Iwate Music Festivals [2025]: Outdoor Festivals and Events Summary

College of Rock is a music event held twice a year—in summer and winter—in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. As the name suggests, it’s a festival planned and run mainly by college students and other young people. In summer, it takes place on an outdoor stage set up at the Ishigami-no-Oka Museum, and in winter, it’s hosted across multiple live houses in central Morioka, featuring many young bands. There also appears to be an open application process, so if you’re in a band in the Tohoku region, why not give it a try and enter?

It is an outdoor music festival held in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. The event aims to revitalize the local community and offers free admission to all venues. In 2015, funds were raised through crowdfunding, making it an event created together with music-loving fans.

This event, held since 2009 under the name KESEN ROCK, wasn’t started by band members or event promoters but by ordinary people. It’s said to be “an event entirely handmade without even knowing what a rock festival is,” and, D.

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It’s an event brimming with the spirit of Y.