What did you guys think of the MusicFest?

koneko · May 31, 2006, 09:55:49 AM

I was very dissapointed at MusicFest this year. The sound was horrible. You had to be standing up in the front to get a good idea of how the band sounded.

I felt bad for UpHold because there was noone there when they came on stage. I wonder if this was the weirdest gig they've ever played.

Also the WORST thing about MusicFest was the annoying YesJapan.com crew... that white dude was gettin on my nerves, presenting every band like he's on TRL and pluckin his business every 5 seconds. It got tired very fast. He was like lecturing us on how cool he was because he travels to Japan and meets random underground bands. Meh.

I wish every band had been introduced in a different way. Like in previous years, with ZZ and Camino doing grand entrances. It pumps people a lot more than some random business dude tryin' to make a profit out of Japanese underground bands.

[oh yeah, and I was SO lookin' forward to seein' Guitar Vader but at least Mothercoat was okay]

my 2 cents,
~T

Chikiru · May 31, 2006, 10:40:54 AM

This was my first Musicfest and I thought it was absolutely awesome.

The bands all sounded wonderful, although I don't really like screamo much. They were great to talk to, amusing to watch, and all very nice.

I agree with you guys on the audience. I wished that more people were willing to be open about their music tastes and just maybe sample everything. I don't normally listen to hiphop or electropop, but I found that I really liked what miami and poplar were playing.

I really hope that Fanime will bring them back next year, as they all were great this year! Swinging Popsicle and mothercoat especially. :D

pchan · May 31, 2006, 12:25:29 PM

The MusicFest was frickin AWESOME!!! I stayed for the WHOLE show ALL the BANDS were great in their OWN way. For me, :wink: I love hearing a wide variety of styles. It was all over too soon.

I was sitting upstairs and watched all the folks rush the stage after the â€œhey folks this area is for youâ€ announcement. All da chairs on the ground floor went from being full to empty. :o Which stayed like that pretty much the whole show. The reason why I was sitting upstairs is because :roll: I'm too short to see anything. *sniff sniff*

Besides being asked to move back way too many times :( (what was up with that), I thought the whole waiting in line experience was way better than 2004.

And... Stage One. Great idea! 8) I was constantly checking it out on Fri, Sat, Sun.

I still have "Kyoukai Muki Sekai" and "I Just Wanna Kiss You" going through my head. :D

What I'm wondering did that poor cymbal survive the night. :shock:

pchan ^_^
More Goofy Style , please.

YoureMyHiro · May 31, 2006, 12:26:28 PM

Let me start off by stating how much I love Musicfest and the great artists there every year; however, this year I feel was based around great diversity, which in some cases can be good but you know what they say "too many chefs spoil the soup."

What I mean to say is that while there was plenty of talent and great performances but the drastic contrast between music genres was too vast in my opinion. Going from spritual rock with soulful influences to experimental electro-pop to alternative indie pop/rock and so on and so on can make for an interesting experience but I believe its best to stick to one round about genre.

The crowd could have kept up the energy it had in the beginning but adapting to so many different sounds in such short periods of time was relatively tough for most people who have never heard such types before Fanime especially those without an open mind. Last year was just as diverse but with sounds that related closer to home. A classical piece of old favorites and a new twist on an AKFG song by Ramen and Rice then R&B/Pop Performance by Kumiko Kato and a great rock finisher by a group that showed awesome stage performance and high energy, ZZ.

Lastly, I want to thank MusicFest/Fanime staff for their awesome job in bringing us top notch performances and great musical acts. I think if staff keeps these small issues I mentioned previously in mind they can make a big effect on next years Musicfest with high energy and even better times.

PogiChoie · May 31, 2006, 12:44:18 PM

Quote from: "madmanlotar"I loved musicfest! My friend and were almost expelled from the concert during the Uphold performance for knocking down a crowd of people during a mosh. I am looking forward to next year's concert.

That was you guys?! Gah, I saw that coming out of the corner of my eye and I immediately thought "Oh SHI-!"

You guys knocked down a good portion of the front row of girls...

IamTetsuo · May 31, 2006, 12:53:49 PM

I wasn't too into Music Fest when we got there, I wanted to go and do some other stuff at the con. I liked Swinging Popsicle but they were just finishing when we got there. I left to go put some stuff in my room, but then I came back for Up Hold... OH YAH! They F'in rocked! I wanted to mosh but there were only like two other guys who wanted to mosh :(

Checked out stage 1 on Sunday and really dug it. Swinging Popsicle was awesome again, as was Up Hold. Although I think the crowd had a hard time deciding whether they were doing sound check or if they were starting their set. I did feel kind of bad for them it got really empty in there after Mothercoat ended.
:cry: Up Hold sold out of CD's and Swinging Popsicle sold out of EVERYTHING. I didn't have any cash on me during MusicFest so I couldn't purchase anything then.

