[AyUmIXx]

A friend of mine who's currently living in Japan went to watch the 2nd day of AT09 yesterday and he made a full review about all of it in Indonesian in our Indonesian Ayumi Hamasaki's forum, so i asked him for permission to translate the review into english and post at AHS as well so that people will know how's the NL AT09 looked like.

I'm so sorry if some of my english translation seems messed up or something or hard to understand, because it's not my mother tongue, just feel free to ask me about it, since i still have the review in the original language, i'll try to explain to you

enjoy reading!

ayumi hamasaki ARENA TOUR 09 ~ NEXT LEVEL ~ 12/04/09 Full Report
Saitama Super Arena

I just got back from Saitama after watching Arena Tour 2009. Before i forgot, I'll write my review about the whole concert.

Before i went inside the hall, I took some pictures at outside of the Saitama Super Arena. I was kinda late so I didn't take so many pictures though. It was written 16.00 pm on a board, I arrived at Saitama Shintoshin station (Concert venue) at around 15.45 pm because I just finished from Church. Then, I went around to look for the entrance to go inside the arena. It was my first time being there actually.




I feel that Saitama Super Arena is more spacious than Yoyogi Hall. I was about to take pictures using my mobile phone after I sat down but a girl beside me asked me not to take pictures. so I didn't dare to take any of it.I got the seat at block A6, it was prettty up front, it was about 10 meter away from the catwalk and 20 meter away from the stage. The ticket was actually Team Ayu's tickeT Which i bought from a reseller.




This year, the stage is designed with stairs in the middle, which are much higher than the previous Arena Tours' stages

The concert just started at around 16.25 pm. The light was off and...

00. Pieces of SEVEN
Like usually, there was the welcome message from Ayu "Welcome to Arena Tour 2009 NEXT LEVEL". This time, the middle wide LCD screen was divided into several parts. Then those LCD screens showed the broken TV scenes, like there was sometime no channel and sometimes the channel was on, sometimes there was the black dot spreaded on the TV screen, then it was switched off all the sudden but then the other LCD screen on the next of the big LCD screen in the middle was switched on, and it's been repeating randomly in all the LCD screens. Then, Yo-chan was rayed/shone while playing his guitar. The arena was rayed/shone with the green laser.

01. Rule



The green laser later was gathered into one in the circle end stage at the very end of the catwalk (The green laser was also lighted surrounding the circle end stage, it made it looked like a cage), Then the smoke appeared. Ayu sang some parts of Rule in acoustic version (just like talkin' 2 myself at AT08 opening before). The costume looked like in the PV. Then, Ayu started to walk down to the middle of the catwalk to the main stage. The scene of the flying Dragon was shown in the upper side of the middle LCD screen (maybe because it has something to do with Dragonball?). The dancers were wearing the costumes like Ninjas. In this song, there was the explotion effect.

02. UNITE!
Ayu was still in the same costume like in Rule, just that, the upper side of the middle LCD screen which just showed the flying Dragon has changed into the world's globe scene. Ayu sang it with full of energy, after finished the song, she went down using the hydraulic stage, and the lights were off.

03. Disco-munication
An opening video was shown. This time, Ayu was liked living in the Mario Bros world. she acted as the Mario in the video, if she ate the mushroom, she would become bigger then if she met monsters, she would become smaller, and she also needed to jump up and down walls and cliffs. Then, she met with the dancers all along the journey, and Ayu has to fight the last big boss (it looked like a fish in a music key note shape). Then, after she fought down the big boss.. the lights were on again.

04. EnergizE



Ayu came out in cheerleader costume complete with the pompom, together with the female dancers in the cheerleader costume as well. The stage was very colorful and sometimes, filled with stars-theme in LED lights. The stage theme was kinda cutesy. In the middle of the song, the male dancers came out in basketball costume. Ayu's costume was red and the female dancers' costumes' colors were green, yellow, blue, if they were lining up, they looked like a team of power rangers. Then, there was one chance where all the dancers were lining up and the words "AYU NO. 1" was created (each of the dancers reprensented each letter and the "no. 1" was created using the pompom). After the song finished, the lights were off again.

05.AUDIENCE
Still in the cheerleading style like on the previous song. then, Ayu walked to the left and to the right waving to the audience. after finished the song, the lights were off again.

