Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - View Single Post

keikeiaznqueen · #1 4th July 2008, 05:44 AM

I also went to this concert that has already been reported once here, but I'll say more anyway! XD

I think this report will also help other first-timers at Yoyogi in the future, because I had a few confusions with when I was supposed to go where and to do what and all.

I got to Tokyo on Friday the 27th, so I was able to make it to Yoyogi on the 28th to line up for merchandise first, because I'm paranoid like that and was scared that some of the goods will sell out by the 29th. I didn't want to be part of the frantic last day goods buying rush. XD

The pre-concert atmosphere on the 28th was, to be honest, much better than the one on the 29th. Why? Because the weather was nicer, and there were Ayumi-cars parked right in front of the stadium. On the 29th, those cars were replaced by police cars. >( There were a lot of police around Tokyo lately because of the G8 Summit that would be held there soon. The Ayumi-cars (or vans) were instead parked on the opposite side of the road next to the Harajuku bridge just outside of the station. I didn't notice them until I was leaving, not to mention that it was already night time-- it was dark and it was rainy. I couldn't get good pictures. =(

Well, here are the photos from the 28th!

Please find the rest of the photos at the end of this post, after the actual concert report!

Spoiler:

Then, on the 29th, I got to the Stadium 3 hours early, and there was a failed AHS meeting, but it's all right since we all enjoyed the show!

It was way too early, because I overestimated the queueing up that I had to do before the show. I didn't have to line up for merchandise that day anymore, so I got there and had nothing to do. Some people were lining up by the stadium for tickets! Instant tickets! Woah! I didn't know they still sold them right before the show! There were also two girls holding up a banner in front of the stadium that asked for tickets. I saw a guy walk towards them asking for a price.

So my sister and I walked around Harajuku and Laforet a bit before eating at Lotteria and then returning to Yoyogi at 2pm to wait in the rain for an hour. It was really tiring standing in the rain since it was raining badly, but everyone else was doing the same, so I guess we were all in the same mindset and looking forward to see Ayu. There was some kind of comforting connection there.

Okay, one thing worth mentioning to those who plan to go to Tokyo to watch Ayu in the future is that if you have tickets for the arena seats and not the stands, you have to line up to enter the stadium somewhere else.

My Japanese isn't too good, but around 2:45pm, just 15 minutes before the time that we were supposedly allowed to enter the stadium, someone suddenly spoke from the speakers overhead, and it sort of put me in a slight state of panic because I was pretty sure that it was supposed to tell me where I was supposed to go, but I didn't know where. Some people lining up behind me were leaving after understanding the message. The staff wearing raincoats who were keeping the order also had these microphones and were telling people who just arrived where to go. Some girls standing in front of me walked passed me saying "Ariina janai (This isn't for the arena)", and I figured that I was totally in the wrong place by then.

I walked over to the closest person in a raincoat who was pretty much definitely a staff member, and asked him where the arena people go to. He pointed over to the few poles standing next to the Stadium (there were around 5 or so) and said that I had to turn left from there and walk down the slope. The place where I had lined up-- the straightforward place that was what seemed to be "right in front of the stadium", actually lead to the stands! It was my first time at yoyogi watching a concert, so I didn't know.

The arena people enter from a garage-door-like place that seems very "under the stadium", but it's actually the ground floor. XD I really thought that place was the entryway to the backstage or something, but apparently not. They search your bags a little before you're allowed to enter to make sure you're not carrying a camera or something, but that was futile because I actually did have a camera but all they did was pretend to look. XD Everyone was given pieces of paper that had instructions for the concert on it while entering.

There was a refreshment shop and some toilets right before the stadium. It's better to visit those BEFORE you go find your seats, unlike what I did because I was too excited to be seated. Because they will crowd up in moments like woah and if you had wanted a drink or the toilet, you'll be checking out the queue first.

Also, no one brings their food and drink from the refreshment shop into the stadium, so if you had wanted to bring a drink for your friend in the stadium who's looking after the stuff, it's too bad. XDD I was about to buy something but realised I couldn't bring it in when I looked around at the people crouched down at the space before the stadium. It really was some garage-like place.

I bought an Ayu-glowing-fan on the 28th, so I wielded it the entire time during the concert.

