International News: Live From Fuji Rock; Afterpay Arena Launches In Sydney & More

ASIA

by Phil Brasor

JAPAN

Fuji Rock Makes Waves

Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, the oldest international music festival in Asia, reasserted its prominence with its 29th edition by posting its best results of the decade. Last year, the festival regained its pre-pandemic attendance numbers by selling out all its three-day passes as well as one-day passes for Saturday night. The 2026 edition did the same, but, according to the festival organizer Smash Corp., exceeded last year’s attendance by 1,500 to welcome 123,500 people for the weekend of July 24 to 26 as well as the free prefest party on July 23. 

As in 2025, Saturday was the most heavily attended day owing to a powerhouse Japanese act. Last year, the 72-year-old architect of the 1970s “city pop” genre, Tatsuro Yamashita, played a rare full-length concert set as the penultimate act on the main Green Stage on Saturday, prompting a rush on tickets from Yamashita’s huge boomer fan base. This year that slot was occupied by current pop heartthrob Kaze Fujii, whose fans represent an even wider span of generations. Fujii, a musical prodigy who was groomed as a classical pianist and spent years in the U.S. perfecting his jazz and R&B skills, is also very popular in Asia and was another reason for the large turnout of music tourists from China, Southeast Asia and Taiwan, many of whom brought their families. The reason Fujii wasn’t the headliner on Saturday, a slot given over to the Houston power trio Khruangbin, was likely, as with Yamashita, a courtesy to his fans, many of whom were only coming up to the mountains of Niigata Prefecture—a 75-minute express train ride from Tokyo—for the day and may have wanted to get home that night. 

Fortunately, they had good weather. Though the Naeba Ski Resort, where Fuji has been held since its third year in 1999, tends to get damp in the summertime, there was no rain on Friday and on Saturday it only rained in the early morning. Sunday there was drizzle on-and-off. 

As with other international-oriented rock festivals in Japan, more and more Japanese artists are being booked at Fuji every year in order to attract a younger Japanese demographic as Fuji’s older regulars retire from concert-going, with many of these acts like Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Never Young Beach and Sunny Day Service, headlining some of the bigger stages. 

The other two headliners on the Green Stage were The xx on Friday night and on Sunday, Massive Attack, making their first appearance at the festival since 2010 by launching their current Asia-Pacific tour with a highly visual show engineered specifically for the region. The veteran Bristol trip-hop collective presented a highly politicized concert centered on the continuing scourge of colonialsm and the coming threat of technocrat domination represented by artificial intelligence. The band’s commentary was translated into Japanese and projected on back screens against provocative news-related images. The other big political-themed act of the weekend, the Northern Ireland rap group Kneecap, kept up a constant barrage of anti-Israel invective (reinforced by lots of Palestinian flags in the crowd) in Irish and antiwar chants in Japanese that were happily mimicked by the audience.

Another musical highlight of the weekend was the apperance of the two-piece instrumental avant-rock group from Montreal Angine de Poitrine, who attracted a packed shoulder-to-shoulder crowd on Sunday night at the Field of Heaven. When the band was originally scheduled they were shunted to the smaller Red Marquee stage on Sunday morning, a time usually reserved for unknown newcomers. The promoters came to their senses about two weeks before the festival and moved them to a more reasonable time and place. In addition, Tom Rowland, half of Fuji regulars the Chemical Brothers, was on hand with the Norwegian pop singer Aurora with their Tomora project, which headlined the White Stage Saturday night. He did a “surprise” DJ performace after midnight on Saturday at a tiny stage in back of a restaurant at the Oasis food court. Pre-performance word-of-mouth made sure the area was already a mass of humanity by the time he came on. And then there was Turnstile, who played the Green Stage on Friday afternoon. The Baltimore hardcore quintet appeared at Fuji two years ago, but at a smaller stage on Sunday night. This year they attracted a capacity crowd who had obviously been turned on to their music in the meantime and quickly formed three mosh pits in front of the stage. The cameras stayed on the audience rather than the group, since that’s where the action, as well as the raw emotion, was most apparent.

The festival also brought back its cinema night feature and revamped the stage for the Orange Food Court, which is located at the far northeast end of the festival. Until the mid-2010s, the Orange Court hosted its own stage for mid-tier acts but was discontinued due to costs and logistics. This year the stage, now dubbed Orange Echo, was revived at a more modest size and hosted a number of bands from Asia, including three Korean acts, as well as several electronic-based Japanese groups like the veteran electro-rock quartet Buffalo Daughter. 

