Dance music fans aching to stretch their legs outdoors after the long winter get their chance as the Nagisa Music Festival kicks off the year's open-air party season in Tokyo on April 12-13. The festival moves to Osaka for a one-day event on the April 29 national holiday.
Headlining the Tokyo event are legendary New York house DJ Danny Krivit and German psy-trance duo X-Dream. Fullmoon Mondo from Osaka and Uni from Kyoto will headline both the Tokyo and Osaka events.
The Tokyo party, at Odaiba Open Court in Koto Ward, will run eight stages covering a wide range of genres, including psychedelic trance, house, techno, break beats, jam bands, rock, reggae and hip-hop.
Held biannually, Nagisa is an Earth- friendly event that promotes recycling. Electricity for all the stages will be generated using bio-diesel created from pre-used vegetable oil.
Audience numbers are being limited for this spring's Tokyo event. Only 10,000 people will be allowed in on April 11, and 15,000 will be permitted on April 12.
Odaiba Open Court faces the Fuji Television building and is accessible by the Yurikamome and Rinkai lines. Paid parking is available in the area, but lines tend to be long on weekends.
The Tokyo festival takes place April 11 from 1 to 8 p.m. and April 12 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Osaka festival is April 29 at Osaka Maishima Sports Island. One-day tickets are ¥4,000 for both events. For directions and the complete lineup, visit www.nagisamusicfestival.jp/ or call (03) 5410-1470.