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For two days on Sept. 13 and 14, the large outdoor music festival Inazuma Rock Fes 2014 was held at the Karasumaru Peninsula Plaza in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture. Attendees totaled 50,000 for each day of the festival, for an overall total of 100,000. Many popular artists took the stage including T.M.Revolution aka Takanori Nishikawa. Including the comedians and local characters, there were over 70 performers. The event demonstrated its presence as western Japan’s representative large-scale festival.
In addition to being an event of humongous proportions, Inazuma Rock Fes 2014 had one more attention-grabbing aspect: T.M.Revolution aka Takanori Nishikawa being named the event’s sponsor. This was such because of his inauguration as the tourism ambassador to his hometown of Shiga Prefecture in October 2008 and the thoughts resulting from this including wanting to repay his hometown with music and wanting to appeal to everyone in his hometown and Shiga Prefecture. The festival then came to fruition as being connected to his hometown through the theme “Let’s protect the water of Lake Biwa.” The festival, characterized by its long-lasting appeal, began in 2009, and this year marks its sixth time being held.
This year, in addition to the paid live area called “Raijin” (God of Lightning), there was also a free live stage called “Fuujin” (God of Wind) and a stage for local characters called “Ryuujin” (Dragon God). There was also a food and drink area filled with local gourmet items, a hands-on area with information on sightseeing in Shiga, and even a kids’ space. The event was one both kids and adults could enjoy.
Also, auditions for amatuer musicians were held concurrently with the festival. This was put on jointly by Inazuma Rock Fes and Epic Records Japan, and the four Grand Prix winners from different categories performed live.
The heat emanating from the Raijin main stage was exceptional. The first day opened with Momoiro Clover Z who enthusiastically sang five songs total including a surprise performance of T.M.Revolution’s “Invoke” and “Moon Pride.”
T.M.Revolution then appeared wearing his trademark short pants and an outfit incorporating a camouflage print and fluorescent orange and passionately sang “High Pressure” and “Hot Limit” before doing a duet with May J. on “Last Resort.” Sid, Miriya Kato, Kuroyume, and MINM also livened up the venue with performances.
The second day kicked off with Half Time Old, winners of the Inazuma Gate 2013, an audition in which the winners got to perform at Inazuma Rock Fes. Opening act Shun was followed by a wide variety of artists who brought the venue to a boil including Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku, Every Little Thing, FTISLAND, Denpagumi.inc, and NMB48.
At the end of the festival, T.M.Revolution appeared wearing a black leather outfit. Shigeru Matsuzaki also appeared on stage as a special guest. Nishikawa expressed the event’s success and his gratitude toward the fans over and over again, saying, “I’m so happy and proud to have been able to hold Inazuma here this year,” “I’m so grateful,” and, “Thank you.”
Source: animeanime