06.Load of the SHUGYO
The opening video's setting was inside a prison. At the beginning, there was a male dancer (Shuya) being tortured (looked like he was being eletrocuted/executed) by the female dancers. Then, Ayu was watching the process secretly, because she felt pity to him, she walked inside the prison and offered Shuya to drink a glass of water. But Shuya refused it and broke the glass, then, he pushed a button instead to free his friends (the other male dancers) from the prison. Then, there was the emergency alert and the female dancers were chasing the runaway prison breakers (male dancers).

07.LOVE 'n' HATE
After the lights on the stage were on again, there were the male dancers half naked like on the video were being chained, the female dancers were the ones who took control of them. Ayu came out with the jail officer outfit like on the video. There was a fighting scene between Ayu and Shuya (fighting in here probably, they were bickering).

08.identity

*Translator note: I think Ayu wore this outfit for identity performance*


because this is the only costume that is not posted~

The previous costume (probably a jacket) was taken off, Ayu was wearing only black-grey tanktop. Still Ayu VS Shuya again with the fighting/bickering scene. and if i was not wrong, Ayu and Shuya were walking at the catwalk. Then, there was another explotion again.

09.In The Corner
Ayu came out with the costume she was wearing like on PCDL (In the corner performance as well) and dancing together with the male dancers on the chairs, just exactly like PCDL. no difference.

10.HOPE or PAIN



There was the opening video for this song. The video showed that Ayu seemed to like someone, in Winter, Spring, Autumn and Summer then returned back to Winter again. But it seemed that her love was one sided love. Then, there were one male dancer dancing with one female dancer. Then Ayu came out wearing the white big gown.

11.GREEN
The Stage was being lighted on with green color light, still with the same white big gown costume, Ayu started to sing while walking along the catwalk until the very end (to the circle end stage). All the audience were moving closer to the catwalk to see Ayu much clearer. Then, at while she was walking to the circle end stage, there was a curtain that could go up together with the circle stage, then there were dancers dancing inside of it.

12.Days



For this song, Ayu take off the big white gown, then Ayu appeared in the pink mermaid-like gown. Ayu was still there on the circle end stage, and after that Shuya came to where Ayu standing and the stage got up and going around, both Ayu and Shuya were embracing each other at the end of the song.

After that, the female dancers started to do acrobatic act and the scene at the back screen was divided into two at first then into 4 then 8 and etc)

13.evolution
For this song, Ayu was wearing the black costume and like usually, She shouted "Are you ready..." etc.. in the middle of the song. Just like the usual evolution performance, male dancers were wearing the bling-bling costume.



14.SIGNAL
The costume was just the same like evolution performance. Then there was the introduction of the dancers.

15.rollin'



Ayu appeared in the bling-bling purple color costume (just like the one on PCDL real me performance), Ayu was wearing the sunglasses/visor that looked like cyclops at x-men and she sang like a robot. The dancers were wearing the white color astronaut costume. At the big screen, there was like unclear spectrums and random computer codes, it was like futuristic theme and Ayu was wearing a bob wig.

16.Sparkle
Ayu was still wearing the same bling-bling purple color costume. The scenes at the screen looked random again, sometimes, it looked like there were cells dividing themselves, and some wooden blocks falling down, and etc.
Then, on this song, there were several "NO NO NO" parts, then Ayu asked the audience to sing "NO NO NO" repetitively until Ayu satisfied. Before she satisfied, she shouted "MORE! MORE! MORE NO NO NO!" and there were hand gestures/moves of it too (like making "X" shape using hands) until she said "OK GOOD!" then she continued to sing.

17.Bridge to the sky
In the screen, there was the cloud in the sky scene, then there was like stairs that connected to the the sky. After that, it continued with Ayu's pictures slide show and there were several pictures of Ayu and one picture of baby Ayu then those pictures formed into a chair.

18.NEXT LEVEL



In the middle of the stage, there was a chair which was rayed/shone,then the dancers came out and the other chairs appeared as well. Ayu came out wearing the white tuxedo with the same costume she wore like on PCDL including the bling-bling hat. Then when singing this song, she was sitting on the chair and the chair was flying. Under the chair, there was a chandelier light/lamp, and the chair was flying only for about 1 minute.

ENCORE

The lights were off for about 5 minutes, then the A Logo started to dance, playing golf and it said that it would go to Nagoya (the next destination of AT09). there were the A Logo version of Yo-chan and Enrique too. The A logo also gave quiz by guessing the cover of Ayu's single.

19.Curtain call



Ayu appeared wearing the Team Message t-shirt (the costume looked the same like on the PCDL encore t-shirt) and started singing. The dancers wearing black shirts and becoming the background singers as well.

