tuti Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 I noticed there was no thread for this wonderful band so I'll take the responsibility to make one. On this thread I'll post information about the band and latest news. Let's taste the rainbow! [ATTACH=CONFIG]14807[/ATTACH] About L'Arc~en~Ciel: L'Arc~en~Ciel, also known as L'Arc or Laruku to their fans, is one of the most popular Japanese rock bands. L'Arc~en~Ciel translates from French as the rainbow. They have sold over 25 million copies of singles and albums in Japan alone. Members: [ATTACH=CONFIG]14808[/ATTACH] hyde - Vocals [ATTACH=CONFIG]14809[/ATTACH] tetsuya - Bassist, leader [ATTACH=CONFIG]14810[/ATTACH] ken - Guitar Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links. yukihiro - Drums Ex-Memeber: sakura History In February of 1991, bassist Tetsuya Ogawa (tetsu), later band leader, recruited vocalist hyde (his real name has never been disclosed officially, however, fans have rumoured it to be Hideto Takarai) along with guitarist hiro and drummer pero, and formed a band under the name of L'Arc~en~Ciel, inspired by a French movie of the same name. After a year of gaining notoriety in their hometown of Osaka, hiro left the band on June 12, 1992. pero soon followed on December 30 of the same year, supposedly to join up with his friend hiro again. To replace the two, tetsu convinced his friend Ken Kitamura (ken) to quit his university studies in architectural design and join the band as the guitarist. Later, a new drummer, Yasunori Sakurazawa, was recruited after tetsu saw him perform in a few shows. Debut album and subsequent albums On April 1, 1993, the band released their debut album DUNE under the indie label Danger Crue. The album was met with plenty of success and rose to number one on the Oricon indies charts, catching the attention of some major labels. In 1994, L'Arc~en~Ciel signed on with Sony's Ki/oon division, releasing their second album, Tierra (Spanish for "Earth") that same year. heavenly followed in 1995, and True, their first million seller, was released in 1996. Sakura's arrest Despite their blistering climb to superstardom, the band would face yet another loss that threatened its demise. In early 1997, drummer sakura was arrested for heroin possession, and officially quit the band on October 4, 1997. This proved to be the lowest point in the band's history. When news of sakura's arrest became public, there was an immediate decline in their popularity. CDs were being removed from the shelves and any of their songs that were used as theme songs were quickly replaced such as the Fourth Avenue Cafe for Rurouni Kenshin which was immediately replaced with former theme Heart of Sword after only 6 episodes of running time. There was no evidence of the band's existence, and their next single the Fourth Avenue Cafe was postponed. Many believe that the whole incident was blown tremendously out of proportion. Break and comeback The next few months were an extremely uncertain time, with doubts as to whether the band would recover. They continued to be featured in magazines, but only as a trio. They created their own cover band, "The Zombies", and poked fun at their own songs. They also covered artists such as Marilyn Manson and Nirvana. The return from the break was marked by the appropriately named Reincarnation 97 Live in Tokyo Dome, with their new drummer, yukihiro (former drummer with ZI:KILL and DIE IN CRIES). The first concert had an attendance of 56,000, which sold out in a still-standing Tokyo Dome record of four minutes. They released HEART, in 1998, which, like their second major album "heavenly" is seen as a transitional: moving away from the bad memories of the past, but also maintaining their originality and success. In 1997, 「虹」 (Niji — Rainbow), the first single since sakura's departure, was released with yukihiro listed as a supporting member. Not long after the release of the single, yukihiro was signed on as the official drummer for L'Arc~en~Ciel and the band was finally whole again. 