 J-POP Summit officially kicked off its 2015 show at Fort Mason, San Francisco on August 8 (also my birthday) and it was an interesting change from previous years. A lot has been said about the shift from Japantown to Fort Mason and the move from a free event to a paid one. While both of these are true, I think there is much to be said regarding now overall feel of the event. In past years the J-POP Summit had more of a music festival atmosphere where random people could perhaps be introduced to music and cultural elements they wouldn't be otherwise. This meant that it wasn’t a show for just fans of a particular artist or Japanese music/culture in general. Now it has more of a standard convention feel as it is enclosed, ticketed, and the audience is largely those already familiar with the guests. That doesn't take away from the event as a whole though and there are a lot of pluses involved in the move. The concerts are more structured and the meet and greets are more organized. Also, since it is indoors, there is more ease in shopping and the opportunity for increased growth in both the amount of exhibitors offered, but also in variety. With that out of the way, let's discuss the main event itself!  FESTIVE The show on the main stage kicked off with a performance by idol group, FESTIVE. FESTIVE is an eight member group whose goal is to spread the idea and love of Japanese festivals to the world and they did just that! They put on a very powerful performance that had the audience cheering along in no time and more than a few fans were ready with coordinated dance moves and chants. Their meet and greet events were also some of the most interactive and they spent much of the day wandering around the event interacting with fans both on the show floor and at the CHEERZ booth. They also performed at the Sake Summit Stage in Union Square. This performance did draw a crowd of curious onlookers and harkened back to the days of J-POP Summits in the past, but more on this later.  Little Glee Monster Little Glee Monster were up next and their performance shocked me and probably much of the audience who were probably expecting something more like FESTIVE. Little Glee Monster is a six member group who possess some of the strongest singing voices I have ever heard in my life. More shocking is the fact that they are all very young (high school age) but still possess the aforementioned talent. They belted out their own hits like “Houkago High Five” as well as a cover of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”. Definitely one of the pleasant surprises of their event. Their meet and greet was also heavily attended and they were quite fun to interact with.
FAINT STAR came up next. FAINT STAR is a duo made up of HINA and YURIA and their unique blend of soft, catchy synth pop was somewhat of a shift in the sounds we had heard before. While being relatively unknown compared to some of the other performers, FAINT STAR put on a set that was both poppy and catchy yet cool and modern. Similar to FESTIVE, FAINT STAR could be seen on the show floor much of the day and were quite open to pictures with the attendees. Their meet and greet was actually probably the most heavily attended this day (barring the main event acts) as well and speaks volumes about their personalities and their ability to interact with fans to their benefit. They also performed at the Sake Summit Stage following FESTIVE.
Now I mentioned the Sake Summit Stage a couple of times now and it was at this point in the event that I traveled over to Union Square to see what was going on there. Being that it was a satellite event I wasn't expecting much, but I was sad to note that there were hardly any attendees at all. I was expecting low numbers, not a complete absence of attendees. This wasn't helped by the fact that I wasn't sure if ticketing was a thing at this event or not. I did not see any noticeable ticketing counters, but I was not stopped by anyone as I traveled across roped off areas. (This could have been due to my press status though) I feel that this could have deterred others who might have been otherwise interested in the event. The sake tasting areas were similarly confusing as well, but an interesting attraction to bring to an event like this. With that said there was a lot to see here and try in terms of food and drink and the main stage also featured many of the performers from the Fort Mason part of the event.
I only attended the music events at the Sake Summit Stage, but as I mentioned previously, it was interesting to get to experience the old feel of J-POP Summit and to see a crowd who probably would have never seen groups like FESTIVE or FAINT STAR otherwise interact with them. Perhaps due to the shift of venue, both artists seemed more relaxed here and FESTIVE even performed a longer set than they did at the Fort Mason Stage. What the Union Square part of the event lacked was a variety of activities to take part in outside of the performances though and the crowds quickly dispersed after each act. It is also interesting to note that I did not witness much migration between the two events and very few of the Fort Mason fans seemed willing to trek out to Union Square even when promised more performances.
Back at Fort Mason, Moshi Moshi Nippon took the stage and the fans got to see a wide mix of music and fashion. Idol unit, Musubizm, soloist Anna Yano, and pop duo AMIAYA all took to the stage with music performances while Ayumi Seto displayed the latest from Aymmy in the batty girls fashion line. Their section on the show flow also featured fashion, food, and karaoke brought to J-POP Summit by LIVE DAM Karaoke.  ODOTTEMITA Group Winners, Empire, with FESTIVE Following some blistering rock performances by The Akabane Vulgars On Strong Bypass and Jinny Oops!, we saw the continuation of one of J-POP Summit's most popular events, the ODOTTEMITA Dance Contest. This year's contestants were judged by a panel that included FESTIVE. All this kept the audience busy before we arrived at the headliners for Day One: Gacharic Spin, Eir Aoi, and JAM Project!
I will be the first to admit that I knew nothing about Gacharic Spin prior to this event. This didn’t keep me from anticipating their show with great excitement though, and I was not disappointed. Gacharic Spin are a unique six-member group that also includes two dance performers. They have been around for several years and have made many convention appearances in the US. In this writer's humble opinion, they completely stole the show. Their set was definitely the most energetic of the weekend and they had the crowd excited with their antics that included the members climbing on every section of the stage, including some of their own instruments! Their unique brand of music also meant that the band featured vocals from nearly all the members and the two dance performing members were non-stop during the entire show. Did I mention that one of them even strapped a keyboard to their back and bent over to become an instrument themselves? Because that happened too! I look forward to hopefully seeing them perform in the future again.
The second headliner was JPop and anisong singer, Eir Aoi. Eir Aoi is best known for her music that can be heard on popular anime like Sword Art Online and Kill la Kill. Fresh off several US convention appearances (despite what the program guide says, this was NOT her first US performance) her set get the crowd moving and proved to be a strong follow-up to the almost unreachable levels we had seen with Gacharic Spin. I’ll admit at this point that it was hard to get excited over a soloist with little staging after the sheer powerhouse-style of Gacharic Spin, but Eir Aoi’s amazing vocal performance got most of the crowd back on her side and the attendees turned the Fort Mason Stage blue with their penlights and glow sticks.  JAM Project If any group could hope to retake the glory of the main stage it is JAM Project. JAM Project is currently a five member group whose combined membership has contributed to so many anime past and present that I could literally fill up the entire article with their credits alone. This doesn't even begin to cover their own huge catalog as a group. They performed many of their defining songs such as “SKILL” and “Rescue Fire” and also featured solo performances from various members such as Hiroshi Kitadani with "We Are!" and Hironobu Kageyama with "CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA". Their set definitely brought every single attendee to the main stage and while they didn’t partake in the antics that made the Gacharic Spin crowd go insane, they did captivate the audience with their tried-and-true talent and set list that literally took fans through decades of anime.
The day was long and it was full of more content than any one person could possibly hope to fully experience in one day, but J-POP Summit is not simply a singular event and there is still one more day to go! -Manuel (alavic_222) Follow A-To-J Connections for comprehensive day-by-day coverage on both our site and our social media accounts! For more information on J-POP Summit: Website: http://www.j-pop.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JPOPSummit/?fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/JpopSummitFest |
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