12.4 Kyocera Dome Live (Viewing) Report
Hi! Loooong time no live report post!
I realize that there have been some great official reports posted already (live reports like this one almost feel obsolete now that L'Arc has united its overseas fan base with Facebook and such), but I was compelled to share...
Warning: Perhaps a little too long? Some instances of tastefully edited language...Hopefully no spelling mistakes...Oh, and one cantankerous husband.
As 2011 draws to an end, I felt I had to take the time to look back over what, for me, was a tumultuous year. If it weren’t for random bursts of L’loving sprinkled across the months, I wonder how well I would have adjusted to all the changes. While I was blessed enough to be at the first live of the year, the last live, and several in between, I didn’t have the energy or the heart to compose a report until now.
Now, I admit, I’m sort of lying when I say I was at the Kyocera live. After losing 4 ticket lotteries this past summer, I decided my L’luck had run out, and resigned myself to a L’Arc-less autumn. So when the 12.4 live viewing in theaters was announced in late November, I just knew I HAD to have tickets, workday or not. I also knew this would be my only chance to ever - EVER - get my very unwilling, self-proclaimed macho husband to see L’Arc~en~Ciel live.
The best part about L’Arc concerts is that every time feels like the first time - there’s always something unique, something that’s never happened before. This time, that freshness was not only the curiosity of joining the concert from afar via satellite (surprisingly fun - I would do it again), but also the snarky guest at my side.
The following live report is not only for those who couldn’t be there, nor only for those who wish to remember…It’s also for all of you who have ever attempted to convert a stubborn, relentless non-believer to L’Arcdom. My husband (hereafter referred to as “Him,” has been very patient and cooperative with my fangirling for as long as I have known him (mostly because, to quote, he thinks he “could beat Hyde up if it ever came down to it.”), and he has my sincerest gratitude for agreeing to be the subject of this experiment and offering his most naïve comments and opinions up for fandom scrutiny:
My Five Boys: The Dangers of Mixing Marriage and L’Arc~en~Ciel
(or, a 12.4 Kyocera Dome live viewing report)
At a packed theater somewhere in Northeastern Japan shortly after 5pm on December 4th, a screen bearing the L’20th Tour Logo melted away into a live view of Kyocera Dome and the seething, rolling audience. Occasionally the cameras panned and zoomed, giving us close-up views of the crowd, showing off elaborate Christmas costumes and cosplay, while other fans demonstrated well-honed glowstick routines (spelling out X X X or L L L or or L 2 0 with varying degrees of success). To the girls who mimed flicking boogers at the camera - you know who you were - congratulations, everyone saw that.
Suddenly the lights fell and a resounding roar shook even us, hundreds of kilometers away.
A pink glow began to emanate from the stage - and hark! Whose silhouette is that? Face hidden in darkness, Hyde began to sing “Farewell.” The melody bent and twisted, echoing across a silent arena.
As the last notes of his a capella introduction faded away, the rest of the stage was illuminated to reveal the stoic forms of Tetsuya, Ken, Yukihiro, and a string ensemble in an enclosed set, and…wait? Wait, Hyde’s standing on top of the string ensemble!?
The guitar melody faded into a buzz, and the buzz grew into a looming tone, and then exploded into Caress of Venus. The crowd responded, exploding into cheers. Another fantastic rendition, with Hyde’s alternatingly breathy and booming vocals, and Ken’s skipping, bubbling rifts! At the end of the song, Hyde blew an extremely flirtatious kiss at the camera, and I was rudely reminded for the first time that evening of my company when my husband cried out in dismay, “Ewwww! Gross!”
Luckily, L’Arc lost none of their momentum, and rocketed right into GOOD LUCK MY WAY! Dear to my heart, I was immediately on my feet for this one. The last time I’d heard GLMW live was at AjinoMoto, and it’s really come a long way as a live routine since then, a solid performance (I was tickled - Hyde remembered the lyrics this time)!
The lights dimmed with the end of the song, and came up again with the first raw rifts of HEAVEN'S DRIVE. Hyde stood center stage, jamming away with Ken and Tetsuya, and I couldn’t resist poking my husband and hissing, “See?! I TOLD you they can all play!” (“All right, all right, they’re bona fide musicians...You want some Doritos?”) Of course, the audience did its part (“Ride on heaven’s driiiiiiiiiiiive!!!”) as Hyde called out, “OI! Osaka!”
At the very end - so adorable, Tetsuya, Hyde and Ken turned to Yukihiro, watching for some cue, waiting for him to finish his drum part, and then the three of them ended the song in tandem with one last chord.