Also is it just me or did the lead singer from Mothercoat look like a scarecrow?

Tony · May 31, 2006, 02:09:43 PM

Thanks for all of your input, everyone. I'm sad to say that I saw most of these complaints coming for months, but I'm glad that many people simply resonated with the music. This year really was about getting a wide variety of music to your ears, to bring you something you'd never hear anywhere. I'm sorry so many people missed it, because something on this scale probably won't happen again.

Well, maybe in a few years.

(Personally I'd love to help out at JRock-Con, but Pimpstress would kill me times a million. Until she saw all those pretty VK boys...)

I think it's about time to blog MF... too much to discuss just here.

AbsolutelyCursed · May 31, 2006, 02:46:20 PM

Music Fest was not as good as last year when ZZ performed (hope they come back) but I still had a good time. Miami didn't do it for me but I enjoyed mothercoat (lead singer had a lot of energy and was entertaining) and Up Hold very much. Too bad there wasn't a bigger audience.

Glitch · May 31, 2006, 04:13:50 PM

I didn't attend musicfest(at least a large portion of it) for mainly two reasons.I was disappointed that guitar vader had to pull out, and because I sampled the other bands and wasn't very interested with them.

I only caught goofy styles performance.Although I did like how chanted during his singing,the music seemed rather bland.And I couldn't figure out why people where "rocking out" to them so much.(no offense guys)

I was happy with the first few rows not having chairs.I prefer to stand up during concerts.

I look forward to next year's musicfest.Maybe a japanese power metal band might show up but that's just my little humble hearts desire. :p

uBerLyNuMB · May 31, 2006, 04:22:35 PM

eh.. not that great, i expected better. last year was MUCH better.

but this year, before half the show finished, everyone started leaving and running outside....

mDuo13 · May 31, 2006, 04:27:47 PM

I walked in, heard a few minutes of Miami, and then walked out. Quite disappointed. I wish I could've caught Goofy Style or one of the other bands.

Jrockfan · May 31, 2006, 05:49:52 PM

Well I wasn't into Poplar so much but..... Also I was really dissapointed about Guitar Vader not coming this year. Maybe they can come next year? I really appreciate Fanime mixing things up this year. I thought miami and mothercoat were fricken awesome. I think everyone is being a little hard on the fanime staff and JapanFiles. No one knows any of these bands in the U.S and from what I could tell there was almost no promotion for this event at the con at all. I hope there will be even more diverse bands next year. AND GUITAR VADER!

Jrockfan · May 31, 2006, 06:47:50 PM

It seems that everywhere I look people say that they thought Nami Tamaki was terrible last year. No one will ever be happy. I'll bet everyone will be complaining next year too. We should all just be thankful that an event like this exists. :D WAY TO GO FANIME! :D

Shinigami · May 31, 2006, 08:43:49 PM

I loved the variety of bands this year! However, I was kind of pissed off that not a lot of people showed up at MusicFest, yet the freaking Masquerade was packed. I love that these bands came here from Japan to play for us, I just wish they would have had a bigger audience to play for. Also, MusicFest went on for a long time. My short attention span was having a hard time. I left during MotherCoat and had to check out MotherCoat and UpHold at Stage One.

Jrockfan · May 31, 2006, 08:57:51 PM

6 bands was too much. How about this for next year?

Swinging Popsicle
Guitar Vader
Mothercoat
ZZ

I am talking about just for the musicfest main event. Having another Stage 1 would be awesome too. Any other bands could play on that. I think this would be an amazing line up for next year.

Shinigami · May 31, 2006, 09:21:25 PM

Quote from: "Jrockfan"6 bands was too much. How about this for next year?

Swinging Popsicle
Guitar Vader
Mothercoat
ZZ

I am talking about just for the musicfest main event. Having another Stage 1 would be awesome too. Any other bands could play on that. I think this would be an amazing line up for next year.

