Summer Sonic Festival
The , also known as Supersonic, is an annual two- or three-day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba, Japan. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa. The line-up contains Japanese rock musicians from major and independent record companies, plus international acts. In 2017, the festival was expanded to include Shanghai, China. History. Summer Sonic Festival was founded in 2000 in Japan, by Naoki Shimizu, CEO of Tokyp promotions company Creativeman Productions Ltd. Addressing the ever-growing demand for  western music, the festival drew established and emerging musical acts of most genres to become, by 2010, Japan's biggest music event. The Chiba event takes place every August at the massive Makuhari Messe convention center, which overlooks Tokyo Bay, and at the Zozo Marine Stadium. In Osaka, the venue is Maishima Sonic Park. At all venues, there is always a large arena main stage and several other smaller stages. In 2011, the festival established Sonicmania, whose focus is on Electronic dance music (EDM). It is held at Makuhari Messe the day before the festival. In 2012, Creativeman formed a  joint venture with Live Nation Entertainment. In 2014, Live Nation bought full control of the festival. The 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a truncated version, branded as 'Supersonic', took place in September of 2021 with restrictions in place and a typhoon affecting day one. Possibly because of the logistics of moving people around during a pandemic, the 2021 line-up was mainly electronic. Controversy arose when some international DJs were allowed into Japan without having to quarantine. Performances. Line-ups for the festival in past years are as follows, the artists that in bold are  the headlining acts for that year. 2020. Canceled due to the Covid 19 pandemic.