A low rumble continued after Heaven’s Drive - fans commenting and cheering and generally anticipating the first MC. I took this opportunity to nervously assess my husband’s experience.
Me: “So what do you think so far?”
Him: “……Well, Hyde looks f***ing terrible -“
Me: “WHAT?!”
Him: “I mean, no one looks good with cornrows ...But the music’s not so bad.”
And he nonchalantly shrugged.
Just then, Hyde began to speak, and I was forced to turn my gold-fish expression of disbelief back to the screen.
“We’ve turned 20….” Hyde began. He spoke very fondly then of Osaka, and said hands-down Osaka is his favorite venue. Of course, this is where is all began, and the decision to end the tour at Kyocera Dome was not crazy random happenstance. Oh, by the way, “Tadaima…We’re home!” he added, as an afterthought.
He then reminded the audience of the fans gathered at movie theaters (a rippling, unheard cheer from us) not only around Japan, but also overseas. Looking directly in the camera (those beautiful grey contacts!!), he wished us all hello - in Korean and Chinese, too, so cute! - and entreated us to kindly enjoy the performance, especially since he himself has finally come to enjoy singing. And with that, he introduced the next song, “Flower.”
Next to me, my husband said, “Did he just say ‘flo-wer’?”
In our humble little theater, it was at this point that the audience became less shy; more and more people jumped up to sway along to Hyde’s harmonica (“Wow, I guess you could say that Hyde blows!! Get it?” - accompanied by a giggle and an elbow jabbing my side. I’m pretty sure I bonked him with my glowstick.) Despite my annoyance, it was lovely to actually listen to the bittersweet lyrics with someone I…ahem…er, supposedly love at my side.
Who would believe that such a gentle song would be followed by DRINK IT DOWN? I certainly wouldn’t. In fact, it kinda brought me down off my high - I’m not a huge fan of the song, so I took the opportunity to enjoy the cushy movie theater seats and take in the fluttery red lights and admittedly cool motion capture and camera work they had going on. For one thing, the stage and backdrop were really impressive. The entire thing was an LED screen, so the images rolled down from the top of the backdrop and down under the band members’ feet. Throughout the song, live images of the members’ faces appeared on the screen, but they were distorted and vague - almost an illusion!
In the spirit of “sitting back and taking it all in,” I decided to try to gage my husband’s reaction again.
My eyes flashed sideways once, and then I did a double-take.
Him: “O.O”
Big eyes. Glued to the screen. My mouth started gold-fishing again.
At the end of the song, he turned to me and said with the most earnest conviction, “That’s song’s not so bad!”
The one song I never tried converting him with. Go figure.
DRINK IT DOWN became Dune, and although you couldn’t hear us, we at the movie theater gave our all during the sing-along refrain. Hyde wiggled a lot. The backdrop was white with racing static lines that followed the member’s feet as they twirled around the stage.
Darkness again, then the sound of lulling waves and a gentle ticking…Under the soft glow of rainforests and meadows, Garasu Dama began.
You know, the quiet, sweet, low beginning.
My husband began rummaging below our seats.
Hyde whispered the lyrics. The accompaniment was haunting.
Crruuncccchhhhhhh
My head snapped to the right, and I know my face fell from humble adoration to horror.
CRRRRRRUNNCCCCHHHHHH
My husband was eating an onigiri (riceball). Wrapped in crunchy nori. In a silent, enraptured theater.
During the opening of Garasu Dama.
I hope you sympathize with me when I say that I swiped it right out of his hands.
He gave an indignant protest (“Hey, I’m hungry!!”) and then made an attempt at reconciliation (…“You want one?”). I shushed him and hissed that he could have it back during the refrain.
Absolutely mortified, I tried enjoying the rest of the song. Of course, it wasn’t that hard - Hyde gave it everything he had, very powerful :D Next, to me, my husband finished his onigiri, still looking rather bemused.
A drumbeat, carrying a tone of finality…forbidden lover. Before the melody even began, sniffling broke out in every corner of the theater. Not to get preachy (Ha! She says, as she types page 3 of her fan report), but forbidden lover has taken on a new significance for me since last March, and it’s a sentiment - a desperation - shared by many L’Arc fans in the Tohoku area. When it was first played immediately after the condolence message at AjinoMoto in May, I bawled straight through the next two songs. I remember Hyde saying in an interview that the AjinoMoto encore was deliberate (forbidden lover, MHDAD, GLMW), which was really touching.
