Rock band will become first Japanese act to headline MSG on Sunday, which frontman Hyde calls ‘highlight’ of a 20-year career. By James Montgomery Hyde of L’arc en Ciel Photo: MTV News On Sunday, Japanese art-rock act L’Arc en Ciel — French for “the rainbow,” naturally — will make history when they become the first band from their homeland to headline a show at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden. The show, part of the band’s 20th anniversary world tour, was originally scheduled for the much smaller Theater at MSG, but due to overwhelming demand from their long-suffering Stateside fans — L’Arc have played just one North American show in their two decades of existence, a 2004 gig at an Otaku convention in Baltimore — organizers moved it to the venerable Garden arena. And for a band that has had approximately zero promotion here in the U.S., it is understandably a very big deal, as frontman Hyde told MTV News (via translator) on Friday (March 23). “This is huge for our band to perform at the world-famous Madison Square Garden, so I want to make sure we give you the very best show for the American audience. … I want to take the very best of everything we’ve done in Japan and put it in this show,” Hyde said. “It’s so hard for a Japanese act to be successful in America, but we were given this opportunity, so that means there is a possibility for us to break in the American market. I definitely feel lucky to be here after 20 years as a band.” And for Hyde, who grew up listening to “L.A. metal … Guns N’ Roses and M
