Students are counting down the days till school lets out, while urban commuters are starting to sweat the impending heat. Summer is coming, and a sure sign of that is that music festivals are starting to kick up around the country.
The month starts off with Taicoclub at Kodomo no Mori in Nagano Prefecture on June 1 and 2 (12 p.m. start; ¥12,000 in advance). The event features a lot of hotly tipped electronic acts such as Tycho and XXYYXX, but most of the fans will likely be pulled in by the addition of Denki Groove to the lineup. In either case, listening to music under the stars is surely a way to kick off summer right.
Another early festival is the triannual Hostess Club Weekender on June 8 and 9 (2 p.m./1 p.m. starts; ¥7,900 for a one day pass, ¥13,900 for a two-day pass). After a brief diversion into Tokyo's Daiba district in February, Weekender has come back to its original Ebisu locale of Garden Hall. That means arriving early to make it to the front of the stage is a must, but be prepared to camp there if you want to see the headliners, Icelandic band Múm on June 8 or British rock group Travis on June 9. Also on the bill this round are Team Me, These New Puritans, The Editors and Wavves.