TROUBLE TOUR 2019-2020 A -misunderstood-
 

ayumi hamasaki TROUBLE TOUR 2019-2020 A -misunderstood-

TOUR DATES:
2019
➡ 05.01. CHIBA: CHIBA PREFECTURAL CULTURAL HALL
➡ 05.02. CHIBA: CHIBA PREFECTURAL CULTURAL HALL
➡ 05.10. KYOTO: ROHM THEATER KYOTO MAIN HALL
➡ 05.11. AICHI: AICHI PREFECTURAL ART THEATER LARGE HALL
➡ 05.17. SHIZUOKA: SHIZUOKA CITY CULTURAL HALL LARGE HALL
➡ 05.25. OSAKA: FESTIVAL HALL
➡ 05.26. OSAKA: FESTIVAL HALL
➡ 06.08. HYOGO: KOBE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HALL KOKUSAI HALL
➡ 06.09. HYOGO: KOBE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HALL KOKUSAI HALL
➡ 06.13. YAMAGUCHI: SHUNAN CITY CULTURAL HALL
➡ 06.14. HIROSHIMA: HIROSHIMA CULTURE ACADEMY HBG HALL
➡ 06.21. NAGANO: MATSUMOTO ART MUSEUM
➡ 06.28. TOKYO: HITOMI MEMORIAL HALL
➡ 06.30. KANAGAWA: CALTZ KAWASAKI
➡ 07.04. EHIME: MATSUYAMA CITY HALL
➡ 07.13. CHIBA: ICHIKAWA CITY CULTURE HALL
➡ 07.14. CHIBA: ICHIKAWA CITY CULTURE HALL
➡ 07.19. SHIZUOKA: ACT CITY HAMAMATSU UNIVERSITY HALL
➡ 07.30. KANAGAWA: SAGAMI WOMEN'S UNIVERSITY GREEN HALL
➡ 08.08. OITA: IICHIKO GRAN SIATA
➡ 08.09. MIYAZAKI: MIYAZAKI CITIZEN'S CULTURE HALL
➡ 08.16. MIYAGI: SENDAI SUN PLAZA HALL
➡ 08.17. IWATE: OSHU CITY CULTURE CENTER Z HALL
➡ 08.18. YAMAGATA: SHELTER HOW HOLE




TICKET INFORMATION:
¥ 9,600 (tax included)
※ 3 years old or older pay

Just seen it on Insta. Wtf is this???

Another tour? Great...

I don't know… it seems the she continues to tour with this Album :shakehead

TeamAyuのみなさん、こんばんは♪

デビュー20周年Anniversary＆平成最後の全国ツアーとして日本各地を沸かせてきた"TROUB LE TOUR"がさらなる進化を遂げ、2020年までのロングラン公演となることが決定！！
『ayumi hamasaki TROUBLE TOUR 2019-2020 A -misunderstood-』 と題して、5月1日より新たなツアーがスタートします。

◆公演概要：
https://avex.jp/ayu/live/tour.php?id=1001348

◆TeamAyuチケット最速先行予約受付：
[申込対象] 2019年3月21日(木・祝)23:59までにTeamAyuへご入会 (＝ご入金) いただき会員番号が発行された方、且つ、会員期限が2019年3月末以降有効の方
[受付期間] オフィシャルサイトおよびメールマガジンにて後日お知らせいたします。

浜崎あゆみ史上において初の試みともなる、スタートから2年越しのロングラン公演にぜひご期待 ください！

------------------
Hello TeamAyu members♪

The 20th debut anniversary & Heisei era last national tour that has brought excitement all over Japan, "TROUBLE TOUR" is evolving ever more and has been decided that it will be a long-running performance scheduled until the year 2020!!
With the title, "ayumi hamasaki TROUBLE TOUR 2019-2020 A -misunderstood-" will start as a new tour from May 1st.

◆Performance Details：
https://avex.jp/ayu/live/tour.php?id=1001348

◆Pre-sale of tickets for TeamAyu：
[Those eligible to apply] Members who join (=including payment) TeamAyu by 23:59 of March 21, 2019 (Thu./holiday) with an issued membership number and who hold a membership that is valid after March 2019
[Reception Period] Will be announced on the official site and mail magazine on a later date

It is a first time attempt for ayumi hamasaki to have a two year long-running performance scheduled, so please be excited!

