Under it, she is wearing the scholar girl costume, I think this is why she looks baggy...

When I saw it, I directly understand that she was hiding something under

this concert still not a big deal imo.....

Well, let's wait to actually see something other than costumes and tracklists before we say it's a big deal or notXD

There is a NEW costume??? #25 bottom left... Which song is this for?

^Maybe that's what's inside the red robe for ASfxx and Memorial address

Yes, it is the one for A song for XX and Memorial address ! The one she is wearing after removing the red coat !

I liked the outfits overall.

No signs of Maro, right?

you're right.

it's kind of sad to me that he's gone now :( he was a good dancer and cute too :P

^ he has a solo career now, so hes probably prepping up for it.

I'm still confused about his rls with her, like are they together or not now.. I've heard alot of mems on ahs said they broke up but i have no idea :no

http://setlist-live.com/hamasaki-ayumi/2645.html
She sang TO BE yesterday.

^ that's great I've been waiting for that

TO BE! YAY!!

Seams as though she sang SEASONS today. :)

I wish she would change up the setlist a little bit, and not do the other songs in the encore. Some just wont gel as an encore song. I can't see microphone being performed as an encore song.

I'm a little confused about this Maro situation too.

Seems like Trauma is out for good :( I wonder if there was MC this time.

The setlists

http://setlist-live.com/hamasaki-ayumi/2645.html

http://setlist-live.com/hamasaki-ayumi/2649.html

And I agree with pheonixflame15, some songs are just not encore songs.

I'm like literally dying for some MC and documentary :(
Idk , I just want to see more of an ayu talking to fans, and behind the scenes. she seems so distant this past few years.

oooh TO BE. interesting...I wonder if she'll do anything special toward the end of the tour...

I don't have this big thing for the MCs cause I never understand what their saying, so I have the feeling that I'm missing the joke, but there were some really epic MCs, like AT05, AT06, AT08 and AT09.

But I know it's something special for those who go to the concerts and those who understand Japanese, so a lot of fans are propably upset cause she's not talking to them as she used to. :(

I'd like to see some behind the scenes too, this is always fun to watch.

UGH enough with SEASONS already!!!! Change up the setlist Ayu!

Boring... :sleeping

I honestly thought she would change the setlist a lot more, I was almost certain, but now I don't think she will anymore, even if I hope so. Such a pity, so many great songs voted!

I think the setlist is good enough, I like she's constantly changing the songs on the encore to include the songs that were voted. I'd love to see kanariya, even if it was an encore performance only.

I would die to see kanariya. I just think the base set list could be better. Switch out some of the newer songs with old. I get the idea of selling the new songs but a switch up isn't unreasonable. She did it constantly with PoM

why? The song is OK, but I don't get all the hype over wanting her to perform it.

I like kanariya too but it just doesn't seem exciting enough for a live performance. Although I know there are some remixes of it with a male voice in the background and I can't help but think if she was to do it live, Timmy could do the male vocals.

Ayu, can you release a live cd for this tour please? I want live CDs to be released for every tour!

I hope she performs kanariya so people can move on to the real urgent issue at hand..still alone tbh

Is it too much to ask for Return Road to be performed? I'm still not over Replace though.

everyone is dying to see return road, including me :( that was a really good song

An article about how ticket sales are bad and "the decline of Ayumi Hamasaki"
http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/7687431/

Apparently they sent out flyers to home offering free tickets to fill the tickets at one venue.

Preach


I mean I love kanariya....but seriously

That is just tragic. And how ironic on for a tour titled "A BEST".

i'm supporting her..no matter what...

Maybe the decline is due to her image being bad, but she really should release singles. Its no wonder she dissapeared from people's minds if she's never promoted anymore.

Jk, I just want a single.

:laugh this.

Even though I'll say to myself that I always support her but this is just sad :(
I've read that and I think it's time for her to make the decision, because it seems that she's not releasing anything soon and seems to let herself disappear from public's eye. I wonder if she could pull an 'Amuro' because honestly she's been in a downward spiral imo and for me it's really saddening and tragic :cry

I don't trust this article. At least venues I went to were 99% full and everybody acted like fans.