When I was buying tickets for an arena seat, I never considered the fact that the person in front of me might be tall. And I'm 160cm, which is like 5ft 3'', and that's barely much.

Well, the person in front of met wasn't tall. He was... very tall. It was like, we all stood up during reBiRTH and The Judgement Day, and I couldn't see much unless I stood on my tiptoes and slanted over a bit to look over his shoulder and the gap between him and the guy next to him (who was still taller than me.) The videos were awesome though. Everyone was moving their hands with their glowing fans and sticks to the rhythm totally in sync by then. The entire stadium. That's Ayu power!

talkin' 2 myself
I'll admit that I was taken by surprised when Ayu's voice singing the last two verses in the chorus of t2m suddenly sounded from the speakers. So surprised that I barely caught the first verse. The music also surprised me because when t2m broke into its powerful explosive introduction, woah, I just couldn't hear anything anymore. And that's not even it, because suddenly, there was a fire explosion on stage, and it sounded like someone shot something with a gun nearby. I jumped a little there. XD; Other than my surprised-ness, I really liked the performance. It's really intense live. But it was so loud that I couldn't really enjoy the music properly and wished I brought earplugs so I could actually hear properly. Like, if I had earplugs, the volume would actually be just right for me. XD

is this LOVE?
You know how this song has a quieter verse that t2m doesn't have? Because t2m always has that really powerful pulse-quickening beat to it that left me kinda nervous. This song was when I realised that the volume was just right at the quieter parts of the music. I reeeally loved how Ayu's voice sounded here, because I was finally able to hear it properly since it wasn't too loud. Her singing was in reeeeally good condition!! It just sounded so good!!

Depend on you
Well, I read the spoilers for the concert setlist and all, so I knew there was going to be a surprise that came in the form of a pseudo STEP you introduction. The introduction video was soooooo cute and Ayu looked so nice in it!!! I'd love to watch the same intro again in the DVD!!

The reason why this intro tricked people into thinking that Ayu was going to perform STEP you first was because in the video, Ayu counted 1, 2, 3 in this STEP you voice and there was this robotic STEP you-ish background music. Even I was fooled for a moment before remembering that I had read that it was a trick.

Anyway, please look forward to this video in the DVD. It's terrific!

I didn't like the DOY performance that much though. The dance and the choreography was reeaaally good. I really liked watching it because it was fun. However, I didn't like Ayu's way of singing this song. I liked it better on the Mirrorcle World single, but in this performance, I think Ayu tried too hard for this song. I'm not sure how to describe it, but she tried to make her voice a little more high-pitched, or tried to make it more nasal and less deep. I don't know if it'll be that obvious in the DVD, but it was really obvious in the performance. I just thought that it could have been more natural like the 10th anniversary version of the song. Others probably would like it, but I was a bit meh about the way she sung this song.

Fly High
Did you know that Fly High has a special little dance routine (or a glowing-fan-waving routine)? I didn't know that. It was simple enough, so I caught up to it, thanks to the really tall guy in front of me. I noticed that he didn't really move much before in the previous performances and only stood quietly watching. He didn't have any glowing articles with him unlike everyone else. I thought he was just someone who happened to have a ticket but didn't like Ayu that much. I was dead wrong.

He did every single dance move exactly as you were supposed to do it and waved or did whatever at the exact right time. He knew moves that Ayu would definitely do at certain parts of older Ayu-songs that had such staple moves, while nobody else actually knew them or did them. It was amazing, watching him, because he does the moves with absolute precision, and from behind, I could see clearly what he's doing and most of the time, I copied him. XDD

The thing was, he didn't need a glowing fan or a glowing stick. He didn't need anything to wave around, because he knew he was a really devoted fan. Like, he barely even moved to the beat to songs without moves, but he clapped, always, with both his hands above his head, and even jumped whenever Ayu did a staple jump. XD It was seriously one of the most memorable things of the show since he was right in front of me and blocking my view most of the time.

(don't) Leave me alone
This performance is one of the best performances of the night. Not only did Ayu look really gorgeous in the introduction video, the content of the video itself was gripping and very full of suspense. Everyone stopped waving their glowing things just to watch the video in awe. I was one of those people. Amazing video. Ayu was chased by these women and while we all knew that she was going to be caught because that was predictable, everyone there probably hoped that she would be able to escape, and I was thinking, "Run, Ayu, run!!" when the women were catching up on her. It was... really great.