------------------
■Official Global Fanclub "TeamAyu"
http://global-fc.net/teamayu/

■ayumi hamasaki Official Website
http://avex.jp/ayu/

*このメールアドレスは送信専用のため、本メールに返信いただきましても、お問い合わせにはお答えできませ ん。
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Sent e-mail date
3/15/2019 (JST)

Yeah. Sort of a Trouble chapter 2 I guess.

Lol, Ayu is continuing with the Trouble tour, extending it into a "long-running tour" till 2020, covering 2 years.
Starting May 1st.

I hope everyone enjoyed Trouble because the girl will tour until she dies now

Hm, Idk, but if she's happy like that, she could open up performance theaters in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, where she's performing regularly. Somehow that would be more fitting to her current approach and would allow her to focus on the performances and her needs for it.
And her fans would have something to pilgramige to.

So it means no new music for now...

misunderstood?

Does she even remember she had an album called that?
And omg unless she gives me a fulllength TROUBLE album i feel like shes really just not giving a crap anymore

First I thought this was the next CDL, and I was surprised because I thought it was too early for that announcement :shakehead:. So, tour after tour. At least it's certain that there will be no new album until the end of August. I hope there will be a new summer song.

International fans say MOSHI MOSHI

Okay she's gonna keep touring a lot and recycle old stuffs, singing only old songs without making any new album and new music doesn't she? The title “TROUBLE TOUR -misunderstood-” means she's going to recycle both TROUBLE and (miss)understood Tour? She could keep doing the same thing for another 1-2 year but I doubt if there will still be audiences interested in her tour without any new songs and new performances.

This actually makes a lot of sense somehow.

It's not (miss)understood, but misunderstood - she is no way referring to the album, obviously. What does it even mean to recycle, they say it's the same tour continuing in 2019-2020, it has the same name. I for one will go for sure and I am absolutely positive there will be an audience interested. I am also positive there will be new performances. TROUBLE had a lot of new stuff in there, the car, the selfie-stick performance, the huge heart with an error. The concert did not feel recycled in any way.

WHY.

She wanna do this “Vegas Residency” concept it seems.

How far can she go on promoting an EP without actually promoting the EP? Seems like a experiment lol

How can it be 2019-2020 if the last date is on august 2019 ? Or maybe the rest of the tour is to be announced ��

I hope nobody is surprised. We called another tour after Saitama dates.

(Miss)understood will be in setlist. Only to be removed later, when it's time for a live broadcast or something.

They will brobably release the dates in batches.

Trouble Tour spanning 2 years with this means it should be going till October 2020.

They used to say Okinawa will be the final stop of TROUBLE TOUR before the tour started. Now they suddenly told us they're gonna “extend” the tour until 2020 after the “final” was over? Wtf? Remember we used to have new tour themes every year, in this case I would just treat it as recycling last year tour theme.

You are talking about the original TROUBLE TOUR. Yes, I was glad to see various new stuffs there however it would be no more new if they're going to “extend” this tour. It is expected if many stuffs from the original TROUBLE TOUR is recycled. I would be more satisfied if she is extending POWER of A^3.

Number of her concerts attendees has been declining since 2015 and I believe one of the reason is because she have been toured a lot which made people didn't interested in seeing her live anymore. Fans in Japan also complained about she didn't release new songs nor new albums and recycled stuffs in concert. As a result she is not doing another arena tour this year. Like what I said in another thread I wish her to concentrate more on making new music but not just touring with old songs, at least not feel like she couldn't make anything new now.

She just want to tour, well....if that makes her happy. Maybe she will release new music (EP) this year? To support that misunderstood title.

It is kinda... underwhelming.
So I'm not sure we can expect new material soon.
She is not realizing new music and she is now extending tours. Misunderstood... yes.

I'm not sure touring that much is helping her ear and voice condition either.
At least she must be happy this way and some fans may be happy too...

I thought this was a troll post

Well...

@_a why TROUBLE is still attached? in tour title?
we already have (miss)understood, then we gonna have misunderstood, that's different lol

Im confusing , yes very confuse a_@

I thought April Fools came a little too early for a moment

Okay so i was in class but now that i'l back home I can say my feelings about this announcement.

