How bout that Akasaka Blitz Secret Tour or whatever it's name that we never got any footage from? I think it was held even before Concert Tour 2000? I know it's a long shot but those were the beginnings of hers, performing in front of the audience. I would really like to see how she dealt with that way back then.

They're probably only going to put up things with official releases.

Yeah, that's probably going to be the case.
Either way they still could release that concert with the next anniversary edition of an album or something

You ever just think about how good A BALLADS is?

Yes,and how they made a collosal mistake by not having Haru yo koi on the tracklist

+1

^ While I would love to have a studio recording of it, A Ballads came out a month before she performed that on TV, so the track listing was probably set well in advance of knowing she'd ever perform it.

True but it would have been nice if she recorded that one after already covering one Yumi song... but oh well.

Yes!

And yes!

A Ballads was my first Ayu album! I'd love to see an A Ballads II.

A BALLADS is perfect... the last three songs are out of this world, she was truly illuminated when she recorded them

They could have easily shoved it on any subsequent release afterwards or heck even pull a repackaged version of A BALLADS album , but I guess that wasn't in question back then.
I also think they did injustice to End Roll as well by not including it in the album

It’s possible Yuming is strict with who covers her music, much like Ayu is. That could be why she covered Sotsugyou Shashin instead. From my memory, I actually don’t remember there being many covers of Haru yo, koi. But I do remember Sotsugyo Shashin having several.

This could completely be incorrect, though. Lol

^ It's possible, but Sotsugyo Shashin is WAY more famous of a song - you hear it every year during graduation season.

I’m really interested in what ayu’s dream is. She always mentioned the theme of dreams vs reality right? I’m curious of her ideal world. What kind of thing does she wish for?

Whenever I think of her and dreams though that "I don't have dreams, I am a dream" quote comes up.

Thank you so much for posting this!! It seems this person is posting lots of old videos there is another one with Ami and Ayu on it :D

Yume no Sekai has always been a general thought in her tours as well I believe. Like how she would create a dream world according to the theme of the tour. I think it's most explicit during concert tour 2000 A where she literally mentions it at the opening of the show. :yes

Is there a reason why DAI doesn't compose with Ayu anymore?

DAI doesn't actively compose/produce anymore. His latest works are Sweet Scar and Return Road from 2012, and before that he stopped composing for others in 2008

And these songs are old demos as she stated in interview back then

Thank you both for the info! :heart I'm sad to read that he doesn't actively compose anymore - he and Ayu worked magic together.

Yeah, she was lying and that wasn't the only time. I remember there was an early Utaban where she said that she couldn't ride a bike....yet there is an idol video of her riding a bike...

I believe he made a return for Do As Infinity's latest album. But it wasn't for many songs.

https://d-a-i.com/discography/detail.php?id=1017032

Though the two songs could have also been old ones. Also the last thing he was really producing was "Sword of the Far East" which was like a rock violin group with a soloist around 2015/2016.

There's something about CDL 13-14 that just feels really out of place as an Ayu concert for some reason to me..

I don't even consider it a Countdown live. it felt like the official tour for the year for me.

HLS Tour is currently on Youtube, so much memories, it was my first Ayu Tour I attended <3

Edit: screen videos <3

This song is so incredible and underperformed


The careless happy go lucky delivery and melody contrasted with the bleak self destructive lyrics about her career...*chefs kiss*
The world's begun spinning backwards
and it's only speeding up
Before I knew it, it was dark under my feet
and I was just standing at the edge of a cliff

I cannot retrace my steps anymore
Even if I turn pale, nothing will change

With the light you've persistently made stronger and stronger
Even if on this road that continues on forever..
is the end of the world

Money runs out
and glory isn't worth much either
How long will you continue pretending to not understand?
Realize that I'm afraid of being hurt

In these times, my dream
was to make all your wishes come true, but...

