These costumes changed my mood a lot! After last two CDL's I didn't expect them to be this colorful and neat, also Ayu's make up is lively (and lovely), even though the reviews were so-so, I actually cannot wait right now :)

Other pics from the same guy from YAJ

I love it!!!But i miss her BIG dresses...

omg she needs long hair right now.

The one with the hat and the silver dress is awesome. =)

^it's my favorite :)

That hat wig is funny but I like it, god when was it last time when I loved all the outfits? Probably AT06... Finally, NO BOWS and no huge, ugly hair bun for the encore, oh yeah :D

It's funny, but I've been whining today why can't Ayu wear sth like this in her concerts:

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/636/vlcsnapr.jpg

and here she goes :D (the outfit with hat)

I'm sure she'll make little tweaks and fine tuning for the 31st USTREAM broadcasted show. I loved Ayu's shows, they are amazing. I'm very curious as to how this one is going to be, but at the same time....this was her first show so of course it's not going to be perfect and maybe judging her a little too harshly. don't forget, many people judged her the same way on the first night of POWER of MUSIC. and from the sounds of her "Vegasy" costume for Evolution....I definitely have to see that. I've been there so many times this year...I LOVE Vegas...it's my second home, and they nailed it (as far as a Las Vegas theme) on the Rock 'n' Roll Circus tour for Sexy Little Things and Step You. so yeah, I'm very curious to that portion of the show lol I'm not digging Ayu's short hair, she looks much better with longer hair. it was cute for a while, but she should let it grow a little.

I want this t-shirt!! :love

I miss her long hair ~.~ though this hairstyle is definitely better last year's cdl :P

looking at the pics from the show and the silver "Vegas" outfit/look....it convey's more of a 1920's or 30's flapper look than a Vegas look...kinda like the musical and movie Chicago.

She looks great. The costumes look surprisingly simple, yet good. I feel like this show will just be her having fun and bridging the gap between POM and HLS. Think of it as a teaser.

I don't blame her either, since it must be hard to come up with a new, extravagant show which you'll only perform 2(3) nights and then do ANOTHER even bigger show a couple months later. She's not a robot.

All I ask is for her to not sing-yell any of the songs, especially the ballads.

i love her boobs

I actually love outfit!!

https://twitter.com/#!/go_mi_sweet/s...19787060948992

It appears that GO-MI has graduated from Ayu's troupe.

^Oh my god. Go-Mi! He was there forever. Go-Mi and Peco gone, this feels weird.

I actually really like all the outfits I think (which is rare!) even the colourful/cute one which does it as brener said is Rihanna-esque. More fashionable than stupidly done like usual. And I like the setlist. I think it is only half HLS because it has to have all the usual CDL bits in and climaz earlier than ATs. Maybe originally she wasn't allowed to have a HLS AT next year so she settled for it at CDL but then she was allowed to do it for AT but it was too late to change CDL so she has decided to do it both with CDL as a teaser. I hope anyway :D

Well, we'll see once the tour starts up. I don't think she would do essentially the same performances for both (unless they were meant to be the same like AT03-04) lives.

wth is up with all these horrible costumes, changes in her team and short hair? I definitely don't like what she's doing lately.

I never thought I'd say that I miss Peco, but she's been such a staple these past 12 years, you know? I also really wish they'd turn down Timmy's mic. His voice was too loud during MOON and it was drowning out Ayu.

Yeah I thought HOTEL Love songs would be glamorous and more like MY STORY themed. This is just a mish-mosh of tackiness. Still looking forward to watching it for November and Sending mail.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7827/001kgao.jpg

Colourful outfit is Sparkle, Humming, Evolution, Flower Garden
The dress in top row middle is Rainbow/November.
Bottom row middle is Happening here, she takes off a gold jacket from do it again

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8012/002vzd.jpg

Bottom left corner is the do it again outfit with the gold and the mask.
Sitting down on couch is MOON/fated, wearing a nightie.
The one with the water and holding the wing is November (same dress as rainbow)
The red dress is NEVER EVER/sending mail

She seems to have gained weight. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.
I don't like the outfits. Too revealing, and they're not that appealing either. Hopefully the performances and her voice will make up for that.

