pop culture

Going Berserk

L’Arc~en~Ciel Concert Review

By Ryo Dark 

Edited by: Daniel Womack

All photos taken by Junichi Takahashi.  

Set list and additional information provided by TOFU Records.

SHORT VIEW

OTAKON 2004 Presents

L’Arc~en~Ciel Live in USA July 31, 2004

At 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, MD

Set List:

LONG VIEW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture this: you have been waiting in a line for over four hours in the sweltering ninety-degree humidity that is Baltimore, Maryland.  Beginning to suffer the first stages of dehydration, you are also going out of your mind with boredom.  Why would you put yourself through such misery?  Masochistic tendencies?  No, you are just waiting patiently for the event to top all events.  The reason you spent ten hours in a car with two psychotic comrades.  The reason you withstood “con funk,” and chose to live off minimal sleep, eating only instant noodles with pens, for lack of utensils.  What on earth would be worth that?  Only one of Japan’s most popular bands, L’Arc~en~Ciel, performing for their first concert in the United States.  A little four hundred-mile trip was CERTAINLY not going to keep you from that.

A rabid J-rock fan myself, hearing the news that L’Arc~en~Ciel was coming to Otakon from a friend sent me into a fangirlish fit.  L’Arc~en~Ciel, or Laruku to its devoted fans, is French for ‘rainbow.’  It was formed in 1991.  The current members for the band are hyde (vocals/guitar), ken (lead guitar), tetsu (bass), and yukihiro (drums).  They have a distinctive rock sound with great guitar solos, and hyde’s incredible vocals are not to be ignored.  L’Arc has done music for several anime titles, including Rurouni Kenshin, DNA^2, Full Metal Alchemist, and the Final Fantasy movie “The Spirits Within.”  

THE 2 VIEW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L’Arc~en~Ciel performed on Saturday, July 31st, at the 1st Mariner Arena.  The arena was conveniently across the street from the Baltimore Convention Center.  On Friday morning, the lines to get stickers to the concert were painfully long.  Understandable, of course, as there were only twelve thousand stickers for an assumed twenty-two thousand con attendees.  I did not want to be one of the unfortunates to be left out, and managed to get my sticker with ease that afternoon.  On Saturday, I left with the rest of the Press group at around 4:15.  Walking to the arena, my heart felt for the devoted fans that had been waiting in line for as long as I described.  The line itself seemed to wind on forever down the street and around corners.  The end of the line was certainly not disheartened, as the most cheering and screaming seemed to come from them.

While the fans in the long line got their bags checked for camera equipment and the like, the press group slipped by into the air-conditioned arena.  The arena itself was huge and a little foggy.  I have little to compare this arena to, as this was my first official concert.  As we entered, taking press seats located in the front row on the side of the arena, the first dubbed episode of Full Metal Alchemist was playing on two screens by the stage.  I would have preferred subtitled, but I suppose that would have been difficult to read from the angle I was sitting at.  At the end of the pilot episode, they showed the opening to the series, complete with the song “Ready Steady Go” by L’Arc~en~Ciel.  The audience went wild.  There was quite a wait for everyone to get into the arena, and as the seats were slowly filled to capacity, they showed the Full Metal Alchemist episode again.  Between showings they played obnoxious American music like Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi.  Not what you want to hear at a J-rock concert.  If you are like most fans, you want to hear J-Pop and J-Rock while you wait.  Every once and a while, a voice announced a welcome, saying the concert would begin soon.  Of course that again sent the entire audience into an excited uproar.  But it still took another half-an-hour or so for the show to finally get on its feet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After what seemed like an agonizing wait, and the thrill of seeing dark figures around on stage, the announcer once again came on the speakers, this time to inform us of the start of the concert.  The crowd went crazy.  Finally our prayers were answered.  The stage was lit up with strobes and colorful light effects.  It’s too bad that the guys running the spotlight couldn’t find the band.  The band played three songs as an intro, Kuchizuke, Lover Boy, and HEAVEN’S DRIVE.  After finishing off HEAVEN’S DRIVE, the lead singer hyde, came out and yelled “Hello America!  We are L’Arc~en~Ciel,” in a thick Japanese accent.  He asked the audience if they were having fun, and of course everyone screamed their reply.  “Me too,” hyde responded.  He then asked us if we ate crab (referring to Maryland crabs), but assuming that few people could understand his question, he repeated himself and then said, “I ate too.”  Laughter and clapping filled the audience.  Announcing the popular next song, Spirit Dreams Inside, from the Final Fantasy Movie, produced more cheers.

