W hen & Where: Summer Sonic takes place Aug. 12-13 at Chiba Marine Stadium, Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture; and WTC Open Air Stadium, Osaka Intex and Zepp Tokyo in Osaka. Shows begin at 11 a.m. on both days. The lineups on Saturday switch cities on Sunday.
Vibe: Concrete to the max. In Chiba you've got the main acts playing in a baseball stadium and four separate stages boxed together in a convention center. However, there is a Beach Stage on Tokyo Bay and a Dance Tent. Osaka is similar, except there's no beach.
Crowd: Under-30s, non-hippies, lots of couples.