KOREA

Big Four, Korea Government Team Up For 11-Day Festival

The Korea Herald reports that Korea’s Presidential Committee on Popular Cultural Exchange has announced it is co-sponsoring a music event called Fanomenon for 11 days in December 2027 at two venues. The co-chairs of the committee, Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young and entertainment agency JYP Entertainment founder J.Y. Park, said that they chose the title of the event in order to stress that K-pop fans would be “partners” in this attempt to spread Korean culture rather than merely consumers of it. 

Korean media is characterizing the event as the Korean answer to Coachella and Lollapalooza. The concerts will take place partly at the new Seoul Arena for six days spread against two weekends, capped by an awards ceremony. Another related festival will be held at the Ilsan Kintex, which is located in a suburb of Seoul. Besides K-pop, the festival will also take in Korean jazz, EDM, rock, R&B, hip-hop and traditional Korean music. During the week, there will also be fan meetings, production presentations, screenings, esports tournaments and business forums. 

The organizers are hoping for 520,000 visitors to the event, including 200,000 from abroad, and expect an economic impact of $680 million as a result. Private companies will handle programming, production and promotion, while the government will lend support to smaller K-culture companies, promote inbound tourism and take care of immigration and safety matters. All the major K-pop agencies are involved in the project, which they hope to expand to other Korean cities in the future. In line with the plan, companies will work with the government to streamline concert logistics for the future, including customs, certification and movement of staff and material. 

AUSTRALASIA

by Christie Eliezer

AUSTRALIA

Afterpay Arena Officially Launches

Owner TEG Live and operator Legends Global launched Sydney’s Afterpay Arena – previously Qudos Bank Arena for 10 years – with a gala event July 23.

 It included a ribbon-cutting exercise with Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen, federal shadow assistant minister for the digital economy Simon Kennedy, Afterpay VP APAC Mike Ryan and Legends Global COO (Asia Pacific and Middle East) Peter Loxton.

After the five year deal was announced in May, the venue underwent interior redesign and technology integration. It included new hospitality spaces, venue-wide wayfinding and one of the world’s largest transparent holographic LED installations.

Afterpay offers arena customers the option of tickets over four payments, as well as for drinks, food and merchandise powered by 150 Square Registers and 65 Square Handheld devices.

“By working closely with Afterpay we improve the fan experience along multiple touchpoints,” said Loxton. “That’s exactly the kind of engaged partner we want beside us for the next five years.”

Afterpay says 94% of event-goers miss them due to upfront payment barriers, 58% would attend with flexible payment options, and 74% would spend more at venues that offer payment choice.

LONGHAUL Added To Country Festival List

TEG Live launches its new country division Longhaul Touring, with the inaugural summer LONGHAUL staging in January at Melbourne Showgrounds (22), Sydney Showground (23) and Brisbane RNA Showgrounds (24).

Headliners Kane Brown and Kacey Musgraves are exclusive, as are international names Charles Wesley Godwin, Margo Price, Maddox Batson, Ava Hall and James Barker Band.

Tim McGregor, global head of touring at TEG Live, said the concept was in the works “for a number of years” and Longhaul Touring had more projects imminent.

Meantime, the Gold Coast’s free Groundwater, which drew a record 60,000 last year to catch country music in a beach setting, returns Oct 16 to 18 headed by Kasey Chambers, 

Local acts Wolfe Brothers, Hayley Jensen, Lane Pittman, Tyla Rodrigues, James Blundell and Beccy Cole are joined by New Zealand’s Kaylee Bell, Canada’s Ruth Moody and Josh Stumpf, and Texas honky tonk musician Jake Penrod.

Festival director Mark Duckworth said, “We continue to be inspired by the rise of country music in Australia.”

Queer Nightclub In Church Ousted By Backlash

A new Sydney queer nightclub Divine Playhouse in a 158-year-old deconsecrated church, was evicted a week after by outraged Christian groups using an obscure 1842 law.

The law prohibits companies “engaging in offensive trade” in churches, introduced in fact to prevent firms as abattoirs emitting “foul smelling industrial waste.”

Activists argued the club’s programming was “provocatively anti-Christian.”

NEW ZEALAND

Rhythm & Vines Relocating In 2027

After 24 years of becoming the first music festival in the world to welcome the new year with up to 15,000, Rhythm & Vines is moving.

Promoter Kieran Spillane revealed 2026 would be its last in the North Island coastal town of Gisborne and the 700,000 sq.m Waiohika Estate.

“We want to make sure we give Gisborne and Waiohika Estate the send-off it truly deserves – and we believe that this year’s lineup (to be revealed shortly) will deliver just that.”

No reason was given for the move, but changing audience behaviour and the distance to travel to Gisborne have been suggested.

From Auckland, it’s up to seven hours by road and an hour by plane.

Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz said R&V’s move would be a loss of NZ$3 million to $5 million ($1.73 million to $2.89 million) a year to the city, and suggested another festival promoter could enter the space.