EDIT: On second thought, she does look good in the do it again outfit.

Wow, talk about major boobage in most of the costumes lol :P

Now that you mention it, yeah I don't remember seeing Gomi last night. :(

Me too. I hope she's saving those for more grande Microphone-sque songs from the new album.

The costumes are very colorful and...revealing :D

One more thing: I want her long hair back. She doesn't look exactly appealing with that do in some of the shots IMO.

the only tour/concerts that i couldn't say a single bad word for the outfits was RnRC they all were perfect to me.

I'm not fancying these at all..the only two i really like is the red lacy & silver mini dresses (the one with the hat) ...

her stage costumes are always a huge miss or hit for me lol

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7827/001kgao.jpg

And so begins my CDL rant.

Wtf is she wearing? (referring to the rainbow bikini outfit)
I don't know what is more distracting: the outfit or her boobs.

Second: Peco > Timmy... I'm sorry, what? Anyone who thinks Peco is better than him - let alone anyone - is tone deaf.

Peco possibly leaving A TROUPE/STAFF is one of the greatest days in Ayu history. Not just because of what I mentioned above either. Yes, she's been responsible for some great choreography and production, but I think she's gotten lazy in the past few years. *FLAIL FLAIL FLAIL *TISSUE DANCE* MORE FLAILING*

I think after reading the reviews, the only thing I'm excited for is the new backup singers. Because let's face it, Ayu sounds horrible on the live, unedited broadcasts (though I think half of that was Peco's fault). And if she DOES sound decent, there's some technical problem that prevents us from hearing her properly.

CDL won't suck because Peco isn't there. It'll suck because Ayu was in London until the very last minute, forcing the dancers to come up with stuff themselves.

(Oh, and because Gomi's not there :( )

Love the costumes... Except the one in bed haha thats sooooo random lol.. Maybe ayu used one of her lingerie collection for this cdl.

Ayu isn't making these staffers leave. Most of them are leaving because they want to move on or want to progress in their careers.

And Ayu.. looks like she's gained weight? She's so thin now!

She does look like she's gained a little weight, but it doesn't help that the costumes are incredibly unflattering. Her boobs look so saggy. In some of the pics, they're like down to her waist. D: She really needs to get some costumes that properly support her boobs ASAP.

Also, she sits through like 1/3 of the concert and the "wow" moment is a fountain? This CDL sounds like a trainwreck. :no

It all does seem a little randomly put together, and the sitting thing is weird ? For a minute I thought she might have hurt herself or something ... I also don't know how I feel about her having more backup singers, but I don't want to judge it too much from the reviews without seeing it yet though

Good that she gained some weight, she looks better like that than really skinny. And LOL at her boobs looking saggy. They really don't :/ wtf


BTW, gotta love these random picky conversations or discussions about ayu's weight, hair, costumes, every-single-****ing-detail.

+1. I think her boobs look fine, anyway.

I agree about her boobs too. My boyfriend even said something... I think they look fine.

Idk about her weight... but as for the other things... aren't we supposed to be discussing that? Costumes and hair, etc are half of the concert.

lol this D: they don't look saggy to me.
The colorful outfit isn't that bad imo :3 I really like the jacket.

Anyway thanks for your reviews guys.
I think at first HLS must have been more glamorous and classy, but then it's turned into something more colorful and partyish.
I'm a bit disappointed because it seems a little bit messed up by your reviews lol but I'm extremely happy because she's performing November :luv2 finally. And I'm so curious about Party Queen (lol got wrong name) D:

She only really sounds bad in a few live broadcasts. I thought she sounded fine in most of POWER of MUSIC's live.

I liked your review. It seems her performance was very poor, but well, we're not supposed to look perfect and be super high always, i think. We all might have bad days and she probably tried to make it through the concert and be professional (like always), who knows if she's going through a bad moment, so i hope this is temporary and she'll be able to give her best soon:). Because otherwise this would be unnaceptable; i wouldn't go to a concert to see dancers as highlight of the show.