Anywhoo, my husband was already twitching and looking about, unnerved by the tears around him, but he really started to panic when he noticed me crying, too.
Him: “Ack, are you OK? Why are you crying? Why is everyone crying?! What’s going oooooon?!” (*insert poking*)
Apparently a new pair, MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM immediately followed forbidden lover, but oh, Ken’s solo! It was much longer than usual, and accompanied by the string ensemble, and just so natural and flowing! The rest of the song was pretty much blown away by the introduction - and I make that claim even though MHDAD is one of my favorites.
I tried to get my husband to sing along at the final chorus. Didn’t work. However, in the short break that followed…
Him: “You know….”
Me: “What?”
Him: “…It would be nice to learn the guitar. How does his hand move so fast?”
Awwwww…The moment of understanding was broken by the pounding of REVELATION. The stadium fell to blackness, and then the arena lights came up on a single…
…golf-cart. Bearing a Tetsuya. A Tetsuya with some sort of hand-held smoke machine. And with that, he dutifully begins to spray the audience - very thorough and fair in doling out fanservice.
Suddenly a second cart appears, and the crowd goes wild - Yukkie!! Yukkie, who politely fires his smoke machine directly into the air rather than into the faces of eagerly waiting fans.
And finally…a third cart - but…wait, what? Who…whe-? Oh, it’s just Ken, lying on his stomach on the seat and pretending to snipe audience members with his smoke machine.
The camera continued to pan from each one - a very jolly Tetchan, Ken standing up on the cart and going Rambo with his smoke machine, a very shy Yukkie, Ken mercilessly attacking fans-! Ken! What is the smoke machine doing between your legs?!?
All the while, the pounding beat of REVELATION continues (“Are they shouting “Heil?”…Is…is this some kind of neo-Nazi cult?!”).
Finally, Hyde was carried out, reclining on his palanquin, rolling the mic between his hands, and offering a few disdainful nods and waves as the parade continued. Eventually Yukihiro, Tetsuya, and Ken made it back to the stage, and Revelation commenced with Hyde singing from atop the palanquin.
This marked the strart of a burst of hyper-paced songs that kept everyone screaming and on their feet (well, Hyde helped with some interspersed, “Jump jump jump jump! Come on!”s) - SEVENTH HEAVEN, Driver’s High, STAY AWAY (“Why…is he playing that bass with a banana?”), and of course, READY STEADY GO (“Oooooh! Hyde said a naughty word!!”) The feverish pace was broken with Yukkie’s electrifying drum solo at the end of RSG - literally, bolts of lightning raced across the LED screens with every slam of a cymbal. With a final almost violently beat, Yukihiro threw his drumsticks to the floor and left the stage.
Intermission.
Him: “Why does Hyde have to dress like a pirate?”
Me: “I dunno about Hyde, and Tetsu’s giant shoes are hilarious, but Ken looks…Wow.” (skin tight black leather, with some nipple-age, for those wondering)
Him: “Which one’s Ken again, the drummer?”
Me: “………We’ve gone over this.”
Him: “That guy should get some real tats, man! Who wears tattoo sleeves? Really!”
Me: “He’s not wearing tat sleeves, it’s a marble-y shirt with a white vest!”
Him: “Nuh-uh! Those were tat sleeves!”
Me: “No, they weren’t!” (They totally weren’t.)
Him: “They so were! Oh well, at least he can drum. Revelation’s a cool song.”
Me: “Nnngh- wait, you actually remember a song title?”
Him: “And that other dark one. I like the dark ones.”
Me:” Guess it was too much to hope for.”
Anemone was preceded by photo montage (no bare bums tonight - thankfully. I had purposely refrained from mentioning that to my husband), lots of nostalgic photos, especially from the Driver's High era. The song itself was beautiful, with Tetsu, Ken, and Hyde sitting all together on the string ensemble…box…feet all a-dangly. The backdrop was of red anemone petals that swirled all around the stage.
As the strings faded away, a new pulsing beat filled the arena, in time with a blinding light. Across the backdrop scrolled a veritable orgy of luxurious women (“Booby!”), and the now familiar chords of-
Him: “Step. Into. Fascination. Trap. Of. Infatuation. KISS! Baby, it's kiss kiss kiss!”
Yep. Yeeeeeep.
So X X X - I tell you, I hated it the first time I heard it, have not been able get it out of my head since I got the single, and now think it’s a fantastic live song. Again, the Hyde Wiggle!
