I never thought I’d get to see L’arc-en-Ciel live,  and in Singapore to boot. I was a big fan years ago, when J-mania was first gaining a foothold in Singapore. Their music kept me company through JC, all the way through university and beyond. It was there when I mugged for exams, accompanied me throughout various youthful shenanigans, through the tender flush of first love. Seeing the band up there on stage, singing those songs I used to listen to so long ago, was like opening a time capsule back to my younger days. Each song would bring up memories, some happy, some not so much, all a little bittersweet.

Seeing the band on stage, their lined faces, the wiry bodies, the undeniable stamp of age on the people who used to be my idols,  was also a sharp reminder of the passage of time. They have aged, I have also grown older. But while time has to pass, music stays still, each note straddling the past and present, making me feel young and old at the same time.

Magic, indeed.