Those last two years (2017 and 2018) have been the most boring for my ayu fandom because of the constant touring and lack of new music. I was really looking forward to the end of A^3 POWER OF MUSIC dates to see what would happen next.

For me it was a given that she would finally get back to releasing music because there was no excuse left for touring.

I mean look at the "excuses" she came up with in order to justify her tours with little new material since 2017 :
Excuse for Jtb tour : The fact that the 20th anniversary was coming
Excuse for POM 2018 : The fact that it was the 20th anniversary year
Excuse for TROUBLE tour : The fact that she released TROUBLE
Excuse for A^3 : The fact that the 20th anniversary year was coming to an end

I mean, now that 20th anniversary is over she HAS to do something, she has to keep us fans excited and release something new. But NO, she decided to come up with the laziest concept and extend the TROUBLE tour until 2020, i'm so disappointed.

TROUBLE was a scam because of only 3 new songs, the TROUBLE tour was a scam because in the end she didn't even sing the whole TROUBLE album despite being only 5 songs in it, and now this tour is the ultimate scam because she's too lazy to make new music so she's just extending a pre-existing tour as an excuse for touring again.

I'm really disappointed in her choice and i'm pretty sure a lot of us are, I mean most of us thought this announcement was a joke at first.

I love her so much so my disappointment really tears my heart apart but I can't help feeling the way I do.

I cant accept this. I can accept if she keep touring and not releasing new songs or etc. But really, another “TROUBLE” tour?? Honestly, her team should continue boosting on her popularity and attract new fans but instead they are doing the opposite.

name-wise I don't think it'll be about the album (miss)understood (because it's spelt differently and Lord knows spelling and capitalisation matter so much for homegirl); I get the impression that she's trying to say 'You guys did not understand correctly what I meant by 'TROUBLE'' (i.e. we misunderstood her) (idk)

overall reaction, I'm kind of exhausted seeing her tour non-stop for an ~album~ that only has so much material and one that doesn't sell that much (or at all) :no I agree with @attractive_nausea above, this seems to be a glorified excuse for her instead of producing new music. it also pains me to think that she's perpetuating the damage to her throat and hearing by continuing to go on this scream-fest until next year.

but what the fuck do I know, right.

this fanbase is so negative

What if she wanted to fix what (miss)understood did in the past by releasing new album calls misunderstood??
I could say STEP you, failyland, HEAVEN single did so well at the time, situation of her popularity suddendly changed once B&D single and (m)u album released.

Im not being negative to her but i just wondered why why and why title/wording "TROUBLE"(name of the album which contained only 5 songs will be with her for 3 years 2018-2020)and misunderstood?

She might tell us the reason soon as always but this tour title is really distracted my attention to join the concert, im sorry.

This took me by surprise...

Exactly.
Instead of waiting for the Setlist, instead of waiting for further announcements they directly start to complain. Since years it's the same over and over… :rolleyes

It says -misunderstood- after the TOUR 2019-2020 part so maybe the -misunderstood- part will change with each new leg of the tour? Similar to JtB.

2020 is a long time so that raises lots of questions for me, like how frequently the shows will be after the 2019 date we have.

I wonder why this TROUBLE Tour links to misunderstood

We should look at the lyrics of misunderstood and songs from TROUBLE.

I hope that misunderstood becomes a new EP

i was wondering, why didn't she milk 20th anniversary? such as... new compilation album etc.. she's not even milking 21st anniversary.

she's like milking TROUBLE. which is over milked.

+ now, the only thing she is doing is touring in Japan. Logically speaking, it's quite hard for overseas fans to reach her. ain't rich enough to fly to Japan yearly to support her.

did we misunderstand her? hmm.. maybe she will shove WARNING into our faces and then life moves on.

she loooves to reference past works because you'll fall for it and you think is going to be something like the past, If she wanted to do this couldn't she at least use a synonymous of misunderstood?... misconceived, mistaken, wrong, mixed up lol

She is playing the concept of Deja vu

Misunderstood in what way?? I’m intrigued. “ spitting the tea”

Maybe the interview on Numero Tokyo'll enlighten your questions. ;)