1999–2000 projects L'Arc~en~Ciel released three more albums of new material during the next few years. ark and ray were released simultaneously on July 1, 1999, and became the first Japanese albums to be released simultaneously in many other Asian countries. Both topped the Oricon music charts, with ark occupying number one and ray at number two. The release of ark and ray marked the high point of the band's career, with each selling over two million copies. REAL followed in 2000, which was the last CD of new material for some time, although many more compilation and remix albums would follow. L'Arc~en~Ciel's last new song before their hiatus, "Spirit dreams inside", was the closing theme song to the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Solo projects After "Spirit dreams inside", the band went on a hiatus as the members began working on various solo projects. hyde released two solo albums (Roentgen and 666 as HYDE) and starred in the movie Moon Child with the popular Japanese soloist Gackt. hyde also played the part of Adam in the movie Kagen no Tsuki, based on the manga by the same title. Ken founded Sons of All Pussys with L'Arc~en~Ciel's former drummer sakura. tetsu started TETSU69 and yukihiro sang with Acid Android. The popular compilation, Clicked Singles Best 13 was released in 2001, with twelve favorites chosen by fans online and an additional thirteenth song, "Anemone", the band's only new material during this span of years. The members' various solo projects fueled speculation that L'Arc~en~Ciel was going to disband. Second comeback In June 2003, L'Arc~en~Ciel surprised the world with a series of seven concerts in Tokyo called the "Shibuya Seven Days", during which they announced a new album for release the following year. The band came out with "READY STEADY GO" in February 2004, its first single in more than three years. It topped Oricon charts and was used as an opening for popular anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist. The single was followed by another chart-topper, "瞳の住人" ("Hitomi no Juunin"), in early March. Finally, the long-awaited new album, SMILE, was released on March 31. Shortly afterwards, on June 2, 2004, the single 自由への招待 ("Jiyuu e no Shoutai") introduced "P'UNK~EN~CIEL" ,a partial change (much like the former gag, D'ARK~EN~CIEL), for the first time on CD with "milky way". In the past, the band also played a P'unk version of "Round and Round" live. U.S concert debut On July 31, 2004, L'Arc~en~Ciel made their North American concert debut at anime convention Otakon, held annually in Baltimore, Maryland. Approximately 12,000 people attended the concert, which was held at an outside venue for the first time in Otakon's musical guest history, at 1st Mariner Arena located near the Baltimore Convention Center where the convention is held. On May 31, 2005, Tofu Records, Sony Music Japan's U.S. label, released the much-anticipated DVD of the Otakon 2004 concert "Live in U.S.A" AWAKE, 2005 release In 2005, the band released various singles, including "Killing Me" , "New World", and "Jojoushi". These were later featured on their latest album, AWAKE, which was released on June 22 with twelve tracks, including "LOST HEAVEN", the closing theme for Fullmetal Alchemist movie. The band's latest single, "Link", released on July 20, 2005, was also featured in the movie as the opening theme, but has not appeared on an album yet. In August of 2005, the band went on their AWAKE tour, which was limited to Japan. The tour featured displays of anti-war sentiment, reflecting similar lyrics of the songs of the album. A particularly memorable moment was the unfurling of a giant white flag during NEO UNIVERSE. The flag was decorated with the universal symbol for peace. Other memorable moments included a suspended woman and acrobatics during the performance of Ophelia. Hyde's costuming for the concerts raised controversy among fans, and proved to be much removed from L'Arc~en~Ciel's earlier visual kei days. The neo-Nazi uniform and the papal robes during the performance of REVELATION were blatant social commentaries not seen before in the band's concerts. One theory is that the band was commenting on the election of German Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) to the head of the Roman Catholic church amid inquiries into his involvement with Nazi Germany and the Hitler Youth. An opposing theory, supported by hyde's new solo album, FAITH, points to his increased interest in religion and states that his shredding and distribution of the peace flag in papal attire symbolizes the spreading of peace by Catholicism; however, the flag itself was black and proves a significant contrast to the white flag, later unfurled during NEO UNIVERSE. Thus, the true meaning behind the military uniform and even more perplexing papal robes remains a mystery, but it seems most likely that the new socially-aware face of Laruku is being spear-headed by hyde. The Japanese AWAKE tour was followed by the "ASIA LIVE 2005" tour, with performances in