As most of you have heard, yes, Ayu enters the stage tied to a wheel, and while singing, Ayu starts turning. This is also another part of the concert that leaves the audience in awe, because many stop moving and just stare. XD I had to nudge my sister at that point because it was amazing how Ayu managed to sing while hanging upside down. Wow, just wow. I find it difficult to find words to describe this performance.

Of course, Ayu isn't tied to the wheel for the entire performance. While I was blinking, or something, she was suddenly, not tied down anymore and was walking around the stage.

decision
I like decision performances. They're not especially memorable but they're great to listen to. Which basically means that I don't remember much from it since there is no special dance for decision, so I can't think of the guy in front of me in order to remember the performance. XD (lol)

my name's WOMEN
Wow I love this song. Ayu wears this reeeeally cool red outfit that's shorts at the front but a dress at the back. She changed instantly while I was blinking from the decision costume to this one. It looked really nice. Ayu also walked up to the center stage with some dancers. It's really cool to see the audience that Ayu walks close to stop their normal stick-waving routine to wave frantically at Ayu and yell her name. It happened every time Ayu came close, basically. XDD The center stage also rose quite a bit during the performance, and I was able to get a better look at Ayu and the performance from there. =DD

Marionette -prelude- and Marionette
The video of the prelude is of the Ayu from that house/room who was arranging her marionettes. She basically... arranges her marionettes and looks at them. The thing I noticed about this video was that because Ayu had extensions (longer hair) during the shooting of it, she had to do something to it to make it look short again just for the video. Her hairstyle looked very, uh, well, funny on her. XDD Like, it was a gel-ed up and stuff at the back so it was one large gloop of hair.

The Marionette performance itself was absolutely spectacular, rivalling the d(Lma) performance from earlier in awesomeness. Ayu and the other male dancers rise from center stage in their marionette poses, just like the PV. The music starts, and slowly, the marionette carousel also rises from the center stage. (The people come up first before the props do.) The carousel was beautiful, I have to say. It slowly turned as Ayu sang, but slow enough that we could get a good look at whatever perspective of the performance it was giving us. The dancing and the movements were also great and it was like watching the PV live but even cooler. There was a close up of Ayu's face at the end of the performance. (Funny how she had actual short hair. Maybe it was a wig.) I thought for a moment that the person that was supposed to be Ayu wasn't actually Ayu. Because that person didn't actually look like her... I never found out, of course. Maybe it was just that perspective and maybe she wore contacts, ack, I don't know.

The ending video was quite nice too. We find out that the Ayu in the room was really the actual marionette and we see the male dancers from the carousel open a box. They see her and seem to control her movements a little before laughing at her.

HANABI
Oh my god. I just LOVE this intro video. Ayu was absolutely GORGEOUS in this. She wore a very long blonde wig with a hairband that lifted hair off her face. She looked like a goddess of some sort, which was probably the look that she was going for considering the style of her dress. (See outfit photos in the setlists and pictures thread.) Arrgh... she was SO PRETTY. It was UNBELIEVABLE how pretty she looked in the video and in the performance!!!!! Ayu also sounded great in this performance. It was really dramatic and intense. Shuya actually wasn't wearing a white shirt unbuttoned this time, btw. I sorta marvelled for a second how the thing he was wearing wasn't white, but brownish in colour, (still a light colour) and was LONG. Like a trench coat unbuttoned. XD Well, nice to have a few changes. The dancing was kind of the same though. Beautiful performance as always.

End roll
Very nice performance. I was really looking forward to hearing Ayu sing the high notes where she cracked in the A BEST recording of the song. (I think they tweaked the A BEST one a little, because in the 'A' single, Ayu's voice does not crack at the final high-pitched part.) I was kinda hoping her voice would do that cracking sound thing again that I can't describe very well, of course, she didn't because she sings a little differently now. It was still a great performance as always.

I'm trying to remember just WHEN the 'Tissue' performance came out! I think it was as an interlude after End roll as Ayu leaves to change. But yeah, the 'Tissue' performance was definitely somewhere around here, and it was amazing to see it live. Like seriously, I was left in absolute awe, thinking that the person might fall, but OMG she does something else, wow!! It was intense without even trying to be. Barely anyone moved their glowing sticks at all, because we were all so absorbed and engaged into watching the performance. It was that good.

