L'Arc~en~Ciel held a massive two-day show at Ajinomoto Stadium to commemorate their 20-year long career.
When a band like L'Arc~en~Ciel turns 20, it is no small thing. For two days in a row, 50 000 people gathered in the sold-out Ajinomoto Stadium to see the 20th L'Anniversary Live, and as if that wasn't enough, for the people who weren't fast enough to catch a ticket — they sold out almost momentarily — or happen to be on the wrong continent, the show was being broadcasted in cinemas both in Japan and overseas. The first day, May 28, started out with a miserable rain that showed no signs of abating, but that did not stop the excited mass of people from filling the arena dressed in raincoats and boots. For, as hyde later said during the show, "The rain is a stage effect. Maybe there will be a rainbow at the end?"
To the delight of the audience, the band was first introduced with a video on the big screens, showing both old and funny photos of the members. At the sound of churchbells, the screens instead starting showing live footage of the band members arriving at the venue. Two extremely long limousine vans were driven into the arena, and out of one of them stepped ken and tetsuya who slowly started walking around the arena like a lap of honour. yukihiro and finally hyde, for the day styled almost like a pirate with an old fashioned uniform-style coat and long rasta braids topped with a black feather-adorned hat, emerged from the other car and walked on the other side, the cheers from the audience knowing no limits as the stars passed only meters from the closest fans.
When the four band members had eventually ascended the stage, they started the first song of the show, In the Air, immediately. The blue skies shown on the screens contrasted starkly with the grey sky of reality, but L'Arc~en~Ciel managed just fine to sell this dream, judging from the smiles on the faces of the fans. For the next song, Caress of Venus, long silver and gold coloured ribbons were shot over the audience, and when everybody grabbed the ribbons the arena became one huge moving glittering mass. During Vivid Colors, the front of the stage blinked in vivid colours while the crowd sang along to the upbeat tune.
hyde greeted the fans and said that those of them that have lived with the band for many years were going to revive many old memories during this show. When the audience recognized the first tones of the Fourth Avenue Cafe, everybody started screaming and jumping, and during this song air was pumped into long balloon-like tubes in white, yellow and green on both sides of the stage, giving the somewhat eccentric image of dancing straws. The old As if in a dream was impressive in that the dream-like, almost ethereal feeling of the song was conveyed to a surprising extent despite the enormous live setting. During a short break where the stage lights went off, the screens instead, to everyone's surprise, showed the face of Yasu from Janne da Arc/Acid Black Cherry, and he, together with a whole row of other stars, sang a cover version of winter fall as a tribute to L'Arc~en~Ciel.
The real band then resumed the show with Garasu dama, another impressive number whose heavy bass lines resounded mightily in the arena. During the intro to Blurry Eyes the merry-go-round from the PV was shown together with an almost circus-like sound, regularly interrupted by heavy guitar riffs which made for a novel start of the song. Just before the song itself started, hyde blew a whistle and fireworks erupted from the stage, exploding in beautiful pastel colours.
It then was ken's turn to talk a little, and he cracked a few silly jokes to cheer the rain-drenched audience up. By now it had started to grow dark, and the people in the crowd got their glowsticks out, turning the arena into a sea of flourescent dots. While hyde got his harmonica out for flower, about thirty huge balls were let out into the audience in the middle of the arena, and during the song the apparently remote controlled lamps inside the balls changed colour first in a seemingly random manner, but as I'm so happy started the balls instead started changing colours in sync, making an impressive sight.
Erupting fireballs accentuated the tough attitude in the song Shout at the Devil and in the end hyde was standing on his knees singing in a really emotional fashion. After this, hyde, tetsuya and ken went off the stage, leaving yukihiro to perform a drum solo. The crowd screamed out their thanks and appreciation, but yukihiro quietly left the stage without saying a word. After a long applause and some successful attempts of the wave among the stands, the classical intro to Anata started while the stage was still dark. Not until hyde started singing did the stage lights come on, and the audience sang along and waved their glowsticks to the slow tune. tetsuya got to say a few words as well, and he laughingly apologized to all fans who had spent time on their hair and make-up only to get it ruined by the rain.
There was no mistaking the joy of the fans as the quiet intro to White Feathers was heard and the performance became a memorable sight as white feathers were literally showered over the band members during the sensual ballad. hyde thanked the audience again after this song and explained that even though there had only been old songs on the set, they wanted to finish with a song that looked forward. And, just as he had hinted earlier in the show, as a compensation for enduring the rain the fans could now see a rainbow behind the stage while the last song of the set, Niji ("niji" means "rainbow" in Japanese) was playing. With a "see you again" from tetsuya, the band left the stage, but the show was not entirely over yet. The PV of the very latest single GOOD LUCK MY WAY, set to be released on June 29, was shown on the screens, bringing every one back from the nostalgic past to the present day. When the PV was over and people started moving out of the arena, the screens instead read "See you tomorrow!" — this was after all only half of the 20th L'Anniversary Live!
Set List:
01. In the Air
02. Caress of Venus
03. Vivid Colors
04. the Fourth Avenue Cafe
05. Natsu no yuu-utsu [time to say good-bye]
06. Kaze no yukue
07. As if in a dream
08. Dune
09. winter fall
10. Garasu dama
11. fate
12. Floods of tears
13. Blurry Eyes
14. Lies and Truth
15. flower
16. I'm so happy
17. Shout at the Devil
Encore:
18. Anata
19. milky way
20. Voice
21. White Feathers
22. Niji
