The first lineup for Japan’s 2016 Fuji Rock Festival has just been unveiled, sparking chatter about which acts we might be destined to see appear on the bill for Australia’s very own Splendour In The Grass.
Fuji Rock traditionally shares a number of acts with SITG, with last year seeing a good seven artists make the Asia-Pacific trek to perform at both festivals (Royal Blood, Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, Johnny Marr, The Vaccines, The Districts and Kitty, Daisy & Lewis), not including Catfish & The Bottlemen, who were announced on both lineups before having to cancel their tour plans due to illness.
In 2014, the two blockbuster music events also shared a solid handful of acts, including headliners Outkast and Lily Allen, plus First Aid Kit, Foster the People, Jungle, Kelis, The Strypes and London Grammar (who also ended up having to cancel on both).
So this year’s Fuji Rock lineup drop means we can officially fire up the Splendour rumour mill once again.
And going off this first announcement, we could be seeing the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sigur Ros and Disclosure gracing the stage at SITG2016.
Other acts featured on the lineup for this year’s Fuji Rock so far (which also happens to be the festival’s 20th anniversary edition) include Jake Bugg, Leon Bridges, Jack Garrett, Kula Shaker and classical shredders 2Cellos, plus Aussies Courtney Barnett and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, not to mention two acts who are currently Down Under as part of the Laneway festival tour: The Internet and Battles.
The three-day Fuji Rock festival usually attracts between 100,000-120,000 punters and is scheduled to run from July 22nd-24th (the same weekend as Splendour).
Check out the full lineup for Fuji Rock 2016 (so far) below, and if tradition is anything to go by, we should be seeing a good half-dozen of these guys at this year’s Splendour In The Grass (although even more acts are set to be announced soon).
Meanwhile, these bunch of acts have likely been ruled out of SITG2016.
And the question of whether we might see national treasure Shannon Noll feature on this year’s lineup remains to be answered.
Fuji Rock 2016 Lineup (So Far)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Sigur Ros
Disclosure
Battles
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Con Brio
Courtney Barnett
DJ Harvey
Ernest Ranglin
G. Love and Special Sauce
The Internet
Jack Garratt
Jake Bugg
Kamasi Washington
Kula Shaker
Leon Bridges
Mura Masa
Oliver Heldens
The Robert Glasper Experiment
Squarepusher
2 Cellos
