Okaton Fire

Transposing rainbows into fireworks, Image Engineering lit up the stage for L'Arc~en~Ciel at the 1rst Mariner Arena July 31st, 2004. From Osaka, Japan, L'Arc has done music for several anime titles, including Rurouni Kenshin, DNA^2, Full Metal Alchemist, and the Final Fantasy movie "The Spirits Within." The concert capped off a day of activity at Otakon 2004.

The Japanese band wanted their first concert in America to be nothing short of amazing. To accomplish this, they called Image Engineering to choreograph pyrotechnics with their stage and light company. Image Engineering's Jack Roemer and Joseph Suehle designed the pyrotechnics to 'wow' the gaming convention fans.

Jack started with conceptual artwork superimposed over an image of the stage layout so the band and tour manager could see what the effects could do. In conjunction with Jack's renders, Joe examined the CAD designs supplied, and marked placement for the effects.

The system was triggered using a Pyropak firing system. Image Engineering provided Next FX products including: 25' waterfalls, 10' non-colored flame projectors, 60' multi-colored mines, and Flame mortars

L'Arc~en~Ciel guitarist, Ken, noted the pyro performance in an interview with Senior Music Reviewer, Daniel Womak.

Daniel: What was the one most unique experience/memorable moment that you had in Baltimore?

Ken: Just listening to the crowd before going on stage, it seemed like crowd was really into it and wild. Once I came out, the American audience was still loud and wild and they were really close. In Japan, because the restrictions were so severe, people in the first row are 6 meters away and they could never come up or show would get stopped. I almost felt like I was playing in a tiny club because everybody was so into it and upfront. It was like a small club but at the same time, there were massive fireworks going on. So that was my feeling and I want to do a concert in America where restrictions aren't as severe as Japan.