It was clear on the second day of Summer Sonic that this year's event belonged to the evening's headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers. A casual stroll around Chiba's Makuhari Messe complex revealed a noticeable uptick from the day before in the number of shirtless dudes sporting tribal-band tattoos.
Despite featuring artists from various genres and countries, the Chiba leg of this year's festival appeared dominated by fans of the Los Angeles group. Many attendees who were wearing band shirts donned Chili Peppers ones. The festival — along with the Osaka leg occurring simultaneously — sold out their 60,000 tickets for each day. Yet, save for huge turnouts for Japanese acts and a few other established artists, most of the punters at the festival said they were just waiting for the headliners.
The Chili Peppers' headlining set at QVC Marine Field (the Marine Stage) on Sunday night was so packed that fans were forced to stand in the aisles when all the seats were taken. The crowd erupted in applause when the quartet appeared and launched into their 2006 single "By the Way," and from there the audience went wild for everything — from big hits "Under the Bridge" and "Dani California" to obscure cuts such as "I Like Dirt."