Well season 11 for Diablo 3 has started and I wanted to give an update to how I am doing. For season 11, I started out playing with the Witch Doctor again because this is the season where the Haedrig's gift is the Helltooth Set. I managed to get a real good start to the season because of this. I am currently at paragon 640, which is pretty nice. I also managed to do a greater rift 70 already and I have finished the Destroyer seasonal journey (I only need to do the Conqueror and Guardian to finish my seasonal journey). The Helltooth set is real nice to start out with because you really don't need to get much gear for it to work. I had a little bit of trouble finding a Short Man's Finger ring but once I found it, I was quickly able to do high 60's greater rifts. Most of my gear is now ancient and I still need to find an ancient Sacred Harvester and Ramaladni's Gift.
My focus for the rest of the season is to keep pushing with the Helltooth set for a while until I can find a whole set for a Legacy of Nightmares Spirit Barrage build. This is really hard to do because all items need to be ancient. I have some of the pieces already but it is probably going to take a long time finding those ancient pieces. I have never worked with the Spirit Barrage build but I look forward to working with it. I know that once you have the right pieces, it can out damage the Helltooth set easily. I don't know if I will be playing with another class this season because building the LoN spirit barrage build is going to take time. I would like to play with a wizard because that is the only class I haven't reached greater rift 60 with yet. I could also play a necromancer but I know that everyone is already playing with it. There is a slight chance that I might play a necromancer in season 12.
It will interesting to see when season 11 will end. Right now, it is projected for the season to end sometime in late September/early October. If they do that, then season 11 will be a lot shorter than normal. The reason why season 11 might be shorter is that Blizzard might want to start season 12 before BlizzCon hits on November 3-4. It might be possible that season 11 runs a bit longer and that season 12 will start after BlizzCon. I am really looking forward for BlizzCon this year because some of my guildies will be there. I am also excited about what will happen to the development to Diablo 3 and there might be hints to whether Blizzard will announce something for the new Diablo game. There will be a future blog post detailing what I predict will happen at BlizzCon this year. I hope everyone is having fun in season 11 and I hope I will end up doing as well as I did last season.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 10 Review
Well Diablo 3 season 10 just ended this last Friday and I had a very good season. I ended up playing a lot more than some past seasons. I was able to reach paragon level 991, which is the highest I ever reached in a season. That put me in the top 300 of all NA hardcore players. This is pretty unbelievable since I only play by myself. I know I could have gotten a higher paragon level if I played with other players but I like playing by myself. This was achieved by only playing 190 hours (184 hours on my witch doctor and 6 hours on my barbarian). My non-seasonal paragon level is now at 1361. As for greater rifts, my highest greater rift that I did on my witch doctor was a greater rift 81, which put me in rank 64 of all of the hardcore NA witch doctors. I was really happy that I was able to do a greater rift 81 since my highest greater previous to that was a greater rift 79 (in a season). My barbarian was able to do a greater rift 60. I could have done a higher greater rift for my barbarian but I didn't feel like pushing it on my barbarian. If I would have reached a greater rift 65, it would have ranked in the top 1000. I also ended up finishing the guardian seasonal journey this season.
My main goal this season was to do a greater rift 70 and maybe find some primal ancient legendaries. I ended up finding a lot of primals but unfortunately none of items that I found were usable in my Helltooth witch doctor set. I found about 5 2-handers, a couple of 1-handers, some set pieces (2 jade chest pieces, 1 zunimassa's ring), some other armor pieces, and a couple of other jewelry. I was really disappointed that I couldn't find any primals for my Helltooth witch doctor but since I was able to do greater rift 81 without them, I really didn't care that I couldn't find any primals for the Helltooth build. I was mostly playing a Helltooth witch doctor for the entire season. My first (and only) death came when I switched over to a Zunimassa build. Since I was playing with the Zunimassa set, I didn't lose any Helltooth items so gearing back up wasn't a big problem. I tried doing a Legacy of Nightmare Spirit Barrage build but I didn't feel too comfortable with it yet. I think the LoN spirit barrage build is something that I would like to try in the future since it is capable of doing a higher greater rift than the Helltooth build. I might even try it during the off-season.
