~ The long, long, long awaited Paris concert report ~
OK, here goes! As it's taken me so very, very long to get this report up, I think I'll leave it here just for my f-list.
Some of you have probably given up waiting anyway ;D (Warning, this post is image heavy - beware!)
L'Arc~en~Ciel @ Le Zénith de Paris, le 9 mai 2008
kattsu and I started out on our journey from the UK on the morning of 9 May at the hideously early hour of 5:30am (trust me, I am not a morning person in the least so that really hurt ;) A few hours later we arrived in central Paris at the Gard du Nord, which was near where we'd booked our hotel for the weekend. All the stations in Paris are really ornate and impressive on the outside and I'd never actually seen the outside of this one before, so I took a picture:
Staying near this station ended up being very handy indeed - lots of métro and RER train lines go from here so it was really easy to get around.
We found our hotel, had some lunch, did some wandering, took some pictures . . .
. . . and at about 4 o'clock decided to head over to Le Zénith via the métro (only 4 or 5 stops from the Gare du Nord).
When we got to the venue (which is in the middle of a large park), we were a little confused to see absolutely no sign of a queue, just a huge mass of people of all ages and all nationalities waiting about in front:
Some of them seemed to have home made fan t-shirts (and ears XD):
Nothing seemed to be happening so we went off to the side where there were some trees and some seats and ate our picnic . . . only to hear coming straight through the side wall (eh, actually it's more like a sort of tent) of the Le Zénith, the sound check!!! Lots of drumming. Lots and LOTS of drumming. Followed by bass and drums (unrecognisable) and then finally (muffled but recognisable) "Get out of the Shell", "Driver's High" and the first few bars of "Killing Me". Wow, it was so loud and it sounded great! After that, everything fell silent, that must have been the last practise.
About 5:30pm we decided to rejoin the rest of the crowd to wait for the gates to open. We saw at least one film crew going around the crowd but they didn't come close to us (we would have run if they had XD). There was also a guy at the front of the queue (who might have been Zénith staff), who was encouraging everyone to cheer and yell for the cameras. There were also people going backwards and forwards behind the gates on a raised walkway taking pictures of the crowd. And every time that happened, this happened - banana brandishing:
And box waving and cheering:
After the first few times someone appeared on the walkway and it was quite clear that it wasn't a band member, kattsu and I couldn't work out why everyone was getting quite so excited (apart from the obvious concert-going excitement of course), until I read in another report that Yukihiro came out earlier on that afternoon to take pictures from there!
Some fans I noticed in the crowd included some girls who were obviously following the tour to every venue and were clutching their Hugxhug Ciel-chans whilst wearing L'7 tour shirts from Shanghai and Taiwan. There were also Hydeist members running backwards and forwards in bat-print kimonos :D As well as a surprisingly large number of male fans (I had my doubts I'd be tall enough to see round/over them all at this point XDD)
The gates didn't actually open until about 6:45pm and I did feel sorry for some fans who had obviously spent all night waiting outside the venue - I hope they got in quite near the front because there was no organisation at all! We finally got through the gates by about 7pm and after having our tickets scanned, we were in!!
Aaaand straight into a queue for tour goods XDD As we had standing tickets we didn't need to go into the hall right away (well, neither of us were up for the front row squish either!) so I had time to get some badges and a tour programme. Finally we went into the auditorium and were pleasantly surprised to see that there was tons of space in the standing area (none of which was far from the stage), so we decided to go for Tetsu side, about halfway back. About here:
Although during the show, we also ran forwards a bit more.
I've read that there were over 5,000 people there and it certainly looked like an impressive number of people there on the night:
The crowd were extrememly good-natured (from where we were anyway XD) and the seated part amused itself by doing a series of Mexican waves and cheering itself *lol* If nothing more, we were certainly one of the loudest and most excitable crowds I've ever heard or seen!