SURREAL ~ evolution ~ SURREAL
It's so great when Ayu sings one of her concert staples, you know? Now I understand completely why Ayu sings the same few songs in all her concerts. The excitement and sense of unity in the atmosphere is absolutely amazing. It's like, “Oh yeah, Ayu's gonna sing this song, I know it so well.” And we can all be one. It's just... so good. Especially when you're down at the arena in the sea of people who you can relate completely to. You all know how the shift between SURREAL and evolution goes. It didn't come as much as a surprise (and I kinda hoped for an AT07-esque ballad-evolution for the beginning, but that didn't happen.) It was immense fun, though. Also, there are staple moves for the audience in the staple songs, as I've mentioned with the “guy in front of me” earlier. During the “Wow~yeah” part in evolution, you have to punch your fist in the air in time with everyone else, while in SURREAL, the “lalalalai” part also has a similar move. It's fun to learn such things.

Mirrorcle World
Shame that the guy in front of me was so tall. The fact that the ship was right at the back of the stage made it hard for me to even see Ayu at all. I had trouble locating her for most of the performance because I was on my tiptoes, barely even able to see the stage much since the people in front of me happened to be in inconvenient positions that blocked my view coincidentally. Meh, well, I tried to split the performance between looking at the large screens and looking at the stage, because it'd be a waste of the show if you're looking at the screens all the time, no? Well, Ayu looked great in this performance. Her outfit was so sparkly as I saw from afar that I barely knew where her face was. XD She was on top of the ship most of the time (the ship was smaller than I had expected), and as I had said, I had a hard time spotting her while she was there. She came down for a bit 3/4 way through the performance, but I still found it hard to see her. The vocals were spectacular and the intro video was also very nicely done. In fact, all the videos in this concert had been so amazing, it was like I was watching a movie!

~Encore~

There was an intermission before the A symbol dance came out on the screen. Some people stood up from their chairs but many nearby remained sat down because dude were we tired. XD The A symbol was really nice to watch and everyone clapped with the A symbol.

There was a map that showed the locations of the tours and then the A symbol would be surrounded by or be dressed in different things that represented that particular place. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan were also shown, but differently.

Dearest
The Dearest vocals were very nice. I don't remember much from it though because Ayu just came out and sang it. The music is really great live, as expected from Dearest.

Voyage
This is the song where I thought to myself that, if only Ayu would hold the mic a little farther from her face!! Her vocals had gotten stronger over the years, and although it's probably become a habit to hold her mic the way she does, I think she could definitely sound wayyy better if her vocals hadn't been so loud that it overshadowed the lovely orchestra in Voyage! Of course, the vocals in the DVD would be adjusted in volume to fit with the music nicely, but I think Voyage could have sounded way better with Ayu's mic held a little farther than usual.

MC
As usual, Yo-chan and Ayu talked through the MC. Yo-chan did his “yeah yeah yea-eeeeh~” thing with the audience which was kinda fun!! Then Ayu started telling us how the people in this particular last show are very very lucky!! That is because of two things.

1) The music for NEVER EVER plays, “moshi mo tatta hitotsu dake...” and then Yo-chan sings “negai ga kanau nara”, screeching through the mic. It was extremely funny and everyone laughed. He did that THREE TIMES. And Ayu later stated that because he did it three times for this show, we were lucky. XD (The guy in front of me even danced for the short NEVER EVER clips, it was funny but very amazing at the same time. He seriously knew everything.)

2) We were shown a video of many of the past MC acapella performances, including SEASONS, a song is born, Monochrome, TO BE, HEAVEN, and A Song for XX. When the clip for Monochrome came up, there were collective gasps from the audience because as you know, Ayu has barely, or has never, performed this song live!! It was greeeat to see the clips.

3) Ayu sings Who... for this MC. She tells us that because it was extremely popular, she chose to sing this song here, because Who... is a very special song that hasn't been sung!! After the acapella, Yo-chan comments that “Who...'s feeling/atmosphere is really very good, isn't it?”or something like that. “Who... no kanji wa yappari ii desu ne.” I THINK it was something like that... XD He did say it was a good feeling, and I was all “then sing the whole song!!” You see, Who... is pretty much my favourite Ayu song and I was a little sad that she won't be singing it, but was absolutely thrilled that she sang it for the MC!!!!