With the necromancer coming out this Tuesday, I will probably spend a lot of time playing that in the off season. There is lengthy break between season 10 and 11 so there should be plenty of time to experiment with the necromancer. For season 11, I will probably play with the witch doctor mostly since I know that everyone will be playing the necromancer. I feel really comfortable playing the witch doctor since it is very easy levelling up and the free Haedrig's gift is the Helltooth set for season 11. Getting the Helltooth set very early on will make it real easy reaching greater rift 70 again. Once I have my witch doctor geared up (and hopefully with a LoN spirit barrage build), I will probably and try gearing up my necromancer. I hope season 11 runs a bit longer (much like in season 10) because it would help me play both classes. I am really looking forward to playing a necromancer because I see a lot people playing it on beta and it looks pretty fun to play with. I hope everyone had a fantastic season 10 and I hope they all enjoy playing season 11 with their necromancer.
My main goal this season was to do a greater rift 70 and maybe find some primal ancient legendaries. I ended up finding a lot of primals but unfortunately none of items that I found were usable in my Helltooth witch doctor set. I found about 5 2-handers, a couple of 1-handers, some set pieces (2 jade chest pieces, 1 zunimassa's ring), some other armor pieces, and a couple of other jewelry. I was really disappointed that I couldn't find any primals for my Helltooth witch doctor but since I was able to do greater rift 81 without them, I really didn't care that I couldn't find any primals for the Helltooth build. I was mostly playing a Helltooth witch doctor for the entire season. My first (and only) death came when I switched over to a Zunimassa build. Since I was playing with the Zunimassa set, I didn't lose any Helltooth items so gearing back up wasn't a big problem. I tried doing a Legacy of Nightmare Spirit Barrage build but I didn't feel too comfortable with it yet. I think the LoN spirit barrage build is something that I would like to try in the future since it is capable of doing a higher greater rift than the Helltooth build. I might even try it during the off-season.
With the necromancer coming out this Tuesday, I will probably spend a lot of time playing that in the off season. There is lengthy break between season 10 and 11 so there should be plenty of time to experiment with the necromancer. For season 11, I will probably play with the witch doctor mostly since I know that everyone will be playing the necromancer. I feel really comfortable playing the witch doctor since it is very easy levelling up and the free Haedrig's gift is the Helltooth set for season 11. Getting the Helltooth set very early on will make it real easy reaching greater rift 70 again. Once I have my witch doctor geared up (and hopefully with a LoN spirit barrage build), I will probably and try gearing up my necromancer. I hope season 11 runs a bit longer (much like in season 10) because it would help me play both classes. I am really looking forward to playing a necromancer because I see a lot people playing it on beta and it looks pretty fun to play with. I hope everyone had a fantastic season 10 and I hope they all enjoy playing season 11 with their necromancer.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
My Juno Reactor Live Experience Part 2 (San Francisco '08)
This next blog post will cover my experience at the Juno Reactor Live show in San Francisco on September 23, 2008. When I first heard about Juno Reactor coming over to do shows in N. America, I was really excited about attending a live show again. I first thought that Juno might be doing a show in Seattle, which is pretty close to where I am from. Unfortunately, Seattle did not make the list of cities Juno Reactor was going to be at. My next nearest place for the Juno show was in San Francisco so I decided to make plans to attend that show. Juno Reactor was also going to do shows in Colorado, Los Angeles, Chicago and in New York for their N. American tour. I also knew that Mikey (SLK from ReactorLeak) was also going to attend the show in San Fran so I knew I wasn't the only mega fan of Juno going. I think Joe (Unseung from ReactorLeak) was considering going as well but he only went to the Los Angeles show.
When I arrived at the San Fran airport, I was going to get a taxi, to drive me to my hotel. On the way to getting a taxi, someone noticed my t-shirt (my Juno Reactor t-shirt) and asked if I was going to the show later that day. It was a bit weird to me since I didn't think anyone would notice that I had a Juno Reactor shirt on. We chatted a bit before I left to get a taxi to go to my hotel. The live show was on the day that I arrived so I didn't have much time to go sight seeing that day (although I stayed in San Fran for a couple of days more after the live show). I went to the theater pretty early since I wanted to try and get in and see the band but unfortunately they didn't let anyone in early. Since I had a time to kill, I found a Japanese restaurant near by and ate my dinner there. After dinner, I lined up with other Juno Reactor fans. Fortunately, Mikey was already there and he noticed me and told me that we were going to see Ben after the show. There was a pretty good mix of fans at this show. There were many young people (some of those were Sugizo fans) and some older folks as well. People were coming from all over the place (I was from Canada, met someone from Utah).
