L'Arc~en~Ciel Live at Tokyo Dome

The arena seats, including the first and second floor seats were all filled to capacity for L'Arc~en~Ciel’s latest performance at the Tokyo Dome. The stage setup consisted of a big drum set on a raised area in the centre of the stage, guitar on the right, bass on the left and a microphone stand in the center of the stage in front of the drum set. Huge screens which were to project the performance were set up on either side of the stage.

Following the introduction, the band appeared. hyde, with his long straight hair, wore a sleeveless jacket with a black see-through shirt beneath. tetsu wore a shirt with a raised collar over a white T-shirt. ken was wearing a black jacket over a white T-shirt, whilst yukihiro simply wore a white T-shirt.

The concert began with the song Killing Me, which was followed directly by Promised land. The next song Driver's High began with the sound of a car engine and a myriad of fireworks lit up the stage. The concert was highly energetic from the very beginning.

hyde blew a kiss to the audience and said, "I’ve come here to make love to you! I’ll give you ecstasy tonight!" The audience cried out in response as if as one. Then in reply to hyde'’s signal, the audience copied his movements and the gestures spread out through the crowd like a wave.

The next song snow drop changed the pace of the concert completely. ken's guitar sounded especially heartrending against the blue light stage effects. The concentrated intensity was sustained through the next song winter fall and the effect was truly mesmerizing!

After the emotion of the previous songs the tone of the concert suddenly changed. At the start of Caress of Venus, tetsu and hyde moved to the left, and the audience responded with the same wave of motion and sound they had performed before. During HEAVEN'S DRIVE, hyde played guitar intensely while singing and shouting along with the bass which was producing incredible and rapidly-changing sounds.

Between songs at the microphone, ken took off his jacket; and looked relaxed as he smoked a cigarette. Soon after hyde returned to the microphone and said "This is a song which I wrote thanks to the kindness of the people during the GRAND CROSS TOUR". He then introduced the song LOVE FLIES. Hyde and ken’s performance during this song was nothing less than fantastic.

During the next song Jojoushi, an image of a dragon flying among clouds in the serene blue sky was projected on the back screen of the stage. After Joujoushi the atmosphere on the stage changed dramatically. A mystical atmosphere was generated by the intense flame flashing on the stage during get out from the shell and the upbeat song New World.

hyde sang and played his guitar powerfully throughout the next song Jiyuu e no Shoutai during the song the cute devil mascot of the band "CIEL" appeared.

The following MC break involved tetsu talking casually to the audience. He told a story about the band’s recent Asian tour. He explained "We stayed on the 50th floor of our hotel in Shanghai, and we worried about the building shaking during a typhoon!"

The band then pretended to start the song smoke on the walk and the audience went wild! But this was only a tease before the next song. LOST HEAVEN, during which a mirror ball emerged over the stage. ken removed his sunglasses, and as he played his guitar, hyde's low, husky voice sounded incredibly sensual.

The show continued as the audience enjoyed the rapid, upbeat song STAY AWAY. Once again CIEL made an appearance as a big balloon. tetsu then reappeared from offstage with a banana, which he proceeded to use on his bass guitar to create unusual noises. When he had finished he threw the banana into the audience. In the mean time ken had decided to change his guitar to the beautiful flower patterned black guitar, he then stood on the amplifier and pointed to the audience.

During the upbeat music of READY STEADY GO hyde shouted to the audience "Are you fuckin' ready?" and on cue fireworks shot up at the back of the stage. The band members then ran to either side of the stage as the ultimate climax of the night’s performance began. yukihiro's drumming was loud and impressive during his drum solo. And in appreciation tetsu raised his bass over his head proudly in triumph at the end of the song.

As a special treat for the audience, the band members appeared in the arena on electric cars normally used for pitcher changes during baseball games. They threw coloured balls into the audience before completing their little journey around the stage set through to the back of the arena. It was then time for the fun parody show to begin. TETSU P'UNK, the main vocalist, put on a bright yellow T-shirt and headed for the microphone. The audience roared with laughter when he said "Thank you L'Arc~en~Ciel for the opening performance! We are the main act P'UNK~EN~CIEL!". The parody band then played two songs milky way and Round and Round 2005 with HYDE P'UNK on guitar, KEN P'UNK on drums, and YUKI P'UNK on bass. HYDE P'UNK, had covered his left eye with an eye patch and headbanged violently as he played his guitar.