At this point, the stage was completely obscured by a curtain which came into it's own when the show started. The lights went down and I put my camera away because I wanted to enjoy the show properly (not to mention that we saw people being told off for taking pictures right in front of us!). The pictures I'll use from the show came from the wonderful photobucket of TheSoldatRyan who has kindly collected together all photos taken in Paris from everyone who was willing to share them. My absolute favourite shots were taken by Cédric Cocinelli. If he hasn't already got a job as a concert photographer, he should have one!! I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing some pictures for this report~
As the lights went down, a projection started on the curtain, in white on a sepia-toned background. First the image of a compass rose showing the venues on the L'7 tour on a spinning globe, then the white images turning into drawings that grew across the scene like vines - there was also a cat jumping from one 'vine' to the next and then a butterfly fluttering about. And the light came up behind the curtain, throwing huge shadows onto it of Tetsu, Hyde and Ken (at which point I may have squeaked "the hair, the hair" to kattsu because the shadows made it clear that there was something fabulous about Tetsu and Hyde's hair - I've got a terrible soft spot for funky pinned up hairdosXD).
The music began with Get out from the Shell and at the point that the song self-distructs, the curtain fell away and there they were!! They sounded great and everyone just started bouncing along in time to the beat (I've never had such a good workout!!)
I was reminded of pirates, what with the stage set looking like a huge sail with rigging:
and also Hyde's outfit for the evening (that waistcoat didn't last more than the first three songs however):
Hyde's boots were also rather wonderfully pirate-style :D
Without drawing breath, the band then launched straight into Driver's High and then Killing Me. Wow, what energy! Driver's High is so much fun live and Hyde did his usual death-defying leap off the monitor at the start of Killing Me!! Although we were close to the stage, we were still far back enough to be able to check out the screens either side of the stage which I think is where I remember seeing both Tetsu and Hyde ending up over on Ken's side of the stage at one point in Killing Me. Hyde had somehow ended up on the floor near Tetsu's bass and he had this really devious look on his face as he pretended (?) he was about to lick said guitar *LOL!!* He didn't, however, probably because tongue + guitar = almost certain electric shock!! He did however, drape himself round Tetsu shoulders for a split second and ruffle up his hair for him XDD
Then came a break for Hyde's first MC. Hand on heart, I can honestly say that at the time he completely lost me after 'On a L'Arc~en~Ciel'. I really wanted to understand him but the sound quality in the pit was pretty distorted so I could hardly hear anything clearly. But I don't think many other people understood either as there was a lot of 'Huh?' noises from the crowd. I'll give him 11 out of 10 for trying though! The way he practised each sentence away from the mic (while frowning at the floor - were his words were stuck there?!) before launching into it for real was very very cute XDDD
Then it was time for Drink It Down with amazing lighting effects, followed by Daybreak's Bell and Winter fall. The lighting was especially fantastic for Winter fall, all blue with lights that looked a bit like snowflakes swirling around them. Ahhhhh~!
Then Kasou!! I've always loved that song and longed to see it live and it was wonderful!!
And the snakey dancing was included ;D
After this one came My Dear - one of my favourites from the Awake album! We were really surprised to see that Ken was playing the keyboard part (at least at the start) and he did it pretty well with only a couple of mess ups! In fact Ken quickly became our favourite band member with his great audience interaction - teasing the fans, dancing with them, pointing into the crowd, smoking constantly despite large 'do not smoke' notices everywhere and all the while grinning widely and throwing his lovely long hair about like a lion's mane as he played XDDD
Tetsu on the other hand looked very stressed out, hot and uncomfortable for most of the concert. He certainly wasn't bouncing as we had hoped for - I only noticed a couple of bouncespins the entire time! Something wasn't right, poor Tetsu :(
As for Yuki, well, we didn't see a lot of him, he was hidden behind the drums apart from at one point later on XDD
Forbidden Lover was next on the setlist. I found the drums extremly powerful in this one - WOW! Such an emotional song~
MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM Ken did his wonderful solo at the start with lovely blue lighting . . . kattsu and I were also keeping a vague Ken fag tally during the concert and this was fag #3. We think he really, really enjoyed it as he blew the smoke up into the air during this solo XPP But seriously, the song was beautiful and loads of people were singing along at the end~
Caress of Venus This one is offically my favouite song live!! We took the chance to run down to the front for this one and were treated to Hyde coming right over to our side of the stage without many people in front on us - I suppose you can call that our 'fangirl' moment XDDD Anyway, this song just demands that you dance to it, it's impossible not to!
REVELATION I don't always enjoy this one on the DVDs but it's GREAT live!! Thump, thump, *punch air* YEAH! Thump, thump, *punch air* YEAH!