On the other hand, sometime ago you mentioned she might got her voice deeper because of smoking, and back then i didn't make sense to me, but since i sing opera now and recently got an otitis when i went to Chicago, i'm afraid to say you're probably right. I had the typical symptoms of a cold and i realized i was totally unable to sing. I couldn't catch my breath for a long time and force my throat to sing is painful yet. I've heard her in studio versions and her lung capacity is very short, especially for a singer. I REALLY HOPE she's not smoking anymore, for her career's sake.

I think it was drinking that people attributed to her funky vocals a few years ago.

But she's obsessive about ~maintaining her voice~ now so she doesn't smoke or drink as far as we know. She's even mentioned drinking a lot less nowadays compared to before [~2007]. About the smoking, I don't think she's done it for a while now. The last time she probably smoked was around the Memorial address/MY STORY era if we are to believe tabloids.

just going to agree with all that say her boobs are looking fine and not saggy. her whole body is looking amazing actually. I think this weight is perfect for her.

Wait, Timmy is singing backup on MOON? How is that working out?

And oh god, Party Queen sounds like it could be some hot mess kpop song.

for all the comments, pictures, set list and reviews this concert looks more boring than CDL 10-11

+1

Thanks God, I'm not the only who thinks so ;)

and what about the girl of portishead band?
she usually smoked while singing on stage, ahd her voice was amazing!

I've yet to see any concrete evidence that Ayu ever smoked. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that most of the damage to her voice was done by using improper vocal technique throughout most of her career and also singing under conditions where her throat was already under enormous stress. I know she had bronchitis or something during CDL 02-03 - which I'm sure permanently messed up her voice. But even before that when she was promoting Voyage, her throat sounded like it was in poor shape, probably from general overwork/straining.

No! This is terrible news! GO-MI has always been my favourite. :(

Really not feeling the costumes this year. I wonder if any are the costumes they put on hold from HLS, or if they're still keeping those for the 2012 tour. Admittedly I'm always more interested in what Ayu wears in every show (terrible costume nerd). Maybe they'll grow on me when I see the video.

Yeah, I believe it is possibly due to a combination of smoking/drinking; alcohol can ruin your voice too if not careful. But every person is different. I'm always amazed at Hyde who is a heavy drinker and smoker yet he has managed to have great vocals for decades now. I would say that is very much the exception though and not the rule. As to how much she actually drinks or smokes now, who knows. Maybe she quit, maybe she still does it. :shrug Honestly by now though, I'm kind of used to this singing voice. That's why I don't ever really say that her vocals are great/excellent etc., because there are certainly artists that have better live vocals. So now I'll just say if they were good or bad for her. These vocals were about her average I would say. The only performance that I really wanted better vocals on was Rainbow - it's like she lost that soft part of her voice.

Her best vocal years were from late 02 to early 06, so if anything, that bronchitis had a good effect. :)

She was photographed with a cigarette in her hand, so I'm fairly certain she smoked at some point. Plus, A LOT of Japanese smoke, not just heavy smokers, but a huge amount of casual smokers. So, it really wouldn't surprise me if she is/was a smoker.

Oh and one more good thing I thought about the show: her boobage looked good; not saggy, haha.

Agreed :yes

Wow she sang how beautiful you are.
Sounds interesting!

No more Peco...to my surprise, I'm slightly sad about that. She'd been growing on me these past few years.

But...but...GO-MI!!! :(:(:(:(:(:( He'd been there since her very first concert tour, right? I can't believe he's gone! Best of luck to him, though!

Yeah, GO-MI has been around since concert tour 2000!

Lol speak for yourself.

That period had some of Ayu's worst moments vocally imo (but at the same time, some of her best lol) and started her up with the cutesy nasally singing and heavy vibrato:

-Ending part of RAINBOW
-ANGEL'S SONG
-HONEY
-Humming
-Greatful days
-CAROLS (I wonder if anyone noticed how nasally the studio version is... especially the verses)
-Voyage (bothersome vibrato, although more controlled than it is currently)
-AT '03-'04 had disappointing vocals compared to the flawless AT'05.