20.For My Dear...
The same like curtain Call

- MC -

The MC was going on pretty long. Ayu said thanks to the the audience for coming on the 2nd day as well. Then, she said, started from here Zin would become MC too. (Zin: hah? how could i just know? Ayu: Yea, it was a surprise). Then, 3 new male dancers were introduced. After that, Zin taught the MY ALL dance moves again.

21.everywhere nowhere
there were rainbow and landspace scenes on the screen. I don't remember anymore of it.. hahaha

22.Boys & Girls
Like usual, Ayu and the audience sang together, Ayu walking along the catwalk and waving to the audience as well as all the dancers.

23.MY ALL
This was the last song and like the previous performances. After that, she said thank you for tonight again, hope that could meet again in next future, then Ayu made the "sssshhhh" act again and shouted "Arigatou gozaimasuuu" then she ran inside.

The concert finished at 18.45 pm
when i was about to go home, there were lots of stands that selling bootleg merchandises.


My overall impression:
This is the 3rd year of me watching Ayu. This year is much better and more enjoyable than last year. Maybe because i got the ticket that was pretty near to the stage (it was about 10 meter away from Ayu),and also maybe because Ayu's voice was not that annoying like last year even though there was still off-key in some high note parts, but it was not as much as when i watched in Yoyogi last year. Then, all the new songs of the album were sung and for the people who complained about recycled songs of PCDL, nothing we can do about it. Ayu was pretty pity enough if she should practice other songs, where she should also pratice new songs from NEXT LEVEL album, because we knew that PCDL was only held for 2 days only, maybe there were some fans who couldn't watch, therefore Ayu chose to sing the rare songs on NL AT 09 again.

Overally, i was satisfied with it, but maybe i won't watch AT09 for the 2nd time anymore (before that i actually has decided to watch at Yokohama arena for the 2nd time this year, if there's another chance, but yeah, i feel that watching two same setlist will be waste of time, but i'll see later. Last year, i thought that i wouldn't watch AT anymore, but in the end, i watched it again, it depends on my mood actually). Then, last but not least, even though the effects and the costumes werenot were not that spectacular if compared to the previous ATs, for me, AT NL was pretty cool too.
I didn't buy any tour merchandises because i'm kinda broke.

NB: Maybe there's some mistakes on my review, so please be understanding

Credit: Shunchan
Indonesian-English translation/edited by Ayu's Story
Pictures are taken from Shunchan's own pictures collection, AyumiFans.net, AyuKuuFanblog @ Blogspot, AyuChina.com, Yahoo! Japan auction page and AHS itself
Take out with full credits!

----------------------------------

From Calico @ AHS Forum

SETLIST:

Pieces of SEVEN
Rule
UNITE!
DISCO-munication
EnergizE
AUDIENCE
Load of the SHUGYO
LOVE 'n' HATE
identity
In the Corner (...WHUT. I don't know whether to laugh at the random

ness or die from AYU IN A SUIT)
-HoP intro-
HOPE or PAIN
GREEN (UR DOIN' IT WRONG)
Days (ur doin' it right <3)
-curtain dancing-
evolution
SIGNAL
-rollin' intro-
rollin'
Sparkle
Bridge to the Sky
NEXT LEVEL

-ENCORE-

Curtain call
For My Dear...
everywhere nowhere
Boys & Girls
MY ALL

Day started when my friend, David, and I met up at Kawagoe nd took the
JR to Kita-Yo station. Afterwards it took us about five whole minutse
to find SSA and find everything going on. =D
THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE. Holy crap. So many people there to see Ayu.
<3 We wanted to buy some goodies but it was already 3;15 and the line
to get in our gate was long...so we just queued up like Brits and
waited to go in.

Once we were in they checked my bag (LULZ NO BOMBS) and we saw all the
flowers Ayu received for the beginning of her tour from other J-pop
artists. (Cool. <3) We then proceeded to get TOTALLY LOST as to where
we were supposed to go...because we read the ticket wrong. Haha. So
finally we found out where we were supposed to sit...and HOLY ****! WE
WERE NEAR THE FLOOR. We had an awesome view of the stage and the
catwalk. Our tickets? For what we thought were upper balcony turned
out to be super expensive bottom tickets...holy cow did we get a deal
for 130 dollars!

The concert was supposed to start at 4 PM but at 4:30 still nothing was
happening. Finally the lights went down at about 4:45, and Ayu's voice
welcomed us to her tour. The audience went nuts and we all
stood up...and all the fans and the glowsticks came on. XD; (We didn't
have any since we didn't have time to buy them FOR TEN BUCKS)

<b>Pieces of SEVEN</b>

This was a great song to start the show off with. Lots of video work
and light showing, and when the techno/rock part started all the band
members had come out and were strutting their stuff...I had a great
view of Enrique (on my side) and Yocchan which made it a lot of fun.