This. Lol

Probably nothing to do with the original (miss)understood, but I’ve been addicted to that song for the past few weeks. Her voice, the lyrics, the arrangements... couldn’t be more perfect.
I don’t recognize her any longer tbh. Haven’t enjoyed her music since... a really long time. She has her legacy, which is awesome but everything nowadays is just meh.
I don’t think the fan base is being negative, we just live for the drama.

good for you guys for managing to stay optimistic following news like this, given the circumstances—almost a superhuman ability! :yes

Well this is very disappointing. I was so looking forward to the end of the touring and Ayu returning to making a full length album with PVs. But now she is going on a new tour for months. Then what? CDL TROUBLE 2019-2020? TROUBLE is her weakest release of her career. I don't get this decision, so I guess misunderstood is a good title.:shrug

I'm reaching a point of apathy towards Ayu's work. These days I kind of just sit here and wait to see what she does next. I feel similar to Koumori with the "radio silence". Having some insight to Ayu's creative process would make a difference. Hopefully the upcoming magazine interview will be filled with insight.

It looks like Ayu really has become an entertainer now. I don't see the artist side of her anymore and that is what is most upsetting for me personally as a fan.
But it's still early and there may be further announcements in the future. I'm frustrated but I still am trying to be optimistic and hoping for the best.:yes
And yes there will be a negative reaction to this news. I think I can confidently say that most international fans did not want Ayu to go on yet another tour this year. Not all fans are going to be happy about this. It happens. So please spare us the virtue signaling.:rolleyes

I'm not surprised she's continuing to tour, I figured she would come up with another one after TROUBLE was over. It's hard to stay optimistic when it's been so long since we've had a proper album.

The most disappointing thing is the disconnect this creates for me as someone who doesn't live in Japan and can't constantly go to her concerts. There's no new music so I can't look forward to that, and they're not even releasing concert DVDs or Blurays, so the only way of even seeing her new performances is if they show TV versions or fancams. I always look forward to setlists, but eventually if I can't see the performances, it's just like seeing the song titles with no impact.

I agree with people wanting for her to speak about her reasoning because right now it feels like a weird limbo situation and I hope she addresses that at some point. Even why there's no remix albums or something she doesn't even have to record new stuff for. I had thought it might be because of her hearing problems, but the constant touring for years has to be much worse than being in a studio for a couple months, idk. I wish I was more optimistic right now and I'll still look forward to whatever she releases.

Very bizarre.

I'd love an ep or an album called missunderstood.

at least I'm glad to see her being so active.

I'm not surprised but well, as someone who has almost 0 chances of travelling to Japan and see her live, as long as I can see another concert recorded I'm (kinda) happy, maybe we can get another EP before the tour starts.

I think Ayu is over. Now is just money, even Avex do not bother releasing new concerts on dvd as they are boring.
I love Ayu, but she break my heart so much. I can watch her every DVD, blueray to Made in Japan. Everything after that is not real Ayu. We want new cocerts on DVD, new songs, new performances, but what we want the most... is old Ayumi we love so much.

For me it's insane how much she's touring but I understand that this is her passion and maybe that's the path she wants to keep following on her career. Maybe she don't feel inspired to create new music anymore. I'm not bothered by the lack of new music, her last concerts have been very enjoyable and nice so I'm fine with whichever way she goes.

Not even entitled and whiny. This is the most understanding thing I've read regarding this news as well as the current state of ayu's career.

And I think we've discussed this before. But I would also like to know what direction she wants to go in.

I do think there are some things we may never get reasoning for in ayu's career. Like I imagine she wouldn't come out and say something about a more limited budget even though to me, that appears to have been the case for some time now. But I would like to know her feelings about things.

I dont think ayumi needs to release more music if she isnt inspired to. I'd just like to know if she plans to.

I also worry about her health, mental and physical, to be honest.

_____

In general response to everything...

I would never call her lazy though. When my other favorite artist was on haitus (also respectable) for years, ayumi was still releasing music and I was happy to have her around. She has put out so much material, it's insane. And I enjoy most of it, even more insane as I'm picky lol.

