L’Arc-en-Ciel have been one of the biggest names in Japanese music for just over two decades, releasing a total of 12 albums since 1993, with over 13 million copies sold so far, and that’s not even including the sales of over 16 million singles. On May 28th 2011, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary with a “20th L’Anniversary Concert” at Tokyo’s Ajinomoto Stadium. All the proceeds from the show went to relief efforts helping victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake which took place only a couple of months before. It was there the band announced their L’Anniversary Japan Tour, and also a much awaited world tour, which would hit a total of 10 countries at some of the most prestigious venues in the world, including New York’s own Madison Square Garden, making them the first band from Japan to ever headline at the venue.
On April 11th the band graced their UK fans with a performance at the indigO2 in London, which was met with open arms (and wallets), selling out within only a couple of months after the tickets went on sale. The doors opened at 7pm which was followed by mass cheers as people were slowly herded inside. Not knowing what to expect after seeing the magnitude of the New York show online, we entered the sleek and stylish venue, and although it wasn’t half the size of its neighbouring venue, the O2 Arena, it easily held the fans in their masses, obviously not over selling tickets for this show.
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As the curtains opened, the audience began to scream, and wave their glowsticks to welcome to the band to the stage. First song of the night was ‘Ibara no Namida’ from their 1999 album ‘Ray’. A great choice, easing the audience in with a slow start, then getting them all moving with the upbeat chorus. This really set the tone for the night, making it obvious that we were about to experience a set containing a mixture of some of their most classic songs, as well as some of their latest. The band kept the audience happy with some funny onstage banter between ken and tetsu (“Cool Britannia neck pillow..so cool!”) which led into the ever so lively ‘Seventh Heaven’. The show continued on with a good mix of songs, including the forever crowd pleasing ‘Ready Steady Go’, which for any L’Arc fan was bound to be one of the biggest highlights of the night. The band ended the night with an emotional encore, and I’m sure that set closer, Niji, moved everyone in the venue.
I have never before seen a show from any Japanese act’s performance in the UK that has even come close to the magnitude of L’Arc-en-Ciel’s first ever London show. Everything went flawlessly. The voice of the much loved hyde sounded like it was straight out the studio with no imperfections to be heard. The use of a high budget stage set up really added emphasis on how big the band really is and how far they’ve come over the past 20 years in the music industry. The set-list couldn’t have been better laid out, perfectly shifting between different tones of fast paced and slow melodies, with songs taken from multiple albums spanning across their whole discography; I am sure that no one left that venue disappointed. Everything about the night was something special, and the impact left by the band’s highly impressionable performance will surely be remembered for a long time to come, and you can rest assured that anyone who has yet to see/is going to see any of the shows still to come before the end of the tour will not be disheartened by the awe-inspiring show of the one and only, L’Arc~en~Ciel.