Yeah. I really liked Stage One. I know MusicFest is supossed to be the big thing, but I think they should limit the time of MusicFest and have the bands go crazy at Stage One. When I left MusicFest, it was 3 1/2 hours into it, and the last band wsn't even playing yet.

madmanlotar · May 31, 2006, 09:38:20 PM

Quote from: "PogiChoie"
Quote from: "madmanlotar"I loved musicfest! My friend and were almost expelled from the concert during the Uphold performance for knocking down a crowd of people during a mosh. I am looking forward to next year's concert.

That was you guys?! Gah, I saw that coming out of the corner of my eye and I immediately thought "Oh SHI-!"

You guys knocked down a good portion of the front row of girls...

I had fun ping-ponging in the Mosh itself. My friend Mike went a little crazy and smashed into the crowd. It was a blast. I weigh about 260lbs, my friend mike weighs close to 400lbs and used to play American Football, so you can imagine the power behind his bullrush.
My crazy friend would also shout for bands to hurry up and let Uphold get on the stage.
On the other hand, I really did enjoy miami and Poplar. Miami had that mischevious feeling and poplar really mixed it up with there, hiphop/rock/r&b sound.
Mothercoat was really weird, was this the band where the lead singer ran around the auditorium?
I could understand why more people did not show up to the concert. Being a bunch of anime geeks, many of the fanimecon attendees are simply not interested in music and would rather do something else with their time.

pchan · May 31, 2006, 10:49:00 PM

Quote from: "Jrockfan"... No one will ever be happy. I'll bet everyone will be complaining next year too. We should all just be thankful that an event like this exists. :D WAY TO GO FANIME! :D

How true and I agree. :D Thank You and WAY TO GO FANIME, YOU ROCK!

Pimpstress Rei · May 31, 2006, 11:12:57 PM

Quote from: "madmanlotar"I had fun ping-ponging in the Mosh itself. My friend Mike went a little crazy and smashed into the crowd. It was a blast. I weigh about 260lbs, my friend mike weighs close to 400lbs and used to play American Football, so you can imagine the power behind his bullrush.
My crazy friend would also shout for bands to hurry up and let Uphold get on the stage.

See, this kinda pisses me off. As a small female weighing about 125lbs, I wouldn't feel safe if guys who towered over me and weighing over 100lbs more than me were moshing around me. If your friend hit me, he could very well cause a lot of damage, so I can imagine how much damage he could cause some girls weighing a bit over 100lbs. That's not ok. He could really have hurt someone and it doesn't seem like it even matters to you or your friend. Please take care in the future to watch where you're moshing and who you're hitting.

And shouting on stage to hurry up doesn't do anything other than annoy people. The bands go by their play list and having people say that you should hurry up and have another band get up there really speaks of impatience and intolerance for other music. Please be nicer to the guests, they want to feel wanted and appreciated.

Shinigami · May 31, 2006, 11:21:40 PM

Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"
Quote from: "madmanlotar"I had fun ping-ponging in the Mosh itself. My friend Mike went a little crazy and smashed into the crowd. It was a blast. I weigh about 260lbs, my friend mike weighs close to 400lbs and used to play American Football, so you can imagine the power behind his bullrush.
My crazy friend would also shout for bands to hurry up and let Uphold get on the stage.

See, this kinda pisses me off. As a small female weighing about 125lbs, I wouldn't feel safe if guys who towered over me and weighing over 100lbs more than me were moshing around me. If your friend hit me, he could very well cause a lot of damage, so I can imagine how much damage he could cause some girls weighing a bit over 100lbs. That's not ok. He could really have hurt someone and it doesn't seem like it even matters to you or your friend. Please take care in the future to watch where you're moshing and who you're hitting.

And shouting on stage to hurry up doesn't do anything other than annoy people. The bands go by their play list and having people say that you should hurry up and have another band get up there really speaks of impatience and intolerance for other music. Please be nicer to the guests, they want to feel wanted and appreciated.

I thought moshing wasn't going to be allowed because of injuries and stuff? Besides, a lot of fans came to listen to music, not to mosh and get injured. Otaku generally sit around watching anime all day...they're not really in shape, and knocking one over will probably kill them. lol jk. Anyway, I think it's rude and immature to shout at the bands to hurry up so another band could play. And what happens if they did hurry up? Would they speed through their songs and make them sound crazy-hyper-fast? lol. Anyway, my point is, if you wanted to only see UpHold, you should have waited one day to go see them at Stage One instead of going to MusicFest. And since you and your friend were stupid enough to go to MusicFest and watch everyone, you should have tolerance for our guests. no one forced your friend to go to MusicFest. You guys could have gone and waited outside and come back later or something.