Summer Sonic 2020: When, where and how to watch Green Day, Rihanna and Nine Inch Nails put on their best acts
The Summer Sonic 2020 Festival is set to go as a virtual walk down memory lane after the event ran into complications owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The two-day event will now air live online and will be free of charges. It will feature archive performances from past Summer Sonic festivals. The Summer Sonic Festival is a two or three-day rock festival held annually at the same time in two Japanese cities: Osaka and Chiba, with the majority of the bands that play in Osaka on Day 1 going on to play at Chiba the following day and vice versa.
The lineup generally features a wide range of international as well as local acts including Japanese rock musicians as well as indie artistes in addition to some top acts. The festival was originally founded in 2000 and featured bands like Coldplay, 311, Arrested Development, At the Drive-In, Ben Folds Five, and more. It also originally included an EDM section that was later separated and reintroduced as the Sonicmania festival in 2011. In 2017, the festival was also expanded to Shanghai, China.
The 2020 iteration of the festival is set to be held in September, but according to the Naoki Shimizu, the founder of the festival, they are still working towards creating a safe environment that would allow for it to take place. In the meantime, all other summer music festivals in Japan remain canceled. But Summer Sonic isn't letting that get in their way, and have decided to have a virtual festival featuring some of their top performances from previous festivals as they continue to prepare for their upcoming live festival. Here's everything you need to know about the live streaming event.
When
On Thursday, July 23, the Summer Sonic performances will be available for streaming, for 24 hours only beginning at 8 pm JST / 4 am PT / 7 am ET.
Line-up and Performances
Summer Sonic will stream legendary archive live performances over both days of the virtual festival. Day 1 (Wednesday, July 22) of the streaming event will feature performances from Oasis, The Flaming Lips, Coldplay, Sigur Ros, Boom Boom Satellites, Sonic Youth, and Japanese act B'z. Day 2 (Thursday, July 23) of the event will present epic sets from Green Day (2012), Nine Inch Nails (2009), Rihanna (2012), The Prodigy (2008), and X JAPAN (2011). X JAPAN’s appearance at Summer Sonic was part of the group’s world tour which took them to Asia, Europe, South America, and culminated in New York at Madison Square Garden.
Trailer
The Japanese trailer for Summer Sonic 2020 shared that the event is a way for the show's organizers to thank fans who have continued to show their support for the festival despite it being canceled for the year. It also expressed gratitude towards the headlining acts for their support over the years and added that the festival will soon launch a crowdfunding initiative in order to be able to resume activities next year. Earlier this year in June, Summer Sonic also offered their loyal fans a few limited edition performances to view online, each with a 24-hour limit, including Summer Sonic videos from BTS, Linkin Park, Metallica, The 1975, Radiohead, and more.
Where to Stream
Tune in on July 22 and 23 to watch the Summer Sonic festival performances for free via the Summer Sonic YouTube channel. You can also follow Summer Sonic via Instagram for further updates.
