FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL 99/REPORT 41

FRF '99 Green Stage
Security Fun [1999.7.30 19:00]
The hulkish, stern-countenanced foreign security contingency that has become such a fixture at these kinds of music events in Japan seemed to know their stuff. Prior to Hi-Standard's late afternoon set on the Green Stage they conferred among themselves that this would be the big one, the one job of the day that would test their mettle as gentle giants, so to speak. And they were right. Hi-Standard is not only Japan's best punk band, they're also the most popular non-J-pop outfit in the land, and their fans know exactly when to start sailing. The security guys, ex-servicemen (the goatees and earrings seemm to indicate that they no longer serve) who dress in fatigue pants and wear Staff t-shirts stretched to the breaking point over their bulging torsos, met wave after wave of sweating, screaming kids with a mixture of no-nonsense gruffness and tender (humorous) loving care.

And it wasn't just kids. Bottles, towels, even ownerless shoes made their way into the pit. At one point, a guy with the head of a giraffe landed in the arms of a burly brother who did a serious double take and then let him go with a firm slap on the ass, unable to hold back a chuckle. When the band launched into its pseudo-50s pop song, "Under the Rainbow" the surfers suddenly changed gender. Girls were tumbling into the bruisers faces rather than skinny, hard-bodied boys. "Thank you very much," one pink-haired girl who looked no older than 14, said to the huge American who caught her. I might have been love at first sight, considering the look he gave her; but then she was gone, off to rejoin the crowd for another surf.

At one point, the head of security ordered the Japanese staff to bring more water, not for themselves, but for the crowd. They squirted water into the fans' mouths and over their heads. Soon the whole cushion-covered pit was slimy with water and the kids who made it over the fence slid as much as walked to the re-entry point. At the end, when Hi-Standard's silver-haired lead vocalist, Nanba, shook hands with the lucky ones who remained at the fence, the kids also gave a hand to the security staff who looked tired but not exactly glad that it was over.

1999.7.30 Reported by Phil
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