This is my first time back at Fuji since 2019. It’s also the first time I’ve taken the train up to Naeba. I’d been to every edition that’s been held here since it started at Naeba in 1999, except for 2014, and I’ve either ridden the Smash staff bus or driven with a friend. The train is the best way, I found, which shouldn’t be surprising: faster, more relaxing, not particularly expensive. Even the shuttle bus from the station to the festival grounds was painless and quick.

The pre-festival party, which is free and open to anyone who happens to be here, starts at 7 pm the night before the festival proper, and features bon odori, a raffle, fireworks, magic shows, etc. It had rained in the area during the day, so the ground was wet, but there was no precipitation during the party. Nevertheless, the air was still pretty humid, so the fireworks weren’t as exciting as usual, being mostly blurred out by the mist. As usual, there was a sizable crowd making enough of a racket to give the impression that the fireworks were hot shit. 

Most of the grounds are closed during the prefest party; the only stage open is the Red Marquee, and a bunch of bands who agree to play for free do short sets to warm up the crowd for the weekend. Between sets DJ Mamezuka, who’s been playing this gig as long as i can remember, spins familiar tunes. He opened the night with Led Zep’s “Rock and Roll,” and while it was hardly an inspired selection it did draw people into the shed in large numbers. The first band was the Finnish blues garage outfit Us (“We’re Us,” they kept yelling, as if it needed to be pointed out), which was a good choice since they were raunchy, fast, and as eager as a golden retriever. The crowd ate it up despite their tendency to flag halfway through a song. They only played a half hour, but seemed worn out about 15 minutes into the set. Or was it me? I’m not as indefatigable as I used to be. 

As always, Koichi Hanafusa, the head of Fujirockers.org, got the evening rolling with a photo of the people in the Red Marquee. He also briefly mentioned John Mayall in passing, mainly because Mayall’s son, Jason, works for Smash UK and is a fixture at Fuji Rock. For that matter, so is his brother, Gaz, who leads the ska revival band The Trojans. Both are here for the festival doing several DJ stints, which would seem to mean they are not mourning their father’s passing in the traditional way, by laying low. I think that makes sense. John Mayall would probably want to be remembered with music. As it happened, after the Us set, I strolled over to the Blue Galaxy DJ tent and Jason happened to be holding forth in front of an adoring, heavily dancing crowd. Sporting his typical painted straw hat and facial hair I’d never seen before, he was burning through his collection of vintage R&B 45s that emphasized the funk, and everybody was feeling fine. If his Dad was looking down, I’m sure he approved.