Then came Ken's lovely MC! Strangely I found him easier to understand than Hyde. Maybe it's because he wasn't being so ambitious in what he said so my French could keep up with him, even through the accent. Then again, he repeated most of what he said in English as well, so that probably helped! Ken charmingly showed us a picture of his dinner (fois gras); himself at a restaurant (gurning to camera with random staff member) and even one of his travels around Paris (standing near a tacky Eiffel Tower souvenir stall) *LMAO*!!
It's during this MC or perhaps during one of Tetsu's quality banana moments, I can distinctly remember Hyde perched on the railings on our side like a pirate-themed pixie, stage-stealing outrageously by alternating furious pouting, wide grinning and then sticking his tongue out at the audience XDDDD
SEVENTH HEAVEN It was about 20 seconds into this one when the infamous streamer incident happened. kattsu had just ruthlessly plucked a silver streamer out of the air for me (XD she's very tall) when everything stopped, there was a 'sorry!' and everyone disappeared from the stage! We didn't know what had happened at the time so assumed it was a technical fault with the sound or one of the instruments (we hadn't heard Ken's guitar) and so we just waited . . . and about 10-15 mins later, the band appeared back on stage and Ken made another (impromptu) MC (in English XD). I heard it as "I went to toilet . . . I did a big one . . . twice" *LMAO!* Keeeeen! Trust you to turn it into toilet humour!! Hyde also said something in Japanese, which it turns out explained that Ken had been hit by something that fired the streamers into the crowd and they'd had to patch him up backstage. Awwww, Ken!!! Anyway, if anything, Ken was smilier and even more bouncy after the incident (if that's possible!) SEVENTH HEAVEN restarted and proceeded without incident - silly dancing and all!
Pretty Girl followed afterwards (more silly dancing!) These ones are SO much fun live! And Tetsu did his duty with the bananas - I found it hard to tell if he was speaking in Japanese or French there though!!
After that was the surprise - STAY AWAY -FORMATION A- We were wondering as it started why Hyde was getting a guitar and it all became clear when Tetsu came to the mic to begin singing, then came Ken:
who then transfered to the drums:
(he was really good!! And he was using the full size drumkit too!)
to give Yukihiro his turn at the mic:
(apologies to Yuki fans but, in my opinion there are some people who are meant to be drummers and not singers. He always sounds like a cat having it's tail repeatedly shut in a door to me!)
Then came READY STEADY GO and Yukihiro's MC. His French was really good! His pronunciation was great :)
For NEO UNIVERSE there was a beautiful mirrorball which came down from the ceiling just for this song - lovely~!
Next came HONEY:
and Link
During which Hyde decided to fling himself at the audience - we suddenly noticed he had disappeared from view! Ehhhh? We couldn't figure out where he'd gone until we checked the screens and there he was down in the gap between stage and railings bravely leaning right into the audience (trusty security guard no doubt hanging onto his belt and ready to pull him out again if need be XD). He probably left quite a few handfulls of that artfully tattered shirt with the crowd ;D When he returned to the stage, Hyde decided to grace our side with his presence again and he was leaning out with people throwing stuff to him. Particularly an Italian flag that he ended up with twice XD He gave it a grin and split second 'wtf' look the second time before kissing it and chucking it right back again *LOL* Tetsu also warmed up and started to look a bit more comfortable - spinbounce! Bouncespin!
And then it was almost the end (it went so quickly!!), Hyde did his final MC (no, I didn't get that one either XD) And then it was the final song, Anata complete with feathers falling down and a lot of singing along ^___^
With Enya's Book of Days playing, it was suddenly over. The band left the stage, the lights came up and we were hugely happy, exhausted, hot, deafened and rather shell-shocked. I think I sat outside for about 20 minutes trying to get my brain back togther with kattsu hovering anxiously over me XDDDD
It was a beautiful night as we passed all the people heading back from the concert:
I finally crumbled and ended up with the poster (as well as the tour pamphlet and badges) and then we started back to the hotel (limped I should say, we were definitely limping after all that jumping XD) Not to mention with ears ringing XDD.