Ayu also mentioned something about an “atarashii kyoku” (new song!!!) but I don't think there was much elaboration... at least not that I'd been able to hear.

Quote:

Oh my god, how can I forget!!! We did the mexican wave to congratulate Ayu's 10th anniversary!!

It was during the MC. Ayu told us to say "omedetou" which means congratulations. And Basically, starting from the 2nd floor of the southern stands, they said "O", and then the people on the 2nd floor of the northern stands said "me", and then the 1st floor said "de" and "to" and the entire arena said "uuuuuu". It was amazing. XDD

MY ALL dance lesson

Zin came down hanging from one of those 'tissue' dance cloths. XD He was sitting on them, similar to how Ayu entered the stadium during AT07's evolution. He was talking about how he was absolutely freaked out after he came down, and it was extremely funny because, LOL!!! He said that while Ayu was talking, he had been sitting up there completely panic-stricken for the entire time! The imagery of that was really funny and it got the entire audience laughing.

The piece of paper that was given to us before the concert began as we entered the arena was actually instructions from Ayu for a surprise for Zin during this part of the concert. Basically, Ayu gives the audience the cue, saying, “We've got a message for Zin...” and we all yell in sync, “Zin! Arigatou gozaimashita!” And after that, it had not ended! As Zin taught us the dance, during one part of the dance, everyone kept yelling “Zin! Zin!” every time we got to practise a certain part of the dance. It was full of love and gratitude for Zin. Ayu fans are such great people.

I learnt the MY ALL dance for the first time that night. It was very nice as everyone was doing the same dance moves. Ahh, so much fun...

independent
You know that independent has its own dance routine that was taught I thinks sometime in 2003, right? Well, I also knew, but I forgot to learn this dance because I forgot that the song was in the setlist. The dance was kinda difficult to learn on the spot because it was kinda fast. The guy in front of me was the ONLY person who did it perfectly as far as I saw, because he did each move cleanly and clearly. It was like, from the back, I could see exactly what he was doing, but because I have no dance talent, I couldn't duplicate his moves quickly. Anyway, my sister and I were the only ones standing waving our glowing sticks around confusedly while everyone else knew what they were doing. It was kind of funny. XDD But that's part of the fun!! At least there's no dancing during the verse... right...

Boys & Girls
As usual, it is a great performance with awesome involvement of the audience! Now the B&G routine was something that I knew, since you're supposed to point towards the stage and all while the audience is supposed to sing. It was reeeeally exciting and you could feel the arena buzzing in happiness as everyone sang when Ayu told us to. <3 Also, the “Lalai! Lalai! Lalai!” part at the end which Ayu sings with Princess Yoko and Peco was great. Everyone was moving with everyone and the audience were all completely involved. Seriously, watch an Ayu concert. It's just SO MUCH FUN!!!

MY ALL
Ayu mentions that she really likes this song. We all do the dance we'd just been taught for this song and it was so much fun to be dancing to a song. I wanted to do the Trauma dance, though, to be honest. XD Anyway, MY ALL is so much love to listen to, and Ayu runs around different parts of the stage. Whichever part she goes to, the people closest to her are bound to wave their glowing objects frantically, saying 'hi'. It was great to watch such a thing happen.

Some people started leaving during the part in which Ayu stops singing and starts thanking people. During the part when Ayu tells us to be quiet, as usual, there were many people taking advantage of the quietness to yell thanks and declarations of love to Ayu.

Now that was REALLY funny because the last person to yell such a thing said something like, “AYU ARIGA--” and she was totally cut off by the emergence of a voice of a guy yelling “URUSEH!!!!!!” which is like a really rough form of “shut up!” XDDDD I was snickering at that because I think many people heard the guy yell shut up at the girl who wasn't keeping quiet when Ayu told her to. XD

Ayu yelled her thank you to us like always, and it's actually much louder than it is in the DVD. =P Surprisingly. It was great. Then she ran back to the backstage and people stood up to leave.

Spoiler:

I had tons of fun! I hope that everyone else that gets to go to an Ayu concert in the future too!