The venue where the live show was pretty small but it was pretty packed with fans (maybe a hundred or so). The set list and Juno Reactor lineup was pretty much the same as the Fuji Rock show. The lineup consisted of Ben, Taz (vocals), Ghetto Priest (vocals), Amampondo (percussion), Greg Ellis (drums) and Sugizo (guitar). I bought a Juno Reactor poster there (it is now hanging in my computer room, I almost lost it when I was travelling back home). One new song that Juno Reactor performed was "Earthquake in the heart of Rome" (it never was released as a single or in an album). Another song that was performed at the San Fran show and not at the Fuji Rock show was "Inca Steppa". Some of my favourite songs that were performed were Biot Messiah (both Sugizo and Ben were excellent on the guitars), Pistolero (always a favourite live song), and Angels and Men (Taz did an excellent job singing on this one). The absolutely favourite moment that I will remember for as long as I live is when Mabi Thobejane did his drum solo. It was the most incredible performance that I ever saw. It is one thing to be able to see greatness in a video but it is a whole another thing to witness something great live. I wish I could describe what he was able to do but I don't think I can accurately describe what Mabi did.
After the show (it was a pretty long show, I was feeling exhausted but real happy), me and Mikey met Ben backstage. I got my photo taken with Ben and I also got to talk with other members of the band.
I was real happy with this experience since I never got the chance to do it when I went to Japan to attend the Fuji Rock concert. To compare this experience with Fuji Rock is kind of complicated since these were two different shows. Having my first Juno show outdoors with a massive crowd was pretty spectacular but I prefer a more intimate setting since it feels as though you are really connected with the band. After the show, I stayed in San Fran for a couple days and went sight seeing. San Francisco reminds of Victoria for some reason (they both have a wax museum and other similar sight seeing sights). I did go see Alcatraz, went on the trolley and the infamous curved street. I really had a great time in San Fran and I hope one day Juno Reactor will have another N. American tour soon.
When I arrived at the San Fran airport, I was going to get a taxi, to drive me to my hotel. On the way to getting a taxi, someone noticed my t-shirt (my Juno Reactor t-shirt) and asked if I was going to the show later that day. It was a bit weird to me since I didn't think anyone would notice that I had a Juno Reactor shirt on. We chatted a bit before I left to get a taxi to go to my hotel. The live show was on the day that I arrived so I didn't have much time to go sight seeing that day (although I stayed in San Fran for a couple of days more after the live show). I went to the theater pretty early since I wanted to try and get in and see the band but unfortunately they didn't let anyone in early. Since I had a time to kill, I found a Japanese restaurant near by and ate my dinner there. After dinner, I lined up with other Juno Reactor fans. Fortunately, Mikey was already there and he noticed me and told me that we were going to see Ben after the show. There was a pretty good mix of fans at this show. There were many young people (some of those were Sugizo fans) and some older folks as well. People were coming from all over the place (I was from Canada, met someone from Utah).
The venue where the live show was pretty small but it was pretty packed with fans (maybe a hundred or so). The set list and Juno Reactor lineup was pretty much the same as the Fuji Rock show. The lineup consisted of Ben, Taz (vocals), Ghetto Priest (vocals), Amampondo (percussion), Greg Ellis (drums) and Sugizo (guitar). I bought a Juno Reactor poster there (it is now hanging in my computer room, I almost lost it when I was travelling back home). One new song that Juno Reactor performed was "Earthquake in the heart of Rome" (it never was released as a single or in an album). Another song that was performed at the San Fran show and not at the Fuji Rock show was "Inca Steppa". Some of my favourite songs that were performed were Biot Messiah (both Sugizo and Ben were excellent on the guitars), Pistolero (always a favourite live song), and Angels and Men (Taz did an excellent job singing on this one). The absolutely favourite moment that I will remember for as long as I live is when Mabi Thobejane did his drum solo. It was the most incredible performance that I ever saw. It is one thing to be able to see greatness in a video but it is a whole another thing to witness something great live. I wish I could describe what he was able to do but I don't think I can accurately describe what Mabi did.