Anyways, CHASE was next -
Me: “Oooh! The new song! This is the one you’re getting me for Christmas!”
Him: “Oh, you’ve heard it already?”
Me: “Yeah, like, weeks ago. Don’t you remember, I made you listen to it?”
Him: “Then why do you need it?…I like the intro.”
Me: “…”
The PV was streamed as they played, with the live band members merely taking the place of their digital counterparts. Caught my husband peering intently at the artwork, and heard him muttering something about “really cool faces…”
Again, really awesome, live - and the final verse, where Hyde goes all deep? Le sigh!
And then, the moment I’ve been waiting to write this entire time….Ken’s MC.
He opened by singing happy birthday, and I quote, “To me.”
Everyone in the audience joined him, though no one quite knew what to make of his lyrics:
“Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday dear….to me! (He paused here, like he wasn’t quite sure what to say)
Happy birthday to me!”
As in an earlier report (natalie.mu), he spoke about how the dome seems to have shrunk over the years, and the audience feels so close - and speaking of close encounters, says Ken, “Let me tell you what happened just before during Revelation…”
And we were then regaled with Ken’s tale of his accidental intimacy with - and I kid you not - Hyde’s…er, I can’t believe I’m writing this…his genitalia. How did Ken describe it?
Marshmallows.
Oh, other adjectives came up (“Well,” he shouted, “How would you describe them?!”) and finally he blew up and said, “You know how like…dogs…are, well, they’ve got…(*insert illustrative air doodles*) But I’ve never even touched one of those - I never expected my first experience to be Hyde!”
Thinking I should fill my now-scowling, still-learning-Japanese husband in as to why everyone was cracking up, I leaned over and choked out, “Just so you know, that entire speech was about balls.” (“Yeah, I kinda got that when he did the, uh … *imitates Ken’s below-the-belt cupping gesture*…”)
Eventually, Ken wished us a Merry, marshmallow-y Christmas, and everyone started prancing along to Hurry Xmas. Yay!
Next came Link - ever the crowd-pleasing powerhouse and a sweet and appropriate almost-end to the Osaka lives. (“Wait, is he smoking?” An accusatory finger pointed at Ken. “He can’t do that on stage!”)
In his last MC, Hyde responded to Ken’s general assessment of his package, saying that having just been compared to marshmallows, he wasn’t sure if he could just take it in blushing stride and continue singing.
The victimizing also reminded him of another vicious attack - the laser lights! He says that he always makes the mistake of grabbing a drink of water right before starting CHASE, and I guess the position of his water bottle is really close the lasers, and he always forgets to move in time. He swore that this time, the lasers burned a hole right through his baggy pants and exclaimed that he couldn’t believe they now have such dangerous things onstage.
Next, he started, “The new album-“
And was immediately cut off by a collective scream from the arena -
“-seems like it might maybe be done kinda soonish?”
-which elicited a half-laugh, half-groan from the audience. More album talk, live planning talk, Yukihiro’s alleged death threats (the camera zoomed on a snickering Yukkie) … and then onto the sentimental talk - like how they’ll do their best to keep this up for a few more anniversaries. With the audience sighing, Hyde announced niji, and down came the white feathers!
Honestly, everyone sounded great, and it was the perfect ending to a very eventful year. Yukihiro left stage first, followed by the others - but of course Tetsuya came pounding back out (by the way, he looked adorable in stripes and polka-dots and huge shoes) with his banana basket! I lost count of how many bananas went, but he made sure to mime throwing one directly at the camera so we could all feel like we could catch one…or he was teasing us, not sure.
And then…the tension in the theater skyrocketed…nails were bitten, feet drummed impatiently…as we waited…waited…CHASE PV…wait for it, wait for it-
New album (To be completed soon!)! P’UNK album! World Tour final…in Japan! Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my husband grimacing as I shrieked in joy.
Me: “So you’re coming to Tokyo with me next year, right?”
Him: “Maybe…too many people, though. I’m not waiting four hours in line so you can buy another glowstick.”
Me: “But the music’s totally worth it!”
Him: “Yeah, I guess. We’ll see. Weren’t you all worried about me coming today? I dunno, I thought they all sounded pretty good.”
Me: “And come on, you have to admit Hyde is beautiful.”
Him: “If - and I mean, IF - Hyde were a woman, he’d be very beautiful, yes. That’s all you’re ever getting out of me.”
This morning, my husband asked me how the intro to CHASE goes again. Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Anyways, I hope all of you lucky enough to have actually been at Kyocera Dome had a great time, and those of you equally lucky enough to get World Tour tickets have such marvelous experiences of your own!