Overtaking the wind, faster, faster than anyone
I'll even pierce through the clouds, higher, higher than anyone
Even if I'm living too fast

With the light you've persistently made stronger and stronger..
Even if on this road that continues on forever..
is the end of the world

The fact that the song is a response to Avex pushing Ayu to come up with more optimistic bright CM friendly songs *chef kiss&

too late was one of the very first songs I downloaded back then and it's still one of my favourites. ♡

IDK the CDL for 12-13 was great but Premium showcase and 13-14 don't feel like Ayu at all..I think she was having a real identify crisis during the COLOURs and Tyson/living in LA period in hindsight and then found herself again with Made in Tokyo/Japan.

It's really annoying that Avex has uploaded the Midnight Circus CDL which is essentially the same show as the Midnight Circus Arena tour they uploaded a few days ago :irked

Upload stadium or dome tour already.

Also, can someone help me, what concert opens with Do It Again with the shimmy sliver jacket and mask? I swore it was Hotel Love Songs.

^ Wasn't it the 2011-2012 CDL for HLS?

As for Too Late, it always makes me think of JT Peach Water, to this day. LOL

I actually love that they uploaded the CdM CDL cause I love to death her performance of Walk there, wish she had kept it for the arena tour. And it was also interesting rewatching it now cause most things seems improved in tour when compared to CDL, especially the outfits.

Made a Twitter thread with edits of Ayu albums wearing mask, use as you want lol

https://twitter.com/EvanOdinson/stat...235082241?s=19

But it wasn’t the CM Song for JT Peach :D
It was actually used for that Honda motor roller (moped) CM...

I really love too late! I was so happy back when she performed it during PCDL <3

^god that makes me so nostalgic! I still have that very old very lq CM saved somewhere. I often get back to those old files whenever I need a trip back to late 90s/early 00s lol

Does anyone remember the monomane where the comedian (Himeka Shirosaki) is doing Virgin Road complete with a Manny standin? At the end they actually start making out and the audience loses it. :laugh I can't find it on youtube anymore

My god, the dove in I am...'s cover also wearing a mask sent me lmao

I think ayus dream is something that lasts forever. Permanence.

I get the sense that Ayu has experienced having many dreams, or rather dreamlike moments, but the instant she would take notice of them and as well her happiness as a result of them, the dream would leave her or disappear forever.

That’s why now she often sings about such things as “the continuous dream” or “a never ending dream,” so that she may deliver exactly what she never had to her fans. Its all the more tragic when you think about how her hearing loss and vocal problems have threatened to strip away all of that.

She doesn’t want to be someone’s dream that ends, because she knows first hand the pain of wanting desperately to hold onto a dream, yet being utterly incapable of stopping it from slipping through the cracks in your fingers.

Timmy is live on Instagram right now, he said Ayu's doing well and he just got off the phone with her when someone asked

^Good to know!

So far I've watched:

CDL 04 05
Arena Tour 2015 Cirque De Minuit
CDL 13 14 (Wow, I had seen clips of this show before and it was so good! Really enjoyed We Wish and had a moment with Free & Easy)

Just watching CDL 07 08

i just watched Future Classics for the very first time and all i can think about is that she has such an beautiful career! it doesn't matter that she's not on top anymore because she already was there for a very long time

at the same time it really hit me how her career has changed since 2009-2010. this really was nostalgic CDL

Hah, absolutely - but something in my memory just can't associate that commercial with Trauma!

I've watched:

- CDL 00-01
- CDL 04-05
- CDL 05-06
- CDL 07-08
- PCDL 08-09
- AT 2009 ~NEXT LEVEL~
- CDL 09-10 ~Future Classics~
- Rock'n'Roll Circus Tour FINAL
- CDL 10-11 ~do it again~
- PREMIUM SHOWCASE ~Feel the Love~
- AT 2015 Cirque de Minuit
(And also an illegal upload of TA Live Tour 2015 :P)

All I can say is... god, Ayu is such an amazing performer: so charismatic, intense, energetic. I mean, I've known that before, but I haven't had such a good reminder in a long while. I hope these uploads have given many others a similar reminder.

Miscellaneous thoughts: I really love Ayu's talks and interaction with her band in the older concerts (even though I don't understand a large part of it); makes me extra sad that the band hasn't been present in some of the more recent tours. Does she still do the thing where, at the end, she hushes the audience and shouts a final thank you without a microphone? I love that too. Also, I've fallen in love with MY ALL; the melody is so sweet, and having watched many performances, the song's sentiment seems really strong and sincere.