After the show (it was a pretty long show, I was feeling exhausted but real happy), me and Mikey met Ben backstage. I got my photo taken with Ben and I also got to talk with other members of the band.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
BlizzCon 2017 Idea (Blizzard All-Star)
I have wondered for a long time if something like this next idea I am about to present could be viable. There are many great video gamers around the world but I often ask myself "Who is the greatest video gamer?". Of course, you could just say that whoever wins the world championship of any given game is the greatest video gamer but that is only for one game. If you had to compete in multiple world championships, you would have a better understanding of who the greatest video gamer is. I guess what I am suggesting is to have an "Olympic" style of video game competition, where each video gamer has to compete against each other in several video games. Could this be even possible since there is so many video games that people are competing in right now? Probably not, since it would be almost impossible to play so many different video games that has a competition element to it. But maybe there is a way to do this ...
One video game company that I always follow is Blizzard Entertainment. They make a lot of great video games and I have been playing their games for a very long time. I always try to go to BlizzCon, which is Blizzard's celebration/convention. Recently, with the additions of a few games in the past several years (like Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch) to the 3 older franchises (Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo), Blizzard has now 6 different games for gamers to choose from. Of those 6, 5 of those games are definitely playable for e-sports in mind (with Diablo being the only exception). With those 6 video games, could Blizzard actually make a competition that would answer the question "Who is the best video gamer?"? I think I may have found a way to do this.
In my Blizzard All-Star format, I would pick the best 12 video gamers. The first game that I would choose to do is Overwatch, since it has a perfect 6v6 makeup. The winning team would move on to the next round while the losing team has 2 players voted or removed from competition. Now left with 10 players, the next game I would suggest to do is Heroes of the Storm (it is the best 5v5 game). Teams would be scrambled up again so that players aren't always on the same team. The winners move on, the losing team (once again) loses 2 players. With 8 players left, the players would compete in Diablo 3 (probably a type of 4v4 format). I don't know if Diablo 3 is the best game for players to compete in but with the additions of challenge rifts, it may become viable (if not, they could decide to make a competition that is fairly easy such as "First team to kill the Skeleton King on storymode" or something). Again, the winning team moves on, the losing team has 2 players knocked out. With 6 players left, the video gamers would move onto World of Warcraft. It might be possible to do some 3v3 PvP but there might be gear issues with this (since players would come from different regions). Again, something more simpler might be better (such as speed running from Ironforge to Menethil Harbor as a lvl 1 gnome). Winning team moves on, losing team loses 2 players again. With four players left, StarCraft 2 would be the next game. Players could compete in some kind of 2v2 PvP format. Winning team moves onto the final game: Hearthstone. With the last 2 remaining players, the format should be some kind of brawl instead of using the traditional "bring your own deck" type of format. I think this would be better since not all players in the All-Star challenge will be experts in Hearthstone (and would not have all the cards to build a competing deck).
Overall, I think this is the best way of determining who is the best video gamer. You have many different types of games in this format (first person shooter, moba, action, mmo, real time strategy and a card game). The voting system to kick out the losers probably isn't the greatest (maybe something like a RNG system might be better). I also like this format since even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't give you much of an advantage (well maybe except for StarCraft and Hearthstone). Even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't necessarily mean that your team will win. I think the list of the 12 video gamers that would compete in this might be difficult to determine since I really don't know anybody that plays all 6 of these games at a very high level. I would have the community pick the people they would like to see most (or think who would do the best in this format) from each game (people such as Kripp, Rhykker, Artosis, Day9, TradeChat, etc). If I would ever be chosen to participate in a tournament such as this, I would probably spend my time practicing games like Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft since I play those games the least. A tournament such as this might be too much for BlizzCon because all of the other games (well except for Diablo) are going to have some kind of e-sports tournament for their games at BlizzCon. It might be a better idea to do it at some other convention (such as GamesCon over in Europe). Although this e-sport style of tournament probably won't be happening for a long time, I look forward to the day that it does happen since it will answer the question "Who is the best video gamer".
