The Thursday night free-admission pre-fest party, where Railroad Earth, Ratatat, and Australia’s The Space Cowboy performed, saw its biggest crowd ever. Last minute no-shows included The Durutti Column (illness), Fishbone (visa issues), and Damien Rice (illness).

During the festival weekend, the rest of Japan was caught up in politics, as there was an important Upper House election taking place on Sunday. No news of the election made it into the festival, where newspapers and broadcast TV are as rare as a Guns N’ Roses album.

However, the recent earthquake in nearby Kashiwazaki was still on many festivalgoers minds and the promoters organized a charity campaign to collect money for survivors.The weather was close to perfect: sunny and hot on Friday, cloudy and cool on Saturday and Sunday with a few brief interludes of mountain drizzle. Luck is everything: it started pouring Monday morning and continued to pour all day long.

There were no reports of serious illness or injury, though Iggy Pop is said to have nearly broken his neck when he fell during the melee that always results when he invites audience members up on the stage during his show.

Beastie Boys won the honor of best-selling t-shirt, Jarvis Cocker was seen wandering the site with his young son on his shoulders, and Jonathan Richman played three very well-received sets on three different stages.

The Cure made its first Japan appearance in 23 years by performing for well over two hours, with two encores. A petition was immediately circulated to have them come back again next year or, at least, sooner than 23 years from now.