I realize that there have been some great official reports posted already (live reports like this one almost feel obsolete now that L'Arc has united its overseas fan base with Facebook and such), but I was compelled to share...
Warning: Perhaps a little too long? Some instances of tastefully edited language...Hopefully no spelling mistakes...Oh, and one cantankerous husband.
As 2011 draws to an end, I felt I had to take the time to look back over what, for me, was a tumultuous year. If it weren’t for random bursts of L’loving sprinkled across the months, I wonder how well I would have adjusted to all the changes. While I was blessed enough to be at the first live of the year, the last live, and several in between, I didn’t have the energy or the heart to compose a report until now.
Now, I admit, I’m sort of lying when I say I was at the Kyocera live. After losing 4 ticket lotteries this past summer, I decided my L’luck had run out, and resigned myself to a L’Arc-less autumn. So when the 12.4 live viewing in theaters was announced in late November, I just knew I HAD to have tickets, workday or not. I also knew this would be my only chance to ever - EVER - get my very unwilling, self-proclaimed macho husband to see L’Arc~en~Ciel live.
The best part about L’Arc concerts is that every time feels like the first time - there’s always something unique, something that’s never happened before. This time, that freshness was not only the curiosity of joining the concert from afar via satellite (surprisingly fun - I would do it again), but also the snarky guest at my side.
The following live report is not only for those who couldn’t be there, nor only for those who wish to remember…It’s also for all of you who have ever attempted to convert a stubborn, relentless non-believer to L’Arcdom. My husband (hereafter referred to as “Him,” has been very patient and cooperative with my fangirling for as long as I have known him (mostly because, to quote, he thinks he “could beat Hyde up if it ever came down to it.”), and he has my sincerest gratitude for agreeing to be the subject of this experiment and offering his most naïve comments and opinions up for fandom scrutiny:
My Five Boys: The Dangers of Mixing Marriage and L’Arc~en~Ciel
(or, a 12.4 Kyocera Dome live viewing report)
At a packed theater somewhere in Northeastern Japan shortly after 5pm on December 4th, a screen bearing the L’20th Tour Logo melted away into a live view of Kyocera Dome and the seething, rolling audience. Occasionally the cameras panned and zoomed, giving us close-up views of the crowd, showing off elaborate Christmas costumes and cosplay, while other fans demonstrated well-honed glowstick routines (spelling out X X X or L L L or or L 2 0 with varying degrees of success). To the girls who mimed flicking boogers at the camera - you know who you were - congratulations, everyone saw that.
Suddenly the lights fell and a resounding roar shook even us, hundreds of kilometers away.
A pink glow began to emanate from the stage - and hark! Whose silhouette is that? Face hidden in darkness, Hyde began to sing “Farewell.” The melody bent and twisted, echoing across a silent arena.
As the last notes of his a capella introduction faded away, the rest of the stage was illuminated to reveal the stoic forms of Tetsuya, Ken, Yukihiro, and a string ensemble in an enclosed set, and…wait? Wait, Hyde’s standing on top of the string ensemble!?
The guitar melody faded into a buzz, and the buzz grew into a looming tone, and then exploded into Caress of Venus. The crowd responded, exploding into cheers. Another fantastic rendition, with Hyde’s alternatingly breathy and booming vocals, and Ken’s skipping, bubbling rifts! At the end of the song, Hyde blew an extremely flirtatious kiss at the camera, and I was rudely reminded for the first time that evening of my company when my husband cried out in dismay, “Ewwww! Gross!”
Luckily, L’Arc lost none of their momentum, and rocketed right into GOOD LUCK MY WAY! Dear to my heart, I was immediately on my feet for this one. The last time I’d heard GLMW live was at AjinoMoto, and it’s really come a long way as a live routine since then, a solid performance (I was tickled - Hyde remembered the lyrics this time)!
The lights dimmed with the end of the song, and came up again with the first raw rifts of HEAVEN'S DRIVE. Hyde stood center stage, jamming away with Ken and Tetsuya, and I couldn’t resist poking my husband and hissing, “See?! I TOLD you they can all play!” (“All right, all right, they’re bona fide musicians...You want some Doritos?”) Of course, the audience did its part (“Ride on heaven’s driiiiiiiiiiiive!!!”) as Hyde called out, “OI! Osaka!”
At the very end - so adorable, Tetsuya, Hyde and Ken turned to Yukihiro, watching for some cue, waiting for him to finish his drum part, and then the three of them ended the song in tandem with one last chord.
