Must-see concerts?
 

I think I posted it in a good place, if not, please replace it. ^^'

Maybe I don't like every Ayu tour, but it's one of things which I respect her as a singer. Then I think I can like singer or group if he/she/they make great shows, visually and vocally. Can you recommend me artists who do the concerts in that way? I've never prefered watching a concerts where the artist only sings. (Of course he/she might get awesome voice, but I'll be never satisfied of this.) I know many asian singers, but I've watched only Ayu shows. Will you help me? :D

aww, sorry for my baaad English _-_'

EDIT: I changed thread title, I just search concerts which you've loved and would like to recommend ^^'

For asian concerts, I would say nearest concertwise would be Koda Kumi...but I don't like her concerts, I actually think her concerts and her songs are crap. Then there's Nana Mizuki who is reaching her peak at the moment, her concerts are becoming more and more epic, I estimate the cost of her first Dome Tour(LIVE DIAMOND) of summer 2009 to be actually higher than Ayus AT09, so you might want to watch her LIVE DIAMOND concert. Her vocals are amazing and the visuals are really good as well(screen videos, 6 or 7 costumes, giant stage, water, fire, dust, lasers, props...I think Ayu inspired her very much the last years) the only thing that's bad about her concerts is that it usually has 2 "cutesy" portions instead of the one Ayu does.

Then for internationals you should check out Madonna and Mylene Farmer, both have amazing concerts similar to Ayus.(Ayu actually is a BIG Madonna fan)

Thats the artists that IMO come nearest to ayu when performing

No-asian artists are needless, but of course thank you for it too :) I'll check Nana Mizuki, her concerts seem interesting :)

Yeah, the only person I can think of who has such extravagant concerts like Ayu is Kumi Koda. I mean, some of the things she does aren't as big, but there are only a few exceptions. She relies heavily on dancing (more-so her than the actual dancers, sometimes, lol), has a huge stage and audience, lots of props, over-the-top costumes, and really story-driven (and kinda unnecessary, lol) intro videos. Personally, I like Kumi's concerts even better than Ayu's. She's either blowing me away with her vocals, or making me laugh with a ridiculous outfit, or I go aawwww~ because she brings a fan onstage, or whatever.

Wow, are all the others seriously that boring to watch? I don't think so, it's mainly preference when it comes to these kinds of things because it's the love for the artist that makes you either love or hate the tours/concerts.

I know you prob. don't want to hear this, and she is alone on stage. but Utada United 2006. I just thought utada was finaminal. even though it sounded like she had a cold. the visualizations were beautiful. the costumes were great and it proves that that is all you need to have an amazing concert. You know, not 20 backup dancers, backup singers, tons of costume changes and a video interlude after every song.

Crystal Ageha, Thanks for suggestion ^^ I've watched many Kuu's concert performances on You Tube, I think I'll be satisfied during watching whole live :) (In your opinion, which Kuu's tour was the best? I'll watch it first :D)
I've thought it over and I add another question to it: of course I search concerts similiar in Ayu's way, but I search also 'big show' concert generally, hmm... How should I say it... Huge, great visually, etc. (my english word vocabulary is poor, to be honest xDD)

EDIT: ^ Yeah, I forgot about Utada United! I've heard many positive opinions about it. It's must see for me :D

Of course it's not that if some singer's concerts are boring for me, I don't like her/him at all... Because that singer or group can have great songs, write amazing lyrics etc. I just search concerts which in others opinion are very good :)

@ AyUta
Actually...for me it isn't, I don't like Madonnas music much, still I love watching her concerts, for Kuu I liked her music in the beginning but always hated the concerts and kind of grew to dislike her overall that way except some songs.

Must see concerts:

*Koda Kumi's TRICK Tour and Black Cherry Tour ==> She's hardly my favorite singer, but she IS and AMAZING vocalist (some people forget that) and has stunning visuals in her concerts as well

*Perfume's GAME Tour and BUDOUKaaaaaaaaaaN!!!!! concert ==>These shows are just so exciting and fun! So much energy and visually fun to watch. Choreography is always spot on. Caution, they basically lip-sync most of the concert (save a few songs). You might not like that.

