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DVD : L'Arc-en-Ciel - Live in USA |
- Cool energy! Cool DVD! Exciting!In July 2004, one of the most popular bands from Japan performed at 1st Mariner Arena as part of the Otakon anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland.
L'Arc~en~Ciel rocked the arena in front of 12,000 people and are the first Japanese rock band to ever headline a US stadium show.
J!-ENT has documented the event and the worldwide popularity of L'Arc~en~Ciel with a special article but one thing that we always wondered about, was if a DVD release was on the horizon.
With a lot of fan anticipation, the "LIVE IN U.S.A." DVD will be released in the U.S. on May 31, 2005.
Shot in a documentary style, The DVD features 16 tracks featuring the band performing hits such as "READY STEADY GO", "Spirit dreams inside" and "Driver's High".
The DVD does a good job of showing the excitement of the screaming audience and fans as they rocked to band.
If anything, the vibe was positive and it was great to see the fan participation and the looks on the faces of people in the audience as hyde screamed his "Evangelion - Berserk" and "Did you eat crabs?" chant.
Expect to see footage of the band as they travel Baltimore for photo shoots, segments from the L'Arc~en~Ciel press conference and much more.
The American release also includes a bonus 3-minuted DVD of their hit "Revelation" recorded from their "SMILE Japan 2004 Tour".
Also included on the DVD are the romanized lyrics for the songs sung on the DVD.
But although I am a fan of L'Arc~en~Ciel and we never try to let our personal bias get in the way, it would be fair for us to let you know what we didn't like about the DVD.
Personally, I wish there was a menu (every DVD needs a menu) and special features.
I think it's great that the US release does come with the bonus disk but many Japanese music DVD's suffer from the no-special features and here in America, we come to expect having those special features.
Also, there could have been promotionals for upcoming albums or DVD's for other Tofu Records artists.
For those who were wondering, there are no English subtitles in this U.S. release.
There are Japanese subtitles for the press conference but that is about it.
Another picky thing that we wish was on this DVD was the exciting things we reported in our article of things that revolved around bananas and dolphins that were not included on this DVD.
As for DVD quality, the picture is featured in 4:3 mode and the video quality, was average with some shaking during filming and due to the concert area, the video crew were probably limited to certain angles.
So, if you were spoiled to the quality of previous Laruku DVD's such as "Tour `98 LIGHT MY FIRE", "1999 GRAND CROSS CONCLUSION"and "REAL LIVE", then you will notice the difference with "LIVE IN U.S.A."
So, aside from my pickiness, all-in-all, I did find the concert and the behind-the-scenes footage of L'Arc~en~Ciel in Baltimore very fun and it is quite surreal to watch the excited American audience (especially to see a large number of them wearing their cosplay outfits).
In closing, it has been a dream for many Japanese music fans to see L'Arc~en~Ciel perform in America and now they can relive that performance by watching this DVD release.
It's not the best L'Arc DVD out there but it was very fun to watch and to see the band perform in the U.S. is surreal and very exciting.
The awesome music and the synergy of the crowd as seen on this DVD is definitely exciting and to see history in the making is something to be overly stoked about! Check this DVD out!
Rating:
- Loved itI was very pleased with this DVD (especially since it's the very first concert DVD that I've ever bought). L'arc~en~ciel consists of some truly talented artists. They pulled off some very good performances, despite the obvious language barrier, and I enjoyed them thoroughly.
I completely agree with a previous reviewer when I say that the one thing that disappointed me most was the fact that there is only one performance on the second disk. You can very well see the differences between their energy level in Japan vs. their energy level in the US. It was absolutely amazing! I would like to have seen more... I really wished that they would have at least put four more performances on the second disk.
Rating:
- Was very pleasedI was very pleased with this DVD (especially since it's the very first concert DVD that I've ever bought). L'arc~en~ciel consists of some truly talented artists. They pulled off some very good performances, despite the obvious language barrier, and I enjoyed them thoroughly.
I completely agree with a previous reviewer when I say that the one thing that disappointed me most was the fact that there is only one performance on the second disk. You can very well see the differences between their energy level in Japan vs. their energy level in the US. It was absolutely amazing! I would like to have seen more... I really wished that they would have at least put four more performances on the second disk.
Rating:
- Excellent US debut!!i was so excited to finally get this in the mail and see L'Arc live and they surely don't disappoint. They bring the noise and energy with each and every track. They performed 16 songs and each one was like just being there in with the screaming crowd. I really wished i could've been there but this will more than suffice for the time being. Excellent performance from the whole group vocals, drums, guitars every thing was just rocking and it felt so intense just watching on DVD.
From the beginning song Kiss to the ending song Pieces. L'Arc-En-Ciel had the crowd just clamoring for more and got the crowd involved on several songs. Of course most folks were probably waiting for Ready Steady Go!. I know it was the song that made me do a search for them and its been on ever since. The DVD as a whole was most impressive and is a worthy addition to your DVD collection regardless of anything and language barrier aside.
Laruku (L'Arc-En-Ciel) are a force to be reckoned with both in Japan and the USA as well.
Rating:
- AmazingThis video was just amazing, I totally love it, I mean how can you not love Hyde, Tetsu, Ken, and Yuki. But anyway, they had soo many cool songs on there. I just wish the crowd had been more out there, I mean they just stood there, I totally wanted to smack them and say hey what the heck is wrong with you people? Jerks, L'arc~en~ciel is here performing for you, show them some love. But anyway, like I said this DVD is very entertaining, and has all of their songs from their Smile album.
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