If she wants to tour without new music, I see how it's disappointing, but also it's not causing me any heartbreak. Hopefully she's able to refresh the concept though since it's not "new." I think even with more limited resources, she can still do interesting things with better creative direction

I think she became a businesswoman who focuses on earning money by constant touring. Maybe because she knows that there's only so much time left before she becomes completely deaf. Maybe she also wants to enjoy fans' attention while she still can get it. I feel it's a about putting on a show and making money. It's not about music IMO. When you care about music, you take singing lessons, you try to improve your singing skills. I haven't seen any improvement for years to be honest. It's all about visuals and theatrics.
As for making new songs, I've stated this before, she has written tons of lyrics. Maybe she reached the point she no longer has something new to say, at least on a regular basis. She doesn't HAVE to release anything, it's not like she has a contract between her and her fans.
I wouldn't call her lazy, she's always proven to be a hardworking person. Maybe she's just not invested in some things fans expect from her.

Actually, does it actually cost a lot to produce more musics than touring?

In terms of investment, yes.
Her old songs are more recognizable than her new songs.


This is the sample math for Boys & Girls vs W

They both cost about the same to produce the song, but Boys & Girls get more ROIs than W because (1) it is an old song, (2), she released the song when she was in her career peak (3) the lyrics is more relatable (?), (4) She performs many times on TV, tour etc.

Her old songs are long term investment. She makes some new songs but they get forgotten quickly (with some exception, of course).

It’s not about the cost, but the revenue. Touring brings her more cash than releasing new stuff.

I fear that Ayu just doesn’t have much new to say atm and that’s why she hasn’t released anything new. However she isn’t the type to go on a hiatus, so she is touring instead.

by touring since JTB, POM18 and Trouble and the coming POA3 and the again coming Trouble2.0, i hope there should be enough revenue to release some quality music. plus releasing dvd could also bring in revenue although not much but wondering why avex isnt doing that...

She seems to take the safe easy road, as someone said, and just promoting existing material in smaller venues. Yes, the shows require energy to perform, but they don't have to create or promote anything, there are no big risks in it and they can continue as long as they can sell tickets, similar to what many western aging stars do (although she is just 40, it is surprising that she is already there in her career)

Btw, looks like we got only very small venues, right?

Her team and ayu still have to come up with new numbers, props, etc and rehearse.

Yeap... In the past 3 years she peformed more than half of her discography ans every song had it's own routine. This mean she had to create over 100 routines in the past years as she isn't recycling choreography from one song to another.

Yeah... she‘s surely uninspiried and lazy. Has no fresh ideas and concepts.

if she isnt releasing new music I'm happy that at least her fans get to see her in concerts, and everytime I see her perform the passion for music is still there. I've seen other artists past their peaks unenthusiastically performing basically the same old songs just to get some money. At least with Ayu we have gotten performances for the inmense majority of songs in her discography. I dont understand these "circumstances" you speak about. Is it bad that she is still active and performing instead of just disappearing after 21 years and coming back every couple of years for some concerts and an album?

I'm both happy and slightly disappointed in the news. I was so chuffed to see her update Instagram again (even though it's not long been long since her last update) and see we are getting another tour as I always anticipate the setlists.

But also disappointed as I feel this will be another tour that won't see a release. If we aren't getting new music (I'd love a full length album or a mini) then I'd like to at least buy her tours. There are so many unreleased tours and I'd love it if they released a boxset or something but I can't see it happening. Are the physical releases of tours not generating enough profit?

As other people have said I'm looking forward to the Numero interview - it'll be interesting to see if she talks about her current plans. I get that she wants to prioritise touring whilst she can though so totally support her in that.

I love the tour name too although I doubt it means that we'll get any (miss)understood tracks.

Just to chime in, some of you act that if she weren't touring, she would definitely be releasing music, which isn't necessarily the case. She's in a place where she wants to tour and has pretty much been performing for three years straight. She's not lazy, she just isn't in the head space to release music. I'm sure if she had time and the right idea, she would, but how do we expect her to release a full album (or really anything new) when she's traveling the country all year? Selfishly, of course I would love new music. I can't afford to travel to Japan and see her live, so her music is how I connect with her.
I understand the frustration and negativity. However, I think we expect too much of her sometimes.

^She could easily put a new album together while touring if she felt like that. She simply doesn't. And that's ok as she has a huge discography and pretty much overworked and released more than almost every other popstar out there.

^ Yeah, it's not like she didn't do that from 2000 through what? 2015? Touring never stopped her from releasing new music.

^Wasn't Duty produced over a single month while touring the domes?