The sound was soooo loud that the techno beats were making my heart
palpitate! Great stuff! Also when the techno started all the green
lights shot out and made the crowd around us go SO wild. I wanted to
join in and cheer at the top of my lungs but I was a little sick with a
sore throat so I decided to save my voice fo singing along, haha.

<b>Rule</b>

(I totally called this song first) The intro really fools and distracts
you into looking at the front stage...because once PoS (...lol) ended
we suddenly heard Ayu doing the beginning acapella chorus for "Rule",
and everyone went nuts again. Suddenly, all the green lights focused on
the end of the catwalk and there was Ayu!!! Standing the middle of the
catwalk with mic in hand and all her male dancers dressed as Rule
ninjas around her. Ayu herself had her hair pulled back into a bun

(hot!) and was wearing a black sparkly outfit a lot like from the PV,
only less wtf-y. (I'm sure there are pics of this tour around somewhere
for you guys to reference) I was about to lose it at that point because
OMG MY IDOL WAS RIGHT THERE I COULD SEE HER LULZ. Anyway, once the
lights shined on her everyone went nuts again and the band broke out
into full-throttle Rule and it was on.

Ayu and her ninjas mostly did stuff from the PV, such as strutting up
and down the catwalk, dancing on the stage, and the dancers picking Ayu
up from beneath her arms and hauling her around for a little bit. Her
voice sounded great in this song...just like the recording almost but
with the obvious live echo. Ayu is meant to sing low, IMO.

<b>UNITE!</b>

Immediately following the last note of Rule UNITE! broke out with the
"Aye! Aye! Aye!" that we all know and love from past tours. David had
no idea how the dance went so he was like "wtf why are we putting our
arms out" during the chorus. Of course, if you've seen one UNITE! live
you've seen them all. Nothing too special. Afterwards she disappeared
from the stage and the next video started.

<b>DISCO-munication</b>

I love this interlude. XD And it was the OMG CUTEST AYU VID EVER. 8-bit
gaming Mario Ayu! Honestly! Ayu was a video game character bouncing
around on pipes and opening up boxes while her male dancers ran around
in baseball uniforms. Finally Ayu ended up in a baseball stadium
wearing a little red cheerleader's uniform and hit a homerun...also the
dancers were introduced, and GO-MI particularly cracked me up since he
was the catcher and acted goofy with his hair and glassses. There are
three new male dancers in this tour (god why) but I don't remember
their names. Oh well.

<b>EnergizE</b>

It seemed only natural that this be the next song and it definitely
was. Ayu and her female dancers showed up at the top of the stage
wearing their cheerleading outfits (pom poms included!) and Ayu...for
some reason that she continued to do off-and-on throughout the
concert...sung...like...a...chipmunk. UGH. NO. STOP IT. Luckily I
didn't really give a dang since it was LIVE DUDE but otherwise it
would've drive me nuts.

Anyway, about halfway through the song the male dancers came out in
baseball uniforms and pretended to hit each other balls...then GOMI ran
to the top andthey all pitched balls at him, and I guess it was velcro
since some of them stuck to his (pink!) catcher's outfit.

<b>AUDIENCE</b>

Nothing too special. Same ol' we've seen before. But my friend David
failed again since he couldn't get the clapping right, haha!

<b>Load of the SHUGYO</b>

This video was by far one of the best I've seen, if only because of the
way it was presented to us and because of the content! Basically Ayu
was a captain of the guard (HOT MILITARY OUTFIT WOO <3) and her and her
female dancers were giving the male dancers shock treatment before
throwing them into their cells for captivity. You know, I may be gay, but I can appreciate a hot guy and those fellas (minus SHU-YA cause ew)

were mighty fine. Zin's been really working out, haha!) In their cells
the guys are pretty much crying because they're miserable and trying to
get water out of the dead faucets. Eventually deer-eyed Ayu comes down
and tries to hand Shuya a glass of water but he smacks it out of her
hand (and it breaks all dramamtically on the floor) and runs past her
to press the button that opens all of the cells. (do these buttons
really exist? cause I don't think so =D) Ayu just sits there like "lol
what" while the guys escape down the hallway and the women chase after
them. (keep in mind now that there are three screens above the main
stage showing videos) The left and right screens cut to live feed as
the women run on stage and act like they're looking for the guys and
getting pissed. This feed is justapositioned to hte middle screen
showing the video of the guys running away. idk I thought this was
cool.

