They keep saying this is the 25th anniversary of FRF’s move to Naeba, which is technically true, but I prefer to think 2024 is the 26th year the festival has been in Naeba. Yeah, a trivial distinction, but just saying. During that time the festival has always seemed to be on the verge of becoming a truly Asian rock festival. After all, it’s the biggest and most well-known one in Asia, but for the most part there’s usually only one or two non-Japanese Asian acts every year. I’m not saying Fuji should bring K-pop acts—except for Babymetal, I’ve never seen an idol act here—but they’ve invited Korean indie bands in the past, just not that many. This year, Peggy Gou, a Korean DJ, is headlining the White Stage, though she works out of Berlin.  

Which is important because more and more Asian tourists have money to spend on travel and rock festivals are the perfect way to make them part with it. I’ve seen and heard plenty of Southeast Asians during the past three days, and many have brought their families. The biggest Asian contingent is Taiwanese, mainly due to efforts of some FRF fans in Taipei who work with Smash to spread the word and put tours together. Whether a consequence of this development or not, the main Asian act this year is No Party for Cai Dong, a Taiwanese guitar band that appeals to headbangers and rock aesthetes alike. (There’s also an Indonesian band called Ali that plays this afternoon.) They were extremely well-liked; even a mosh pit formed in their honor. How many of the people in the front were from Taiwan, I don’t know, but the whole field was feeling it.

Speaking of international, the Basque collective, Esne Beltza opened the White Stage. Because Koichi Hanafusa of fujirockers.org has close connections to that part of the world, he often brings bands from the region to Fuji, and Esne Beltza has been here several times, and they always seem to play Sunday morning, when people need a charge, which is what they give them. So what Smash needs is a booker who knows Asia as well as Koichi knows the Basque country.

But I could only stay for two songs because I wanted to see Rufus Wainwright at the Green Stage. He didn’t have a band, which means he didn’t play his new album, which is about the Laurel Canyon music scene of the early 70s, which I like and had wanted to hear, but no matter. Quite dashing in his brocade jacket and grey sideburns and mustache (when did Rufus Is a Tit Man Wainwright become middle aged?!), he held forth solo on grand piano and acoustic guitar more than ably and played a section from his Requiem, a song from his new musical that has already opened in London (“a major artistic success, but a financial failure”), and two-count-em-two Leonard Cohen songs. But don’t think he’s suddenly feeling his Canadian roots. He dedicated “I’m So Tired of America” to Kamala Harris (“you can do it, Kamala”). And if you think Rufus’s kind of songs might make people sleepy in the early afternoon, you’d be wrong. The crowd loved him for his showmanship and grace, and hardly even noticed when it started to rain…finally.