*BoA's The Face Tour ==> No one dances and sings like BoA. As with Perfume, she is very "Energetic" in her performances and that's just great to watch.

One comment on Utada United....I'm a huge Utada fan...obviously...and I LOVED the whole concert. Her voice in that is just great! However...it's basically just her standing there singing, no dancers or anything (and you've mentioned that you don't really like that). It might bore you...but it's also very fun too I guess!

So overall, those were a few suggestions...but if you really want visually good concerts with great vocals...stay with Ayu or go with Koda Kumi. Utada if you can handle a couple hours of pure singing...Perfume and BoA if you want a very fun show.

If it's only about must-see concerts now:

Nana Mizuki's Live Formula 2007-2008 and LIVE FEVER 2009 as well, both are medium-sized productions(tours with around 70k attendance each, filmed concerts in Saitama Super Arena and Budoukan). LIVE FEVER is just really much fun, especially the beginning with "DISCOTHEQUE" and it's stupid but funny choreography and costumes. Later there's amazing ballad and rock performances in it. For Formula basically goes the same, with less fun and more ballad and pop.

Of course lots of people mention the artists that foreign fans know the most, but there are actually a number of artists in Japan (usually older artists) that are known for their stage shows but don't really get much attention from foreign fans.

Yumi Matsutoya is known for massive shows so you should check her out if you can but finding videos on foreign sites are few and far between.

http://img.barks.jp/image/review/1000039002/001.jpg

^ Yes, that is a pool on the stage!

Yeah, her spectacles are just epic... Pool, fountains, fire, acrobatics, huge stage, etc. The "Shangrila I" is the best show ever... Though I personally dislike her music

^ yeah I agree. I'm not a big fan of her music, or I just maybe simply haven't heard enough of it. But her shows are second to none.

Could you point me to a place to download/torrent for Yumis concerts? jpopsuki only has her albums

I don't think anybody's saying other artists are boring. We're just listing artists who have such huge productions, like Ayu. (Personally, I actually tend to like concerts that are much more simple, even, without all the dancers and props and such. Ayu is often way too much for me... But that's actually probably why I like Kumi's tours so much. Even with all the extra crap I tend not to like, I still love her tours. :))

Black Cherry is my overall favourite. :D It has a great setlist, and the Blue Man Group appearance is amusing. AND... OH MY GAWD, she does a rock version of real Emotion, and it made me go CRAZY! :luv2 I don't know if anybody has or will have such a flailing reaction to this song on the tour [lol], but I thought it was a hundred times better than the original version. I wish it were real!!!! :weep The Ningyo Hime performance was another highlight for me. She looked awesome, hah. :P Ohohoh, and FREAKY was a very good one.... And she has a very interesting fan interaction this time, lol. :lech
Kingdom is also amazing, though. Definitely my second favourite, if not for her beautiful vocals alone. :heart I mean, her performance of MORE actually made me like the song! :O And hands is a gorgeous arrangement~ (she turns it into a real ballade, rather than how poppy the original was, and it works perfectly), with just as beautiful vocals... And then you... Oh my gosh--she starts out a capella, and it literally made my jaw drop. And the whole performance, she's singing this to a fan who came up on stage with her. It's cute. ^_^

Hmm, I've had a Yuming concert on one of my HDDs for the longest time. Never got around watching it. I believe it is 1994 concert tour or so. Here are some caps:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/5408/yuming.th.jpg

I've always had great respects towards her. After all, she has written songs for many well-known artists. For example Seiko Matsuda's "Akai Sweet Pea", "Seifuku" and "Rock'n Rouge" (to mention a few) were all written by her. :yes I do enjoy some of her music too, definitely. Going to check out that concert tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me about it. :laugh

Yuming do huge concerts but I think they're extremely boring since she does NOTHING. Like, all stunts happen AROUND her while she just stands there, singing, you know? She barely even moves. It's like she's suffocated by all the stunts. In my opinion, it's not as good as Ayu concerts. It's a bit like going to Cirque du Soleil, not to a REAL concert. I don't know, after hearing so many great things about her shows, I was extremely underwhelmed when I finally watched it. It's BORING (and this is coming from someone who LOVES effects, amazing set designs, etc). But no question they are amazing visually.

