L'Arc〜en〜Ciel/SUMMER SONIC 2026

August 16, 2026. When L'Arc〜en〜Ciel was announced as the headliner for this year's SUMMER SONIC, I was on the Yamanote Line train. This year marks their 35th anniversary, but it's also 30 years since the release of the album 'True.' I thought about how amazing it would be to hear 'Caress of Venus' at Marine Stadium, where that summer breeze of Summer Sonic blows. Just imagining that scene while listening to 'Caress of Venus' on my iPhone, I burst into tears.

Before their performance, L'Arc〜en〜Ciel released the setlist they would play at the festival. I've been going to SUMMER SONIC since it first started in 2000, and I believe they are the first band to ever announce their setlist in advance. While surprised by that, I looked at the setlist and saw 'Caress of Venus' was included. Along with the joy of seeing this song included among a lineup centered on hit singles, I realized I would be able to experience the summer scene I had imagined as a reality. My heart trembled at that thought.

It was raining when I arrived at the venue in the morning, but I enjoyed many live performances as usual, thinking the rain would stop by the time L'Arc〜en〜Ciel took the stage.

And then, the rain stopped.

I had intended to move to Marine Stadium early because I knew it would definitely be crowded, but even then, the venue was already packed with a considerable number of people. I wasn't sure where to watch from, but I ended up in the same spot where I had watched headliners like The 1975, Kendrick Lamar, and Bring Me the Horizon in recent years. Of course, just like when I watched them, I had a draft beer in my hand. Just like every other Summer Sonic, I waited for L'Arc〜en〜Ciel to appear.

The moment the opening video was projected, the voltage in the venue soared. The intensity of the cheers was exactly the same as when world-renowned bands and artists appear as the final act. And when the four members stepped onto the stage, amidst deafening cheers, the intro to the first song, 'Driver’s High,' rang out. I was so moved by the scene that I suddenly started crying. 'Driver’s High' is a high-energy song chosen to open a concert, not the kind of song you cry to. On a personal note, it's a song that was played at the funeral of a friend who loved L'Arc〜en〜Ciel, and we all sang it to send them off without crying. I was surprised at myself for sobbing to 'Driver's High.' At the same time, it gave me a premonition that the concert that would follow from here would reach an incredible dimension. When hyde sang, 'Let's meet again in the next life,' I looked up at the sky. Ah, that's right, my friend in the sky is here with me now. Several of my music friends who loved L'Arc〜en〜Ciel and talked about them with me are already in that sky. It is a fact that until I got here, I heard a voice saying, 'If you're alive, go see them!'

After the sing-along of 'HONEY,' which felt like everyone had been waiting for it, came 'Caress of Venus.' The moment I heard that intro—a song I love so much that no matter how many hundreds of times I listen to it, it tightens my heart while clearly awakening my consciousness—I let out a shout of joy. The summer dream I had imagined had come true. I can't express how happy I was at that moment. That said, I wondered how much excitement there would be for an album track rather than a single, but when I looked around, everyone was smiling and singing. For someone like me who had been listening to this song alone for so long, I was overwhelmed and cried. Everyone loves this song, and their smiles were shining because they each surely have their own memories and history with it. With hyde calling out to the audience from the stage to enjoy it, saying 'Jump! Jump!', the venue was filled with happiness during this song.

From 'NEO UNIVERSE,' which carries wishes for the future, to 'X X X.' When the screen showed hyde, who had been wearing sunglasses until then, taking them off at the end of the song to reveal his eyes, the audience and I screamed. This kind of masterful way of captivating an audience is truly electrifying.

In 'DAYBREAK'S BELL,' the lyrics 'Stop the fighting' were clearly projected on the screen, and the setlist for the day clearly contained a message for peace that only L'Arc〜en〜Ciel could deliver. This year's summer festivals saw artists like Massive Attack and David Byrne conveying a clear will regarding the current state of the world, questioning if things should really continue this way. I believe that what L'Arc〜en〜Ciel expressed through their music at this concert without fear was the 2026 world standard as a headliner.