Don't trust stupid articles online, go to Japan and to one of her concerts, see for yourself how much love and support she receives every time, tears running down from both ayu and her fans' faces, it's very beautiful and touching.

These articles seem louder because we pay attention to them, ayufans in Japan keep it low key, they don't go around proving how much they love ayu, they just love her. These people online who hate ayu spend all of their time hating on her and saying bad things, but the things they say don't have to be true.

There was a similar article when Party Queen came out ! Of course she is in decline but she is far to be the worst and the only but it's Ayu so ... Since 2005 when she began to loose her popularity plenty of articles began to say how Ayu is over ! It's funny I'm sure in 15 years she will always be here ! You don't need to have an army of fan in order to pursue a carrier.

Many people enjoy seeing successful people going down, just look at Britney, people enjoyed watching as she had the breakdown of her life, and Beyonce, even though she is doing good as always people find bad things to say about her.

Ayu is done better and doing better than most artists Worldwide, people are just eager to see her crash and burn.

I don't believe the article, ayu is still going strong as ever. there are still many japanese fans love her there.

It's true, people were chanting "Ayu" for like, 20 minutes before she even came on stage. She has quite a diverse following too, from children to oji-sans and oba-sans. The most touching thing for me was to see the amount of disabled people that had covered their wheelchairs with Ayu straps, hand made streamers and uchiwas. I just wanted to cuddle them, but I restrained myself.

I think the media just want to poop on someone, so they attack Ayu. I'm passed caring about it, lol.

I WANT LIAR. :thud

*rant about kanarya* Oh, come on, it's not really so difficult to understand the urge for kanarya: like it has been said endless times, it's never been performed. Simple as that. And, sorry, but you can't say that you love it, and then that you don't want it performed, at least ONCE. I mean, when are we going to have the chance to vote again? It was a beautiful chance to see an amazing song that, apparently, she really doesn't want to sing.
But some people don't really enjoy it, I get it perfectly, so please, try to understand the hype of people like me. Kanarya is one of my favourite song ever and before the results I had no idea it was loved by many. So please bear with me, 'cause I'm gonna write about it. Like, multiple times. Just ignore me and roll your eyes at me and everything'll be alright. *end of the rant*
Anyway, about the ticket unsold... can it be that this tour covers a lot of places? If it's bigger than usual, like they stated, maybe it's necessary to fill the seats but it's not really a huge problem.

keep supporting my loveliest dedicated Queen forever :love

yes even i saw a lot of children and young people at AHS tour while watching the DVD, and so great for those disabled fans supporting Ayu like that! :yes

That article is very unsettling. I haven't been to any of her concert (or Japan) so I don't know how things factually are over there. I can only hope that old ayu fans stay loyal to her and more new fans are drawn to her irrespective of the total lack of release.

I hate to go into another she-needs-to-release-singles / no-she-doesn't debate, but I'll say this: I miss her singles. I mean, what's the deal? I don't care whether she needs to release them or not, I just want her to want to release singles again. Reclaim the throne, ayu. At least climb a little.

this.

but I still wish for HANABI, HANABI ~episode II~, Dearest, Don't look back, INSPIRE, independent, etc.

dear journalists/haters,

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1qsue8xIW1qc97id.gif

some people just wanna bring her down...

About this acting as fans, I was really unlucky in that case, I was with non-fan friend, to my right were two Japanese who sat like stones the whole concert not moving, not singing, and I was in the first row on a balcony (Saitama) so noone in front of me and the next row behind me was high above me, I felt alone the whole time, it was more like watching it on tv :| And I'm talking about R'n'R Circus, not A Best Tour.

Well I would be jumping for joy if I was at an Ayu concert. I would be super excited just to be there.

lol since i've heard media's take on GACKT nothing really is going to surprise me... thye just have nothig to do, really lol maybe Ayu isn't as popular, but i am sure long years fans are still comming to er shows. I knw people in japan who love her a lot and are going to 3 -4 shows of A BEST LIVE. So..really...

I wish Ayu wasn't a Flop Queen.
Waaaaaaaaaa-aaah :(

haters always gonna hate.

The decline of Ayu...right. People have been saying her career is over for, what, 10 years now?

Even after A BEST they said she was over lmao

If her career is over then 99.99% of the artists in Japan never had a career to start with :rolleyes

I'm not "HATIN'"!

