Forrest Brown » Concert

California – Japanese Earthquake Relief Benifit Concert

Forrest — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:51:26 +0000

The Japanese band the B’z and Linkin Park had a benefit concert for Japanese earthquake relief at the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The concert raised $330,000.

The Mayan Theater in Downtown Los Angeles

Japanese Band the B'z

Chester from Linkin Park

Really Big-Ass Disco Ball

Chester thanks the crowd after the show.

It's me!

California – Linkin Park

Forrest — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:54:52 +0000

Linkin Park concert at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Japan – Summer Sonic 2010 – Sunday

Forrest — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 08:12:16 +0000

Day two of Summer Sonic.

Day two of Summer Sonic

Panorama of the Marine Stadium at the 2010 Summer Sonic Music Festival.

I watched some of the performance of Korean boy band Big Bang while waiting for Sum 41 and didn't get it. Does one guy singing and four other guys dancing around on an empty stage count as a band?

Korean boy band Big Bang

Sum 41 playing in the Maine Stadium

Fried Chicken on a stick.

Japanese people have a pretty amazing ability to sleep almost anywhere.

Mellon flavored ice-cream.

Slash with singer Myles Kennedy had a great performance. He played some of his new stuff and a bunch of older Guns N’ Roses.

Slash onstage

A Japanese singer came onstage to perform a song with Slash. I'm not sure who he was, but the crowd knew him and went nuts.

Dream Theater. They didn't really do anything for me, so I didn't stay long. But that's got to be the biggest drum set I've ever seen.

The main performer for the day was Stevie Wonder.

Stevie Wonder on the Marine Stadium Stage

The Stadium was packed for Stevie Wonder

Japan – Summer Sonic 2010 – Saturday

Forrest — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:55:53 +0000

Last weekend was the Fuji Rock Festival, now this weekend is The Summer Sonic Music Festival.

Summer Sonic 2010

Summer Sonic takes place in the huge Makuhari Messe Convention Center and the Chiba Marine Stadium right next door. Plus several smaller stages surrounding the Stadium.

Normally the stadium is home of the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team and can hold 30,000 people. During Summer Sonic the baseball field is covered in plastic and used for standing. For the main bands in the evenings all the seats will be full and the stadium floor will be packed with people.

The Chiba Marine Stadium is the location of the biggest stage for Summer Sonic

Panorama of the inside of the Chiba Marina Stadium

Right across the street from the Marine Stadium is the huge Makuhari Messe Convention Center. The convention center holds one huge stage, two slightly smaller stages, several small stages, and a huge vending area for food.

Panorama of the Makuhari Messe Convention Center seen from the Chiba Marine Stadium

The vending area inside Makuhari Messe.

30 Seconds from Mars playing on the largest stage inside of the Makuhari Messe

During there final couple of songs 30 Seconds from Mars invited anyone who could crowd-surf to the front onto the stage.

The band I was most looking forward to seeing on Saturday was The Offspring. They were the second from last band to play the main stage that day.

Offspring Fan

The Offspring playing on the Marine Stage

I know it's crazy hot and humid, but please people, keep the clothes on. There's nothing worse then being smashed into a big, sweaty, hairy dude with no shirt.

I’m not a big fan of Jay-Z who played after the Offspring, so I decided to head back over to the convention center to see what was going on over there.

My favorite Japanese concert food, greasy, fatty pork on a stick. I'm pretty sure there's more fat there than meat. Yummy!

Last year the Jose Cuervo booth has strippers. This year Jose Cuervo was replaced by Corona and dancers...really not the same experience.

The last band I watched on Saturday was The Smashing Pumpkins who put on a really amazing show

Japan – Fuji Rock 2010 – Day Three

Forrest — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:15:26 +0000

The last day of Fuji Rock. Still cloudy and no rain until the near the end of the day.

Oh No! The huge line to catch the shuttle bus is back. Still not quite as long as last year, but still about an hour wait.

Panorama of the Main Stage.

All of the rain means lots of nice gooey, squishy mud.

Vampire Weekend on the Main Stage.

