesome! Coming from a country where music concerts are synonymous with boy bands, having a whole day of rock music was just...heaven! We, WY and I, woke up bright and early to get to Osaka for the Summer Sonic concert. It is a two day music festival held every year, and the bands had to shuttle between Tokyo and Osaka in those two days. The bands that performed on Saturday will have to get to Tokyo to perform on Sunday and vice versa. We got there by 9am and already there was this long queue for the Open Air stage at WTC. We lined up happily, (under the unforgiving hot sun) in order to book the ultimate place to watch our bands, but guess what happened when we reached the gates? We were told to turn back and go to another place (this place where there was actually a short cut to get to it but the staff made us walk this long roundabout way!) to exchange our tickets for wristbands. Er, why couldn't they just allow us to exchange the tickets there at the gate itself????


Fall Out Boy performing at the Open Air stage

Anyway, off we went, under the hot sun, walking this incredibly long way just to exchange our tickets. Since we lost our pivotal place at the Open Air stage, we decided to ditch it and go check out the souveniour shop to get ourselves some Tshirts and button pins. Now, the shop was in another place, Intex Osaka, which was the avenue for the closed door stages - Mountain stage, Sonic stage and Aqua stage. There were three main avenues- WTC, Intex Osaka and Zepp Osaka which were all nearby each other. WTC had the Open Air stage and Zepp had the Cosmo stage.

Open Air stage was for the rock bands - 10Years, Ellegarden, The All American Rejects, Fall Out Boy, Lost Prophets, My Chemical Romance, Muse and Linkin' Park on Saturday, which was our day. We only bought the one day ticket which costs 13 000¥, or around 400RM. On Sunday, at the Open Air stage, Hawthorne Heights, Stone Sour, Taking Back Sunday, Avenged Sevenfold, Zebrahead, Hoobastank, Deftones and Metallica performed. I wanted to see Metallica as well, but I have never heard of the other bands, except for Hoobastank and Deftones, so I didn't buy the two day ticket, plus, money was also an issue.


Mando Diao at Mountain stage

So, at the souveniour shops, the queue was also long, too long for us to take the chance and wait, so we ditched that and trotted back to the Open Air stage to watch 10Years perform. I have not heard of them, so I was pleasantly surprised by their music. Not bad. Then Ellegarden, a Jap band, performed and we ditched that to try our luck again at the souveniour shops. By this time, the sun was out full force and the heat was starting to take its toll on me. I had to have shade soon. I rested there, while WY went back to watch All American Rejects. After resting, and buying a Linkin Park tee - the concert tees which I wanted were sold out, I decided to check out Mountain Stage, an indoor stage offering alt rock music. On Saturday, Mando Diao, We Are Scientists, The Kooks, Artic Monkeys, Fort Minor and Massive Attack performed. I came in just in time to see Mando Diao - again, I must confess, I don't know them, but their music was good. I wanted to see The Kooks and Artic Monkeys and Fort Minor, but they clashed with the performances at the Open Air stage, so off I went, back to the Open Air stage.


Peter Wentz of Fall Out Boy

I was in time to watch Fall Out Boy perform. I only know one song from them -Dance, Dance and I was happy that they performed it at the end. I was standing at the fringe of the crowd. Before that, for 10Years, we were nearer to the mosh pit. The Open Air stage was huge, so no matter where you stand, you could get a good view of the stage and the bands.

A bit more about the other stages. Sonic stage was for the er, pop-rock music with the likes of Tool on Saturday and Keane, The Flaming Lips etc on Sunday. Aqua stage was more for the folk-dance music and Cosmo stage was for the club scene.


Lost Prophets at Open Air stage

After Fall Out Boy was Lost Prophets. Okay, again, I don't know them but they were okay. WY wanted to rest for a while, so we went a little behind and sat down on the floor - they had green mats laid out all over, so you don't have to sit on the sand. Even from here, we had a good view of the stage. I don't really like Lost Prophet, they were okay, but their music did not have any effect on me. We were sitting next to these two girls who were so hyper about the lead singer - they were screaming his name over and over again!


