INDEX
Festival Formats: Comparing Shopping Mall and Arcade Style
-As with “Coachella 2023” headlined by non-white artists such as Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK, and Frank Ocean, I think the bookings are being made in a way that is linked to social movements such as race and gender. How will the message of these festivals be incorporated in the future?
Nagai: I think the booking for “Coachella” is a critical lineup that reflects trends, values, and visions of the entertainment industry. I don’t think there are many festivals overseas that can go that far, and in Japan, I would say “Summer Sonic” and “Fuji Rock.
However, none of the festivals have a way of putting out the message that “this is a festival for the sake of the festival. Rather than stating their purpose explicitly, they present messages about environmental issues, race, and gender in a meta way.
As it has become a must to reflect diversity, I think it would be more interesting to invite Asian artists to interact in Japan, and I think it will make people more aware of gender issues.
Also, looking at festivals and music markets around the world, Japan has a high percentage of domestic artists. Of course, it is good to have festivals with only domestic artists, but the number of events with similar content inevitably increases, and I feel that it is difficult to see what the festival is trying to achieve.
I think of large-scale festivals as being like shopping malls. If you go to aeon, you can see a certain amount of things, and the experience is good enough. However, when there are more and more people for whom that is not enough, I think that local festivals that have a regional flavor and play the role of a shopping mall may be more unique and interesting than large-scale festivals.
Do you think that while large-scale festivals play the role of a shopping mall, local festivals will strongly emphasize preferences and characteristics and strengthen their messages?
Nagai: Yes, that’s right. Local festivals are more interesting in terms of their origins. For example, I wrote an article about the “Live Azuma” festival in Fukushima, a fusion of both formats I just mentioned.
Live Azuma” is a festival that started in 2022 and is organized by Fukushima TV and Creative Man Productions (which plans and produces “Summer Sonic”).
Nagai: It is designed to have sharp stores in the AEON stores, which is connected to my first point, but I think it is also about monetizing the event. The starting point is not only “let’s do something interesting ourselves,” but also “we need a profitable system to continue,” or “we want local companies and stores to do their best. It is systematic and clean, but what we offer is handmade and not fast-food-like, which is interesting.
When you say “not fast food-like,” do you mean that the booking of artists is unique? Or is it more about the locality of the local stores?
Nagai: What I thought was also very impressive was that the one in the stadium was a large scale live concert (Denki Groove, [Alexandros], STUTS, etc. performed), while the smaller stage in the parking lot was about the scale of a local festival (C.O.S.A., ALI, Donguri Zura, etc. performed). The smaller stage in the parking lot is about the size of a local festival (C.O.S.A., ALI, and Donguri Zura). It’s like having a big festival and a small festival at the same time.
Why are festivals that are a combination of large and small-scale festivals appearing in the market?
Nagai: On a negative note, I think it is becoming more and more difficult for individuals and organizing committees to set up and hold festivals due to the rising cost of production and other expenses associated with rising prices. At such times, I think that an executive committee consisting of multiple companies and organizations will be formed to reflect each company’s intentions in the festival, for example, we will create the content, but we will pay the money.