My favourites from this bunch: PCDL 08-09, CDL 09-10 ~Future Classics~, PREMIUM SHOWCASE ~Feel the Love~ (and TA Live Tour 2015!). Rock'n'Roll Circus and Cirque de Minuit are also good, certainly, but the length is a bit much for me.

I agree with you, I watched them all and she is an incredible artist like she really is !! She has such a singularity in the way she interacts with her environment. She is neither the best singer nor the best dancer but she has this incomparable ease on stage which makes the difference with others. Her body language and charisma really struck me.
From a personal point of view, she can really be proud of herself because the quality of her concerts has not diminished at all as many people tend to say.

Another thing I wonder is what inspired her as an performer? Until 2002/2003, she was "just" herself on stage with her charisma and mannerisms but from AT 2005 (AT 2004 was like the prototype) and so on she really became the performer that we know today with all this theatrical aspect, the way she moves on stage, how she expresses her emotions etc ... etc.

I have to really salute her for doing the rope/silk stuff. Having the dancers doing it while she stood in a gown doing a ballad was becoming a bit of an eye roll but she really stepped it for the GAME performance from AT15 and Kanariya from CDL17-18.

These guys are such a tbt — I hope they redo some older videos as the quality is so low in the uploads from 11 years ago

Those Ayu album cover edits are hilarious, much appreciate them being shared here!

For anyone in lockdown passing the time listening to ayu songs I would recommend skipping Heartplace. "We are free to go anywhere we want" hits different now :laugh:laugh:laugh

I know she gets inspired by shows and musicals when she visits Las Vegas and New York City

I've been watching all the tours on YouTube at the same time it's streaming and is hilarious to watch with comments. Everybody is in such a good and funny mood. Making fun of some parts of the concerts but in a way that onlya real fan could do, you know what I mean? lol Also I found out that japanese fans give nicknames (actually abbreviations) to the songs. It's a really common thing in Japan tho, they like abbreviating anything. Like they call Mirrorcle World "Mirawa", MY STORY is "Maisuto". lol They also call Ayu "oHama" (o is a respectful/cute prefix that people use before nouns and Hama is Hamasaki, of course). Love.

Ah yes, boys & girls is boiga, evolution is ebo, loveppears is rabupi, miss understood is misuan, etc etc. lol

It's pretty common for anything in Japan which if you're not used to it, it's like what is this? Lots of long or semilong titles get shortened heavily (Oreimo for example was 'Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai' but even shorter things like Ayu's titles get it. I feel like it's just easier to type in BBSes or chats, lol.

Thanks for this lovely reply :)

this will forever be the strangest quote for me. it just doesn't make any sense (everybody has dreams, come in now) and if somebody says "I AM a dream" that just makes you seem so full of yourself, no?

I guess it just comes down to translation, or what was meant by the question. I think the real question is: what are your dreams (as in "ambitions")
and the answer: "I don't have any further ambitions, I am living the dream" meaning I will continue my work as I did until now.
(I have already reached the top, the only thing I have to do now is maintain my status.)

just rambling my thoughts. this was one of the very first interviews I read from ayu and was like ...huh?

She really separated "Ayumi Hamasaki" and "Ayu" for those early years of her career so I kind of see that answer as being about "Ayumi Hamasaki" and how that product was sort of dream-like.

Ayumi Hamasaki is the dream, in the sense that she had a very dream-like presence and aesthetic (until Love again maybe). She was/is a dream in the sense that the popstar Ayumi Hamasaki is unreal, a projection of what the public needed or wanted from her. Ayu, the person, for sure has dreams. But Ayu, the popstar, a collective dream. And a neverending one, as here body of work will outlive her (the crossroad PV).

^
^I can agree with that.

it's really hard imagining that she saw (or maybe still sees?) ayumi hamasaki as a product. And also talking about herself in that way. Like she is an inanimate object/product that just has to function.

makes sense when you consider her working herself to the bone with the workload she managed to get done back in the day (on hardly any sleep she said in an interview).

There really is no business like showbusiness.

Just watching CDL 09/10 and I Am is hitting me all over again! What.A.Song! I love how it's mixed in with the acoustic orchestra remix too. Wish there was an official version of this.

