The Japanese summer plays host to a number of massive outdoor music festivals every year. The following entry concerns the biggest of them. Taking place over two days in both Osaka and Tokyo the SummerSonic music festival attracts some huge names and tens of thousands of fans. This year featured an interesting blend of genres: The Offspring, The Black Eyed Peas, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne, Bloc Party, The Manic Street Preachers, Sean Lennon, Cyndi Lauper (didn?t see that one coming), DJ Shadow and too many more to list.

I was originally hoping to attend a different festival, one that included camping, one of my favourite pastimes, but those I planned to go with bailed out due to lack of funds. So, sort of at the last minute, I picked up a ticket for this other festival that a bunch of friends were going to. As it was that last minute, the second day was sold out, and I only managed a one day pass, which turned out to be ok (it was more of a rock day, but it did mean I missed out on Avril?what a shame).

I headed out on the morning of the festival with my friend Big Tony, who managed to score us some discount train tickets. We arrived in Osaka shortly after and followed the herd towards the festival site. Although they must have been expecting the massive numbers there were, the organizers were ill-prepared as there were nowhere near enough buses to transport people from the station to the grounds. Tired of waiting, Tony and I joined a steady flow of people who decided to hoof it. The hike turned out to be a long and hot one, but and adventure to be sure. It involved crossing a large river over a highway bridge. We had to walk up under the bridge along a spiraling walkway to reach the bridge deck, and then walk along the side of the busy road. We got some great views as you can see from the photos.

Eventually, after about 35 minutes of walking, we got to the festival site, Maishima. After acquiring wristbands, and a bit more walking, we were inside and ready to catch some bands. There were at least a half-dozen stages, which would have been really cool had it not been for the fact that many bands I wanted to see were all playing at the same time; we missed Cyndi Lauper because of this?not happy (just kidding of course, that song ?Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? annoys me more than pretty much anything else in the world). The first band we saw was a Japanese group (ironically the only one we saw all day), and then we hit another stage to see some heavy metal group, where we met up with some of Tony?s Scottish friends. Together, we caught a bunch more bands: Rooney, The Fratellis, Bloc Party (who were really good), and The Manic Street Preachers. Then I left to see some things I was more interested in: Sean Lennon, Kasabian, The Offspring (just as good as they were in high school, however a lot older, fatter and more wrinkled) and finally Cut Chemist & DJ Shadow. Altogether it was an extremely hot and tiring day, but a good one nonetheless. I then ended up crashing at Tony?s friends? place in Osaka.

The next day I attempted to find a ticket for Day 2, but none were to be found at a reasonable price, I therefore went sightseeing in Osaka instead. I visited Namba (again, although this time during the day), DenDen Town (the electronics district where I did a bit of shopping), Tennoji (not so interesting), Osaka Castle (quite nice), and finally the highlight, the Umeda Sky Building. The Lonely Planet suggests that people think this architectural masterpiece is either just that, or a complete eyesore. I was among the first group; I can honestly say it was the most incredible structure I?ve ever seen, I really can?t imagine how they built it. For Y700 you can take an elevator to the top and walk around the donut shaped viewing deck which gives you a full 360 view of everything in the distance. It was a perfectly clear day, so I could see as far as Kobe and beyond, not to mention the lovely sunset, truly amazing.