ARABAKI ROCK FEST.2026 was so much fun!!

I went to ARABAKI ROCK FEST, also known as Arabaki!

Arabaki is one of the largest outdoor music festivals in the Tohoku region, held every year during Golden Week in Miyagi Prefecture.

I talk about my thoughts from last year and my enthusiasm for this year below.

■ Thoughts on this year (regrets)

I participated this year like this. I spent the afternoon quite comfortably.

I think I mentioned that it was cold at night last year, but I remembered it after arriving at Arabaki.
I actually brought a heavy down jacket last year.
And for some reason, I only brought a half-down jacket this year.
And it was even colder this year.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation was the headliner on the main stage, and both the members on stage and we, the audience,
could see our breath in the air.

It was so cold that I was genuinely worried some people might catch a cold.
So, I'm leaving a message for my future self: make sure you bring a proper outer layer, okay?
Don't go thinking, 'It's the end of April, it'll be fine, lol.' You'll die.
You'll end up like the ending of The Shining, freezing to death in a snow maze.

■ Live performances

In terms of the flow of what I watched,

TENDOUJI -> (a little bit of) Straightener -> (a little bit of) Maximum the Hormone -> LOW IQ 01 THE RHYTHM MAKERS -> ELLEGARDEN -> [Alexandros] -> Asian Kung-Fu Generation

was the lineup.

I really went all out this year. I was quite tired, but it was so much fun!
I'm going to write about some parts here and there.

■ TENDOUJI

Whether you know their songs or not, TENDOUJI is always fun.
Regardless, they are the perfect band to get things started in the morning and get your engine running.
I was super happy to see them after such a long time!
They are apparently playing at the Budokan next year, and at night, while everyone was heading home, the members themselves were handing out flyers.

Can you believe how wonderful it is that the members themselves were handing out flyers?! You don't see that happen very often.

Someone who was watching the live show said, 'I don't know anything about them, but I might get hooked!' It really is the best part of a festival, isn't it?
If you're interested, please give them a listen!!

■ LOW IQ 01 THE RHYTHM MAKERS

It has been 20 years since I first saw Rockin' Japan Fes broadcast on Space Shower TV when I was in junior high, bought their CD, and started listening.
This was my first time seeing them live.
As the artist himself mentioned, the fan base is on the older side.
But the performance was just like it was back then, with those tough-looking guys playing with such joy and sparkle.
I felt like I had achieved a major milestone by finally seeing them live.

■ELLEGARDEN

Starting this year, crowd surfing, moshing, and similar behaviors were not just formally prohibited,
but strictly banned.
It wasn't just the usual announcements;
the representative of Arabaki came out before the performance to announce the prohibited items directly.
Because it was announced directly, you could really feel the 'seriously, don't do it' vibe.

It's true that last year I saw big circle pits as a matter of course, but I suppose there are issues with injuries and the current climate.

Our own Takeshi Hosomi also came out for the pre-performance announcement,
and he said something like, 'I came here with a setlist designed for you to go wild, but you guys know what's prohibited, right?' and the audience responded accordingly.

Personally, I think people who love Ellegarden but find moshing painful or mentally draining usually choose to watch from further back, but if moshing is clearly prohibited, it's a new experience for those who used to watch from the back to be able to see the performance with more immersion from the front.

The setlist was like a 'greatest hits of that era' collection, and it was amazing.

■[Alexandros]

Up until about 10 years ago, my ex-girlfriend loved them, so I often went to see them live since their Champagne era, but I haven't kept up since then and didn't know any of their recent songs at all, yet it was incredibly fun.
The moment he switched to acoustic guitar, I thought, 'No way!!' but
I got so excited when they played 'Waitress, Waitress!'!

Then, they said in the MC that it was the last two songs!
I thought, 'Aha, this must be 'Wataridori' and 'starrrrrrr',
but when the song started, 'Wataridori' was correct, but
the last song was one I didn't know.
I thought, 'Oh, maybe it's a recent song,'
but I had just forgotten an important song.