Bottom-line: she's an inconsistent vocalist. On the same album she'll sing like crap on one song and sing beautifully on another.

uhh I hate this setlist

It's not serious/edgy enough to be Kpop like... It's hard to say after hearing it only once while being totally shocked, but definitely not Kpop.

I hear she's pregnant.

Hmm. You guys said it was unlike any other song she's done? I don't know what to expect.

^ imo it sounded kinda like a more poppy Sparkle. At least something along those lines.

I'm still so happy she sang Sparkle, I love this song to death.

So how was Party Queen?

Did she sing Sparkle well? Was there the No No No part with the crowd?

I love the short sparkle dress with the black hat from the pics! :heart
But the rest of the outfits aren't my cup of tea, especially that colorful one.

Not a big fan of the setlist andf the show is full up with dancers again, oh my... then I'll hate it. Rock'n'Roll Circus Tour was already destroyed for me by the heavy use of her dancers. And Ayu sitting in upbeat songs? Hm, that's sad.
Gonna watch the rip nevertheless, but I won't have high expectations.
Maybe that will make me enjoy it.^^

I'm a bit disappointed in the costumes. They seem so incomplete and not thought over. The only costume I like is the silver dress with the hat. Most of her old costumes were so fancy and these... They look so...not like her. But still I want to see the show and the costumes "live", maybe my opinion will change ;-)

The bikini top reminds me of the & cover....Would've probably been a nice outfit for a cover, but I still like it.

Her outfits are becoming a bit too weird for my tastes. I wished she wore a big dress to make up for her lack of movement. At least it would've made more sense for why she didn't walk around. She hasn't worn a big dress in a while :(

I find it kinda weird that she would feature her dancers so much after the whole a-nation backlash. Fans complaining that they came to see Ayu and not urata/juno and how some people felt gypped...but now she features her dancers...

The whole show kinda sounds...disappointing (maybe too strong a word). The ideas sound good, so hopefully the implementation is better for arena tour. It makes you wonder what Ayu is thinking given that she's had HLS plans for so long. Love song's performance sounds worrying. I only really like the Love songs tracks on the setlist...I could do without everything else imo.

Maybe I expect too much after last year's CDL since I assumed that was the test run for HLS. I still have high hopes for AT2012 :) She has time to rehearse and critique now that she's done recording!

I love the outfits, Im very ready for NEXT LEVEL 2.0, but that hair needs to go,
she had it for too long and its not fun.

No humming and evo today. after sparkle it jumped straight to flower garden.

^ hoh~ the setlist is shorten or replaced by other songs??

I think a lot of us have a cloudy memory regarding her CDL outfits... generally they seem to be universally terrible/not appealing compared to her AT outfits, lol.

shortened. no audience either.

^ wow i really wonder why..
that's really weird..

Well, that, and there's also the fact that they tend to look million times better on the moving screen compared to these fan photos.

Wow really? That's extremely weird. I know that some AHSers are going tonight again. We will have to wait for their report.
The show wasn't THAT long to begin with, so I don't know why they would cut those. Especially considering that those are some of the only songs in the setlist that the audience noticeably got into last night.

chibishun is actually going to today's concert, so it's true.

^ In that case I hope they write a full review because that's just strange if they weren't replaced with anything.

Makes me wonder if maybe there is something actually wrong with Ayu and that would explain yesterdays kind of lackluster performance as well.

If she cut Audience, does that mean she did the full version of Trauma? Because seriously, that medley was short - Trauma was only on for like a minute and a half.

I hope she's not sick or something.

I think she just wants to save her voice, she was skipping songs before final concerts before, we will have more songs tomorrow, although personally I'd like Ayu to skip Audience and Humming or replace them with sth else, I don't mind evolution though.

I wish she replaced MY ALL with Who

Well, this happened with POWER of MUSIC several times. There were so many small song changes during that concert... oi.

^
^
yea i really hope it's not coz of something, she decided to cut some songs.
the actual setlist has already been so short already...hmm~~

but if she really not sing those songs, isn't it unfair to the ppl going today?
i mean they paid the same price but got shorter setlist.