For me, "Utada United" worked better than most Yumi Matsutoya concerts I've seen. Hikki just stood there singing while lots of cool images were projected around her but I didn't feel she was overshadowed by the big production like Yumi. But Utada's concert DO get boring after awhile if you're not a big fan of her music, so I don't think it compares to Ayu either.

Koda Kumi do huge concerts too but I don't know, in my honest opinion, they look extremely TACKY. Everything looks expensive but ew, such bad taste (to the point where some expensive effects look CHEAP).

There's also MISIA. She does huge concerts full of effects, etc. Her concerts are easily available on Youtube I think (at least, they were). Again, I was not very impressed but they're also huge.

I used to LOVE Ayumi concerts with all my heart. They were always amazing and very interesting. Until My Story, most of them were very good (except for the Countdowns which I never particularly liked), then (miss)understood was nice and, with Secret, things started to go downhill, it started being boring and repetitive. It's such a shame they repeat the exact same pattern year after year, to me this is quite bad for someone who was once known as a "chameleon" and it really is a proof of how quality has gone downhill in her career (in my opinion obviously)...

But, overall, most popular Japanese artists have big productions: Exile, Johnny's artists, Mr. Children, GACKT, Seiko Matsuda. Neither of those impressed me as much as Ayu did with her earlier concerts but you could give it a try...

By the way, like you, I'm also a HUGE fan of big productions and big concerts, I've seen plenty (and it's hard to impress me) and can I give you a suggestion that has nothing to do with Asian artists? Take That. I hate boybands but one day I accidentally started watching their concert DVD and I've never seen anything so impressive (and I've seen Madonna, Britney, Mylene Farmer, U2 and the Rolling Stones LIVE). Here is the complete concert and I REALLY recommend it for anyone who appreciates big concerts. It's simply breath-taking and they're amazing performers. This is one of the most amazing visual effects I've ever seen and this is also amazing.

If you don't mind boy-bands, a great visually stimulating concert that I just watched is KAT-TUN's Break the Records Live concert. The visual effects are seriously epic. Reminds me a bit of Ayu's dome tour except with better effects. Twas very impressed with it.

Or even Live of KAT-TUN "Real Face" or Live Kaizokuban. Those are incredible, especially the former. I haven't watched Break the Records yet, but I guess I should soon. :3 Nowadays I prefer KAT-TUN's concerts a hundred times over Ayu's concerts, and I like KAT-TUN nowhere near as much as I love Ayu.

I wish I could. As I said, older artists stuff is hard to find in the english speaking JPop world. You've probably gotta be hooked up with some Japanese file trading networks to get them.

Yeah, if visual stimulating big productions is what the original poster wants, definitely check out Johnny's concerts as well. Who knows, you might actually end up liking the groups too. That's what happened to me with SMAP anyways.

KAT-TUN's Break The Records Live is amazing!!!!

For Asian Tours, I would also definitely say, watch a KAT-TUN concert. Of course, I do enjoy it because of the music, but the stages are grand. Start with Queen of pirates or Kaizokuban (the one Tom Punks mentioned) They all have a pirate theme in common.

I love you for this. I'm a Take That Fan, I've seen them live as a teenager 3 times and later when they came back in 2007. They are brilliant live. Even the older shows. I saw 2 dates of the Nobody Else Tour 1995 in Londons Earls Court, still one of my favourite concerts ever. They mostly tour stadiums in the UK nowadays. It IS a great entertaining watch and I would recommend it to anyone, but I know that there are people who don't feel that kind of thing, which is a shame really.

I'm watching KAT-TUN's Break the Rules tour now and wow, it really is amazing. And I'm not even really a Kat-tun fan! Every song basically has at least one wow moment. I would say start with Break the Rules if you are going to watch a Kat-tun concert for the first time. I can't believe it if Kamenashi actually did that fall - you could not pay me enough money to do that, lol.