One video game company that I always follow is Blizzard Entertainment. They make a lot of great video games and I have been playing their games for a very long time. I always try to go to BlizzCon, which is Blizzard's celebration/convention. Recently, with the additions of a few games in the past several years (like Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch) to the 3 older franchises (Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo), Blizzard has now 6 different games for gamers to choose from. Of those 6, 5 of those games are definitely playable for e-sports in mind (with Diablo being the only exception). With those 6 video games, could Blizzard actually make a competition that would answer the question "Who is the best video gamer?"? I think I may have found a way to do this.
In my Blizzard All-Star format, I would pick the best 12 video gamers. The first game that I would choose to do is Overwatch, since it has a perfect 6v6 makeup. The winning team would move on to the next round while the losing team has 2 players voted or removed from competition. Now left with 10 players, the next game I would suggest to do is Heroes of the Storm (it is the best 5v5 game). Teams would be scrambled up again so that players aren't always on the same team. The winners move on, the losing team (once again) loses 2 players. With 8 players left, the players would compete in Diablo 3 (probably a type of 4v4 format). I don't know if Diablo 3 is the best game for players to compete in but with the additions of challenge rifts, it may become viable (if not, they could decide to make a competition that is fairly easy such as "First team to kill the Skeleton King on storymode" or something). Again, the winning team moves on, the losing team has 2 players knocked out. With 6 players left, the video gamers would move onto World of Warcraft. It might be possible to do some 3v3 PvP but there might be gear issues with this (since players would come from different regions). Again, something more simpler might be better (such as speed running from Ironforge to Menethil Harbor as a lvl 1 gnome). Winning team moves on, losing team loses 2 players again. With four players left, StarCraft 2 would be the next game. Players could compete in some kind of 2v2 PvP format. Winning team moves onto the final game: Hearthstone. With the last 2 remaining players, the format should be some kind of brawl instead of using the traditional "bring your own deck" type of format. I think this would be better since not all players in the All-Star challenge will be experts in Hearthstone (and would not have all the cards to build a competing deck).
Overall, I think this is the best way of determining who is the best video gamer. You have many different types of games in this format (first person shooter, moba, action, mmo, real time strategy and a card game). The voting system to kick out the losers probably isn't the greatest (maybe something like a RNG system might be better). I also like this format since even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't give you much of an advantage (well maybe except for StarCraft and Hearthstone). Even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't necessarily mean that your team will win. I think the list of the 12 video gamers that would compete in this might be difficult to determine since I really don't know anybody that plays all 6 of these games at a very high level. I would have the community pick the people they would like to see most (or think who would do the best in this format) from each game (people such as Kripp, Rhykker, Artosis, Day9, TradeChat, etc). If I would ever be chosen to participate in a tournament such as this, I would probably spend my time practicing games like Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft since I play those games the least. A tournament such as this might be too much for BlizzCon because all of the other games (well except for Diablo) are going to have some kind of e-sports tournament for their games at BlizzCon. It might be a better idea to do it at some other convention (such as GamesCon over in Europe). Although this e-sport style of tournament probably won't be happening for a long time, I look forward to the day that it does happen since it will answer the question "Who is the best video gamer".
Sunday, May 7, 2017
My Juno Reactor Live Experience Part 1 (Fuji Rock Festival '07)
In this blog, I want to review my Juno Reactor Live show experience. I have been to 4 Juno Reactor live shows (2 of which were of Ben's DJ show here in Vancouver). The first 2 shows that I went to were of my most favourite live experiences ever. There is nothing like a Juno Reactor live show where all band members are present. The first 2 shows are what I mostly want to cover in this blog post. If you would like to know what happened in the shows in Vancouver, there is already a blog post that covers that experience. You can view it here: http://junoreactors.blogspot.ca/2016/06/juno-reactor-live-show-vancouver-jun-04.html
My first Juno Reactor live show happened at the Fuji Rock festival in Japan on July 29, 2007. I really wanted to go to a Juno Reactor show since I hadn't experienced it yet so I decided that I would try to do anything to attend a show live. My only options were to wait until Juno Reactor would come close to me (in Vancouver or somewhere pretty close) or make a trip to somewhere far away. When I first heard Juno Reactor was going to the Fuji Rock festival in Japan, I was a bit hesitant of going but after getting help from friends in Japan, I decided that I would try to make that trip to Japan and see a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I managed to message Ben to say that I would be coming to Japan to meet his band and that I would like to meet him. Ben wrote me back and told me to contact his Japan manager when I arrived at Fuji Rock (more on this later).
