L'Arc~en~Ciel live in Taiwan

Despite their popularity in Taiwan, April 26th, 2008 was the first time L’Arc~en~Ciel set foot on the island. The day of the live, the line of fans wrapped around Chung Shan Soccer Stadium and spilled onto the sidewalks; some die-hard fans had been camped outside the stadium for weeks in anticipation of L’Arc’s Taiwan concert debut. As expected, many fans were dressed in punk-goth fashion. Quite a few people had hyde’s famous wings tattoo displayed, either on their own skin or on shirts, and some wore T-shirts or towels with rainbows on them (as L’Arc~en~Ciel is French for "rainbow").

Fans were let into the stadium about two hours before the live was scheduled to start. Thousands filled the cement bleachers, while the rest scurried onto the half of the grass field that comprised the standing area. In the middle of the field was the brightly lit stage, proudly displaying ragged flags that had the band’s tour name emblazoned on them and flanked by two large video screens. The backdrop of the stage had L’Arc~en~Ciel written across it.

Everyone waited quietly as slightly outdated American rock music blared through the speakers. However, as a sheer grey screen was raised to shield the stage and the stadium went dark, everyone began to cheer. The live began with the name of the tour, TOUR 2008 L'7~Trans ASIA via PARIS~, projected onto the screen, as well as the word "welcome" in all the languages of the countries the tour would cover: Chinese, French, Korean and Japanese. Then the names of L’Arc’s members were projected one by one, each receiving an ovation from the audience. Finally, the opening graphics faded, and backlighting on the stage showed larger-than-life shadows of the four members on the screen.

The live started with get out from the shell -asian version-. The creeping, twisting melody added to the gyrating shadows on screen drove the anticipation so high that when the screen finally dropped, revealing the members of L’Arc in their mismatched outfits, the crowd immediately began to scream and jump. Riding on that energy, the band dove right into Driver’s High and kept going with Killing Me, during which hyde ran all over the stage while tetsu and ken switched places.

After the song, hyde seemed to need a moment to compose himself before starting the MC. He blew kisses out to everyone and said in clear Chinese, "Hello, Taiwan! We made you wait! We are L’Arc~en~Ciel!" Although he had memorized his lines, there were a few parts where he had to remind himself by finger-writing the words in the air, and the crowd shouted encouragements as he did so. He announced DRINK IT DOWN at the end of the MC and started the song with a little fanservice, licking his microphone during the opening lines.

DRINK IT DOWN was followed by DAYBREAK’S BELL, and then came a set of slower songs: winter fall, kasou, eien and forbidden lover. The audience was in a trance-like state, swaying slowly and singing along. ken’s languid head rolls made it seem like he had fallen prey to hyde’s impassioned singing as well, but everything began to pick up as the band moved onto My Heart Draws a Dream. The sweet opening lines of ken's guitar reverberated throughout the stadium, and during the chorus hyde gestured at the crowd to sing for him, which everyone gladly did.

To start Caress of Venus, hyde jumped onto the center stage riser and danced his signature wiggling dance, much to the delight of everyone. He blew more kisses to the audience as the song finished, and next was REVELATION, a high energy song that had everyone chanting along and throwing their arms up to the beat.

Then it was time for another MC, this time featuring ken. Despite reading off a piece of paper, his Chinese was pretty bad, but the crowd managed to understand him when photos were flashed on screen to illustrate his story. With cigarette in hand, ken made a few jokes about L’Arc being as a Taiwanese boyband and himself being a Taiwanese rockstar, talked a little about his adventures since arriving in Taiwan, then announced SEVENTH HEAVEN.

Silver streamers flew out over the field as the band played; they were immediately picked up by the audience and waved in the air. Next was Pretty girl, and at the end of the song, tetsu took out a banana! He kissed it and teased everyone with "do you want my banana?" before throwing it into the crowd. During the short break, hyde had picked up his guitar and the audience was treated to a round robin version of STAY AWAY as each member of L’Arc took a turn at the mic. ken took over the drums when it was yukihiro's turn to sing.

Afterwards, hyde put away his guitar and yelled in English, "Are you ready to rock!?" The crowd responded with a roar and the band leaped into READY STEADY GO. When the song ended, everyone was still on a high, but the band quietly left the stage. For a while, chants of "banana!" "Laraku!" and "encore!" echoed around the stadium, and the seated audience began doing the wave, which was applauded by those standing on the field. Finally, the band returned for the encore, with only tetsu having changed into a tour shirt.

yukihiro took his turn to MC, but seemed shy about speaking in Chinese. He read quickly off a piece of paper, thanking everyone and saying he was glad to be in Taiwan, before retreating behind his drums. The band picked up with NEO UNIVERSE and the disco ball was in its full glory, covering the stage in glittering light which, combined with soft blue lighting, really made the stage seem like a small-scale cosmos. tetsu had a short but sweet solo; then the band moved on to HONEY, with hyde picking up his guitar for the song.

Following was Link, and ken took a minute to have some fun by taking a camera from a stagehand and filming the crowd. hyde joined in, blowing more kisses, and tetsu threw another banana into the audience. After the goofing off, it was time for the final MC. As ken lit up another cigarette, hyde asked the audience if they would sing with him for the last song. Questioning until he was satisfied with the crowd’s reply, he announced Anata.

White feathers floated out across the stage and over the field as the song began. Everyone had their arms up, waving slowly to the beat, and when hyde signaled their turn to sing the chorus, the crowd sang as loudly as they could to show their appreciation. With the last strains of Anata, the live was over. hyde left after saying "thank you" and "see you soon" in Japanese, and yukihiro also disappeared promptly. ken stayed to throw out a few picks, and tetsu did the same with some bananas. After they finished, they also left the stage, and bright lights flooded the stadium to guide everyone home.

Although twenty songs were played, the live still seemed too short, and disappointingly there wasn’t any real P'UNK~EN~CIEL action. However, for their debut in Taiwan, L’Arc~en~Ciel pulled off a perfect night. Fans here won’t forget the experience anytime soon... but then, any experience with L’Arc is one to remember!