A warm summer evening gave way to a hot summer night in Taipei as miaou, 10-FEET and Boom Boom Satellites rocked festival goers.
FORMOZ festival is a grassroots music event that promotes mainly underground bands. Since 1995, FORMOZ has been held in Taiwan every summer and has become the height of the summertime music season. This year, the festival lasted from July 25 to July 27 and included over sixty bands.
For three days, the outdoor festival took over Taipei's Children's Recreational Center and turned it into a mecca for music lovers. Other than Taiwanese bands, bands from all over the world were invited to play, including artists from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States. Though the bands all had different styles, they did have one thing in common: they all came to FORMOZ to rock.
On July 26, just as the sun was setting, miaou took up their instruments on the Mountain stage. With the cityscape of Taipei behind them and a dome of lights overhead, their dreamy music completed the relaxed evening atmosphere. The instrumental band from Tokyo featured Hamasaki Tatsuki on guitar, sisters Hasegawa Mayumi on bass and Hasegawa Hiromi on drums, as well as two live-only members: Kurokawa Naruki and Hashimoto Yoichiro.
Some fans were content to stand and sway while others sat and nodded along to the beat, but everyone enjoyed miaou's deep, mystical rock sound. Hasegawa Mayumi, who gave her all during the last song, shared the sentiment and ended their set looking worn out, but happy.
Over on the Wind stage, Taiwanese band Fire E.X. (滅火器) was finishing up. Their rough yet melodic rock had the crowd pumped, so the mood was still high as Japanese band 10-FEET took the stage. The three members of the band, Takuma (guitar), Naoki (vocals) and Kouichi (drums) entered with a heroic sounding theme song playing in the background, much to everyone's amusement. They met at the drum stand for a quick rallying cry, then took their places and proceeded to drive the crowd wild.
The music was a blend of reggae, hip-hop, grunge, punk and pop, all blended expertly with a rock and roll foundation. Naoki encouraged the energetic audience to jump, going as far as asking everyone to sit down first before jumping as high as they could, and instructed them to do the wave. He also made everyone scream by throwing out some well-timed phrases in Chinese. During RIVER, Naoki even changed up some of the lyrics to include a mention of Taipei's "beautiful Danshui River."
The atmosphere was electric, made more so by the spastic flashing lights that accompanied the band, and even those who remained seated couldn't help headbanging a little. By the end of the set, everyone was exhausted but satisfied.
After a twenty minute break, Boom Boom Satellites turned the Wind stage into a rave. Made up of Nakano Masayuki (programming, bass) and Kawashima Michiyuki (vocals, guitar), the duo created an intense storm of sound. Their heavy, trance-like rock washed through the crowd, and the pulsing beat had everyone moving in time under the blue lights. The band members were completely hyper, feeding off the energy of the crowd and running wild all over the stage. Even as it began to rain, Boom Boom Satellites managed to hold on for a grand finish.