Korea (Seoul) and China (Shanghai), closing with concerts in Japan. Japan's two concerts took place at the famed Tokyo Dome. Late 2005 and 2006 Following the AWAKE and ASIALIVE tours, L'Arc~en~Ciel's members turned their attentions back to their solo projects. tetsu began recording with a new band Creature Creature. yukihiro rejoined acid android, which released their newest single "Let's Dance" on 2006/04/05. acid android joins MUCC, another Japanese rock band, to perform two concerts in China (Shanghai) in April of 2006. HYDE composed the music for "Glamorous Sky", theme song to the much anticipated, manga-adapted film, NANA which stars Mika Nakashima, a j-pop singer (released 2005/08/31), a landmark step for the vocalist, being the first time that he has composed music for another artist. His most recent solo singles are "COUNTDOWN", the ending song for the Japanese release of American movie Stealth (released 2005/10/05), and "SEASON'S CALL", the opening song of new hit anime Blood+ (released 2006/02/22). Both singles topped at #1 on the Oricon chart. HYDE's next solo album "FAITH" was released in Japan 2006/04/26 accompanied by a five month tour throughout Japan between April and August, 2006. After signing on with Tofu Records, four small concerts were scheduled in San Francisco and Anaheim, California in the United States. HYDE will make his U.S. debut in July of 2006, the first of L'Arc~en~Ciel's solo projects to extend internationally. On November 25th & 26th, 2006, L'Arc~en~Ciel played 2 shows at the Tokyo Dome to celebrate their 15th Anniversary. A poll was created on the official website during the weeks up to the concert to allow fans to pick which songs they would like to hear at the event. 2007-08 In 2007, L'arc~en~Ciel had done an opening to the anime Seirei no Moribito, Shine. They released 4 new singles, SEVENTH HEAVEN (May 30th), My Heart Draws A Dream (August 29th) which was used for a Subaru Commercial, Daybreak's Bell (October 10th) which was used for Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and Hurry Xmas (November 14th). The band's album, KISS, came out on November 21st, and it included these 4 singles, however, it did not include Shine. In 2008, the band released DRINK IT DOWN (April 2nd) which was used for Devil May Cry 4, and the single NEXUS 4 / SHINE is to be released on August 27th. NEXUS 4 was used for another SUBARU commercial. L'arc~en~Ciel will be going on another hiatus till 2011, when they will celebrate their 20th anniversary. The members will be working on their solo projects, which includes the new duo, VAMPS, which consists of hyde and KAZ (Oblivion Dust), who was also the guitarist on tetsu's solo project in 2001. 2009-2010 On December 1, 2009, leader tetsu changed his name to "tetsuya" (and TETSUYA for his solo projects). They also announced the release of a new single: "BLESS" (Jan 27th release date) which would be set as the theme song for NHK's coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010. L'Arc~en~Ciel (along with two other groups/singers) to do Coca-Cola's new Pepsi commercial in ten years. The three groups will be in a Coke bottle singing their designated song. L'Arc~en~Ciel is singing "I Love Rock N' Roll" · 2011–present: 20th Anniversary and world tour On January 1, 2011, L'Arc-en-Ciel celebrated both their 20th anniversary and the New Year with the midnight concert L'A Happy New Year! at Makuhari Messe. On February 16, 2011, they released the compilation album Twenity. This album consists of three parts: Twenity 1991-1996, Twenity 1997-1999, and Twenity 2000-2010. A box set entitled Twenity Box was later released on March 9, 2011. The albums are an all-around "best of" collection of the band, and it covers everything from the formation of the group, including their hit singles till to their newest works. Twenity 1991-1996 covers their work from their album Dune until their album True. Twenity 1997-1999 covers the releases from their single "Niji" to the single "Love Flies". Twenity 2000-2010 covers their releases from the double A-side "Neo Universe/Finale" up to their commercial-only song from 2010, a cover of "I Love Rock 'n Roll". The Twenity Box released on March 9 contains all three of the albums in one release. It also comes with a special digest DVD that covers the 20 year history of the band, a deluxe booklet, and a special music box that contains either "Flower", "Anata", "New World" or "My Heart Draws a Dream" at random. Later, it was announced that L'Arc-en-Ciel would provide the theme