Watching all these concerts makes me miss her band even more.

I wonder what the shortened version for doushite kimi wo suki ni natte shimattandarou is

Do you have spring playlists?

Here is mine
1 Endless sorrow "Original Mix"
2 Replace
3 RAINBOW
4 Hana
5 YOU (10th Anniversary Version)
6 NEXT LEVEL
7 Moments
8 SAKURA
9 Trust
10 HONEY
11 Beautiful Day
12 Depend on you (10th Anniversary version)
13 immature
14 vogue
15 Will
16 winding road

I'm feeling kinda lost now, has CDL 15-16 had an official release?

I believe it got a bit of a weird release as a disc only in the TA expensive box version of AT16?

I scrolled through the pages and saw it came as a mu-mo limited edition bonus disc. It was kinda irking me since I just couldn't remember if they really did release it or not.

Honey what is this..Maki Gonzo's honking and the hotel lobby midi version of Who.. it's a hard pass

^ Lies you tell. I love that Ayu Ready? performance! And their duet of Uwasa no Sexy Guy was even better! Gocchin is so underrated. LOL

yeah it was released alongside AT16. tbh it was for the best, the concert isn't that good nor that different from the AT that followed it

Hi guys,

Have any of you watched the Okinawa convention centre Just the beginning show that came with Trouble Jacket B? I’m torn between buying jacket B or jacket A (the Osaka jo hall live version)...if anyone has any recommendations based on which show is more entertaining please help me lol

you can check it yourself:
osaka jo hall concert
okinawa convention center concert

imo, the okinawa concert is the best one.

I enjoyed so much her Okinawa show. I think the first leg of Jtb lacks stamina.

Personally, I much prefer the Osaka show.

I really enjoyed the Okinawa show, more so than the Osaka one - it felt like a meh CDL more so than an arena tour.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I attended the Osaka one so I’m feeling a draw to that one for just that reason even though I prefer the Okinawa setlist lol. If they weren’t so ridiculously overpriced I’d just get both ��

^ avex Taiwan released special Taiwan versions where it's CD+DVD, and the DVD has the respective concerts if you're looking for a cheaper option ;)

with that Ayu Song Challenge I rediscover a lot of songs I didn´t hear much latley and gosh LOVE~since1999~ is soooo underrated

So it seems yesterday the ayumi hamasaki concert tour 2000 A vol.1 was broadcasted in HD on TeleAsa Ch1. Aaaand it's already up on jpopsuki! Maybe someone can upload it here :)

I was just going through all the ending themes to Detective Conan and I came across this performance... that reminds me A LOT of Ayu circa 2001, from her hairstyle all the way to her hand-on-the-hip movements:



Is it just me?

Omg.... I just discovered that she is hugging someone on the Love~Destiny~ cover. Since when? I always thought this was Just an oversized scarf. I'm in shock that I never realised that and now I'm feeling so dumb XD

is there a legit reason, rhyme or purpose as to why SEASONS was cut from the stadium tour full length concert just to be included as a "bonus feature"?

ayu was modeled after Every little thing, everyone was. Well, more like that was the style back of course after 2001 when ayu popped a lot of artists were influenced by her.

4 more concerts will be uploaded by Avex over the next 4 days starting today with A Museum

^wait, wasn’t it uploaded already? I recall watching it in late February and being amazed at her voice lol

Maybe a fan already uploaded their dvd rip?

MY STORY 2005 will premiere tomorrow.

Ah, I'm glad they're uploading more concerts! I've never watched this one (or AT2005), looking forward to it now.

Hoping for A STADIUM!

There is something so magical about Ayu singing Deareat in a hula hoop.

YES. Dearest in A museum is one of my favourite Ayu performances of all time.

It's also crazy how much her voice and singing technique changed in less than 2 years.

It's so nostalgic seeing PECO.

quality of AT2005 is great for something, that wasn't released on blu ray

It's funny how different things can be in hindsight. Skimming through A Museum, I really get a lot of TA Limited Tour 2003 vibes, which was right before this. At the time I really wouldn't say I saw any similarities (and visually there really are none).

