HYDE rocks KL – the only SEA stop in his Acoustic Tour 2018!

Dressed fully in black with equally dark shades covering his eyes, HYDE exuded an enigmatic aura as he took to the stage at Wisma MCA on 12 May to serenade his Malaysian fans with acoustic versions of his songs during his first ever HYDE Acoustic Concert Tour 2018 in Kuala Lumpur..

Of course, being the popular artiste that he is, the crowd was made up not only of Malaysians but also fans from other countries such as Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

During a press conference held a day before on 11 May, HYDE had explained that an acoustic concert will have a more immersive experience for the audience as everyone will be seated comfortably, thus giving them a chance to be more focused on what is being performed on stage.

HYDE at the press conference held a day before his concert in Malaysia.

HYDE’s fanbase transcends nationality and age.

It was indeed an immersive and wonderful sensory experience. The lack of movement and screams from the seated crowd enabled everyone to just enjoy the moment, ears picking up on the harmonious blend of the musical instruments (violins, drums, cellos and guitars).

As the eyes will be more aware of what was going on on stage, it was essential for the stage to look as aesthetically pleasing as possible and the concert achieved this with its unfussy decoration (only candelabras dotting the stage here and there) and beautiful use of lightings.

The stage was bathed in lights of blue, red, orange, white, green and purple, constantly switching between one another or blending together to create quite an ethereal backdrop for the singer as he belted out song after song.

Apart from directing audience’s focus to certain parts of the stage, such as shining only on HYDE to attract everyone’s attention to him, or just on the guitarist or pianist during their respective solo bits, the lights also changed pace and movement based on the tempo of the songs performed.

The beautiful lightings directed the crowd’s attention to specific parts of the stage during certain songs.

“Terima kasih (Thank you),” HYDE would say after almost every song. He could be seen referring to his notes of local phrases from time to time, doing his best to connect with his fans. “Seronok ka? (Is this fun)”, he would ask.

Some of the songs the singer sang that evening was “Evergreen” (his 2001 debut solo single that he admitted he wrote for a friend who passed away from cancer at a young age), “Departures”, “Forbidden Colors” and even an acoustic cover of L’Arc~en~Ciel’s “XXX” (Kiss Kiss Kiss).

HYDE, born Hideto Takarai, started his lead singer career in 1991 with L’Arc~en~Ciel, which is currently made up of HYDE himself (stylised as hyde when he’s part of the band), ken, tetsuya, and yukihiro. When the Japanese rock band went on hiatus in 2001, hyde made his solo debut and stylised his name as HYDE when doing solo works. Since 2008, he is also one half of the Vamps duo alongside fellow J-rocker, K.A.Z.

Malaysia is HYDE’s only Southeast Asian stop for his Acoustic Concert Tour 2018, which also includes Asian cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Yes, those dark shades did come off about a quarter into the show.

During the aforementioned press conference with Malaysian media, the singer expressed his wish to have a relaxing break in the near future.

“I want to sit by a beach somewhere,” was his reply when asked about his future plan, eliciting laughter as the crowd was expecting him to talk about his music. Here’s to hoping HYDE will get his well-deserved break now that his latest tour has wrapped up (Taiwan was his planned last stop after Kuala Lumpur).