All I can say is THANK YOU L'Arc~en~Ciel for giving us a chance to see you in Europe! It was a fabulous show! And as they filmed the entire concert for broadcast back in Japan, I really, really wish that one day I'll be able to watch it on DVD *hopes*
Some of you have probably given up waiting anyway ;D (Warning, this post is image heavy - beware!)
L'Arc~en~Ciel @ Le Zénith de Paris, le 9 mai 2008
kattsu and I started out on our journey from the UK on the morning of 9 May at the hideously early hour of 5:30am (trust me, I am not a morning person in the least so that really hurt ;) A few hours later we arrived in central Paris at the Gard du Nord, which was near where we'd booked our hotel for the weekend. All the stations in Paris are really ornate and impressive on the outside and I'd never actually seen the outside of this one before, so I took a picture:
Staying near this station ended up being very handy indeed - lots of métro and RER train lines go from here so it was really easy to get around.
We found our hotel, had some lunch, did some wandering, took some pictures . . .
. . . and at about 4 o'clock decided to head over to Le Zénith via the métro (only 4 or 5 stops from the Gare du Nord).
When we got to the venue (which is in the middle of a large park), we were a little confused to see absolutely no sign of a queue, just a huge mass of people of all ages and all nationalities waiting about in front:
Some of them seemed to have home made fan t-shirts (and ears XD):
Nothing seemed to be happening so we went off to the side where there were some trees and some seats and ate our picnic . . . only to hear coming straight through the side wall (eh, actually it's more like a sort of tent) of the Le Zénith, the sound check!!! Lots of drumming. Lots and LOTS of drumming. Followed by bass and drums (unrecognisable) and then finally (muffled but recognisable) "Get out of the Shell", "Driver's High" and the first few bars of "Killing Me". Wow, it was so loud and it sounded great! After that, everything fell silent, that must have been the last practise.
About 5:30pm we decided to rejoin the rest of the crowd to wait for the gates to open. We saw at least one film crew going around the crowd but they didn't come close to us (we would have run if they had XD). There was also a guy at the front of the queue (who might have been Zénith staff), who was encouraging everyone to cheer and yell for the cameras. There were also people going backwards and forwards behind the gates on a raised walkway taking pictures of the crowd. And every time that happened, this happened - banana brandishing:
And box waving and cheering:
After the first few times someone appeared on the walkway and it was quite clear that it wasn't a band member, kattsu and I couldn't work out why everyone was getting quite so excited (apart from the obvious concert-going excitement of course), until I read in another report that Yukihiro came out earlier on that afternoon to take pictures from there!
Some fans I noticed in the crowd included some girls who were obviously following the tour to every venue and were clutching their Hugxhug Ciel-chans whilst wearing L'7 tour shirts from Shanghai and Taiwan. There were also Hydeist members running backwards and forwards in bat-print kimonos :D As well as a surprisingly large number of male fans (I had my doubts I'd be tall enough to see round/over them all at this point XDD)
The gates didn't actually open until about 6:45pm and I did feel sorry for some fans who had obviously spent all night waiting outside the venue - I hope they got in quite near the front because there was no organisation at all! We finally got through the gates by about 7pm and after having our tickets scanned, we were in!!
Aaaand straight into a queue for tour goods XDD As we had standing tickets we didn't need to go into the hall right away (well, neither of us were up for the front row squish either!) so I had time to get some badges and a tour programme. Finally we went into the auditorium and were pleasantly surprised to see that there was tons of space in the standing area (none of which was far from the stage), so we decided to go for Tetsu side, about halfway back. About here:
Although during the show, we also ran forwards a bit more.
I've read that there were over 5,000 people there and it certainly looked like an impressive number of people there on the night:
The crowd were extrememly good-natured (from where we were anyway XD) and the seated part amused itself by doing a series of Mexican waves and cheering itself *lol* If nothing more, we were certainly one of the loudest and most excitable crowds I've ever heard or seen!