Also re-watching the Dearest performance...I was really disappointed in it when this first came out. She did so amazingly with all the TV live performances when Dearest was a single, and this is when her voice was getting deeper and hoarser, and I just felt like it was a let-down. But listening now, it is actually still a really nice performance, if you take it out of the context of the original release.

Looking through some of the Japanese comments on the different tours, they are overwhelmingly positive. The biggest and most consistent complaint I see is that she has too many dancers now - someone even made a distinction of her now doing shows (vs. concerts). I think these releases are really a great reminder for people of her true star power. It may not help her in the long run to gain fans back or sell more, but I think the public opinion of her will continues its uptick for a while.

It’s strange because I watched them all and honestly she always had a lot of people with her on stage ... nonetheless I agree that recently they seems more omnipresent she gives them more space and considering the size of her concerts it’s too much.
Still I dont see a lot of difference in number if I compare the my story tour and the more recent tours.

Besides that yes comments are really good :)

Same with Madonna and Cher. As they got older too, the number of dancers seen on stage increased as well, with similar wishes from fans(at least in Madonna's case) that they'd incorporate less dancers or more performances with just them alone on stage.

I noticed from A MUSEUM as well that so many of the performances are just Ayu alone, or with very minimal dancers. In those times, it might have made sense she was still in her prime to have less dancers aka less distractions to take away from the star perhaps?

hasn't she said that she feels lonely in the stage or something so that's why she has so many dancer there with her?

i think she didn't have much of a choice when she was on her prime aka until AT09 maybe? she seems to have so much more control over basically everything she does nowadays so maybe she doesn't feel the pressure from avex to be lonely on the stage anymore if you get what i'm saying?

Watching A MUSEUM is giving me ALLLL the feels omg :(

It was the very first concert I purchased with my birthday money in early 2005 and I was so happy to have my first Ayu product. I watched that concert every single day after school and was bragging to my friends to check out this "amazing Japanese singer! She's so cool!" lol Damn growing up sucks sooooo much :no

The number of dancers has increased but in regards to Cher: Half of the current show is just Cher on her own. Out of 15 songs (or 16, but one is not fully performed), 8 are just Cher and her band. Also, she has 12 dancers atm (including aerialists), whereas she had 18 during her 2008-2011 Vegas show. So the number actually went down.

I don’t think she want a lot of dancers with her on stage just for the sakes of having a lot of them with her. It’s seems to me she want to provide entertainment show and she is just a piece of it while before she was the centerpiece.
Of course she still is the centerpiece but she lets her crew shining more.

I’m not fond about this choice she has enough stage presence to be alone with band members but it’s how she envisions her shows.

I would say the only reason why she can have so much people on stage and still be the centerpiece is because she has a massive stage presence. To me is seens like the amount of dancers is a way of making a grand, extravagant, decadent show... And this is what she is aiming for.

I actually don't mind it. Even if a lot of dancers, Ayu still is the one shining the most and I never got distracted from her.

^ I agree. I think to Ayu it is part of the "spectacle" of things. And honestly, in an Arena, it's good to fill the stage space a little bit - especially since it seems like there are fewer and fewer actual props, and she has gone the route of relying on screens more to project something (which makes sense, and is likely a lot less expensive). That said, I think there are probably too many for a hall tour. But we know she's extremely attached to her crew, and I don't think she would ever choose to fire someone just because she downsized her venues. Her live musicians can still work on creating live track tracks for her to sing to, but dancers kind of need to be there or there's nothing else.

I think, to some extent, they're more "noticeable" in recent years is that 1 - she doesn't use interlude videos anymore, so they have a more prominent presence in between songs, and 2 - many of them have been with her for a while and they have their own fan-base and persona (Zin, Midori, etc.). But I completely agree that she is still the star, and I don't see them as taking away from her at all.

:yes
I said I am not fond of it but but i don't really mind either it depend of the performances or the songs etc...

I think the "real" problem with the dancers is that sometimes in the DVDs the camera focuses on them too much, they should show Ayu singing and not dancers doing some random moves
But when you see her show in real life, they're really not a distraction imo. At least that was the case for the arena tours, I've never been to an hall tour so I cannot tell for those.