Japanese rock band L’Arc-en-Ciel, or Laruku in short, is probably the only band I’ve followed over the years.
I first got hooked on their music when I heard their theme song for the popular anime series Rurouni Kenshin back in the late 1990s, when it was shown on TV. I was still in secondary school then, and I must have heard it through an online download, because from what I understand, it was used as a theme song only for a short run due to a drugs problem with the former drummer.
At the time, Japanese popular culture (dramas, anime and music) was all the rage in Singapore, and Laruku’s songs were regularly played on the Japanese music segments on the Chinese radio stations. It was also the time when HMV was the multi-storey anchor tenant at the Heeren Shops in Orchard Road, and Japanese artistes had a major section on the third storey devoted to their music, with many listening stations featuring the latest albums. (Today, there is only one shelf of Japanese music in HMV’s single-storey premises at Somerset 313.)
It was also the time when people still burnt CDs to listen on their discmans. For me, L’Arc-en-Ciel became an important part of my memories of my time in junior college, as a CD with 13 of their songs provided my study music for the all-important A-level examinations. (With mp3s having taken over space-constrained CDs now, such a small set of songs probably seems unimaginable)
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| The atmosphere was electrifying throughout the concert! A great setlist (though like all fans, I wished they played more songs), a smooth, near-perfect delivery by frontman hyde and a very obliging audience made it a night to remember. |