The crazy P'UNK~EN~CIEL then left the stage in their electric cars. As soon as they left the stage the front projection screen lit up displaying 'LNN L’Arc NEWS'. The "news" report was actually a montage of video clips taken from the band’s recent Asian tour. The audience laughed at the humorous and highly unusual situations that the band members were involved in during their tour. There was a clip of hyde being challenged to eat a live octopus. Another amusing scene showed ken, at the microphone, silencing the audience in astonishment as he said "I was killing five birds at the hotel yesterday"! instead of his intended statement of "I was playing gobang game at the hotel yesterday."

After the "newscast" the band members appeared back on stage to perform once again as L'Arc~en~Ciel for the upbeat song PARADE. During the song a series of clips from the band’s past appearances played on the projection screens. It seemed that hyde was a little embarrassed at seeing the footage. It was fun to see him playing harmonica for a while during the song.

The show was now moving to conclusion and during the next song HONEY a large number of vinyl balls with balloons inside them were released into the hall and among the audience.

Next was the traditional band introductions, each band member was addressed by their uniform number, and was asked a question by the announcer. yukihiro took the opportunity to express his feelings in his short speech "I’m so impressed at the conditions here now, because I remember that my first live performance in L'Arc~en~Ciel was here in the Tokyo Dome", where he stated the lighting had affected his eyes. tetsu then threw a large number of bananas into the audience, and ken pretended to take his toy lizard that he bought in Korea across the stage for a walk. When hyde was asked to say "I love you" in Korean, he instead sang smoke on a walk with a rough voice to conceal his embarrassment.

After the song Link, yukihiro took his turn at the microphone to talk before the stage mirror ball once again started to turn as hyde sang Hitomi no Juunin His performance was especially notable as he showed his excellent vocal range with great effect.

The start of the final song Niji was heralded by a cascade of white feathers falling about hyde as he stood illuminated by a bright spotlight. hyde’s voice, gentle and soulful in this song, added an extra element to this ballad for the audience, as did his attire and lyrics.

In conclusion the, ASIALIVE 2005 Tokyo Dome live performance was completely different from the AWAKE TOUR 2005 as the latter had a strong moral message, namely peace. The band left out extra effects and props, and delivered a relatively simple, low-key performance overall, despite being on such a large stage. They seemed confident in their performance and music.

The moment hyde appears on stage and begins singing, the audience is immediately captivated. hyde is a truly talented artist who gives the impression of having true genius. His intriguing lyrics paint a dark and mysterious world, but his charisma never ceases to draw people in.

ken plays guitar with considerable emotion, and makes dual impact with his unique combination of guitar and voice. It is certainly noteworthy that he never changes his attitude, which was clearly shown as he smoked onstage at the Tokyo Dome in front of more than 10000 people!

tetsu plays bass intensely and plays complicated melodies with ease. yukihiro must be greatly praised as he plays the drums with considerable technical precision. The band’s solid rhythm section provides a strong foundation for the musical framework of L'Arc~en~Ciel. Once again, it reminds us that their music, which creates a reaction in many people, is based on their excellent technical skills.

It is especially admirable that the band members compose their own sections of the band’s music, showing obvious musical technical ability which is indeed a great credit to the band.

The music of L'Arc~en~Ciel will continue on!


Set list
1. Killing Me
2. Promised land
3. Driver's High
4. snow drop
5. winter fall
6. Caress of Venus
7. HEAVEN'S DRIVE
8. LOVE FLIES
9. Jojoushi
10. get out from the shell
11. New World
12. Jiyuu e no Shoutai
13. LOST HEAVEN
14. STAY AWAY
15. READY STEADY GO
16. milky way(P'UNK～EN～CIEL)
17. Round and Round 2005(P'UNK～EN～CIEL)
18. L'Arc～en～Ciel PARADE
19. HONEY
20. Link
21. Hitomi no Juunin
22. Niji