Rainbow 2000.
Rainbow 2000 is a yearly event in Japan. Touted as the biggest outdoor rave event on the Home Islands it was a must-go for the hardcore amongst us. Who are the Hardcore ?? - Well me (of course), Steve B, Emer and Sean - although Sean did try to wriggle out of going - calling him gay about 2000 times soon sorted that problem out though. A lot of the Niijima crowd had left Japan at this stage unfortunately and amongst those that were left Steve Mc and Ollie both decided to be gay so we needed new personnel. Tom and Glyn were both happy to come on board. They'd heard the stories about Niijima and were hoping for more of the same. The rest of the crew was made up of Steve Bs friend - Ruth, and Liam who came aboard at the 11th hour.
The rave was being held at Hakusan in Kanazawa-ken up in the Japanese Alps, which was a real pain in the ass as we had to somehow make our way right across the country to get there. In the end it was decided that a hired car would be the most efficent means of transport - it probably was but the little runt of a car that the car rental crowd pushed us into taking meant that driving definately wasn't the most comfortable way of getting there.
Anyway Friday night we headed off with Tom "Villeneuve" McGrath behind the wheel. Whoever taught Tom how to drive should be shot - he averaged around 160kmph over about 10 hours driving across the country and hit a peak of 180 on the way back - I was asleep at that stage Thank God. Apart from being in a state of total terror though for the duration of the journey there was no other problems. Myself, Emer and Sean sitting down the back decided to see if some shrooms would add to the journey while we were leaving Tokyo and they made a great difference although Toms driving definately made it a bit tense ..........
We made it as far as Hikone beside Lake Beewaco for the first leg of the trip - arriving at about 5.00am on Saturday morning. Hakusan was only about 4 hours drive from Hikone so the plan was to get some kip there, relax for the day and take off for the rave around four or five in the afternoon. We camped in the same spot that myself and Steve fondly remembered from our Golden Week trip - had a nice kip and relaxed until around 4.00 on Saturday afternoon. Then it was off again towards Kanazawa - about another 3 hours driving. We hit the mountains at around 7 and after much frustration finally hit on the right path up to where the Rainbow festival was happenin'. It was much bigger than the Niijima Event and looked a lot more organised with carparks, and cable cars going up to the 'solarium' and God know what else but we weren't complaining. The field the rave was in is actually a ski resort in the winter, and the slope itself was reserved for camping - it made a cool view in the darkness - all the lights from thousands of tents all the way up the mountain. First step was to stick the tents up. We probably wouldn't need them but they would be a handy reference point for anyone who got lost and we could chuck our bags in them.
The whole resort had been organised into a semi-town. The main field had a huge plastic dome where the DJ's did their stuff, and the area in front of the dome was the dancefloor. Off to the side was a big long line of stalls selling everything from magic mushrooms to T-shirts to doner-kebabs, and down towards the carpark was another dance floor playing shite music for anyone who was into that.
We spent the early hours just chilling out around the stalls drinking beer. Steve decided that the time was ripe to go ganja hunting so off he went up into the forest of tents on the ski slope. He arrived back about an hour later as drunk as a skunk with these two Japanese boys who were paralytic. Apparently he had got up as far as the top of the slope and there was a little tent up there where the locals were making their own brand of poitin. He'd asked them if they had any ganja for sale, and they went "huuhh ??" and started giving him loads of this local brew with the result that he practically fell down the mountain an hour later with two of the boys in tow. The reason he came down was that he wanted some empty bottles so that he could bring down some of this brew to the rest of us. I went up with him the second time, and man it was crazy up there - everyone was trollied, and that stuff was completely savage. The view down over the whole rave was cool though.
As we were coming down the mountain though we felt the first drops of rain - now that was complete shite. The last thing you need at an outdoor rave is rain. I know some people might enjoy the rain or whatever but I definately don't. It was around 2.00am in the morning at this stage and we hadn't been dancing yet - well Tom and Liam had but the rest of us were saving ourselves for the climax at about 4.00am. Sean had headed to bed. He wasn't feeling so good so he went to the tent to try and get some sleep - some hope. He was telling us next morning that someone set up a big sound system right next to the tent and and that it was blaring music all night - so he didn't get any sleep. The rest of us decided to hit the dancefloor in spite of the rain, but the combination of lashing rain and mud was too much for me and I retreated to shelter. No-one else was too bothered though. Emer, Steve, Ruth and Liam stayed at the main dancefloor, and Glyn retreated down to the second area where the shite music was. It also had concrete instead of mud though, which was a big plus. I'm not sure where the hell Tom ended up that night. He'd been dancing all night with Liam, and Liam joined us after a while but God knows where Tom was. Anyway that was the pattern for the night. It would stop raining now and again and I'd wander cautiously towards the dance-area, but the minute it started again I'd be sprinting back to the shelter. At one stage someones tent went on fire. I was sitting in the shelter when all of a sudden everyone started running around the place like headless chickens. I was wondering what was going on until I saw the spire of smoke and sparks coming from the farside of the big dome. - I wonder how whoever managed to put a tent on fire in that weather !!!.
The weather that night was disasterous but next day it was exceptionally nice. The mountains were shrouded in streamers of mist and they looked really spectacular. Sean got some great pictures but unfortunately no-one has a scanner so I can't show them here. We had to head back to Tokyo on the Sunday. This wasn't a long weekend event like the Niijima gig - just one allnighter.
So - Back again to Tokyo. Another 10+ hours crushed into that tiny van. The journey went grand. Tom really put the boot down but it still took absolutely ages. We left Tom off at Fuji where he lives, and Ruth took over the wheel for the last leg into Tokyo. The traffic on the last leg into Shibuya was crazy, and to top it all we were subjected to an absolutely ferocious thunderstorm while stuck in traffic. We made it eventually though.
It was a good weekend, but it didn't compare with Niijima. We probably expected a bit too much from it, and I know I was a little disappointed by how it eventually turned out with the weather, but we all enjoyed ourselves anyway and thats the main thing.
