expiration date 

so, L’Arc~en~Ciel has finally decided to throw concerts around South East Asia. i’m not a hardcore fan of them (my cousins, however, are huuuuge fan of them… thus the tattoo above), but i’ve been enjoying their music since back when i was still living in the States. so, when i heard that they’ll have a show in Singapore, i reaaaaly want to see them live. i had no expectation, although, the concert turned out to be one of the best concerts i’ve ever seen in my life. yes, it was THAT good.

after waking up early to buy ticket on the “fan-only” day at Sistic, and dedicating my running songs to listen to Laruku’s new albums (i was 2 albums behind, i need to memorized those songs before the concert!), the 28th finally arrived.

my two cousins, Ditha & Naomi, arrives in Singapore two days prior to the concert. we will be going with Helen, ari’s cousin who’s also Laruku’s fan.

on the 28th, Ditha & Naomi went to queue for the concert goodies in the morning, while i attended aina’s Fun Day at her school.

as soon as i got home, we all worked on altering the teeshirts to my fit. the tees are huuuuge! so, we had to cut some things and resew the sides. we also found out that one of the glow stick is leaking, so we can’t use it anymore (those things are expensive! 10 bucks each!).

we met up with Helen at Millenia Walk and had a quick early dinner at Nantsuttei Ramen and headed to the stadium right away. there, we met up with the second group, another ari’s cousin, Erwin and his girlfriend, Melissa.

the stadium was packed. there were a few cosplaying people, and some are really good…

after some people watching, we decided to check out our seat in the stadium. we were on 14th row all the way on the left side of the festival area. not bad.

i was nervous, because i haven’t been able to memorize most of the songs. i was worried that being surrounded with many laruku’s hardcore fan, i would look stupid for not knowing the words of the songs.

but when the light went out, my nervousness melted straight away, replaced by euphoria…

the festival area is seated, but as soon as the light went out, everyone stand up and started screaming. the thing about japanese bands is that all the fans already memorized not only the lyrics, but also the choreography of each songs. it was like, for song A, you need to move your light stick left to right. for song B, back to front. for song C, put down the light stick, and use the flash on your mobile instead… all i had to do was follow the people around me. and everyone seem to be soooo into it.

it was sooo much fun! and the song list was full of energetic song, so we jumped around a lot that i had sore calf the next day.

i don’t exactly know how they do it, but the concert was incredibly moving. the slow songs made me cry, the fast song made me dancing. and i was singing (more like screaming) the whole time, even though i didn’t know most of the words. and i’m not even a fan. the feeling must have been more overwhelming for the hardcore fans around me.

the song list was:

1. いばらの涙
2. CHASE -English version-
3. GOOD LUCK MY WAY
4. HONEY
5. DRINK IT DOWN
6. REVELATION
7. 瞳の住人
8. XXX -English version-
9. DAYBREAK’S BELL
10. forbidden lover
11. MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM
12. SEVENTH HEAVEN
13. the Fourth Avenue Cafe
14. STAY AWAY
15. READY STEADY GO
16. あなた
17. winter fall
18. Blurry Eyes
19. 虹

there are moments when ken doing an MC, giving gifts for Tetsuya that he bought from Mustafa. and the gifts are practically a bunch of pink merlions in all sizes. Tetsu seemed amused.

and the last song, which is Niji (虹), comes with all those white feathers raining down from the ceiling… which is the last act of all Laruku’s concerts. when you watch it in the concert videos, it looks cool… but if you were there yourself, it’s beyond cool… it felt magical. white feathers floating around you, a bluish spotlight shining from the back of the stage, i really thought that this was heaven. now, when i thought it about it, i felt silly… but it really did feel like heaven. weird, i know.

basically, the concert left me feeling very happy and thankful. i felt like i wanted to say thank you to the band, for giving us such a memorable and heartfelt experience.

the last time i felt that way was when i came out of the theater after watching Ghibli’s Spirited Away.

more photos in the 20th L’Anniversary L’Arc~en~Ciel WORLD TOUR 2012 photo album.