(Photography by James Chen)
Building upon the massively successful debut of the Freedom LA Music Festival in April, this past weekend saw the encore of the event in Southern California. This article serves to share the experience of “Lights Up Saturday” from the autumn edition of Freedom LA Music Festival, taking place on October 18 at The Hangar in Costa Mesa.
As a companion event to the OC Japan Fair, Freedom LA Music Festival shares in the mission of promoting the appreciation and enjoyment of Japanese culture and focuses on bridging Japan with the West through music. Freedom LA itself has deep musical roots in Japan: produced by Japanese hip-hop icon Minmi, it is the continuation of a series of highly successful music festivals in Japan now expanding to this side of the Pacific Ocean.
Minmi
The headlining performance for Lights Up Saturday saw Minmi herself take the stage, performing with a variety of friends and collaborators. Marquette King reappears on stage (after performing his own set earlier in the day) with Minmi to perform their fun party track “Yakiniku” (the Japanese word for the Japanese dish of grilled/barbecued meat).
Also joining Minmi on stage are a jazz band based in Japan called ROUTE14band, whose sound is described as “trumpet & dance music”. They are the perfect live accompaniment for giving a funky jazzy twist to Minmi’s iconic blend of reggae, hip-hop, and J-Pop.
Minmi’s set is an absolute party, and beyond that Minmi shares parts of her personal story to help reassure fans that adversities can be overcome and that there is yet positivity in this world.
The audience was also invited to a moment of introspection, with Minmi urging everyone to reflect on freedom and how all people, creatures, places, and things are interconnected in this world. During this contemplation, festival-goers released floating lanterns altogether to create a surreal moment of serene gently rising lights.
ROUTE14band
Closing out Lights Up Saturday after the headlining set with Minmi, the five piece ROUTE14band from Japan have the stage to themselves and share a mixture of original works and well-known covers with the crowd.
ROUTE14band are: Chihiro Yamazaki on trumpet, Satoshi Yamashita on drums, Koji Yamamoto on bass, Hana Takami on keys, and Masahiro Misawa on guitar. Aside from Masahiro, the other band members are all part of the original lineup from its inception in 2010.
Trumpet player Chihiro is a nonstop ball of energy - when not showing off the fancy fingerwork on the trumpet, she shows off the fancy footwork by dancing and shuffling across the stage as the rest of the band plays.
ROUTE14band had just recently released an album covering well-known theme songs from various movies produced by Studio Ghibli, and the crowd absolutely loved their renditions of the iconic music from the beloved animated films.
Yoshi T.
Immediately preceding the headlining performance was Yoshi T., a Japanese-American rapper based in New York City. Yoshi T. got the crowd fired up with his highly rhythmic vocal delivery while maintaining an effortless no-nonsense vibe.
Yoshi T. will be going on tour soon and shared that excitement and energy with Freedom LA. As a culmination of providing support to artists like Bryce Vine and Hoodie Allen, Yoshi T. is bringing his self-produced tracks across the U.S. as a headliner.
PIAO
Before Yoshi T., multi-instrumentalist PIAO took to the stage, hot off of an electric appearance at the Head in the Clouds music festival in June. Based in Los Angeles, raised in Toronto, Canada, and originally from Shanghai, PIAO’s musical influences are as diverse as the environments in which she has found herself.
PIAO is a classically trained Berklee graduate whose sound is a pop/hyperpop fusion of childhood inspirations like Hannah Montana and the mentorship of T-Pain. Through all of this, she channels pure emotion to listeners as evident with “pagingbubu” - performed for the crowd after sharing a personal experience of losing a beloved pet. The song is a reflection on loss and an elegy for loved ones that we h
PIAO is focusing on a new era music, and looks forward to being able to reveal something new in the spring.
KUBOTA
Preceding PIAO on the Freedom LA stage was KUBOTA, the Japanese-American rapper and hip-hop artist based in Los Angeles. By incorporating more pop-centric melodies and lo-fi beats into his self-produced work, KUBOTA is making his music as suitable for a summer drive as it is for a high-intensity live show.
During the set, Kat Padlan joined KUBOTA on stage to perform their new single “Home Some Day”, written for this fall edition of Freedom LA Music Festival with a beat produced by Freedom LA’s producer T-Spice.
MoMo
On stage before KUBOTA was singer-songwriter MoMo, who overlays vocal skills honed at the Berklee College of Music onto R&B and soul sounds. Based in Tokyo, MoMo is very active in the live music scene there.
An early influence for MoMo was gospel music, which expresses inner struggles through song, she has explained in interviews, and such emotions were very close to her own feelings.
The overwhelming majority of MoMo’s music is in English, but she has begun incorporating more Japanese into her work to make the music more accessible to listeners in Japan. Along those lines, MoMo is exploring the possibility of becoming a “reverse-import” to other Asian countries with significant English-speaking demographics.
Marquette King
Taking the stage ahead of MoMo was Marquette King. Marquette is a former NFL punter who put on a very kinetic performance that showcased his rapping prowess as well as his athleticism.
Marquette commanded the stage with lighthearted swagger as he delivered verses. Also on display was kicking and punting with perfect form - an exciting way to send giveaways into the crowd, making for some fun surprises.
Kat Padlan
Preceding Marquette was Kat Padlan, a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who blends jazz, Neo-soul, R&B, and funk. Kat performed an “unplugged” set, taking the stage seated with an acoustic guitar.
2025 has seen Kat performing for audiences in a wide variety of settings, including the inaugural Freedom LA Music Festival in April. In July, Kat also performed at the largest Japanese pop-culture event in the United States, Anime Expo.
Yoyoka Family Band
The Soma family consist of four highly talented and multi-talented members: child siblings YOYOKA and Shido, mom Rie, and dad Aki - together, they perform music live as the Yoyoka Family Band.
The Soma family relocated from Japan to the U.S. in 2022 to support YOYOKA’s growth and career as a musician. Considered a drumming prodity since the age of eight, YOYOKA has earned praise from legends like Robert Plant and Dave Grohl, and is very active in the L.A. live music scene and tours internationally.
On stage at Freedom LA, the rest of the Soma family get to show off their musical talents along with YOYOKA on drums. Rie is able to switch from bass to taking over vocals as the band shreds covers of Rage Against the Machine songs.
Younger sibling Shido is also able to switch from guitar to delivering vocals, making for a very fun and dynamic performance earlier on in the Lights Up Saturday lineup.
Freedom LA Music Festival once again delivered a diverse lineup of iconic artists as well as up-and-coming artists, based in the U.S. as well as in Japan. With Japanese pop culture increasingly considered mainstream, we are excited to see Freedom LA Music Festival continue to grow on this side of the Pacific Ocean to bring more fans onboard to contemporary Japanese music.