At this point, the stage was completely obscured by a curtain which came into it's own when the show started. The lights went down and I put my camera away because I wanted to enjoy the show properly (not to mention that we saw people being told off for taking pictures right in front of us!). The pictures I'll use from the show came from the wonderful photobucket of TheSoldatRyan who has kindly collected together all photos taken in Paris from everyone who was willing to share them. My absolute favourite shots were taken by Cédric Cocinelli. If he hasn't already got a job as a concert photographer, he should have one!! I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing some pictures for this report~
As the lights went down, a projection started on the curtain, in white on a sepia-toned background. First the image of a compass rose showing the venues on the L'7 tour on a spinning globe, then the white images turning into drawings that grew across the scene like vines - there was also a cat jumping from one 'vine' to the next and then a butterfly fluttering about. And the light came up behind the curtain, throwing huge shadows onto it of Tetsu, Hyde and Ken (at which point I may have squeaked "the hair, the hair" to kattsu because the shadows made it clear that there was something fabulous about Tetsu and Hyde's hair - I've got a terrible soft spot for funky pinned up hairdosXD).
The music began with Get out from the Shell and at the point that the song self-distructs, the curtain fell away and there they were!! They sounded great and everyone just started bouncing along in time to the beat (I've never had such a good workout!!)
I was reminded of pirates, what with the stage set looking like a huge sail with rigging:
and also Hyde's outfit for the evening (that waistcoat didn't last more than the first three songs however):
Hyde's boots were also rather wonderfully pirate-style :D
Without drawing breath, the band then launched straight into Driver's High and then Killing Me. Wow, what energy! Driver's High is so much fun live and Hyde did his usual death-defying leap off the monitor at the start of Killing Me!! Although we were close to the stage, we were still far back enough to be able to check out the screens either side of the stage which I think is where I remember seeing both Tetsu and Hyde ending up over on Ken's side of the stage at one point in Killing Me. Hyde had somehow ended up on the floor near Tetsu's bass and he had this really devious look on his face as he pretended (?) he was about to lick said guitar *LOL!!* He didn't, however, probably because tongue + guitar = almost certain electric shock!! He did however, drape himself round Tetsu shoulders for a split second and ruffle up his hair for him XDD
Then came a break for Hyde's first MC. Hand on heart, I can honestly say that at the time he completely lost me after 'On a L'Arc~en~Ciel'. I really wanted to understand him but the sound quality in the pit was pretty distorted so I could hardly hear anything clearly. But I don't think many other people understood either as there was a lot of 'Huh?' noises from the crowd. I'll give him 11 out of 10 for trying though! The way he practised each sentence away from the mic (while frowning at the floor - were his words were stuck there?!) before launching into it for real was very very cute XDDD
Then it was time for Drink It Down with amazing lighting effects, followed by Daybreak's Bell and Winter fall. The lighting was especially fantastic for Winter fall, all blue with lights that looked a bit like snowflakes swirling around them. Ahhhhh~!
Then Kasou!! I've always loved that song and longed to see it live and it was wonderful!!
And the snakey dancing was included ;D
After this one came My Dear - one of my favourites from the Awake album! We were really surprised to see that Ken was playing the keyboard part (at least at the start) and he did it pretty well with only a couple of mess ups! In fact Ken quickly became our favourite band member with his great audience interaction - teasing the fans, dancing with them, pointing into the crowd, smoking constantly despite large 'do not smoke' notices everywhere and all the while grinning widely and throwing his lovely long hair about like a lion's mane as he played XDDD
Tetsu on the other hand looked very stressed out, hot and uncomfortable for most of the concert. He certainly wasn't bouncing as we had hoped for - I only noticed a couple of bouncespins the entire time! Something wasn't right, poor Tetsu :(
As for Yuki, well, we didn't see a lot of him, he was hidden behind the drums apart from at one point later on XDD
Forbidden Lover was next on the setlist. I found the drums extremly powerful in this one - WOW! Such an emotional song~
MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM Ken did his wonderful solo at the start with lovely blue lighting . . . kattsu and I were also keeping a vague Ken fag tally during the concert and this was fag #3. We think he really, really enjoyed it as he blew the smoke up into the air during this solo XPP But seriously, the song was beautiful and loads of people were singing along at the end~
Caress of Venus This one is offically my favouite song live!! We took the chance to run down to the front for this one and were treated to Hyde coming right over to our side of the stage without many people in front on us - I suppose you can call that our 'fangirl' moment XDDD Anyway, this song just demands that you dance to it, it's impossible not to!
REVELATION I don't always enjoy this one on the DVDs but it's GREAT live!! Thump, thump, *punch air* YEAH! Thump, thump, *punch air* YEAH!
