Spring has finally arrived. Birds are singing, cherry trees are blooming, the bass is pumping and anthemic chants of "oi" are echoing through the air.
If you're puzzled by how the latter two fit in with the change of season you're obviously not familiar with the popular, large-scale urban and punk festivals Springroove and Punkspring. The fourth edition of the April concerts feature full-day, multistage events in Chiba and smaller gigs in Nagoya and Osaka.
Springroove's biggest draw is headliner T-Boz and Chilli from TLC, the popular female group. T-Boz and Chilli have gigged sporadically following the death of TLC's Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes in a car accident in 2002. Their last proper concert was in New York in 2003, but they reunited for live appearances in 2005 and 2008. The duo's Springroove set will reportedly include 17 songs and a tribute performance to Left Eye. Whether a simple cash grab, a way to promote their upcoming solo efforts or an honest desire to honor Left Eye likely matters not to the thousands who will go bananas for each nostalgic TLC hit from the 1990s. R&B vocalist Craig David, soul singer John Legend and Osaka-born reggae-pop artist Pushim are also scheduled to appear.