My Chemical Romance at the Open Air stage

Then came the reason WY wanted to come here - My Chemical Romance. She thinks that the lead singer looks like Billy from Smashing Pumpkins. He had lost his black locks and dyed his hair blond. Okay, I have heard of them - haha, how could I not when WY keeps telling me about them and in particular Gerard Way. And I love Helena from them and I can say that I know more than one song from them, though I don't know how to sing them! Haha!


Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance

And they did sing Helena! WY was beside herself with joy - being this close to her other idol. We were, this time, nearer to the mosh pit, or rather, at the fringe of it. And it was scary watching those crazy people dancing - well, not so much dancing as pushing each other about with as much force as you can. It was mayhem! Until the guard had to come into the pit and stood there, preventing them from pushing-dancing. People were also body surfing, which was a no-no, and so, the guards forcibly grabbed them and pull them out of the pit and sent them off. Well, of course, those people just came back and pushed their way to the front again. Ahem, er, taking pics of the performers were also a no no...........


Matthew of Muse at Open Air stage

Then came Muse. Oh, I love love love their music! I was re-educated again that day and fell in love. I was in the mosh pit, at the fringe, away from the crazy people, though once the band started, everyone just rushed ahead and I was pushed to the front. WY by this time had left to watch Nelly Furtardo sing Promiscuous in Cosmo stage, an indoor stage at Zepp Osaka. However, Nelly's performance was rescheduled because Lady Sovereign pulled out and we didn't know. But WY was lucky cause Nelly decided to sing her last two recent singles at the end and she managed to catch that and came back in time to also see Muse perform. They, Muse, had the fastest sound check among the groups and also, the least interaction with the crowd. But I don't care, I love their songs, as long as they keep singing, I don't care if they talk to the crowd or not! They sang Butterflies and Hurricanes! They sang Starlight! They sang Hysteria! They sang Invincible!


Chester and Rob of Linkin' Park at Open Air stage

Then came the REASON I was here - Linkin' Park! I was this time, smack in the mosh pit, cause I did not move when Muse finished. LP was the last group to perform, closing the Open Air stage for the day and A LOT of people came into the Open Air stage just to watch them. Once the band came on stage, people just rushed to the front and I was squashed, pushed and swept away by the crowd. Giler!! I got out of the mosh pit as fast as I could, with some help from people. WY was not with me, she was at the back. FInally I found a space where I could breathe and still watch LP perform.


Linkin' Park

So I stood there for awhile, enjoying and screaming my lungs out with Chester and Mike! They sang the same songs (well, with no new album yet - on the way) as they did in KL the last time. This time though, Chester was shirtless, he couldn't do that in Msia and I finally saw all the tattoos he had on his upper body. Hehe. They had the longest sound check and they also took the longest time to come on stage. Maklumlah, kan band besar, kena aksyen sikit. Their stage was cool; they made most of the lighting effects since it was already 7.30pm and the sun had set.


Joe Hahn of Linkin' Park

After a while, I decided to find WY, at the back. We rejoined and sat down watching LP perform on the big screens they had all over the place and singing our hearts out. They sang a new song, which was the first time that they did. They also did a slower, solo version of Breaking the Habit and redid Numb a little. Halfway though, I realised that I lost a part of my Swatch watch - I was upset, though, not that upset until I could not enjoy LP. I realised it must have dropped off at the mosh pit. So after LP finished, encore and all, we went back to scour for my missing watch part and found it intact! Thank god.


Linkin' Park

Finally, the concert finished - for the day. Sunday was the second day of the concert, whereby Metallica, Daft Punk and The Flaming Lips were the big acts. I wanted to see Keane, Daniel Powter and The Cardigans perform as well, but I had no money for Sunday's ticket. Even going back, we had to line up in the crowd. But finally, we got out, and headed to the train to begin our long journey home to Kyoto. We woke up at 5am. We were at venue at 9am. The concert finished at about 9pm. I reached my house at 12pm. I had the most fantastic time but I was so f***ing tired! And I want to do it all over again next year! Yeah!

For more pics, please go to my flickr album.