From the intro to the first verse, I felt like I didn't know it at all,
but
the moment the pre-chorus hit, I realized, 'Oh, it's this one!!!'

It might be rude to say, but I realized, 'Oh! This one!!'It's the song that's always playing on the internet!!I didn't expect them to play it as the final song; it seems it has become one of their representative recent tracks.
Wow, I truly realized that you shouldn't underestimate memes.

Consistently, it reminded me of those days and was super fun.

■ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

A long time ago, there was a project where AKG and Feeder did a joint gig, and I went to see it because 8otto was also performing.

That was the last time I saw AKG, so it might have been about ten years ago.

I had my wife wear the AKG x Yu Nagaba collaboration T-shirt I bought 10 years ago,
and we watched the live show.

I think the essential charm of Arabaki lies in the session performances that transcend the boundaries between artists.
If other festivals are places to see a lineup,
Arabaki is also a place to seea live performance that can only happen on that day, in that place.

It lacks reproducibility, and there is a high possibility that it will end as a one-time-only event.A festival where miracles that aren't even recorded on audio sources happen as a matter of course.
I felt this deeply for the first time when I participated last year.

As you can see from the timetable,
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION's performance at this year's Arabaki featured some quite unusual collaborations.

First, Kaori Kishitani.
Perhaps more young people today know her son, but
I think there were some who realized she was the vocalist of PRINCESS PRINCESS the moment they heard her singing voice.

I never dreamed that I would be able to hearthe hottest summer in the worldin an unexpected collaboration with AKG...

The collaboration that moved me the most was when Straightener's ally Atsushi Horie and
Takeshi Hosomi from ELLEGARDEN appeared,
first performing ELLEGARDEN's 'Niji',
and then playing AKG's 'Haruka Kanata'—a super luxurious situation.

Such an impossible situation,I thought it was fan fiction.

A festival where you can see such miraculous scenes,
once you've tasted this charm, it's understandable why you'd want to come back again.

■ One thing I'd like to point out

However!
The one thing, the only thing I'd like to point out,
is not about the performance,
but the lack of announcements after the performance ends.

After the performers bow and leave the stage,
the way the lights go down makes it seem like there might be an encore,
the silence makes it seem like there might be an encore (if there really isn't one, background music usually plays immediately),
because there was such a dream-like performance, everyone thinks there might be one,
so everyone claps their hands wanting an encore,
but no one comes out, and after a few minutes, the staff starts clearing the equipment off the stage.

Then, a few minutes after that, a staff member shouts with their own voice that there is no encore!

I don't mind at all if there isn't an encore,
but I wish they wouldn't create the impression that there is one! lol

If it's just a quick 'no encore' vibe,
I could just end it with 'Wow, that was great',
but being teased for a few minutes only to find out there isn't one in the end—that felt a bit frustrating as entertainment!

Maybe they do it on purpose for crowd control or something,
but the lingering feeling is also part of the entertainment, so I thought they could handle that a bit better.

■ Introducing what I shot at Arabaki

This time, I shot videos using an app called BlackMagic Camera,
and took photos with a toy camera called Kodak CHARMERA throughout Arabaki.

■ Kodak CHARMERA

What is the Kodak CHARMERA?
A keychain-sized digital camera characterized by its retro design and compactness.
It's ultra-small and can be carried around at all times, so it was perfect for taking quick toy camera shots.

I also wrote about the Kodak CHARMERA below.

*For some reason the date is weird. Maybe the settings are wrong.

And I can also take videos, but combined with the image quality, I was able to capture footage that looks like old archival footage.
It's a little scary...

■BlackMagic Camera

I'm using an app called BlackMagic Camera to shoot vlog-style videos, but I'm not doing it well at all, and the article I'm planning to write isn't coming together either!!

■I want to go again next year!

Bonus: My wife loves Hoya Boy, so we lined up for a greeting last year too.

So, that was the fun ARABAKI.
I'll do my best to live on so I can go again next year.