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apanese rock band L’Arc-en-Ciel, whose name means “rainbow”, gave their audience in Jakarta a long-awaited treat on Wednesday.

The show ended the anticipation for fans of the band, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary and has been touching the hearts of its fan base for over a decade.

Peter Arjani from concert organizer Marygops studios said that the preparations for the LA Lights Concert L’Arc-en-Ciel World Tour 2012 show had begun well before the date.

“We contacted Laruku [L’Arc-en-Ciel]’s management in 2011. After that we carried out research with the fan base in Indonesia, [it was discovered that] Laruku’s representatives had already come to Indonesia and were sure that 10,000 would come,” he said during the show’s press conference.

A Forbes magazine article last month mentioned that the band had sold 15 million records worldwide and, according to the organizers, Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia had recorded multi-platinum sales of over 10 of the band’s albums.

The enthusiasm for the show was evident. Although it was slated to be held at 7 p.m. that night, show goers flocked to the venue of Lapangan D Senayan from the afternoon onward, with long lines snaking in front of entrances as show time neared.

Tickets were priced at Rp 500,000 (US$54) for the “regular” festival area, Rp 850,000 for the “premium” festival and Rp 1.2 million for the VIP package.

More waiting followed once inside the show area, partly due to an announcement that the band would stop playing temporarily if there was rain and thunder.

Around 8:10 p.m., Hyde (sometimes spelled Hide), Tetsuya, Ken and Yukihiro made their appearance on stage to the delight of the crowd.

The stage measured 16x11x1.80 meters in length, width and height and was equipped with a 20-by-5.6-meter backdrop for animation, including a short backdrop depicting their world tour route. The backdrop showed off rich graphics and animations, each apparently custom-made for the song’s themes.

Kicking off with moderately-paced “Ibara No Namida”, L’Arc-en-Ciel gradually built up pace, moving to “Chase” and the fast and punky “Good Luck My Way”, a slight slow down for the pop song “Honey” was followed by the
heavier “Drink it Down”.

The band commanded full control of the stage. The fiery Hyde, sporting braids and a lacy white top combined with a black jacket, displayed his vocal capabilities through a range of techniques from powerful growls to high-pitched sighs. Guitarist Ken maintained his pose while alternating from heavy chords to wailing melodies.

Bassist Tetsuya jumped and turned circles while playing his instrument in his signature melodic style, and drummer Yukihiro kept up his speed and power throughout the show.

Although most of the songs were in Japanese, plenty of the audience sang along to the words and some followed the instructions given in a pamphlet that was spread on the Internet and handed out before the event began.

The pamphlet, which stated that it was made by L’Arc-en-Ciel Indonesia, gave pointers to fans, such as “cross your light stick during the ‘X X X’ song, making the X mark!” and “Don’t forget to shout CLASH and FLASH during ‘Driver’s High’!”

The band defied the rain and thunder rule by delivering an encore, beginning with the mellow “Anata”, which in fact suited the light shower of rain and the cooling weather.

The carefree “Driver’s High” was certainly one of the songs that drew the most energy, and the band also took care to keep the zeal up through its effort to spread the energy evenly by, for instance, saving powerful numbers like “Stay Away” and “Ready Steady Go” for before the encore.

However, the heat, waiting and possible dehydration due to liquids being prohibited in the venue area might have drained some of the strength of the audience.

Although bottles of mineral water were distributed in the “regular” area, those who were lucky enough to get them mostly had to share with others.

The venue’s appearance was made slightly awkward by a wide gap in the crowd between the premium area and the fence separating them from the regular area, and those with regular tickets standing on the second or third row of their area had to struggle to see the show on the two wide screens, let alone to see the band itself.

But an opening allowed in the separators nearing the show’s end gave the audience in the regular area a chance to move nearer to the stage and get a closer glimpse, at least for a few songs.

Aside from the nearly flawless set, grand stage and props, the band also entertained the audience through conversation, which was mostly carried out in Indonesian.

The crowd was already thrilled when Hyde asked: “Kamu senang bertemu aku?” (Are you happy to meet me?), and the cheers and laughter grew when guitarist Ken spoke long sentences from a piece of paper in slang Indonesian, such as “Jakarta panas gila” (Jakarta is insanely hot) and “Gue kemarin lusa foto-foto di Kota Tua” (I took pictures in Old Town district two days ago).

He proceeded to give a present to Hyde containing, among others, a wayang puppet and a flute.

At the end of the show, Hyde, with a slight break in his voice, thanked the audience again in Indonesia and said that they were planning to come back.

But it was not over yet because Tetsuya then carried out his signature stunt of throwing bananas and lollypops to the audience, preceded by the question “Would you like to eat my banana?” and “Would you like to lick my lollypop?”

Despite the apparent exhaustion, for some of the audience the show was a dream that came true.

Two girls in the audience said that they had come from Padang, West Sumatra, to see the show. They are currently part of the region’s Akamaru J community, which includes those who are interested in various aspects of Japanese culture, such as cosplay and Japanese music.

“We have been listening to L’Arc en Ciel since we were in elementary school,” one of the girls said. She is now a university student.

Her fellow Akamaru member, Arief, said that he had waited 12 years for the band to come to Indonesia.

Ishak, a high school student who bought a VIP ticket, said that the highlights of the show included the songs “Anata” and “Forbidden Lover”.

“There was something a bit lacking from the set list though,” he said. Nevertheless, that failed to leave a major dent on the young man’s awe for the band.

“When I heard they were going to come back here, I got goose bumps,” he said.

Singer Hyde said at the press conference that they preferred to play outdoor venues.

“We are usually more on fire when we are [playing] outdoors,” he said through a translator.

The band’s performance certainly heated up an already warm evening.