La Vie En Rose's Last Oneman Live

A few days after Christmas and only a matter of days until their disbandment, La Vie En Rose (LVER) performed their last oneman live at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO on December 27th. Even though the weather was a bit chilly, the fans lined outside the venue, but soon were allowed to enter where they all stood either in the small pit in front of the stage or on the sides which were a level higher. At 7:07PM, the lights dimmed and the recording of Susume! La Vie En Rose! came on; the recording is a chant that repeats the phrase "La Vie En Rose! La Vie En Rose! L.V.E.R. La Vie En Rose!" over and over again. The fans raised their arms in the air and enthusiastically chanted along with the recording.

The first member to come onto the stage was kyohsuke, who waved at the crowd and took his place behind the drums. Next was KEN followed by Ke2; both men waved and took up their instruments, bass and guitar respectfully. Last onto the stage was YUTA, who wore a huge smile and brandishing a rose-colored towel that read "LA VIE EN ROSE/Ibaraki". All men wore white from their shirts to their shoes, with a small amount of black accent for YUTA and Ke2; YUTA wore his classic "Rock n Roll" black muscle shirt. The fans cheered and yelled for each member as they came onto the stage; the concert then begun.

With a heavy intro, which was started by kyohsuke's drumming, CLUB ROMA was the first song to be performed. The lights switched from multicolored to green and red as the fans clapped their hands to the music. L METAL followed quickly after where the audience began jumping and waving their arms up high in the air; the jumping was so powerful that the ground was literally shaking! YUTA's beautiful voice was very deep and powerful in this song; feelings of aggressiveness were perfectly and honestly expressed.

LVER at first played something that was not familiar to any of their songs before they went into Mabushiki Mirai, which is the second track off their last album Atarashii Asa. For this song, the lights were white which gave the atmosphere a pure sort of feeling. KEN played low to the ground as the fans kept their hands in the air. Ke2 played at the front of the stage and when it was time for his solo, he raised his guitar high up!

With L FIELD, YUTA would raise his arms and everyone in the audience would follow, making everyone's arms rise at the same time. When Ke2 moved toward the front of the stage for his solo, YUTA acted as though he was also playing guitar with his hands. KEN pounded his foot on the ground throughout the song.

With all instruments beginning at once and YUTA yelling "Yahoo!" as he jumped; RADIO had begun. YUTA did a sort of dance where he picked each leg up high into the air simultaneously; it looked as though he was running. Once again, the audience jumped, following YUTA's lead and arm movements. The whole band sang 'RADIO' together and throughout the song kyohsuke sang along without a microphone. The lights were more dramatic throughout this song, not just staying on the band but also going into the crowd, which added emphasis to the speed of the song.

After the MC, which was done by YUTA, the band had their backs toward the audience. The coupled sound of guitar and bass broke through the air softly then and La Vie En Rose went into Ikusen mo no hoshi. More emotion emitted from the band during this performance with Ke2 who closed his eyes and tossed his head back as he played and kyohsuke who ground his teeth before shaking his head to soften his features. The range of YUTA's voice was showcased wonderfully throughout this song, which was much slower compared to the previous ones and brought the audience down to a morose feeling. When it was completed, YUTA smiled and said "Domo arigatou/Thank you."

Continuing under the same soft theme; next was Peach L Time followed by Mabuta. During Mabuta everyone in the audience was quiet and didn't move. LVER filled the venue with so much emotion; heartfelt sadness and nostalgia heavy in the air. During Ke2's solo, pink and white lights glowed softly behind him while YUTA sang his heart out. The audience was still in a somber attitude as Saigo no Ai began, where the band was livelier than they were for the previous song. YUTA head banged at the beginning of the song and during Ke2's solo he continued doing so with much more dramatic fervor. Ke2 and kyohsuke followed along, head banging as well. Ke2 threw himself to the ground where he flailed as he played with his guitar high up in the air.

Finally during my beats the audience began to move which was lead by YUTA who lifted his hands up in the air. The band then went even wilder during Mr. Jammy! Ke2 smiled and nodded his head along to the beat as he moved toward the front of the stage. YUTA smiled as he moved his body back and forth before eventually jumping and going crazy at the front of the stage. This only encouraged the audience and made them begin to jump up and down wanting to be one with the band. When Ke2 sang "Ohhh" (which is a held note) the fans pointed toward the stage and raised their hands toward the sky; they continued doing this every time Ke2 sang that part.

At the beginning of Kimihikouki (which translates to Paper Airplane), KEN, YUTA, and Ke2 jumped up and then jumped from side to side. YUTA, just as in previous songs, lead the audience to clap their hands; during the guitar break Ke2 led the audience by clapping his own hands with a huge smile as he lip-sang. KEN pounded his foot on the ground as he played his bass, giving his best to the fans. In the middle of the song, paper airplanes were flown into the crowd. The audience cheered and reached to catch one. A couple fell onto the stage, where YUTA flung them back into the crowd. This was a very happy and uplifting song.

Blue and white lights covered the stage and smoke began to fill from behind as the jingle bells for Christmas no you ni began. KEN danced in place and at times would head bang; there was a beautiful mix of YUTA and kyohsuke's vocals. During this performance, the audience was quiet and still with the exception of one fan who head banged the whole time, hair flopping in every direction. The lights dimmed when the song came to an end, but completely finished with YUTA thanking the crowd.

Things finally went wild again during California Sanbaisoku. KEN came up to the very front of the stage, giving the crowd a devilish smirk. Ke2 thrashed his head about as he played and raised his head only when it was his turn to sing. YUTA moved his body from side to side while head banging every now and then; he lifted his hand to the sky as his body bent back a little when the growl toward the middle of the song came. Toward the end Ke2 and KEN bowed to kyohsuke as he completed the song.

