The first outdoor festival was held in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, attracting 40,000 people.
THIS FES '24 in Sagamihara
THIS FES '24 in Sagamihara, an outdoor festival organized by [Alexandros], was held for the first time on the last weekend of October in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. Sagamihara is the hometown of Yohei Kawakami, vocalist and guitarist, and Shinki Shirai, guitarist. We want to invite the best artists to Sagamihara, our hometown, and hold the best festival. THIS FES was the realization of [Alexandros]'s desire to bring the best artists to Sagamihara, their hometown, and to let many people feel the atmosphere of Sagamihara, where they grew up.
THIS FES '24 in Sagamihara
When the event was announced, Kawakami made the following comment.
I was surprised at how the atmosphere of the customers changed depending on where they went. I was impressed by the strength of the "local love" of the people who live there. It was especially refreshing when I participated in festivals organized by artists in my hometown. Seeing the way they invited so many artists to their hometowns and enlivened their hometowns awakened something in me that had not been there before. Perhaps that is what "love for one's hometown" means.
The love for their hometown grew and grew through their sound journey. Finally, in 2024, the 15th anniversary of [Alexandros]'s debut, they organized a festival in Sagamihara, their hometown. On the first day, GLAY, go! go! vanillas, Maximum The Hormone, PEOPLE 1, Saucy Dog, and Vansire, who came to Japan for the first time from the U.S. On the second day, Kroi, MAN WITH A MISSION, Sumika, WurtS, WANIMA, 04 Limited Sazabys. 7 artists including [Alexandros] in each case.
Although there was only one stage, and the number of artists performing was small compared to festivals that attract tens of thousands of people, the lineup was as impressive as that of big festivals. The 20,000 tickets for both days were sold out.
The main venue was Guion Field. The adjacent Guion Stadium was the stadium where the stands were also set up, and was the main venue for merchandise sales this time. Doors opened at 9:00 and the show ended at 19:30. Spending a long day at an outdoor festival requires a place to rest and relax, and the spectator stands toward the stadium were opened so that people could take a break and have a meal there.
Even though the field is a stadium, it is surrounded by forest, giving it the feel of an outdoor festival held near nature. It could be said that the festival was like adding the best parts of an urban festival and an outdoor festival and dividing them by two.
THIS FES '24 in Sagamihara