A low rumble continued after Heaven’s Drive - fans commenting and cheering and generally anticipating the first MC. I took this opportunity to nervously assess my husband’s experience.
Me: “So what do you think so far?”
Him: “……Well, Hyde looks f***ing terrible -“
Me: “WHAT?!”
Him: “I mean, no one looks good with cornrows ...But the music’s not so bad.”
And he nonchalantly shrugged.
Just then, Hyde began to speak, and I was forced to turn my gold-fish expression of disbelief back to the screen.
“We’ve turned 20….” Hyde began. He spoke very fondly then of Osaka, and said hands-down Osaka is his favorite venue. Of course, this is where is all began, and the decision to end the tour at Kyocera Dome was not crazy random happenstance. Oh, by the way, “Tadaima…We’re home!” he added, as an afterthought.
He then reminded the audience of the fans gathered at movie theaters (a rippling, unheard cheer from us) not only around Japan, but also overseas. Looking directly in the camera (those beautiful grey contacts!!), he wished us all hello - in Korean and Chinese, too, so cute! - and entreated us to kindly enjoy the performance, especially since he himself has finally come to enjoy singing. And with that, he introduced the next song, “Flower.”
Next to me, my husband said, “Did he just say ‘flo-wer’?”
In our humble little theater, it was at this point that the audience became less shy; more and more people jumped up to sway along to Hyde’s harmonica (“Wow, I guess you could say that Hyde blows!! Get it?” - accompanied by a giggle and an elbow jabbing my side. I’m pretty sure I bonked him with my glowstick.) Despite my annoyance, it was lovely to actually listen to the bittersweet lyrics with someone I…ahem…er, supposedly love at my side.
Who would believe that such a gentle song would be followed by DRINK IT DOWN? I certainly wouldn’t. In fact, it kinda brought me down off my high - I’m not a huge fan of the song, so I took the opportunity to enjoy the cushy movie theater seats and take in the fluttery red lights and admittedly cool motion capture and camera work they had going on. For one thing, the stage and backdrop were really impressive. The entire thing was an LED screen, so the images rolled down from the top of the backdrop and down under the band members’ feet. Throughout the song, live images of the members’ faces appeared on the screen, but they were distorted and vague - almost an illusion!
In the spirit of “sitting back and taking it all in,” I decided to try to gage my husband’s reaction again.
My eyes flashed sideways once, and then I did a double-take.
Him: “O.O”
Big eyes. Glued to the screen. My mouth started gold-fishing again.
At the end of the song, he turned to me and said with the most earnest conviction, “That’s song’s not so bad!”
The one song I never tried converting him with. Go figure.
DRINK IT DOWN became Dune, and although you couldn’t hear us, we at the movie theater gave our all during the sing-along refrain. Hyde wiggled a lot. The backdrop was white with racing static lines that followed the member’s feet as they twirled around the stage.
Darkness again, then the sound of lulling waves and a gentle ticking…Under the soft glow of rainforests and meadows, Garasu Dama began.
You know, the quiet, sweet, low beginning.
My husband began rummaging below our seats.
Hyde whispered the lyrics. The accompaniment was haunting.
Crruuncccchhhhhhh
My head snapped to the right, and I know my face fell from humble adoration to horror.
CRRRRRRUNNCCCCHHHHHH
My husband was eating an onigiri (riceball). Wrapped in crunchy nori. In a silent, enraptured theater.
During the opening of Garasu Dama.
I hope you sympathize with me when I say that I swiped it right out of his hands.
He gave an indignant protest (“Hey, I’m hungry!!”) and then made an attempt at reconciliation (…“You want one?”). I shushed him and hissed that he could have it back during the refrain.
Absolutely mortified, I tried enjoying the rest of the song. Of course, it wasn’t that hard - Hyde gave it everything he had, very powerful :D Next, to me, my husband finished his onigiri, still looking rather bemused.
A drumbeat, carrying a tone of finality…forbidden lover. Before the melody even began, sniffling broke out in every corner of the theater. Not to get preachy (Ha! She says, as she types page 3 of her fan report), but forbidden lover has taken on a new significance for me since last March, and it’s a sentiment - a desperation - shared by many L’Arc fans in the Tohoku area. When it was first played immediately after the condolence message at AjinoMoto in May, I bawled straight through the next two songs. I remember Hyde saying in an interview that the AjinoMoto encore was deliberate (forbidden lover, MHDAD, GLMW), which was really touching.
