Summer Sonic began in 2000 with two stages, 29 musical acts and more than 15,000 attendees. Twenty-five years later, its creator is expecting between 300,000 and 330,000 people at the event’s three-day anniversary edition.?
“Since we had Green Day as a headliner, it was totally full,” recalls Naoki Shimizu, president of Creativeman Productions, of the inaugural event held at Fuji-Q Highland amusement park. One thing he learned from running a summer music festival? Book a bigger venue.?
More stages were added the following year, and for its 25th edition, Summer Sonic will once again be held concurrently in Chiba and Osaka —?the festival’s two homes since 2001 — with a total of 199 artists performing over the course of the weekend.?
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