One Ok Taka, Summer Sonic “Voice Provocation” Controversy “This is our way” “If you don’t like it, why don’t you try reducing the number of times you breathe?”: J-CAST News[Full text]

At the rock festival “SUMMER SONIC 2022” held from August 20th to 21st, 2022, the vocalist of the rock band “ONE OK ROCK”, Taka, was on stage as an MC, stirring up the audience’s voices. This has caused controversy among music fans.

“I’ll apologize, so if you get angry at the end”

ONE OK ROCK will perform at the Osaka performance on the 20th and the Tokyo (Chiba) performance on the 21st. Filming of the stage is prohibited, but several videos that appear to have been filmed by spectators have been circulating online. In the video, you can see Taka yelling at a large audience and the audience raising their voices during a call-and-response.

During the MC, Taka said, “Even the previous artist Megan (MEGAN THEE STALLION) was voicing that much, so it doesn’t matter how much you put out.”

“Before this summer festival, I made a declaration that I was prepared to be banned from every festival, so prepare yourself! Make the best memories of your summer and go home! I look forward to working with you.”

There was also a scene where Taka shouted, “I can’t hear you! More!”

On June 23rd, Taka announced that he would “inflame” the audience at the rock festival he will appear in this summer in his Instagram live stream. Although it was strictly forbidden to speak out in the venue, he expressed his dissatisfaction, saying, “I want to go to a live show after a long time. He said that he decided to incite the vocalization, saying, “I want to do a fun live and a fun summer festival.”

“The audience is supposed to be prohibited from speaking out, so I don’t think I would say this while there are quite a few people who are resistant.”
“I can understand the desire to change the restrictions on Japanese festivals, which are still unspeakable, and I want to support them, but that should not be a good reason to break the rules that festivals are currently making.”
“Summer Sonic’s one-oct is terrible. There was no ban on singing, moshing, filming, etc. It was such a moment to completely clear the blank of three and a half years.”
“Other artists were voicing, so we should speak up when we do, or if you get yelled at later, apologize, or if you’re worried, reduce your breathing.