Anywhoo, my husband was already twitching and looking about, unnerved by the tears around him, but he really started to panic when he noticed me crying, too.
Him: “Ack, are you OK? Why are you crying? Why is everyone crying?! What’s going oooooon?!” (*insert poking*)
Apparently a new pair, MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM immediately followed forbidden lover, but oh, Ken’s solo! It was much longer than usual, and accompanied by the string ensemble, and just so natural and flowing! The rest of the song was pretty much blown away by the introduction - and I make that claim even though MHDAD is one of my favorites.
I tried to get my husband to sing along at the final chorus. Didn’t work. However, in the short break that followed…
Him: “You know….”
Me: “What?”
Him: “…It would be nice to learn the guitar. How does his hand move so fast?”
Awwwww…The moment of understanding was broken by the pounding of REVELATION. The stadium fell to blackness, and then the arena lights came up on a single…
…golf-cart. Bearing a Tetsuya. A Tetsuya with some sort of hand-held smoke machine. And with that, he dutifully begins to spray the audience - very thorough and fair in doling out fanservice.
Suddenly a second cart appears, and the crowd goes wild - Yukkie!! Yukkie, who politely fires his smoke machine directly into the air rather than into the faces of eagerly waiting fans.
And finally…a third cart - but…wait, what? Who…whe-? Oh, it’s just Ken, lying on his stomach on the seat and pretending to snipe audience members with his smoke machine.
The camera continued to pan from each one - a very jolly Tetchan, Ken standing up on the cart and going Rambo with his smoke machine, a very shy Yukkie, Ken mercilessly attacking fans-! Ken! What is the smoke machine doing between your legs?!?
All the while, the pounding beat of REVELATION continues (“Are they shouting “Heil?”…Is…is this some kind of neo-Nazi cult?!”).
Finally, Hyde was carried out, reclining on his palanquin, rolling the mic between his hands, and offering a few disdainful nods and waves as the parade continued. Eventually Yukihiro, Tetsuya, and Ken made it back to the stage, and Revelation commenced with Hyde singing from atop the palanquin.
This marked the strart of a burst of hyper-paced songs that kept everyone screaming and on their feet (well, Hyde helped with some interspersed, “Jump jump jump jump! Come on!”s) - SEVENTH HEAVEN, Driver’s High, STAY AWAY (“Why…is he playing that bass with a banana?”), and of course, READY STEADY GO (“Oooooh! Hyde said a naughty word!!”) The feverish pace was broken with Yukkie’s electrifying drum solo at the end of RSG - literally, bolts of lightning raced across the LED screens with every slam of a cymbal. With a final almost violently beat, Yukihiro threw his drumsticks to the floor and left the stage.
Intermission.
Him: “Why does Hyde have to dress like a pirate?”
Me: “I dunno about Hyde, and Tetsu’s giant shoes are hilarious, but Ken looks…Wow.” (skin tight black leather, with some nipple-age, for those wondering)
Him: “Which one’s Ken again, the drummer?”
Me: “………We’ve gone over this.”
Him: “That guy should get some real tats, man! Who wears tattoo sleeves? Really!”
Me: “He’s not wearing tat sleeves, it’s a marble-y shirt with a white vest!”
Him: “Nuh-uh! Those were tat sleeves!”
Me: “No, they weren’t!” (They totally weren’t.)
Him: “They so were! Oh well, at least he can drum. Revelation’s a cool song.”
Me: “Nnngh- wait, you actually remember a song title?”
Him: “And that other dark one. I like the dark ones.”
Me:” Guess it was too much to hope for.”
Anemone was preceded by photo montage (no bare bums tonight - thankfully. I had purposely refrained from mentioning that to my husband), lots of nostalgic photos, especially from the Driver's High era. The song itself was beautiful, with Tetsu, Ken, and Hyde sitting all together on the string ensemble…box…feet all a-dangly. The backdrop was of red anemone petals that swirled all around the stage.
As the strings faded away, a new pulsing beat filled the arena, in time with a blinding light. Across the backdrop scrolled a veritable orgy of luxurious women (“Booby!”), and the now familiar chords of-
Him: “Step. Into. Fascination. Trap. Of. Infatuation. KISS! Baby, it's kiss kiss kiss!”
Yep. Yeeeeeep.
So X X X - I tell you, I hated it the first time I heard it, have not been able get it out of my head since I got the single, and now think it’s a fantastic live song. Again, the Hyde Wiggle!
Anyways, CHASE was next -
Me: “Oooh! The new song! This is the one you’re getting me for Christmas!”