It's a first for a CDL though I'm pretty sure. I never go to the actual CDL, always the day before and the setlist has been the exact same each time. Also, the CDLs are timed to the minute, so I do think its kinda strange to cut those songs - also as I mentioned, they were just about the only audience interaction songs in the set. The show felt kinda on the short side to begin with compared to what she usually does. Sorta weird.

Actually I think it's bad to shorten the setlist without any new performance...
Kinda unfair... \

i'm actually kind of worried about Ayu, lol.

No, I meant final concert in general thinking mainly about AT10 7 Days Final

I also think it's not fair towards poeple who pay the same and go to the day before final and get to hear less songs. It's nothing when it's your 20th Ayu concert but imagine you go to Japan for the first time and it's your only chance to see Ayu and you won't be able to sing evolution even though it has been sung on each single concert possible :) But from a point of view of a person who wants to see good show on DVD with great vocals it's no big deal, even better, it gives you hope for better vocals knowing Ayu is saving voice.

I wish she could add more songs but not staple songs, I wish she sung Life again or Hanabi ~episode II~ or even Like a doll, I already lost hope she'll ever perform It was / Liar / Criminal though :|

The fact that she sat through most of the songs worries me, maybe knee problems again? That would also explain lack of staples songs during which she was always running and jumping, nevertheless, I'm sure despite the pain or sickness she will give more complex /full/ concert tomorrow.

I'm a bit worried about Ayu too. Usually she changed the songs & not cut the concert. It's the first time I see that. Moreover she only cut the songs where she moves a lot. Maybe she is a bit sick & prefer to make a soft concert than collapse on the stage.

Just got back..
My first CDL and it was crap!
For God's sake, she didn't sing the GREAT Evolution!!!!
At first, I thought she skipped humming and Evo, 'cause she's gonna put it on Encore.. but?!

Setlist:
01.do it again
02.Happening Here
xx.insomnia
03.MOON
04.fated
05.NEVER EVER
06.sending mail
07.Sparkle
08.flower garden
09.RAINBOW
10.November
11.Ladies Night
12.Party Queen + Happening Here
13.Love song
ENCORE
14.how beautiful you are
15.Trauma (short version)
16.Boys&Girls
17.MY ALL

The stage set really looks like a real Japanese "LOVE HOTEL" theme (seriously!)
Opening was quite interesting, with a small square stage hanging from the ceiling. But IMO, do it again is not a good choice to open the show.

Happening here was.. okay.. didn't get the fun :shrug

MOON, Fated, NEVER EVER.. bored to death. I didn't feel the songs at all!

Sending mail was good & catchy.. love the chorus

Flower garden was okay

RAINBOW could be better..

November was so-so

Ladies night was okay

Party queen + happening here (short) was so random, weird.. I don't know

Love Song was the best from all, but she did it vocally way better on PoM

How beautiful you are forgettable for me

TRAUMA was short with the same choreo. It was fun

B&G, MY ALL were same like usual

Overall, It was really a BIG disappointment!!
Feel like being deceived with lesser songs. She didn't really move and interact with the audience, not until Flower Garden. Tissue dancers & clowns.. do it agaaiin... agaiiin... and agaaiinn....
When MY ALL started to play, I was like "HUH?! It's over already?!"

Where did the AWESOMENESS of PoM go???? Seriously I wanna cry...

*end of story*

me too, this is strange :(

i loving the choice to end the concert with MY ALL after quite awhile =) the outfits r pretty nice too. my fav is the colorful one

From JEWELian at JPC:

No evolution!? such a crap show!@@!

LOL AHS is fun. :D
"OMG Ayu stop singing evolution it's so annoying!"
"OMG Ayu y u no sing evolution? We gonna diiiieeee~"

I remember PoM limited edition 2nd last day, songs were cut but she added more for the last day. It's not the first time

Yes, cut out evolution, Humming 7/4 and the chorus of AUDIENCE. She started 30 minutes late. Maybe she had a curfew... so she had to cut those.
I know in some other asian countries they give artists a curfew so that they dont have to pay extra overtime fines. Ayu wanted to get out before 9pm for sure maybe?

