Photo: Hiyoshi “JP” Junpei
04 Limited Sazabys held “YON FES 2024” for two days on June 22nd and 23rd at the Aichi Expo Memorial Park (commonly known as Moricoro Park) in their hometown of Aichi Prefecture. This year marks the seventh YON FES since its first event in 2016. YON FES was held every year in April, but this year it moved to June. It was a new discovery that the atmosphere and appearance of the venue changed just by changing the time of the event by two months. For example, rain. This year’s YON FES was baptized by the rainy season because it moved to June. How many times did I check the weather forecast in the days leading up to the event? Four Leaves raised the signal of counterattack with many friends at last year’s YON FES, which was held two years ago after they had had to give up, and achieved a complete revival of the culture of festivals. And now this year’s YON FES. Although the weather was expected to be stormy with thunder and lightning, the event went ahead without any major damage, even though it rained. In fact, the two days of YON FES were filled with so many dramatic events unfolding right before our eyes that the rain was hardly a thing of note.
Photo: Yao Takeshi
On the first day, June 22nd, 04 Limited Sazabys, THE ORAL CIGARETTES, Saba Sister, Saucy Dog, Regal Lily, ROTTENGRAFFTY, KANA-BOON, My Hair is Bad, SHANK, 10-FEET, and ENTH will be performing. THE ORAL CIGARETTES drove the kids crazy with a non-stop head-to-head performance without an MC; Saba Sisters, who took a peace sign with their deadly don’t-tell-me attitude of “I love music”; Saucy Dog, who proved that believing in yourself and the days you’ve spent building up can create great power; Regal Lily, who blew an alternative roar at YON FES by sticking to their own style of rock and roll; ROTTENGRAFFTY, who continues to make golden graffiti ring out in the midst of a recurring life; KANA-BOON, who eagerly waited for Four Leaves’ helping hand and showed their intention to respond with all their might from here on out; My Hair is Bad, who were in attendance every time, showered words and sounds on YON FES from a place beyond the rain clouds and even the sun; and YON A total of 10 bands put on a live performance to pour their feelings into 04 Limited Sazabys, including SHANK, who slammed their dignity as a perfect FES attendee onto the floor, leaving it in a mess, 10-FEET, who are as big as the ocean and as gentle as the waves, and taught us the importance of risking our lives to live, and Nagoya tequila punk posse ENTH, who took over the baton while savoring their bond with Four Leaves.
The final act, Four Leaves, started the concert with an abrupt “Buster Call”. This song is called a “rare song” among fans and is often played at the end of a concert or as an encore. When GEN started to sing this song, Moricoro Park was filled with cheers. Even the rain that had started to fall created a stage. Perhaps today’s miracle amidst the cheers is what they mean.
Photo: Yamada Masahiro
When the riff of “Fiction” rings out, you realize that the mellow world has returned after swallowing the remains of the noisy past. The fact that the aggressive numbers such as “Finder” and “Alien” continue in full swing also seems to represent the current mode of Four Leaves.
Photo: Yamada Masahiro
The past few years of moving forward at a rapid pace, having set ourselves in a good position, have not been wrong. As I listen to “Now here, No where,” I think about how we have come this far, struggling and learning, and while listening to “Cycle,” I repeatedly think about how, once we overcome one obstacle, we can move forward in life, even if it has another obstacle. Each song is from a different time period, but they are all connected, so whenever I see Four Leaves’ songs live, it always feels like one story.
Photo: Yamada Masahiro
It’s strange that seeing “midnight cruising” and “hello” at YON FES feels a little special. Music is interesting because the falling rain feels like a meteor shower that has broken through the atmosphere. The sing-along of “hello” experienced at YON FES is also special for some reason. The performers are all different in style and age, and I don’t know where the people who gather at YON FES live or what they do on a daily basis, but we all have one thing in common: YON FES.
Photo: Hiyoshi “JP” Junpei
We receive nourishment from Four Leaves and give nourishment back to Four Leaves, and that’s how we live together. We met on a journey colored by melodies, and we move forward, imagining tomorrow in an untouched future. I think that the reason GEN talked about his sudden hearing loss in 2019 on stage at YON FES was because he trusted his friends who lived through the same era. I think that music is a light that embraces and gently heals wounds, but I think that the reason GEN talked about himself on stage at this time is because he is confident that he will continue to live vividly, swallowing the pain and using the wounds as the flavor of life, in other words, to continue singing. The first day of YON FES ended with an explosion of initial impulse with “Remember” and “758”.