After four more songs, including Jiyuu Eno Shoutai, Eien, KASOU, and the beautiful slow song, Hitomi no Jyuunin, hyde came out again to liken himself to an Evangelion mecha from the anime “I am Evangelion going berserk!” which struck a chord with many audience members.  hyde demanded that “America go berserk!”  He was answered by a wave of screaming.  The next song was Driver’s High, the opening theme to “Great Teacher Onizuka.”  The song was going well, until the lead guitarist, ken, tried to play his guitar solo. Much to the horror of the audience, there was no sound from his guitar.  It is likely that the sound person that messed up is no longer working, since ken, angry from not being able to play his solo, proceeded to smash his guitar on the stage and kicked a amplifier.  His actions not only showed his frustration, but it helped to amp up the crowd to a whole new level.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between some of the other numbers, the band displayed more of their humorous antics.  Although the audience cheered through most of the songs, people were silent when the band members spoke.  Each pause in their dialogue created an uproar of cheering.  At one point, the bassist, tetsu, came out holding two bananas and asked, “Who wants to eat my bananas?” while throwing them into the audience.  L’Arc~en~Ciel is known for telling off-color jokes during their live performances, but perhaps with knowledge of younger attendees in the audience, they minimized  the double entendres.  ken later came out wearing a dolphin mask.  Using some kazoo-like instrument, he made dolphin sounds into the microphone.  In response to the audiences’ screams, ken replied “No, never.”  Continuing his imitation, he then said, “Hello, welcome to Otakon.  Who am I?  Who am I?”  After the audience yelled back “ken!” he said “No, dolphin,” and explained that he had gone to the Baltimore Aquarium.  He went on to say “The greatest Japanese band, L’Arc~en~Ciel, has come to Otakon.”  He asked the audience if the concert should continue.  In response to the audiences’ screams of yes, he insisted that we, “please be excited more, more, more!”  L’Arc really knew how to get their audience riled up. 

After Driver’s High, L’Arc~en~Ciel played Feeling Fine, STAY AWAY, and REVELATION.  The last song in that set had the audience throwing their arms into the air in unison.  It was great to see everyone getting so into the music.  At around this point, the band took a roughly ten-minute break.  The audience screamed, cheered, stomped their feet, and clapped their hands non-stop until the band came back out.  People seemed to be enjoying themselves.  READY STEADY GO, the opening for “Full Metal Alchemist” was played, again eliciting shouts of glee from the audience.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L’Arc~en~Ciel finished off their concert with HONEY, Blurry Eyes (the opening to DNA^2), and Pieces. Before the last song, hyde asked the audience if we had enjoyed ourselves.  No one was happy to have the concert end.  The music was fantastic, the band-audience connection was made. There was humor, fantastic pyrotechnics (including huge fire displays, and heavy showers of sparks), and an impressive light show.  To show our appreciation, during the slow song Pieces, the audience waved their arms, some with glow sticks.  The end of the concert was rather touching, and we were all moved.  

I hope that L’Arc~en~Ciel had as much fun performing in the United States as their audience did.  Tofu Records has released two of L’Arc~en~Ciel’s CD’s, “SMILE” and “Clicked Singles Best 13,” on which you can find most of the songs played during the concert.  The concert was more than worth the torture of getting there.  According to the band, they had an incredible time. I hope that the success of L’Arc~en~Ciel will bring more Japanese bands to witness the adoration of their American fans.

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