I enjoyed it a bit more tonight simply because I knew what to expect... When she didnt sing humming and evolution I gained some hope that she had changed the setlist around maybe, but that was just wishful thinking....

She shouted during Sparkle, and sat through most of it, the dancers did the No No No thing but not everyone in the crowd did, the No No No part wasnt extended.

Party Queen, 2nd time around... yeah the verse is cutesy voice mixed with dubstep, very interesting. It's an all right song, I said it was a grower. A bit tacky with the "I am the/your party queeeen" lyrics. My money is definitely on Timmy writing it though.

Well, maybe to you. But have you ever been to her show?
Evolution + Boys&Girls are songs that somehow connect ayu with the audience. So without them, it'll be just weird.

Yes I agree a lot with Lee^Chan (except Love song being the best perf of the night)

I definitely would feel so cheated if this CDL was my first ever Ayu concert.

It felt so lifeless at times, MOON and fated really were boring, felt like they dragged on, even though I love listenening to it on CD.

It's as if Ayu was missing something... Maybe she herself is unhappy with this inferior show...

NOT me!;)! her concert isn't perfect without this masterpiece and i've never complaint abt her excessive use of this song in the concerts!

Wow, I thought I was harsh. lol.

I'm glad someone else noticed that the set in general looks cheap. Not like an expensive, luxury hotel kind of thing like I think most people were expecting. I mean the main props in the show are two mattresses, a sofa and a couple of DOORS. Not exactly impressive.

I doubt it was cut short because of a curfew, although I suppose it's possible. But if the MC was longer than yesterday, then why cut songs if the time was what the issue was? Audience was only for like a minute anyways. And even if time was the reason, it's not the audiences fault that the show started late - they should get the same length set list as the previous day; her tickets aren't exactly cheap.

But to start with, starting 30 minutes late is odd. Yes, Ayu's shows usually start late, but I was talking about 10-15 minutes. Never have I had a 30 minute wait.

I'm really glad though now that more people have seen the show that I wasn't the only one who felt there was something very "off" about it. I really thought I may have just become too jaded when it came to Ayu and that everyone else would be on here praising how amazing the show was or something.

I feel so lucky that my first concert was Rock 'n' Roll Circus 2nd day in Saitama with Alterna, especially that I don't really liked AT2009, nether, CDL 09-10, neither CDL 10-11, and now again bad opinions.

But I won't judge CDL 11-12, waiting for tomorrow.

Yep you were pretty lucky then. :)

But honestly, this is the first time that the reports from the people who went have actually been bad I think.

yeah, and it makes me worried about Ayu. especially hearing that she wasn't as energetic as usual and she cut out 3 of her most energetic performances, lol.

i think this CDL is the most rush one for ayu...she just have..maybe two weeks to prepare..that's insane...
i hope she will step it up on her AT 2012...because i will go to watch it...

^ That's what kind of confuses me because wasn't the Hotel Love songs tour finished earlier this year? And this is supposed to be a somewhat pared down version of that show. There presumably shouldn't have been a need for much preparation. :shrug

ayu has been doing her stuff rushly lately.
so i hope that she could make it up for AT2012, it really needs to be super grand.
as for CDL, i've never expected it to be a great & awesome one, because it's always been very simple.

^i just hoping that ayu will step it up...as far as i know she is type of person that open to opinion. I believe a lot of fans will say it to her, if this show is really that bad...

Somehow I think that Love Song wasn't meant to be CDL theme, I think she wanted to make it AT12 but having little time to prepare CDL she took the theme, mixed some songs with others, that would explain so little Love Songs songs.

Also, it's going to be 1st year anniversary for her, why Mannie isn't there with her? He's been facebooking about some other concert he's attending these days, I know they aren't typical marriage but it's their anniversary, I just hope he's not the reason for her lack of energy.

AyuGAME^ you should update your banner ;)

Wow, the reviews seem pretty bad and no Evolution???!
Glad I didn't fly out there for the CDL... although i kinda expected this after watching her last CDL... that was bad too...