Him: “Oh, you’ve heard it already?”
Me: “Yeah, like, weeks ago. Don’t you remember, I made you listen to it?”
Him: “Then why do you need it?…I like the intro.”
Me: “…”
The PV was streamed as they played, with the live band members merely taking the place of their digital counterparts. Caught my husband peering intently at the artwork, and heard him muttering something about “really cool faces…”
Again, really awesome, live - and the final verse, where Hyde goes all deep? Le sigh!
And then, the moment I’ve been waiting to write this entire time….Ken’s MC.
He opened by singing happy birthday, and I quote, “To me.”
Everyone in the audience joined him, though no one quite knew what to make of his lyrics:
“Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday dear….to me! (He paused here, like he wasn’t quite sure what to say)
Happy birthday to me!”
As in an earlier report (natalie.mu), he spoke about how the dome seems to have shrunk over the years, and the audience feels so close - and speaking of close encounters, says Ken, “Let me tell you what happened just before during Revelation…”
And we were then regaled with Ken’s tale of his accidental intimacy with - and I kid you not - Hyde’s…er, I can’t believe I’m writing this…his genitalia. How did Ken describe it?
Marshmallows.
Oh, other adjectives came up (“Well,” he shouted, “How would you describe them?!”) and finally he blew up and said, “You know how like…dogs…are, well, they’ve got…(*insert illustrative air doodles*) But I’ve never even touched one of those - I never expected my first experience to be Hyde!”
Thinking I should fill my now-scowling, still-learning-Japanese husband in as to why everyone was cracking up, I leaned over and choked out, “Just so you know, that entire speech was about balls.” (“Yeah, I kinda got that when he did the, uh … *imitates Ken’s below-the-belt cupping gesture*…”)
Eventually, Ken wished us a Merry, marshmallow-y Christmas, and everyone started prancing along to Hurry Xmas. Yay!
Next came Link - ever the crowd-pleasing powerhouse and a sweet and appropriate almost-end to the Osaka lives. (“Wait, is he smoking?” An accusatory finger pointed at Ken. “He can’t do that on stage!”)
In his last MC, Hyde responded to Ken’s general assessment of his package, saying that having just been compared to marshmallows, he wasn’t sure if he could just take it in blushing stride and continue singing.
The victimizing also reminded him of another vicious attack - the laser lights! He says that he always makes the mistake of grabbing a drink of water right before starting CHASE, and I guess the position of his water bottle is really close the lasers, and he always forgets to move in time. He swore that this time, the lasers burned a hole right through his baggy pants and exclaimed that he couldn’t believe they now have such dangerous things onstage.
Next, he started, “The new album-“
And was immediately cut off by a collective scream from the arena -
“-seems like it might maybe be done kinda soonish?”
-which elicited a half-laugh, half-groan from the audience. More album talk, live planning talk, Yukihiro’s alleged death threats (the camera zoomed on a snickering Yukkie) … and then onto the sentimental talk - like how they’ll do their best to keep this up for a few more anniversaries. With the audience sighing, Hyde announced niji, and down came the white feathers!
Honestly, everyone sounded great, and it was the perfect ending to a very eventful year. Yukihiro left stage first, followed by the others - but of course Tetsuya came pounding back out (by the way, he looked adorable in stripes and polka-dots and huge shoes) with his banana basket! I lost count of how many bananas went, but he made sure to mime throwing one directly at the camera so we could all feel like we could catch one…or he was teasing us, not sure.
And then…the tension in the theater skyrocketed…nails were bitten, feet drummed impatiently…as we waited…waited…CHASE PV…wait for it, wait for it-
New album (To be completed soon!)! P’UNK album! World Tour final…in Japan! Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my husband grimacing as I shrieked in joy.
Me: “So you’re coming to Tokyo with me next year, right?”
Him: “Maybe…too many people, though. I’m not waiting four hours in line so you can buy another glowstick.”
Me: “But the music’s totally worth it!”
Him: “Yeah, I guess. We’ll see. Weren’t you all worried about me coming today? I dunno, I thought they all sounded pretty good.”
Me: “And come on, you have to admit Hyde is beautiful.”
Him: “If - and I mean, IF - Hyde were a woman, he’d be very beautiful, yes. That’s all you’re ever getting out of me.”
This morning, my husband asked me how the intro to CHASE goes again. Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Anyways, I hope all of you lucky enough to have actually been at Kyocera Dome had a great time, and those of you equally lucky enough to get World Tour tickets have such marvelous experiences of your own!