I consider myself pretty lucky, gig-wise. I've been to some gigs that go down in Aussie folklore – seeing the Rolling Stones when I was 10 years old, being at Meredith the year lightning struck behind the stage, or simply witnessing the joy that was Sufjan Stevens at the Forum in Melbourne.

But without making too much of it, the most remarkable gig I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing is the 2008 FujiRock Festival, in Naeba, Japan.

Call it Japan's version of Big Day Out, Roskilde or Lollapalooza and you're selling it far, far, far too short. On sheer size, and based on the types of names you see on the bill, yes, it's similar to other big ticket festivals worldwide. But as those WB readers who've been lucky enough to experience Japan's remarkable passion for all things creative will understand, the Japanese don't do things by halves.

A Saturday afternoon at Harijuku Train Station in Tokyo will attest to this. Kids dress up in every sort of goth, vamp, sexed-up manga-style outfits, all to pose for photos for friends and the occasional amused tourist. So when a festival is billed as one of the key unique arts events on the Japanese calendar (hey, it even made it into the most recent edition of the Japan Lonely Planet guide), you should prepare yourself.

Musically, the festival has over 200 acts from across the world. Headlining were Primal Scream, Bloc Party, Kasabian, Underworld and My Bloody Valentine. The others included The Go! Team, Ben Folds, CSS, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Tricky, Ian Brown and even Bootsy Collins, James Brown's key bass player, was in attendance doing a tribute show to the Godfather of Soul. The Australian flag was flown by The Fumes, The Vines, Midnight Juggernauts and Gotye.

Day 1 (aka The Night Before)

The camping grounds and part of the Festival site (an MTV-sponsored DJ stage and the Red Marquee) were opened the night prior to the festival. To say the vibe amongst punters was positive would be understating it more than a little. I made more friends in one night at FujiRock than I did during my entire six years at primary school.

But I digress. After a series of light DJ sets across two stages that kept all the newly arrived campers very happy, Australia's The Fumes played a surprise set in the Red Marquee, and impressed many with their boozy rock ‘n’ roll.

Day 2 (And so it – officially – begins)

Rodrigo Y Gabriella opened up proceedings on the main (Green) Stage, putting on a sterling performance that whetted the appetite for this unique duo’s two later sets. Their distinctive live performance provided a refreshing take on the often-tiring business of guitar decadence - technically brilliant, their performance was completely hypnotic.

The Presidents of the United States of America followed on the Green stage. While primarily a novelty act, they attracted a decent crowd with more than a few thousand amused by the change of ‘Peaches’ lyrics to "millions of momo, momo for me".

Over at the festival's second biggest stage, Jamie Lidell provided the day's first injection of big sound funk. His take on the genre is a refreshingly modern one, making the most of a full deck to loop drum beats, guitar lines and even his own voice to create some impressive arrangements. Half an hour later across the festival at the dark and sweaty Red Marquee, Texans Spoon played to a very welcoming crowd. And whilst their set was enjoyable, poor sound and a so-so effort meant that few left the Red Marquee particularly blown away by their performance.

Much talked-about The Gossip hit the stage under the Red Marquee shortly after Spoon's set, and did a much better job of pumping up an already excitable crowd. After their first song, the undeniably unique frontwoman Beth Ditto tore off her clothes – somewhat fair enough, given the stifling heat inside the tent – and spent the rest of the gig in a slinky black nightie. Ripping into a set that had the tightly-packed tent in a frenzy, The Gossip simply went off. It was a sensational performance.

Back at the main (Green) stage, Bloc Party played a late afternoon set to a massive crowd. And while they put in a solid performance, this is definitely a band better suited to a tightly packed club environment. The UK's Kasabian followed shortly afterwards, and put on a quality show that, despite being enjoyable, lacked the frenetic energy that Gossip had set as the bench mark.

To the White Stage, and Bootsy Collins was going off. His tribute show to James Brown remained many people's festival highlight. Appearing on stage after a seemingly 30-minute intro, Bootsy was decked out in police/security uniform, amusing many with handstands and other relics of funk showmanship.

Playing a 2.00am set under the Red Marquee, Grandmaster Flash played to a shrinking but dedicated crowd of worshippers. Sadly, the tent was clearly not big enough to cope with this man's ego – he simply would not shut up about himself. Whilst I'm all for character and shtick, this was so insipidly self-congratulating it became a bizarre parody. While spinning a mix of his own hits and simply playing popular tunes such as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit, 'Seven Nation Army' and 'Jump Around', giant portrait images downloaded straight from www.grandmasterflash.com were displayed on the big screen behind his decks. These photos, along with a hilarious logo/stamp were repeatedly flashed on screen, reading "Grandmaster Flash: I was there, I saw the legend". Yep – I was, I did, and he was undeniably shithouse.

