8 years ago 8 years ago

[LIVE REPORT] 25th L’Anniversary LIVE (Tokyo Dome, 2017.04.08)

by Emi 8 years ago8 years ago

Photos: Hideaki Imamoto, Takayuki Okada, Toshikazu Oguruma, Chie Kato, Kazuko Tanaka

On April 8, 2017,L’Arc-en-Ciel held their 25th anniversary show L’Arc-en-Ciel 25th L’Anniversary LIVE at Tokyo Dome.

06:30 P.M. After the opening movie, the concert began with the signature arpeggio sound of “Niji”. Fans continued to scream in joy as the classics “Caress of Venus” and “the Fourth Avenue Café” followed.

During the MC, hyde asked, “Since the band is now 25 years old, are there any fans younger than the band? We’ve been doing this before you were born! We’re like monstrous spirits!” ken excitedly responded, “Speaking of monstrous spirits, Yokai Watch became a huge trend in the past few years! I thought Pokemon would be the main trend for these 25 years, but then Yokai Watch came along, and then Pokemon Go…” At the end of the MC, hyde succeeded in leading the entire audience to do the wave.

Following were the band’s 5th and 6th singles “flower” and “Lies and Truth”. A collage of past music videos were shown on the back screen. The band’s signature darkness was expressed through the next songs “fate” and “forbidden lover”. Their hard rock number “Shout at the Devil” proceeded.

During “REVELATION,” the band moved to the center stage using a moving stage. yukihiro and tetsuya played the guitar, while hyde and ken played the drums. hyde introduced the next song “Voice” as a song that he thinks is the beginning of L’Arc-en-Ciel. The 11th song was “X X X” during which the venue shined brightly with the L’ed lights distributed to each fan.

After showing unreleased footage of the band, “Kasou”, “Shinshoku ~lose control~”, and “HONEY” (the three singles released simultaneously in 1998) followed. With his blonde hair and lack of eyebrows, it seemed as if hyde stepped out of the music video released back then.

The concert took a softer turn as ken’s guitar solo surrounded the venue, and the band continued with “MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM” and “NEO UNIVERSE”.

Following were live classics “STAY AWAY”, “Driver’s High” and “READY STEADY GO”.

The encore began with the band’s latest single “Don’t be Afraid” and continued with “Blurry Eyes”. During “Link”, hyde introduced each of the members. Prior to the last song, hyde thanked the staff and members, as well as the fans, for all these years.

“The next song will be our last. It’s been so long since we first started, so there’s a lot that I don’t remember, but I do remember that we had dreams. And some false confidence (laughs). 25 years have passed… Since the members don’t talk much, they never say that this road was not easy. But it was filled with ups and downs. We couldn’t have made it without each other or the staff. Most of all, we wouldn’t be standing here today if it weren’t for the fans. Thank you very much.”

The anniversary concert ended with the audience singing “Anata” in unity.

2017.04.08 SETLIST

01. Niji
02. Caress of Venus
03. the Fourth Avenue Café
04. flower
05. Lies and Truth
06. fate
07. forbidden lover
08. Shout at the Devil
09. REVELATION
10. Voice
11. X X X
12. Kasou
13. Shinshoku ~lose control~
14. HONEY
15. MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM
16. NEO UNIVERSE
17. STAY AWAY
18. Driver’s High
19. READY STEADY GO
20. Don’t be Afraid
21. Blurry Eyes
22. Link
23. Anata