Then came Ken's lovely MC! Strangely I found him easier to understand than Hyde. Maybe it's because he wasn't being so ambitious in what he said so my French could keep up with him, even through the accent. Then again, he repeated most of what he said in English as well, so that probably helped! Ken charmingly showed us a picture of his dinner (fois gras); himself at a restaurant (gurning to camera with random staff member) and even one of his travels around Paris (standing near a tacky Eiffel Tower souvenir stall) *LMAO*!!
It's during this MC or perhaps during one of Tetsu's quality banana moments, I can distinctly remember Hyde perched on the railings on our side like a pirate-themed pixie, stage-stealing outrageously by alternating furious pouting, wide grinning and then sticking his tongue out at the audience XDDDD
SEVENTH HEAVEN It was about 20 seconds into this one when the infamous streamer incident happened. kattsu had just ruthlessly plucked a silver streamer out of the air for me (XD she's very tall) when everything stopped, there was a 'sorry!' and everyone disappeared from the stage! We didn't know what had happened at the time so assumed it was a technical fault with the sound or one of the instruments (we hadn't heard Ken's guitar) and so we just waited . . . and about 10-15 mins later, the band appeared back on stage and Ken made another (impromptu) MC (in English XD). I heard it as "I went to toilet . . . I did a big one . . . twice" *LMAO!* Keeeeen! Trust you to turn it into toilet humour!! Hyde also said something in Japanese, which it turns out explained that Ken had been hit by something that fired the streamers into the crowd and they'd had to patch him up backstage. Awwww, Ken!!! Anyway, if anything, Ken was smilier and even more bouncy after the incident (if that's possible!) SEVENTH HEAVEN restarted and proceeded without incident - silly dancing and all!
Pretty Girl followed afterwards (more silly dancing!) These ones are SO much fun live! And Tetsu did his duty with the bananas - I found it hard to tell if he was speaking in Japanese or French there though!!
After that was the surprise - STAY AWAY -FORMATION A- We were wondering as it started why Hyde was getting a guitar and it all became clear when Tetsu came to the mic to begin singing, then came Ken:
who then transfered to the drums:
(he was really good!! And he was using the full size drumkit too!)
to give Yukihiro his turn at the mic:
(apologies to Yuki fans but, in my opinion there are some people who are meant to be drummers and not singers. He always sounds like a cat having it's tail repeatedly shut in a door to me!)
Then came READY STEADY GO and Yukihiro's MC. His French was really good! His pronunciation was great :)
For NEO UNIVERSE there was a beautiful mirrorball which came down from the ceiling just for this song - lovely~!
Next came HONEY:
and Link
During which Hyde decided to fling himself at the audience - we suddenly noticed he had disappeared from view! Ehhhh? We couldn't figure out where he'd gone until we checked the screens and there he was down in the gap between stage and railings bravely leaning right into the audience (trusty security guard no doubt hanging onto his belt and ready to pull him out again if need be XD). He probably left quite a few handfulls of that artfully tattered shirt with the crowd ;D When he returned to the stage, Hyde decided to grace our side with his presence again and he was leaning out with people throwing stuff to him. Particularly an Italian flag that he ended up with twice XD He gave it a grin and split second 'wtf' look the second time before kissing it and chucking it right back again *LOL* Tetsu also warmed up and started to look a bit more comfortable - spinbounce! Bouncespin!
And then it was almost the end (it went so quickly!!), Hyde did his final MC (no, I didn't get that one either XD) And then it was the final song, Anata complete with feathers falling down and a lot of singing along ^___^
With Enya's Book of Days playing, it was suddenly over. The band left the stage, the lights came up and we were hugely happy, exhausted, hot, deafened and rather shell-shocked. I think I sat outside for about 20 minutes trying to get my brain back togther with kattsu hovering anxiously over me XDDDD
It was a beautiful night as we passed all the people heading back from the concert:
I finally crumbled and ended up with the poster (as well as the tour pamphlet and badges) and then we started back to the hotel (limped I should say, we were definitely limping after all that jumping XD) Not to mention with ears ringing XDD.
All I can say is THANK YOU L'Arc~en~Ciel for giving us a chance to see you in Europe! It was a fabulous show! And as they filmed the entire concert for broadcast back in Japan, I really, really wish that one day I'll be able to watch it on DVD *hopes*