The Fuji Rock Festival takes place at the Naeba Ski resort in Japan, which is in the northwest part of Japan, pretty close to Nagano. It is a 3 day festival, I only went to one day of the Fuji Rock festival so my ticket to get in was cheaper. There are many bands that were performing there, bands like the Chemical Brothers and the Beastie Boys were also performing at the same event (unfortunately I didn't get to see either one). My friend and I took a bus from Osaka to the Fuji Rock festival, which took about 8 hours to get there. We got there about 9am in the morning and had a little bit of time before any of the bands started playing. There were many areas as to where the music were playing. The big main stage was at the Green stage and there were also several other stages. The festival began at about 11am and we saw Soil &"Pimp" Sessions and Fermin Murugurza. Both were pretty entertaining to watch. Later on in the day, we saw a little bit of Mika and Joss Stone. We also ate some pretty delicious food there. We tried to contact Ben's manager but we couldn't get a hold of him. We also visited other areas of the venue and bought some souvenirs (I bought the Audio/Visual Juno Reactor DVD there). I asked if the festival was selling the new Juno Reactor album (the Gods and Monsters album) but it wasn't out yet.
Juno Reactor was the last performance on the White Stage so we went a little bit earlier to see if we could move up in the crowd to see Juno Reactor up close. The band that was playing before Juno Reactor was the Vooredoms. It was a pretty amazing performance, they had a huge guitar-like instrument. The crowd was very rowdy for the Vooredoms show but fortunately for us, most of the crowd left after the Vooredoms show ended (probably to see the Chemical Brothers). We got to the front of the crowd and right in the middle of the stage too. I had a great view of watching Juno Reactor perform and it really blew my mind how awesome they were. I don't think I can really put into words just how amazing Juno Reactor's show was. Juno's band consisted of Ben, Taz Alexander (vocals), Greg Ellis (drums), Sugizo (guitar), Ghetto Priest (vocals) and the Amapondos (South African percussion). I think this lineup really represents the true version of Juno Reactor that I really love (this is also the same lineup that played at the San Francisco show a year later). The track list was the following (I've lost track a bit but I think it is mostly correct): Conquistador 1, Conquistador 2, Biot Messiah, Giant, War Dogs, Insects, Komet, City of the Sinful, Hotaka, Mutant Message, God Is God, Hulelam, Pistolero, Angels of Men, Masters of the Universe (encore). I think this was the first time Sugizo was playing with Juno Reactor, he did a wonderful job even though it was his first show. I had great time watching Greg on the drums and Taz did an incredible performance with her vocals. I wish I got a better view of Mabi but that problem was fixed a year later. I managed to view some footage of that day. You can see it here:
There's something about Juno Reactor's music that instantly gets you dancing to their music. It is the just the right combination of instrument playing, high quality vocals and electronic mixing that makes Juno Reactor the best band (in my opinion). I tried a final time to get Juno's attention but unfortunately I didn't get to meet the band. A couple days later, I got a phone call from Ben saying that his manager had lost his cell phone at Fuji Rock and he was apologetic about it. It was kinda weird because I was staying at my cousin's house and they didn't know that the phone call was for me (my cousins were like there is someone talking English on the phone!?!?). I got to talk with Ben for a few minutes (that was cool). In the end, I really had a great time going to Japan and watching a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I couldn't believe that I was actually watching a Juno Reactor show with so many people (and I think everyone there had a great time also). My friend didn't know any Juno Reactor songs but she also liked their show a lot. Stay tuned for my next blog which will cover the San Francisco show a year later.
