A Christmas Eve with LUNA SEA

Although Christmas Eve is considered a romantic evening in Japan, many obviously think there is nothing more romantic than going to a LUNA SEA concert. To say there were a lot of people would be a clear understatement as the enormous Tokyo Dome was nearly filled. To honour the day, a lot of Santa hats could be seen in the crowd, along with elaborate cosplays recalling how the band used to look back in those days. The stage was decorated with candles and a platform had been put up in the middle of the hall, connected to the stage with a circular ramp that completely surrounded the fans in the frontmost section.

Ten minutes late, the stage was lit up with a purple light and the band members entered the stage. A single spotlight fell on a sunglasses-wearing RYUICHI, who started singing the first part of Time Has Come a cappella. The audience applauded his effort and then the stage lit up and the screens came on as the rest of the band joined in. After the last tones died out there was a sudden burst of fireworks that got everyone startled, and the fast-paced Dejavu started. The stage lights were blinking in rhythm with the music and the enormous crowd seemed almost like one huge living organism as everybody waved their hands in unison.

After a short break, RYUICHI took off his sunglasses and greeted the audience. During JESUS, SUGIZO went out on the ramp and played his guitar solo in the middle of the crowd. The slower END OF SORROW really showcased RYUICHI's strong voice and the audience rewarded him with loud cheers. After the more catchy SHINE, which again had the audience waving according to the singer's instructions, there was another short break.

RYUICHI expressed his thanks to the fans and explained that it was because fans believed in LUNA SEA, both three years ago and now, that they were able to come back. He then introduced the next song, FACE TO FACE, while the illumination turned to a passionate red. This slow but heavy ballad was really powerful to hear live and the heavy bass sound actually made the stands vibrate. As the stage lights turned from red to green, the atmosphere changed completely and the audience listened quietly to the much softer gravity. RAIN followed and RYUICHI sang the first part of this song with his hands covering his face in an emotional gesture.

After this the stage went dark, just to light up again with a purple light while a wind-like sound was playing. SUGIZO entered alone with his violin and the audience erupted in cheers. The song Providence started with a short but beautiful violin solo before the others came on stage to join in. The interaction between RYUICHI's voice and SUGIZO's violin in this song was hauntingly beautiful. For GENESIS OF MIND, SUGIZO changed to a three-necked guitar and the sound of this guitar monster combined with INORAN's acoustic guitar created an interesting blend at the end of the song.

Now it was Shinya's turn to shine. He performed his drum solo while toying with the audience, getting them to scream "Shinya" every time he paused. Towards the end he showed that every time he banged on the drums, fire would erupt from the front of the stage, thus creating an impressive fire cascade. Eventually, with one last bang on the drums, fireworks exploded. Then J came out on stage as well and together they played a drum and bass number that earned them huge applause.

The rest of the band came out and together they played IN FUTURE. After this, RYUICHI let the audience scream the name of each band member and he finished with "The world's best band LUNA SEA has been introduced," which caused a lot of cheers and laughter. The band then all went out on the ramp and settled down on the platform at the far end, where a drum set had been placed. Seated in that way, in the middle of the audience, they played I for you. After a "thank you" they went back onto the big stage and RYUICHI talked a little about their experiences during the world tour. "The audience in Germany nearly scared us because their response was so strong," he said. "But you're not going to lose to them, are you?" he continued and got the whole hall roaring in answer.

STORM followed and the audience seemed to keep their promise by showing a stronger response. In DESIRE, the crowd got to sing a bit, which they managed well, and the faster TIME IS DEAD seemed to spur everybody on even more. The catchy ROSIER was clearly extremely popular and when J started talking in the middle of the song, the joy seemed to know no limits. The climax came with TONIGHT, where first J and then INORAN went out onto the ramp and played right in front of the fans. The people in the crowd went positively crazy and when the song ended the cheers were so loud that it pained the ears. The band left the stage, leaving the exhausted audience wanting more.

While waiting for the band to return, some people started singing Silent Night as a reminder of what day it was and more and more people joined in until the whole of Tokyo Dome was singing, clearly and beautifully, Silent night in Japanese. As a reward, INORAN came back out on stage with a big smile, clapped his hands and thanked the audience. The other band members came back out as well, and RYUICHI wished everybody a Merry Christmas.

The soft and quiet IN SILENCE followed, with INORAN playing the acoustic guitar throughout the whole song. After this, a completely new song was introduced, a slow number where RYUICHI's emotional singing was combined with a heavier core rock rhythm, turning it into a true power ballad. After this RYUICHI asked the audience to scream if they wanted another song and the response got the band to play BELIEVE before leaving the stage for the second time.

The energetic hand-clapping of the audience was not in vain as the band returned after a while for a second encore. All of the band members went out on the ramp and chatted with the audience before starting LOVE SONG, a sweet ballad where only RYUICHI's voice and acoustic guitar, this time by SUGIZO, were heard in the beginning. In the end, the whole crowd was singing along in the "la la la" part. The uppermost screen had by this time changed to show the text "Merry Christmas."

During the very last song, WISH, cannons shot silvery ribbons out over the audience and when people grabbed the ribbons and waved them high while singing along to the last parts of the song, the whole hall seemed to glitter. When the song ended, quiet piano music was played in the background while the band members went out onto the ramp to wave and thank the audience. RYUICHI told about the next day's show, and promised that "there will be a different LUNA SEA tomorrow."


Set List:

01. Time Has Come
02. Dejavu
-MC-
03. JESUS
04. END OF SORROW
05. SHINE
-MC-
06. FACE TO FACE
07. gravity
08. RAIN
09. Providence
10. GENESIS OF MIND
11. Drum and bass solo
12. IN FUTURE
-MC-
13. I for you
-MC-
14. STORM
15. DESIRE
16. TIME IS DEAD
17. ROSIER
18. TONIGHT

Encore 1:
01. IN SILENCE
02. New song
03. BELIEVE

Encore 2:
01. LOVE SONG
02. WISH


(photos are from December 23rd and 24th)