Whoa, man, I really don't like Johnny's but I looked at that Kat-tun concert and HOLY DAMN it is crazy awesome.

^ I know right. I just finished it and its probably one of the best concerts I have seen and I don't really care about Kat-tun. lol. All Johnny's concerts are extremely high level though, not just kat-tun but this one in particular was one of the best I think.

Yes, KAT-TUN concerts are grand. The Concert, people are raving about is called Break the Records, like the corresponding album. ;) It's for breaking the record of having the most concerts in Tokyo Dome (10, 8 consecutive) and KAT-TUN themselves were very involved in the production. They had a planet theme, and every night another member was responsible. Imagine what fun it is to watch such a concert, if you actually like the band. (Like I do with KAT-TUN) They were touring Domes, even before debut, so they got a lot of practice.

I would slowly build it up and watch the concerts in chronological order, though. Much more fun!

About Yumi Matsutoya concerts: I've never seen torrents for them but, a few months ago, someone uploaded them all to Youtube in HQ. Unfortunately, it was already deleted but you can still find 1 or 2 performances there (search for her name in Japanese + Shangrila). As I said, I had high expectations and was sorely disappointed.

Right? I wasn't a fan of them back in the 90s and since I'm kind of prejudiced against boybands, I was like "I can't believe a washed-up boyband from the early 90s reunited and became the best-selling musical act in the UK. What a shame!". And then I watched their concert DVD and was like "uh, duh, now I totally get it". After this, I became a HUGE fanatic, haha. I've seen pretty much all the big acts in concerts (western and Asian), either on DVD or live, and no one can compare to them, they're really AMAZING. And the best part is that, at this point, they're not a "boyband" anymore, they're so big and so respected they transcended this label. Good for them (and it's really neat they don't deny their past and keep the choreography from Pray, haha). I recommend their concerts to anyone who's a fan of huge concerts.

Huge thanks for your suggestions! I know what I should watch now.:D

I'm also watching KAT-TUN Break the Records now and it is pretty impressive (but not the most impressive I've seen, honestly) but OH MY EFFING GOD, I'm almost overdosing on the amount of HIDEOUS haircuts, clothes and choreographies, it's freaking horrible (and did one of them just proudly showed his painted nails? *barf*). They make pretty much anyone look classy in comparison (and I know Johnny's aren't exactly well-known by their fine taste but this is something else). But yes, very nice concert, lots of very eye-catching props and effects, you won't be bored at all (and their music is catchy).

By the way, pirate theme is quite popular in the Jpop world, huh? In the last few years, Yumi Matsutoya, SMAP, Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi and KAT-TUN all had concerts with this theme.

You could watch Tohoshinki's The Secret Code at Tokyo Dome, or their MIROTIC Tour. The latter would be a little better imo... ^^

Nothing much goes on, but the boys' singing and dancing make up for everything. I think you should check out BEST FICTION tour by Namie Amuro as well... I thought that was pretty awesome

In my humble opinion, Take That were never in that "pretty face-no talent" category Yes, they started out as a boyband aimed at gay guys in the early 90s. But they always had something special in them, talent and a chemistry between them that compares to none. That's why people go crazy over them still. They are not the greatest singers (except for Gary), but they just know how to work it. They did great shows back then and they do it now. After being dead for 10 years. And they don't need Robbie Williams for it. :D The Boyband days are long over for them, it's great to see all kinds of people at their concerts not only women around 30.

Yes, I don't know why they all like Pirates so much. Maybe Pirates of the Caribbean was a huge success in Japan? About the Johnnys: I always thought Johnnys costumes are ridiculous. They are visually not pleasing at all. It's tacky, yes. But if you see them wearing that stuff all the time you get used to it, and suddenly you don't really see it anymore. Same with the hundreds of juniors (the little backdancers) and strange dances they sometimes perform. To be fair, I don't think they choose the costumes. I mean, who would?

^ I also sometimes think that they wear those costumes because the venues they perform in are gargantian size. You need something eye catching if anyone is going to hope to see you. I actually thought the Break the Records costumes were some of the most toned down I've seen though.