Now that the crowd was fired and ready to go, LVER brought us back to an old classic ZU->BO->! A soft introduction of the rhythm section came next before YUTA sang the first words to Shouwa. The vocalist broke into another energetic dance before playfully swapping positions with Ke2 as the fans jumped, making the floor shake. The music then stopped, and only YUTA and the audience sang together; eventually YUTA stopped singing and the singing from the crowd got louder filling the venue. All the band members had huge smiles spread across their faces as they listened to their own fans sing their song in perfect unison. Once again, the band joined in at full blast giving a perfect ending to this track.

After such a riveting and emotional interaction with the band and the crowd, we were brought to LIVE!LIVE!LIVE! Both the audience and band were in high spirits; kyohsuke grinning at the drum set as Ke2 made faces at the crowd, causing bouts of laughter to break out. Fans and band sang together as one during the beginning of Ai no Uta, at which point glitter was sprayed into the audience as they jumped up and down to cheer on their band! This time Ke2 and KEN swapped positions while the fans had their hands raised in the air, trying to reach for them. The song has a sort of folk-sound to it, making it easy for KEN, YUTA, and Ke2 to do a sort of square dance in the middle of the song while they facing the audience. If the audience wasn't in such close proximity of each other, they would have copied the band and danced together!

A recording of La Vie end ROLL began playing as the lights turned out and the band quickly left the stage; the track is so sad, meaning the end. Even though the lights were out, there was a small sign with pink lights on stage that said "LA VIE EN ROSE/ Ibaraki", similar to the towel that YUTA was carrying at the beginning of the live. When the recording ended, the fans began cheering for an encore only for the lights to turn back on and kyohsuke to come onto the stage. This was the beginning of an extremely long MC, during which kyohsuke told stories and made the audience laugh. Before each member came onto stage, kyohsuke had a sort of chant or saying that he and the audience performed before the band member would come out. First to come out was KEN, followed by Ke2, and last but not least YUTA. The MC lasted between 30 and 45 minutes long.

The first encore set was fast and fun, making the crowd crazy as they jumped and head banged. The whole band, in their own way, urged the crowd to continue on thrashing about. During Hotaru no Hikari, everyone kept swapping places on stage so each member could see every single face in the crowd. When Deisui de Maachi ended, once again LVER quickly left the stage, but this time a curtain fell to cover the stage. Before the crowd could even call for encore, a short film began playing, showing the different albums from old to recent and live clips of the band from years ago. There were two PVs that were played, one for Tsumi to Batsu and Aa Yume Yo. When the film ended, the crowd finally started freely cheering for an encore.

A recording of Aa Yume Yo was played as YUTA came back on stage alone. With his hair pulled back, he began to sing as kyohsuke came out next. The drummer was nearly beaming at the crowd as he waited for his turn to sing as well. Ke2, with a towel on his head, sang next while those on stage moved one of their arms from side to side with the sound of the music. KEN came onto stage strutting a 'sexy' facial expression as he was overdramatic and touched the microphone stand everywhere almost climbing on top of it before YUTA pushed him off the microphone and took his turn again. The crowd laughed seeing such a spectacle. All the band members stood in their usual positions and continued moving their arm from side to side as they all joined in to sing in together in perfect unison.

The next two songs were from their very last single, which was just released a few days prior to the event as part of the Golden Box. I say... was slow and very sad. The crowd was quiet and still as they watched the band perform. THE ROSY LIFE was livelier with YUTA doing his dancing again and throwing lovely red roses into the audience. Even though the feeling throughout the venue had changed, the band was smiling and it was noticeable that they were both grateful and happy to be on that stage performing for their fans.

Once again, the band left and another curtain fell. This time the clip showed the history of La Vie En Rose and a message from each of the members. Crying could be heard throughout and heart-broken fans asking "Why?! Why?!" Fans began hugging, whether they knew each other or not. They all shared the same sadness that La Vie En Rose was disbanding.

The curtain fell to the ground as the band came running back on stage for one final song, Yume wo Mite. Instead of simply cheering, the fans called for each member; LVER and the crowd sang and danced together. This would be the last time that many fans would see this wonderful band. As this final song reached its end, all four men came to the front of the stage to clasp hands. They bowed first to the front of the stage and then to stage left, stage right, and then once more to the center stage. Their gratitude at the display of love and support they'd received from their many fans over the years was clearly felt and the gathered audience continued to sob and hug one another as they waved to the band members who slowly left the stage as a recording of La Vie end ROLL played. The time on the clock was 10:20; their final oneman had lasted for nearly 3 and a half hours. Every moment was undoubtedly cherished by the fans, who continued to cry and hold each other long after the stage had gone dark.

During the live there was an announcement that LVER would be releasing one final DVD which would have recordings of their last oneman live (this night) and from their final countdown live which would be held on Dec 31st, the night of their disbandment.

Good-bye, La Vie En Rose, and thank you for 12 years!

Set list

1. CLUB ROMA
2. L METAL
3. Mabushiki Mirai
4. L FIELD
5. Radio
6. Ikusen mo no Hoshi
7. Peach L Time
8. Mabuta
9. Saigo no Ai
10. my beats
11. Mr. Jammy
12. Kamihikouki
13. Christmas no you ni
14. California Sanbaisoku
15. ZU->BO->
16. Shouwa
17. LIVE!LIVE!LIVE!
18. Ai no Uta

En1. Ibaraki DASH
En2. Hotaru no Hikari
En3. Deisui de Maachi

En4. Aa Yume Yo
En5. I say...
En6. THE ROSY LIVE

En7. Yume wo Mite