Huge Crowds, I was counting the people at the Main Stage and reached 36,528 before I lost track because some guy kept walking back and forth in front of me.

One of the food vending areas.

This guy knows how to party.

My Favorite Japanese band from Fuji Rock is Boom Boom Satellites. Their music is kind of a mash-up of Rock and Electronic.

Boom Boom Satellites

Atoms for Peace

Massive Attack

Japan – Fuji Rock 2010 – Day Two

Forrest — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Day two of Fuji Rock. The weather forecast was looking better, but it was still pretty cloudy.

Panorama of the Main Stage

Third Eye Blind on the White Stage

John Fogerty on the main stage. I have never liked Creedence Clearwater Revival so it was time to find another band to listen to.

I ended up at the White Stage where Japanese rock band The Cro-Magnons was playing. They were not awesome, but I liked them better then John Fogerty.

The Cro-Magnons

Fishbone on the Red Marquee Stage

I was planning to stay for Flogging Molly playing at 9:30, but the rain finally showed up. The rain combined with still being a little jet-lagged made me decide to head back to the condo I was staying at for a soak in the onsen and a good nights sleep.

Japan – Fuji Rock 2010 – Day One

Forrest — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:44:43 +0000

I’ve made it to Fuji Rock!

The line from to catch the shuttle bus from the train station is not too bad this year, only about 10 minutes, much better then the crazy long line from last year.

Arriving at Fuji Rock. The weather is a bit overcast and cloudy, but not too bad.

Panorama of the main stage. For the bigger bands this whole area is packed with people.

A one man band. One of the cool things a Fuji Rock is some of the smaller stages and performers scattered around.

The rain has come.

Rain, rain go away!

Some mosh pit action for Ken Yokoyama at the main stage.

Flaming Ninja?

Them Crooked Vultures on the main stage. They were not doing anything for me, so time to wander around and see who else is playing.

Broken Social Scene on the Red Marquee Stage. They seemed to be trying to see how many people they could squeeze onto the stage.

Time for the main band of the day, Muse on the Main Stage

Muse put on a really great show.

Canada – The Offspring

Forrest — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:43:00 +0000

While I was in Vancouver I went to see the band The Offspring play at the Vogue Theater.

Taiwan – Summer Rock Sumit

Forrest — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Another concert, more rain. Three of the bands that played at the Summer Sonic Music Festival in Tokyo played at a smaller music festival at the Taipei County Stadium in Taiwan. And like all the Japanese concerts I went to in the last month, it was poring rain.

The Taiwanese fans looked like they were really enjoying the concert, but they were also much less crazy then at a American or Japanese concert, no crowd-surfing or mosh-pits.

Umbrellas were not allowed in the stadium,
so everyone was leaving their umbrellas in big piles.

The fans ready to rock.

I told them that I was in the band.

Linkin Park

Rockin out to Linkin Park.

Linkin Park

Japan – Summer Sonic 2009

Forrest — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:32:00 +0000

This last weekend was the Summer Sonic Music Festival. Like Fuji Rock, it’s a three day music festival with many great bands playing on a bunch of different stages. The Summer Sonic Festival takes place just outside of Tokyo in Chiba at the Makuhari Messe Convention Center and Chiba Marine Baseball Stadium, plus several stages around the area. To get to the festival was about a 30 minute train ride from Tokyo Station, so it’s a more convenient festival to get to. Like any other big event in Japan there were an amazing number of people and sometimes long lines, but not as bad as the lines at Fuji Rock.

Unfortunately my memory card in my camera died and I lost the photos I had taken on the first two days. But here’s some shots from the last day.

Poring rain in the afternoon at the Marine Stadium.
In the evenings for the bigger bands this stadium was packed to bursting.

At one of the side stages the Japanese crowd was going nuts over a Japanese Beyonce

The Makuhari Messe Convention Hall is monstrous, this is just a tiny area of it.
Inside were vender booths several small stages and three large stages.

Limp Bizkit back together

Flaming Lips

Bonus! Strippers at the Jose Cuervo Booth

Where’s the Door? Not much privacy in the bathrooms at the Marine Stadium