Yes, I've seen a few other Johnny's concert and they were all very WTF?! in the wardrobe department. But the thing with KAT-TUN is that, in my opinion, they go EVEN further in the tackiness, which is saying a lot considering how the rest of the boybands dress. In the rest of the show, it actually gets less annoying but the first outfit... yes, I know popstars are supposed to dress flashy and out of ordinary but I could barely focus on anything besides how UGLY they looked. But despite that the show IS really impressive. Particularly, I wasn't very impressed by KAT-TUN themselves (but I can understand why people like them, they do have catchy songs) but the props and effects were very very cool.

And I think the pirate trend was kickstarted by Yumi Matsutoya. Back in 2002, she did the concert Shangrila II and it had a HUGE ship on the stage (I think Koda Kumi's Black Cherry tour was HEAVILY influenced by the stage design and set-up of this tour since there were MANY similarities). I think it was the first time the theme was used. Then SMAP, KAT-TUN and pretty much every other Jpop act there is...

Yes, ever since day 1 they had something that settled them apart: they (well, Gary) wrote their own songs, which means they were responsable for their own hits. That's extremely rare. And it's not like Gary wrote the song with a bunch of other songwriters, he did it himself. I really admire them for it.

OK, since this off-topic I will put the rest of my thoughts into SPOILER tags, haha.

Good Point. That's probably the reason. but now that I think about it they also wear them on TV. Mmmhhh....maybe Johnny just likes it colourful. I think the more flashy costumes don't fit KAT-TUN's image, so Johnny makes them wear the toned down versions and safes the colours for HeySayJump or so. haha.

@andre2907

Omggg, I just watched KAT-TUN's Break The Records concert, and parts of it were AMAZING. Overall I think I liked Real Face live more, but some parts of Break The Records were like the coolest thing I'd ever seen, especially Kame's solo when he (aka his stunt double) falls 500 feet and then Kame comes back and floats through the air and water and fireworks and the scrolls and everythingcrap. <333 But the members themselves were a lot more boring in Break The Records. I'm used to them just... running around and sort of twirling around at the very least, but they mostly just stood there this time. :/

Well... if what you want are huge props, elevators, screens, lighting and effects yeah, you should try artists and bands like KAT-TUN, Koda Kumi, etc.... Yet I personally find their shows not only tacky in costumes and themes, but also vocally poor, predictively choreographed and way too robotic/rehearsed. I mean, you won't find the power of Ayu's ballads, the emotion of her encores, nor the interaction of band, dancers and audience alike

^ lol... Nowadays I'd say that Ayu's concerts are MUCH worse than KAT-TUN's in terms of costume tackiness, bad vocals, and being over-rehearsed. Sure they aren't like all boohoo sad when they're crying like Ayu might be, but I'd rather they didn't act like that than WAY too dramatically fake it like Ayu does nowadays. And the members of KAT-TUN actually do interact with each other quite nicely in their shows, they have a lot of jokes, and interact with the band and dancers a bit too (and unlike Ayu, the emphasis is ALL on the members of the group. They don't get overshadowed by their dancers and band). And KAT-TUN's concerts have like 10x as many cool effects as Ayu's have.

And saying the audience interacts less with KAT-TUN is just silly, since KAT-TUN's audience is just as big and probably a lot bigger, and they get MUCH closer to the audience than Ayu does.

I agree with both: I do think Ayu HAD the most interesting and involving concerts in Jpop. Better than Johnny's, Koda Kumi, MISIA, etc. But recently, she just repeats herself year after year and... yeah... *yawn*

I've seen a few Johnny's concerts and I was not very entertained by most of them (they're TOO LONG) but KAT-TUN concert really did impress me, more so than the last few tours than Ayu did. But then again, what impressed me was not THEM but all of the props. I didn't find them particularly good at anything, honestly...

@Mai28Go
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they cut out a lot from KAT-TUN's Break the Records concert though. UGHHHH, LOL. especially the member corners (though...it's understandable since they changed the tracklist for that section everyday).

i think for the member-audience interaction, it's hard to interact with them since they're at Tokyo Dome. but they did do an Arena leg for Break The Records Tour and many fan-reports i've read said it was better because of the fan interaction and their x-rated MCs that never ever make it on DVD, sadly.