I thought I had heard or read somewhere that she was uncomfortable with the pace of her early career and felt overworked. It’s not fair to expect to keep that insane pace. It takes a lot of energy not just to write songs, but to record songs, be involved in the production process, do photoshoots, film PVs, do press and promotion all that on top of maintaining what must be a rigorous rehearsal schedule and doing multiple shows weekly for months across the country. That’s insane! You say she can “easily” do that? A single song is hard enough given her schedule, but to expect a full album? Come on, guys. I want new music too, but we can’t expect her to maintain the same pace she had twenty years ago.

I’m pretty uninspired by the hall tours.
None of them particularly stand out, there’s very little difference in theme, feeling and setlists.

I’m excited about Saitama Super Arena, and I thought it was a sign of something new to come. But another hall tour with no new material is just... I mean how many times can I pay to see the same things rehashed? It’s getting stale. And I never ever thought I’d ever be saying these things about Ayu.

I'm not saying I'm expecting new material because I'm not. I'm actually pretty ok with her current pace.

What I'm saying is that she most likely just doesn't feel like releasing new music, because if she wanted to, she would just go on and release new music. She doesn't, she wants to tour, and more power to her in doing whatever she feels like doing about her career.

I get that, and I agree. I mostly took issue with you saying it would be “easy” for her to make a new album in the middle of a tour. It wouldn’t be. It’s hard and time consuming to do it when she’s not touring nearly constantly. Honestly, even if I don’t necessarily love her touring all the time, if she’s doing what she wants to do, all I can do is be happy for her. From what you said, I think you think the same way :)

If she really doesn't get any inspirations for making new music recently, my answer is yes, I hope she goes to take a rest and to explores more in music to find the possibility on her future career, also for the sake of her health. We have loved her because of her creativity. She used to produce new music and have new concepts in tour every year. But what she did in these two years is just like milking her old music and the fame of “Ayumi Hamasaki” in her peak, instead of moving forward with new music and new ideas. This is not what we want to see.

But they were doing it before too, they just deleted the creation of new music, original content and the promotional reel around releases. They kept one thing (the tours) and got rid of the rest.

I mean, i'm happy for her if she's enjoying herself touring so much. But as a fan, I just find it boring, being her fan used to be exciting and now it's been pretty boring since 2017.

Of course I love her past material and i'm happy to have a lot of past albums to listen to, I still listen to her music a lot. However my complain and most of the forum I guess is not just about her not recording new albums or singles, it's about not releasing anything at all. There have been so many concerts that still haven't gotten a DVD release, for example POM 2018 was a major arena tour and yet we still haven't gotten a DVD release, isn't it weird? I get it, she may be not inspired enough to create new songs, but come on, how hard is it to release her concerts on DVD?

Just like AyuCanada just said, it's like they kept one thing (the tours) and got rid of the rest, which makes her carreer pretty boring to follow nowadays, not just because of the lack of new music, but because of the lack of everything except the tours.

But noone's forcing to you go to her shows. I made a decision to stop going several years ago unless she improves as a singer. I didn't think her concerts deserved a full price, so the last time I went to her show I paid 4000 yen for a ticket and that was it.

What bothers me about those complaints is that a few albuns every other year is actually the common way to go, not releasing the amount of stuff she used to released yearly, what is even worst on her case as, unlike most stars with a schedule as crazy, she actually has creative control over every major release, besides writing lyrics and producing her own tours. That's A LOT of work.
Now she is taking a more reasonable aproach to her music, but it's not like she has been 10 years away without anything new around, her last full album is just 3 years old.

And even when "slowing things down", she toured nonstop all this time and performed most of her giant songs catalogue with 1 or 2 routine for every song performed. People complains there isn't enough "just Ayu and the band", but what she keeps on doing is actually way harder than that. And of course she is milking her past music, she still is celebrating her 20th anni. I get this isn't as thrilling for someone who isn't in Japan, as this is also my case, but needing 3 years, several different concerts and over 100 songs to properly celebrate your legacy is fucking baddas if nothing else.

And then u have people saying she is lazy or lacks passion.