My first Juno Reactor live show happened at the Fuji Rock festival in Japan on July 29, 2007. I really wanted to go to a Juno Reactor show since I hadn't experienced it yet so I decided that I would try to do anything to attend a show live. My only options were to wait until Juno Reactor would come close to me (in Vancouver or somewhere pretty close) or make a trip to somewhere far away. When I first heard Juno Reactor was going to the Fuji Rock festival in Japan, I was a bit hesitant of going but after getting help from friends in Japan, I decided that I would try to make that trip to Japan and see a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I managed to message Ben to say that I would be coming to Japan to meet his band and that I would like to meet him. Ben wrote me back and told me to contact his Japan manager when I arrived at Fuji Rock (more on this later).
The Fuji Rock Festival takes place at the Naeba Ski resort in Japan, which is in the northwest part of Japan, pretty close to Nagano. It is a 3 day festival, I only went to one day of the Fuji Rock festival so my ticket to get in was cheaper. There are many bands that were performing there, bands like the Chemical Brothers and the Beastie Boys were also performing at the same event (unfortunately I didn't get to see either one). My friend and I took a bus from Osaka to the Fuji Rock festival, which took about 8 hours to get there. We got there about 9am in the morning and had a little bit of time before any of the bands started playing. There were many areas as to where the music were playing. The big main stage was at the Green stage and there were also several other stages. The festival began at about 11am and we saw Soil &"Pimp" Sessions and Fermin Murugurza. Both were pretty entertaining to watch. Later on in the day, we saw a little bit of Mika and Joss Stone. We also ate some pretty delicious food there. We tried to contact Ben's manager but we couldn't get a hold of him. We also visited other areas of the venue and bought some souvenirs (I bought the Audio/Visual Juno Reactor DVD there). I asked if the festival was selling the new Juno Reactor album (the Gods and Monsters album) but it wasn't out yet.
Juno Reactor was the last performance on the White Stage so we went a little bit earlier to see if we could move up in the crowd to see Juno Reactor up close. The band that was playing before Juno Reactor was the Vooredoms. It was a pretty amazing performance, they had a huge guitar-like instrument. The crowd was very rowdy for the Vooredoms show but fortunately for us, most of the crowd left after the Vooredoms show ended (probably to see the Chemical Brothers). We got to the front of the crowd and right in the middle of the stage too. I had a great view of watching Juno Reactor perform and it really blew my mind how awesome they were. I don't think I can really put into words just how amazing Juno Reactor's show was. Juno's band consisted of Ben, Taz Alexander (vocals), Greg Ellis (drums), Sugizo (guitar), Ghetto Priest (vocals) and the Amapondos (South African percussion). I think this lineup really represents the true version of Juno Reactor that I really love (this is also the same lineup that played at the San Francisco show a year later). The track list was the following (I've lost track a bit but I think it is mostly correct): Conquistador 1, Conquistador 2, Biot Messiah, Giant, War Dogs, Insects, Komet, City of the Sinful, Hotaka, Mutant Message, God Is God, Hulelam, Pistolero, Angels of Men, Masters of the Universe (encore). I think this was the first time Sugizo was playing with Juno Reactor, he did a wonderful job even though it was his first show. I had great time watching Greg on the drums and Taz did an incredible performance with her vocals. I wish I got a better view of Mabi but that problem was fixed a year later. I managed to view some footage of that day. You can see it here:
There's something about Juno Reactor's music that instantly gets you dancing to their music. It is the just the right combination of instrument playing, high quality vocals and electronic mixing that makes Juno Reactor the best band (in my opinion). I tried a final time to get Juno's attention but unfortunately I didn't get to meet the band. A couple days later, I got a phone call from Ben saying that his manager had lost his cell phone at Fuji Rock and he was apologetic about it. It was kinda weird because I was staying at my cousin's house and they didn't know that the phone call was for me (my cousins were like there is someone talking English on the phone!?!?). I got to talk with Ben for a few minutes (that was cool). In the end, I really had a great time going to Japan and watching a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I couldn't believe that I was actually watching a Juno Reactor show with so many people (and I think everyone there had a great time also). My friend didn't know any Juno Reactor songs but she also liked their show a lot. Stay tuned for my next blog which will cover the San Francisco show a year later.
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