I would say actually that Johnny's concerts have some of the most fan interaction I have seen. Especially considering the size of the venues. It really seems a lot of money goes from JE into these concerts so that even if you are at the back of the Dome or stadium you will still have some opportunities to see the guys close.

@andre2907
Look here! :D

@faninteraction
The question is, what do you mean by that? Talking to the fans from the stage? What really impressed me was the audience/artist interaction at a Gwen Stefani concert I attended. (The Sweet Escape Tour 2007) I don't know how it usually works with her, but it was the first time I saw an artist actually running through an arena, touching the fans, standing next to them in the stands! It was marvelous and I really couldn't believe it. It worked out great. I call that fan interaction. Of course, this could also go the wrong way, you never know. It's much easier to do in a small venue, though.

Arena tours always work better if you want to be closer to the Fans. Nobody can tell me that people high up in Tokyo Dome actually see details, they have to watch the screens. Then you have other possibilities like going high up in balloons, like Arashi did. But from numerous concert reviews I read (for Johnny's Concert in Tokyo Dome) the best seats are still on the ground.

For me, I really enjoyed Tohoshinki's Secret Code Dome Tour. It starts off slow but then the dances, big stage was really cool and they have amazing voices. I don't think they've been off key once.
Gackt's Tokyo Dome tour was also quite good with real horses on stage, swords and Gackt hanging/flying above the crowds. Vocally, it wasn't his best though. His Sixth Day Seventh Night was better.

Real horses? REAL Horses? That sounds weird and not so nice for the horses, though I can't help but feel interested in seeing that, too. haha.

REAL horses, lol!? How random and......different. o_O Points to Gackt for that spectacle. Makes me wanna watch his concerts, even though I don't like him, hah. ^^'

Yes, I remember Gack concert. He entered Tokyo Dome in a REAL horse.

^IN a real horse would have been even more impressive, though quite grotesque. ;)

Yep, those horses had to have been very well trained to not spook with so much noise. It was an awesome concert, probably my favorite of his.

Oh, I guess we're not talking about the same concert then cause the one I'm referring too he was actually inside the horse. He ripping his ways out of the animal was like one of the most amazing effects I've ever seen, really cool although it took awhile to clean the mess afterwards, blood everywhere.

Haha, not. Sorry for the confusion, is just that English isn't my native language ;)

^ Um..... That's.....disturbing, lol. But now I'm even more curious about the....freakshow....that is a Gackt concert, it seems. XD

^ Oh no no, he was just joking about that part. lol. That's a little too extreme even for Gackt.

Oh, okay, I was hoping he was joking about that one, lol. :laugh Sounded more like Dir en Grey than Gackt... :thud

Is that screenshot from Shangri-la 1 DVD?
It looks really good I want to see it. o.o
Nana Mizuki's concert looks good too. ^_^

wow...yuming concert looks fabulous...anyone has a rip of that show?

Hmm, I really really really don't like Japanese boybands, so it's kind of depressing to know that they seem to get some of the best concerts... XD

As others have said, Nana Mizuki's concerts are badass ^^ Especially LIVE DIAMOND, as noidea recommended. Definitely one of the best concerts of 2009. Her performances do seem very Ayu-inspired, imo, and she has like... a million "epic" songs, so you can expect a lot of epic performances :)

Obviously KAT-TUN were Gackt inspired, because the REAL HORSES IN TOKYO DOME Saga continues with their latest concert tour. 5 horses this time. Poor creatures. As a horse I would definitely prefer a nice field over 50.000 screaming females in Tokyo Dome.

Ayu, MISIA & Nana Mizuki have the best concerts.

MISIA's concert is an orgasm for your eyes and ears :thud She's like the best singer in Japan.

She always have the most extravagan stage and vocal. This is one of my favorite, ASCENSION tour 2007

the burning piano


the hexagon stage


and the overall look

^MISIA's eighth world tour stage was OMG.