Her music is so good right now, and she's my favorite so of course I'll wish she does well. I was high at the time so I could not accurately express my thoughts.

can somebody give me a link to this article

this
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...3F91r5f5dx.gif

I went to an Osaka concert of hers last year, it was her 5th concert there within the space of 4 or so months, and every seat was taken. Why do you think her Japan tours grow each year? She fills them. Don't believe those nonsense articles.

I never went to Japan or any of her concerts (this is so sad!), but watching on dvd, you can see that Japanese people are different. They don't react like many of us, I think it's part of their culture, they are a little more restrained, so maybe watching the dvds we have the wrong impression that they're not having as much fun as we would/as we wished. (not everyone, please, I know people are different), but I think it's only their way to express their emotions and if they didn't love or support Ayu they wouldn't bother to go to her concerts and by her goodies and be a part of that special moment with her. People that actually went to her concerts can say it better that I can, but I think this article is not true (and I hope it's not!). I think she has a great amount of Japanese and worldwide fans, come on. People cross the world to see her, how many artists can say that?

Last year in Yokohama, the crowd was way louder than they let you hear on DVDs. I was surrounded by a whole bunch of fans who sang along to every song and people were constantly screaming Ayu and cheered her on every few songs. I was really surprised as I thought that they'd be pretty silent.

ah a little over a month till my trip to Tokyo/Hiroshima. I can't wait. My ticket was shipped on 26th, I think I got a better seat than last year ^_^

I'll definitely be singing every song! And most likely crying the majority of the time LOL

I personally sing along only when Ayu asks to because I think fans go to her concerts to hear HER, at least I do. It may get really irritating when fans are constantly singing and you have to make efforts to actually hear AYU. Two Japanese girls almost ruined for me the beginning of Memorial Address because they sang louder than Ayu.
And I scream the hell out "Ayu!!!" mostly between the songs :-)

I want songs other than Boys & Girls that Ayu asks us to sing along with!!!

I wouldn't be belting it out all loudly though lol

Will there be more shows in October?? I am so curious.

Per her annual concert pattern since 2009, I think October shows are almost definitive. I'm still hoping that this one would 'evolve' into something 'BEST'-er.

I hope the BEST would just end and LOVE again asia tour would happen ♥

This is soo true
My vision would be severely diminished from all that crying at her concert
I would not be able to see a thing :D
And hell no I would NOT just idly stand there like a log
I would be jumping & dancing until i faint :thud

Today Ayu sang Key !? Wow

^^REALLY?! Wow...are those encore songs like, TV versions (half the song) or is it the whole song?

She sang Key?! I love that song!

wowowo key? :thud
I love it~! :heart

I wonder if she'll end up doing all 50 of those chosen songs by the time the tour ends...PLEASE let us get them all on blu ray!

Yeah for Key!! Finally something different! :D

Can anyone confirm if all these encore songs are the full songs, or abridged versions?

Key?!! omg!!!

YAY FOR KEY!! just when to hear it again :)

What a surprise!!!

KEY, yes, happiness!! <3 <3

lol someone mixed some person with GACKT at Ayu's concert xD

and lol at everyone going nuts over that song, i listened to it maybe once, don't even bothered ever again xD

OMG Key! OMG OMG I really love that song :heart

Do people remember when October shows were announced in previous years??

AYU, I love you!!!! You sing Key eventually!!!!!!!! Bravo >.<

Key *_*

I cried about 6 times when I saw her for the very time on the 29/12. On the 31st I didn't cry once. Probably because I was alone and didn't want to look like a freak, lol. But the 29th concert was better than her 31st, for me anyway.

I love Key. Very happy that she performed it again.

That is one of the songs I voted for! Did she sing Key ~eternal Tie Ver~?

I love key, but what's more important it gives me a tiny hope for Liar/Criminal/It was (...), hopefully the exchanged songs make it into dvd

Since she's always changing the song, I'll make myself believe there's hope for Replace. I don't think Return Road is an encore song, so maybe she won't perform it :(

since this is the 15th anniversary, she should start doing documentaries again.

^Agreed :yes

Isn't the standard version of Key is the eternal tie ver? or maybe you refer whether it is acoustic or the original arrangement :D