song for Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Sacred Star of Milos, entitled "Good Luck My Way". This is their fourth contribution to the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise. The song was released as their first 20th L'Anniversary single on June 29, 2011. To further celebrate their 20 years together, L'Arc-en-Ciel put on a "20th L'Anniversary Concert" at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo on May 28–29, 2011, with each day dedicated to one half of their career. All of the proceeds from the concerts were donated to the Great East Japan Earthquake relief efforts. Additionally, at the end of the concert, it was announced that there will be a L'Anniversary Japan Tour in 2011, as well as a world tour in 2012. Later, the dates for the band's 2012 world tour were announced: Hong Kong on March 3, Bangkok on March 7, Shanghai on March 10, Taipei on March 17, New York on March 25, London on April 11, Paris on April 14, Singapore on April 28, Jakarta on May 2, Seoul on May 5, Yokohama on May 12 - 13, Osaka on May 19 - 20, Tokyo on May 26 - 27, and Honolulu on May 31. On October 12, the second 20th L'Anniversary single was released, entitled "X X X" (Kiss Kiss Kiss). L'Arc-en-Ciel was subsequently approached by the producers of the Wild 7 live-action film to perform the movie's theme song. Entitled "Chase", the song was released as the group's third L'Anniversary single on December 21, 2011. L'Arc-en-Ciel then announced that they will be releasing their twelfth studio album, and gave fans who bought "Chase" a sneak peek with a live internet broadcast of the band mastering the album on December 26 on Ustream. They also announced that their alter ego band P'unk-en-Ciel will be releasing their first album, titled P'unk is Not Dead, the same day.[35] The band's twelfth album, Butterfly, was released on February 8, 2012. It includes all their singles from the single "Drink it Down" onwards and four new songs. Their show in New York was originally scheduled to be at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on March 23, but was later moved to the main arena. Making L'Arc-en-Ciel the first Japanese artist to be the lead act at the legendary venue.[37] It was announced that the world tour will end with two Nissan Stadium (the largest stadium in Japan) shows on May 12 and 13 and two shows at Universal Studios Japan on May 19 and 20. They will also return to the US to perform two nights in Hawaii on May 31 and June 1, the latter being for the group's fan club members only. P'unk-en-Ciel P'unk-en-Ciel (stylized as P'UNK~EN~CIEL) is an alter ego of L'Arc-en-Ciel. Introduced in 2004, hyde takes over guitar, ken the drums, yukihiro plays the bass, while tetsuya performs the vocals. P'unk-en-Ciel's songs have a more punk sound and their music is usually heavier and faster with a different tone due to tetsuya's vocals. hyde wears a pirate patch over his left eye in P'unk-en-Ciel performances. yukihiro is known to wear a gas mask; however, this has only been seen once at a live concert during their Smile tour in 2004. Each member is called in capital letters; T.E.Z P'UNK (formerly TETSU P'UNK), KEN P'UNK, HYDE P'UNK and YUKI P'UNK. Each member produces one song of their choice, and they alternate their productions. P'unk-en-Ciel is the re-visitation of D'ark-en-Ciel (stylized as D'ARK~EN~CIEL), a special event that took place during concerts in the years when sakura was their drummer. The only material released from D'ark-en-Ciel is the 18-minute self-titled B-side found on the (then) unreleased "The Fourth Avenue Cafe" single. Each member was called; DARK TETSU, HYDE DARK, Suck・D'ark・La and Kën D'Ark. P'unk-en-Ciel songs have been recorded and used as B-sides on singles since 2004 and their performances can be found on live DVDs. They also featured television personality Sayaka Aoki (called P'UNK 青木) in the song "Round and Round 2005". On February 8, 2012, P'unk-en-Ciel released their first album P'unk is Not Dead, which contains all twelve B-sides released up to that point. Source: Wikipedia 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 woohh!! i love L'ac en Ciel!!!! love their songs.. !!! thanks for this thread Tuti!! - hugz - 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 You are welcome, they are awesome so they deserve their own thread. I will upload some pictures and videos later from the 20th anniversary concert in Paris, I wanted to see them in London too but I had some assignments