Eight Ball Festival

Several years ago a new music festival started in Okayama called Eight Ball. It is held at Convex Okayama every year at the end of March. It is mainly a rock festival, and several famous Japanese bands and artists have attended the event. I had been interested in it for several years, but this year I finally went for the first time.

I was little unsure about the venue. I had been to Convex Okayama for a different event, and it was not so big. I could not imagine how they were going to hold a music festival there, not to mention it had three stages. Surprisingly, it was well put together. The main stage was inside the biggest hall, and they had one other inside stage using a different hall of the venue. The last stage was outside and was right next to the food stalls. It was easy to get something to eat while enjoying some music outside.

The main reason I went to the festival was to see the bands Man with a Mission and Frederic. But I also wanted to see 10-Feet and Kitani Tatsuya. They mostly played their well-known songs, but they were still really entertaining to watch. Some of the fans, especially the ones in the front were a little crazy. There was a lot of crowd surfing.

Music festivals are also a great chance to discover new musicians that you may have never heard of or not listened to much. There was a younger band I recently heard about called Retroriron who I also got to enjoy at the event. And there is a comedy band from Shikoku called Su-xing-cyu who often like to attend music festivals and pull in large crowds. They like to wear strange costumes, do quizzes during songs and many other crazy things. They were very funny.

I was surprised by how good Eight Ball festival was. I hope I will have the chance to go again in the future.