Day 2 (Sweating like whores in a church)

After a day of so-so acts on the main stage, I decided to spend my morning focused on smaller stages. Australia's The Fumes tore apart the smaller Field Of Heaven stage. The booze-fuelled Japanese kids could not get enough of these guys, even though comments such as "I'm sweating like a whore in church" flew straight through to the keeper, much to the amusement of the small Australian contingent in the crowd.

In keeping with the Australian theme, Wally 'Gotye' Debacker impressed many under the Red Marquee. I've been skeptical of his live performance many times since 'Gotye overkill' (after he played at seemingly every festival in Australia during 2007/08), but his solo show went down brilliantly here. And his semi-fluent Japanese skills (is there anything this man cannot do?) was adored by a crowd used to only hearing butchering of the Japanese language.

British Bristol hero Tricky and his band soon made their way to the Red Marquee (somewhat oddly, they took to the stage to Phil Collins’ 'In the Air Tonight'). The lights lit up on the band’s drummer, and the crowd excitedly prepared for a Tricky'd-up version of one of the most loved drum fills in music history. Sadly, the song was faded out badly before the famous drum-fill and normal Tricky-style operations resumed. This disappointment clearly reflected the band's set, as Tricky were one of the biggest disappointments of the Festival. Overdone, overlong and far too self-indulgent – this set was subject to the most walk-outs from patrons of any performance.

Over at the main stage, Primal Scream (or as the locals know them, 'Primaru Screamu') hit the stage in a blaze of glory shortly after the sun went down. Comparisons to the Rolling Stones must be made – this show was purely simple rock’n’roll done very, very well. Their set was vastly guitar-driven – tunes from the legendary, and far more electronic, Screamadelica making only a few appearances.

Underworld followed, and the crowd at the main stage was absolutely jam packed. Wonderfully, Underworld did not disappoint. Their show was a genuine treat – ambitious, unique and visually spectacular. Cameras mounted to arms, giant inflatable light-filled pillars and hundreds of enormous white balls dropped onto the crowd during the finale 'Born Slippy'. Another festival highlight.

Day 3 (Drowning)

Over at the Field of Heaven, the hilariously brilliant Seasick Steve provided a personal high point. I'd heard a few sketchy details about this man, but seeing his live show I now understand the hype. As genuine a character as you're ever likely to see, Seasick Steve cranked through a booze-filled performance across a number of cheap guitars (and extremely patient roadies) with stories of botched family murders, dead dogs, wretchedly painful bug bites and life being, "ahllll goooood...". Whilst some of Seasick Steve's thick southern accent may have baffled some of the non-English speaking audience, his uniquely charming character shone through.

At the Green Stage, Ben Folds hit the stage during the festival's biggest rain dump. And come down it did. By the time he closed his set with 'Underground', the rain was so thick it was genuinely hard to see the stage in front of you. Not a dry soul in the audience, but Mr Folds was fun enough to keep punters there, regardless of how damp they were.

After an hour or so of changing clothes and drying off, I caught the tail end of CSS – and was immediately disappointed I'd missed the rest of their set. Playing to a packed out Red Marquee, their show went off. Rivaling The Go! Team or The Gossip for intensity under the big top, CSS were clearly adored.

On the other side of the festival The Music played to a massive crowd at the White Stage. Their set was solid and enjoyably raucous but demonstrated how much more impressive their debut album is when compare to the same-same stuff they've done since.

Beyond the stages

For a bill that features some of the biggest names in music, this festival is definitely not all about the bands. Sure, there were some amazing performances and some hilarious crowd-pleasing sets. But with a festival set in a location as stunning as this (at the bottom of the Naeba ski resort during the heat of Summer, surrounded by a tall pine forest) and with a crowd as warm, this festival was very much the experience you’d expect from its international reputation.

FujiRock 2008 featured a casino, burlesque shows, Mad Max-style artists walking engine-powered dogs, and Daft Punk-meets-beekeeper performers firing lighting bolts at each other. If the purpose of a music festival is to create true feeling of escapism from the world outside, then FujiRock achieved 10 times more than any festival I've ever been a part of.