to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Video I made with my phone of Yuki's solo during their concert on April the 14th in Paris ^^ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 I tried to film Good Luck My Way, but my phone was running out of memories T.T 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Ah and here's Ready Steady Go!...I hate my phone...T.T 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 wow,, really great.. actually i want to also learn to play the drums.. XD that's really lucky for you... i hope they would come here in the Philippines.. i love this song of theirs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 Me too it's such a happy song, it cheers me up every time I hear it Ah they didn't go to the Philippines for their "world" tour xDD If you ask me, I didn't feel it was an actual world tour...more like an Asia tour xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiakaiyuki Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 wow tuti, you got to see l'arc! (I was planning on going to the Paris concert but in the end I couldn't afford it) Although I don't know many laruku songs, I simply love Hyde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 I know right? I met people there that not only went to see them in London but also in Paris....VIP in both concerts! xD Those people are either rich or used their whole paycheck xD Ah Hyde is so awesome, he said he plans to go on tour with VAMPS, though there are no information whether they'll go outside Japan. :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 Here are some pictures I found today: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 IMPORTANT! L'Arc～en～Ciel NEXT WORLD TOUR Voter Registration Starts! Your vote will bring L'Arc～en～Ciel to your city! The cities for the next WORLD TOUR will be chosen by your votes from around the world!!! Voting starts on 6/1/2012 at 8:00AM (GMT)! WORLD TIME GMT(London) 8:00AM Tokyo 4:00PM Hong Kong 3:00PM Bangkok 2:00PM Shanghai 3:00PM Taipei 3:00PM New York 3:00AM Paris 9:00AM Singapore 3:00PM Jakarta 2:00PM Seoul 4:00PM Honolulu 9:00PM (May 31st) Mexico City 2:00AM Santiago 3:00AM Sao Paulo 4:00AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 hmm,, as far as i know,, L'arc haven't visited in the PHilippines,, really a bummer,, maybe if i'll just have to go to Japan in the future if i have the resources.. ... maybe i'll ransack where he lives... oh i especially love Hyde.. XDDD.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 hmm,, as far as i know,, L'arc haven't visited in the PHilippines,, really a bummer,, maybe if i'll just have to go to Japan in the future if i have the resources.. ... maybe i'll ransack where he lives... oh i especially love Hyde.. XDDD.. If you vote the chances for them to go to the Philippines are sky high! I'm sure many people will vote for the Philippines as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Tuti? where can i vote Honey? .. really really excited.. XD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 Oh sorry! I forgot to post the link! Gomen! Here it is: Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Thanks Tuti!! - hugs, kiss on the cheek - XDD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 umm,, Tuti,, i can't seem to find how can you vote,, mind giving me a direct link,, so sorry.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 Well the voting will be open on July the first so you can't vote yet xD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didz015 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 okay,, thanks again Tuti honey.. XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 No problem 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ao_sora Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 thanx for the info laruku is the first j-rock band i like and Haido-sama is so kireiiii especially his voice loved it! but it so sad coz when they come to my country i can watch them :cuteonion24: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 Then vote! You never know, they might go to your country during their next tour Go to their official site, the voting already started. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ao_sora Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 gonna VOTE right now:cuteonion46: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuti Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 hahaha! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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