Damiano David, vocalist for the Italian rock band Maneskin, stared out at the packed crowd at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba on Saturday night, sweat dripping down his face, and declared, “I think this is the hottest show we’ve ever done.”
True, Japanese summers can be punishing, but despite the mercury pushing past 30 degrees Celsius that night, David and the other three members of Maneskin ripped through a high-energy set: They dashed out onto the catwalk, raced across the breadth of the stage and, at one point, guitarist Thomas Raggi delivered a solo while crowd-surfing.
The conditions summed up this year’s Summer Sonic more broadly. Held concurrently in Tokyo (well, Chiba) and Osaka on Aug. 17 and 18, the music festival unfolded amid scorching temperatures. “It feels like a sauna,” remarked multiple people in the line to get into the stadium on Saturday morning.