On the second day of YON FES, June 23rd, 04 Limited Sazabys, Crossfaith, Push Pull Pot, go!go!vanillas, Chill Beans., ORANGE RANGE, YOUR SONG IS GOOD, Haruka Mirai, KOTORI, SiM, and FOMARE appeared. DAY.2 began with KEYTALK’s Takemasa Ono, who is also known as the “professional introductory speaker,” appearing on stage with a “Pei Pei Pei!” and announcing the opening of the show together with Four Leaves.
Crossfaith, who went from fast to heavy with a monolithic transition with GEN FOUR-LEAVES intrusion, did whatever they wanted from the very start of the morning, Push Pull Pot, who showed with their smiles that laughing like idiots with music can save your life, go! go! vanillas, who shot through the heart with an invincible, stimulating rock and roll circus, Chill Beans, who took everything off and dominated the atmosphere with a super groovy Shaki La La, ORANGE RANGE, who dragged down the naughty sun that wouldn’t let them say “It’s nice, it’s a sunny day!” and got into a sprint with Morikoro Honey, and YOUR SONG IS, who welcomed GEN FOUR-LEAVES and turned the pouring Morikoro Park into a tropical paradise. GOOD, Haruka Mirai, who completely affirmed the day by saying that the rain is a blessing for the flowers to bloom, KOTORI, who testified with their stage performance that in this wonderful world, the best times come again and again, the playful devil SiM, who made the hellish scene into a real hell with an intrusion by Crossfaith’s Koie, and FOMARE, who sang about their loved ones and places now that their normal everyday lives have returned, and 04 Limited Sazabys appeared on the SKY STAGE after passionate performances from a total of 10 bands.
Photo: Hiyoshi “JP” Junpei
I was prepared for YON FES in the midst of thunder and heavy rain, but YON FES and Four Leaves are the ones who make miracles happen. Of course, Four Leaves are the final act on the second day. Looking out over Moricoro Park while listening to “Milestone”. This is the 7th YON FES at this venue. Over the past few years, especially since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve started to feel like “I’m back”. The image I saw in the pain of monochrome is now so clear that I can touch it with my hand. It’s interesting because when “Message”, which promises to come back, explodes, it feels like the whole of Moricoro Park is happy. As “fade” and “knife” follow, I realize that our daily lives, which had almost stopped back then, are throbbing again. We, the live house, and YON FES have already been moving for a long time.
Photo: Hiyoshi “JP” Junpei
I want to create my own fiction. I think the words GEN sings in “Kitchen” are everything that happens at YON FES. The rain isn’t so bad because it makes me want to swim in front of the fiction that Four Leaves created. I think it’s the strength of our absolute “My HERO” that makes me feel that way. YON FES is a place where the scenery that we have endured and overcome unfolds before our eyes. When you open the drawer at the back of the attic, you’ll see that the secret base spreads out before you. When “Galapagos II” and “Galapagos” are performed, my heart beats directly through my senses, and I reaffirm, again by a direct route to my senses, that I come to YON FES every year because I want to be curious and go on an adventure. Four Leaves left the stage after performing “Honey” and “Squall,” songs that appeal more directly to my emotions when heard in today’s situation. The new song they performed in the encore has not yet been titled, but while listening to it, the faces of people I can no longer meet came to mind. “Oh, so that was the last time,” I think the more I think about it the older I get. But humans are forgetful creatures, so we forget and sometimes remember, and that’s how we live each irreplaceable moment. I think that’s the message that was put into this new song. That’s how we swim through life.
Photo: Hiyoshi “JP” Junpei
RYU-TA shouted, “If you add two pieces together, you get YON!” and the words pierced my heart like an incredibly positive arrow. With hands still tightly connected, YON FES 2024 came to a grand finale with “swim.” The forecast predicted that the event would take place in heavy rain, but in the end, the rain didn’t bother me one bit. If you think about it, anything can happen. It wasn’t that a miracle happened, but rather that YON FES created a miracle. That’s the kind of magic that exists in music, in Four Leaves.
Photo: Hiyoshi “JP” Junpei