During 'forbidden lover,' which followed with that sentiment, countless mobile phone lights were lit from the audience. Along with the sight of hyde singing in a black hood, I will remember that incredibly beautiful scene every time I listen to this song from now on.

'MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM' invited us to the next scene with the gentle and vivid tone of ken's guitar, and in the unexpected midsummer 'winter fall,' hyde walked off the stage and continued walking while high-fiving the audience in the front row. I was surprised that something was happening that I never would have imagined when it was released in January 1998.

This concert saw a succession of phenomena that had never been seen in previous L'Arc〜en〜Ciel concerts, the most notable of which was the mosh pit circle. I had thought that if a circle were to be realized at a L'Arc〜en〜Ciel concert in the space of a festival like Summer Sonic, it would be during the intro to 'READY STEADY GO,' and that prediction was spot on. Before the song started, hyde was also inciting the audience, saying 'Run! Run!' and 'This rarely happens!', while also giving a play-by-play of the circles forming one after another. And the explosive power when the song started was incredible. That momentum continued, and a circle even formed during the intro to 'Blurry Eyes,' an astonishing situation where people in a ring started running along with the sound of the whistle hyde always blows during this song. While the screen on stage showed the merry-go-round imagery that is symbolic of the 'Blurry Eyes' music video, there was a circle of humans spinning around right in front of me—it was a shocking sight.

By this point, everything was nothing but pure fun, and 'GOOD LUCK MY WAY' rang out like a summer festival, and the day was brought to a close with 'Niji.' At this point, hyde had his entire upper body exposed, and considering the worldview of this song, I was watching thinking he might put something on, but he belted it out half-naked. If you had told me, as I was listening to 'Niji'—a song with an incredibly deep meaning that was first performed live when they revived at the Tokyo Dome on December 23, 1997, after a hiatus—that 29 years later, hyde would be singing 'Niji' half-naked as the headliner of the summer's SUMMER SONIC, and that large fireworks would be launched into the night sky the moment it ended, I wouldn't have believed it at all. You really never know what will happen in the future. I couldn't stop crying from beginning to end as 'Niji' was sung with all their heart, and I even cried out with a voice I had never heard myself make before.

This is just my own speculation, but I wonder if hyde fulfilled a dream that day. A person who respected and was influenced by overseas rock stars and has piled up blood, sweat, and tears, completed a concert as the vocalist of the headlining band that decorated the grand finale of the three days of the 25th anniversary of SUMMER SONIC, which was established as a festival centered on Western music.

L'Arc〜en〜Ciel is a band representing Japan that has been loved by many, capable of filling a festival setlist with hit singles. L'Arc〜en〜Ciel broke through the framework of Japan and proved their ability, which is no different from the world's top bands, with a concert that only they could perform. I think it was a concert that everyone had to be convinced by.

I imagined various pictures of what kind of concert L'Arc〜en〜Ciel would perform as the headliner of SUMMER SONIC, and I waited for that moment with a pounding heart.

And the concert I watched exceeded all my expectations. Together with the band, the result of the summer night sky, the wind, the air, the smiles and singing voices of the people who gathered, and each person's thoughts being carefully woven together, created a concert that was unique to that night.

Everyone must have thought it was a 'legendary concert.'

I will pass it on. As one of the people who was lucky enough to be alive, go to that place, see it with my own eyes, and hear it with my own ears, I have that responsibility.

Having watched the concert as the headliner of SUMMER SONIC, new meanings have been born within me for all the songs performed that day, which I have listened to over and over again. Even listening to them while writing this, the way they sound is completely different.

I am dreaming again. That L'Arc-en-Ciel will be loved even more by the whole world. Being the headliner at SUMMER SONIC has certainly opened the door to a new stage for them.

I cannot wait to see what L'Arc-en-Ciel does from here on out.

As long as I am alive, no, even after my life ends, I want to continue listening to their music and watching them forever, together with my fellow music lovers who are already in the sky.