Ayu's always been incredibly hardworking, sometimes to the point of making herself sick or physical pain, which is worrying but we know she's done that since at least 2001. As far as I know, the general standard is to release one full length record (approx. 12 songs) every 2 years or so and then tour that for a bit. Back in Ayu's early years she was releasing one, sometimes 2 double-length albums *per year*, in addition to the touring, so she's only "lazy" in comparison to her own personal standard that we've come to expect of her. To me it seems that she is touring continuously because she enjoys it, likes connecting with the fans and maybe she feels time with her hearing is running out, but I'm sure revenue factors in as well.

I think it is correct that the tours bring in more revenue, especially now that she's working on a smaller budget (it became obvious to me about budget cuts when she was hyping PoM 20th as a redux of PoM 2011, but you could tell she was kind of disappointed that it wasn't as big a show as she intended it to be.) But also if you were to compare the fact that the ticket prices are the same as her arena prices but with smaller venues, plus all the goods sales, it definitely makes more money than releasing a new record because she (or Avex) has to pay the songwriters, session musicians and studio time when a lot of people will just pirate it. You can't really pirate a live show since it's an experience unless you physically sneak into the venue.

+1

English message from LINE:

The tour goodies, it looks like. I believe someone asked about it on one of her most recent tv appearances

Meh, this whole revelation is laughably dissapointing at this point.

I hope she enjoys herself.

"Only Ayu knows when it will end; how it will unfold and in how many parts. If you don’t see the whole thing, you will never understand the epic nature of this tour."
So they're selling the idea that there will be several chapters and you must attend them all to get the intended experience?

Is this going to be her longest tour ever?

More touring... I know not touring doesn't necessarily equal new music, but a small part of me was still hoping it would.

But she should do what makes her happy, of course.

The way they always act like she's changing the world or something makes me laugh. It's just a freakin' tour.

I'm disappointed, but it's fine. I'm sure she will release new music before she eventually retires, and I'll be back to support her then (and of course I do also with the tour, but it just doesn't appeal to my own fandom). :)

It was kinda like that with Jtb

This part did make me lol - how true!!

^ I feel like they’re leaving it open ended because Ayu herself doesn’t know how she wants it to go, and she’ll just keep touring until she feels burned out and then they’ll say that was the plan the whole time. I’m curious to see if they do change up the different parts because it could potentially be interesting/cool, but they way they’re building it up is hilariously over dramatic. But we won’t know what’s what until it actually happens.

Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re saying here...that the tours are more profitable than a new album because of the goods sales and she clarified that on tv? I agree with that if that’s what you were saying.

I've been a fan of Ayu for less than a decade (I'm in Canada so I was never likely to even have heard of her), and I have to admit I find this new focus on touring a little disappointing, especially when said tours don't even get released on media I can purchase.

I *have* been purchasing (and caught up with) all her album CDs and concert DVDs/Blu-rays, and the only way I get to experience anything new from her is through those releases (as much as I like her, I can't picture myself going to Japan to see her live). I'm itching for new material, and while I'm happy enough with the concert releases that were included with the Trouble EP, it's still a lot less than what I had gotten used to.

Namie Amuro and Koda Kumi have been there to "pick up the slack" for me, so to speak, in the sense that this was a lot of material to also discover and enjoy, but with Namie being retired now, the only new stuff I have to look forward to these days on a regular basis is all coming from Koda Kumi. I've tried to "branch out" a bit and look for other established jpop artists, but I find very little else to be as interesting. But that probably says more about Ayu/Namie/Koda's high standards than the others.

I've tried out stuff from Hikaru Utada, Kana Nishino, Mika Nakashima and a few more (thanks to some of the "complete discography" threads on this site--what a great resource), but honestly none of them do much for me.

Tour goods are really expensive compared their quality. And the fact that they become sold out very quickly recently mean that the amount isn't very big and there will not be much unsold leftovers.
I think proceed from tickets can cover only venue rent and road costs.

haha she's really "misunderstood"...

Please, this woman gave us enough! Now she want to enjoy her life...
GO AYU !

It makes me really sad to see you guys so disappointed. Western singers take huge breaks all the time and no one bats an eye. You cannot expect a 40 year old, half deaf woman to do more than what she's already doing. The woman works her socks off.

I've only been to see her on PoM18, and everyone was saying it was boring, but this was the first time I saw Ayu. I cried. She was incredible. She may retire soon, so the touring makes sense. I hope everyone gets the opportunity to see her.

At first I read this as "GO AWAY AYU!"

hahahaa