Punkspring 2010 Tokyo, Japan

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On Sunday 4th April, I caught the train from Shinjuku out to Kaihin Makuhari to rock out at the Tokyo leg of the Punkspring festival at the Makuhari Messe centre, which is actually in Chiba prefecture, not Tokyo.

From Shinjuku Station, I had to get the Chuo Line to Tokyo Station, which was good as I'd got that same line to Akihabara the day before and knew that the entrance to Shinjuku Station nearest to my hotel took me almost straight to those platforms. The journey was fairly quick but at Tokyo Station there was an extremely long walk to get to the platforms for the Keiyo Line that would take me to Kaihin Makuhari Station. The walk involved several escalators and travelling walkways. Eventually, I made it onto the train for Kaihin Makuhari.

The train to Kaihin Makuhari seemed to be quite busy but they didn't appear to be the sort of people who'd be going to a punk rock festival. The real reason for the crowd became clear when the train stopped by Tokyo Disneyland though and lots of people got off. The journey actually took much longer than I'd planned as the train stopped at every station along the way and a couple of times had to wait at a station for an express to overtake. There weren't any early bands at Punkspring that I was desperate to see though, so the delay didn't bother me.

The Makuhari Messe centre was only about five minutes walk from Kaihin Makuhari Station so, after stopping for a bit of food and a local Subway store, I arrived there at around 12:30pm. It was a bit weird going to an indoor music festival but, since it started at noon, the darkness inside added to the vibe.

Coldrain were on the Blue Stage when I arrived. For those not brave enough to get in the mosh pit near the front of the Red and Blue stages, the big screen offered a good view.

Secret7Line on the Green Stage.

You Me at Six on the Blue Stage.

The first Japanese band that I saw at Punkspring were knotlamp on the Green Stage..

The crowd really seemed to be getting into them and were happily singing along to many of the songs.

I was so impressed that a few days later I went out and bought a knotlamp live DVD and a couple of albums.

Between bands on the Green Stage, there were skating exhibitions on this half-pipe. Check out the afro on the MC!

The next Japanese band that I saw were Low IQ & the Beat Breaker on the Blue Stage.

Low IQ & the Beat Breaker seemed to be very popular with the Japanese crowd and got them going, despite being a modest two-piece band.

Just like with Knotlamp earlier, Low IQ made such an impression on me that I went out and bought a CD and Live DVD of his music a few days later.

Despite living in the UK for the last 38 years, I've never seen The Stranglers play live so this was quite a treat for me. Obviously, Hugh Cornwell hasn't been in the band for ages and Jet Black wasn't on drums due to health problems preventing him from travelling but it was good to see JJ Burnel and Dave Greenfield at least.

The Stranglers live in Tokyo at Punkspring 2010. This could be one of the last opportunites to see them live as even JJ Burnel himself admits that they're not getting any younger.

Apparently, Jet Black's health problems won't allow him any long periods of travelling, and the 12-14 hour flight from the UK to Japan is definitely a long one. Therefore, his drum tech stands in for gigs that are a long way from home. He did a very good job though.

Baz Warne did guitar duties and sung the vocal parts on the songs that were originally sung by Hugh Cornwell. I must admit that he did a very good job of it. I know that Cornwell left The Stranglers years and years ago, but I grew up with the original line-up so it's hard to shake that image of the band.

Throughout The Stranglers set, I'd gradually been moving towards the front to get better pictures. Unfortunately, shortly after taking this photo of JJ Burnel, I finally got nabbed by security and had to put my camera away.

By the time Set Your Goals appeared on the Green Stage, it was still only 5pm but the dark, enclosed hall made it seem like it was much later.

By this time, there were quite a few people asleep on the floor at the back of the main hall. I can only assume that the all day drinking had got the better of them. I'd had my first beer at about 12:45pm but I'd been sensibly pacing myself so that I didn't overdo it. It was the first time that I'd see many of these bands live so I didn't want the experience to be forgotten in a drunken blur.

Jack Daniels were one of the sponsors of the Punkspring Festival so they had their own bar and promotional team just inside the entrance of the Green Hall. The promotional staff were quite nice on the eyes. This young Japanese lady almost convinced me to have a Jack Daniels but me and whiskey have never really got along.

New Found Glory on the Red Stage attracted one of the biggest crowds of the day.

Looking at the crowd that they got and based on my personal opinion that they have the more "punk" songs, it's arguable whether New Found Glory should have been the headline act rather than Lostprophets. However, based on the number of British bands playing at Punkspring, it seems that they're more popular in Japan than US bands at the moment so perhaps the choice of Lostprophets as headliners was just reflecting the current trend.

I've not seen or heard much of Zebrahead before but the crowd seemed to be into them and they did a good job of audience interaction by getting us all to sit down on the floor and jump up on cue.

I would've found the jumping up and down more enjoyable if my new boots from Harajuku that I was wearing for the first time weren't so stiff and hurting my feet (rock'n'roll!).

Whilst I was in Punkspring, I was given this freebie CD of a band called Ching Dinasty by an American girl who was doing a bit of sly promotion. However, after checking out their Myspace page, it appears that Ching Dinasty are actually from Lima, Peru. Perhaps the girl was South American then?

In reflection, I've got to say that my experience of the Punkspring Festival in Tokyo was a good one. In some ways, I was disappointed that the line-up didn't compare to previous years when big-name US punk bands such as Rancid, NOFX, and Less Than Jake performed but I still had fun discovering some of the Japanese bands.

My first experience of a Japanese music festival had been at the rain-soaked Fuji Rock Festival in 2005 but Punkspring was my first experience of an indoor Japanese music festival. The crowd were good-natured and really into the music, the whole event seemed to be well organised, and the efficient Japanese train network made the venue easy to get to and easy to get home from. The event finished at around 10pm and I was back in my hotel room in Shinjuku by 11:30pm. That's what I call efficient transport! Punkspring is definitely a festival that I'd go to again.