Held simultaneously in Tokyo (well, Chiba's Makuhari Messe and Marine Stadium) and Osaka, Summer Sonic pulled a combined 190,000 music fans for a weekend of polite debauchery under a scorching sun on Aug. 9-10.
The Tokyo leg kicked off in fine style. With 120,000 punters watching 107 acts from around the world, boredom was never going to be on the agenda, but opening the Dance Stage with lo-tech idol-pop trio Perfume got pulses racing right away. For me it was a damp squib — the girls played just four songs, instead yapping away for ages in voices so high-pitched as to be barely audible about how much they love the summer; and worse, they were clearly miming to the songs. But the thousands of fans in the packed hall didn't seem to care, won over by the immaculate choreography to such amazing tracks as "Polyrhythm" and the suspiciously named "Baby Cruising Love." The two-day party had well and truly started.
In fact, the Dance Stage had a strong hand this year, graced as it was by the dance-floor demolition of French electro- fille Yelle ; the anthemic pop of American hit-maker Santogold (who was a bundle of energy despite having lost her voice); and all-night entertainment on Saturday courtesy of eclectic Australian label Modular. The label's New Zealand signing Ladyhawke persevered through terrible sound trouble to play their groove-riding pop and walked off triumphant.