<b>LOVE 'n' HATE</b>

The light-play in this live was, just, awesome. Ayu appeared in her hot
military outfit (...ugh, I died <3) and did her thing around the stage
whlie singing this pissy song. The lights were the main attraction,
though. So many rough colors and a countdown on all the screens
whenever she counted, with the font being a classical font in white
lettering. Eventually it was just her and Shuya on stage (of course,
ew) and Ayu basically played captain with him as if he was her little
prisoner, but it wasn't like "my name's WOMEN' rawr", it was more like
"I don't really want to do this, aw." Finally when the last countdown
began she stood at the top and at "zero" all of the lights went bright
red and big fat red "0"s were everywhere.

<b>identity</b>

This isn't my fave new song and isn't really my fave performance. Lots
of catwalk stuff so I mostly saw her from behind. The military jacket
came off to reveal a black outfit and Ayu just mostly sang for a few
minutes. She still sounded really good.

<b>In the Corner</b>

Once Ayu disappeared in the middle of the catwalk our eyes were turned
to the spotlights on the main stage showing six white chairs. Once the
intro to ItC started I had a serious "WTF?!" moment since THIS WAS SO
DAMN RANDOM and then I lost my marbles as I remembered this form PCDL
and "OMG AYU IN A TIE AND BOWLER HAT". When the male dancers came out
in their suits I told my friend David "in about two minutes I'm goign
to be on a different planet" BECAUSE YES. THERE WAS AYU. IN A STRIPPED
DOWN SUIT. It was a dream come true. And I was there. <3

It was basically the PCDL performance again but LIVE YAY. Although
honestly I could've lived with or without it since it's on PCDL
anyway..but later I found otu that lots of things had been rehashed
from that.

<b>HoP Intro</b>

Everything cut to a video again...yoyu could tell that the ballads were
coming since it was a slow, zomg im in wuv cant be w/ mah smookums!
video. Ayu and one of her male dancers (don't knwo which one, but it
wasnt Gomi or Shuya, yay!) looking all sad and ohnoez, as the trees and
scene around them gradually changed to express the four seasons.
Finally Whatshisface disappeared and the video cued out to show
Midoring at the top of the stage in a white flowy dress dancing around
like she was having a seizure.

<b>HOPE or PAIN</b>

When this song started playing I thought "omg again?!" since it was
just done (like some of theo thers) at PCDL. Ayu popped up on the
center stage while Midoring was still dancing...Ayu's outfit was...omg
no. She lookedl ike a big fluffy Bo-Peep from Versailles. ugh. It was
rather ridiculous looking and not flattering at all. The dress that she
revealed from beneath it later was equally NO but more on that
later...but Ayu always has misses with me when it comes to those
horrible ballad dresses.

This song was boring, and halfway through Whathisface popped up at the
end of the catwalk and strutted his "OMG!ANGST!" dance while Ayu sang.
I don't think she moved at all during the performance.

<b>GREEN</b>

You couldn't even tell this was the next song because the intro was
done so quietly...but once it kicked in all the green lights came on
just to show how original they were. Ayu started to sing and sloooowly
walked down the catwalk...towards the interlude she finally made it.
And finally something interesting happened...the catwalk popped up in a
ring of green to show Midoring and Whathisface finally reunited and
dancing together...it was the same dance from GREEN PV, but with
Midoring not leading. They definitely weren't as stiff as in the PV so
props to them I guess.

IDK, I found this to be SO disappointing. It was boring, Midoring was
feminized (sry I loved hot and assertive Midoring from the PV) Ayu
looked ridiculous and....idk...a song that had so much potential for
awesomeness was really stripped down. The PCDL version was so much more
interesting and fulfilling. Since this was one of my fave songs from
the past year I felt really let down...but not as much as if she hadn't
performed it, so it was okay I guess. (BUT I STILL FEEL CHEATED OUT OF
HOT LESBIAN SMEXNESS)

<b>Days</b>

This song was way better. Ayu took off her coat of
suffocating sheep-herding doom to reveal a dumb pink dress that hugged
her and poofed out around her feet. She looked like an old-style Barbie
doll. ANYWAY ENOUGH PISSING AND MOANING ABOUT HER TASTES IN DRESSES.
For some reason SHUYA RETURNED acting like he was a dang prince and
he and Ayu pretended that they were in WUB BUT IT WAS ILL-FATED! (this
seems to be an ongoing theme for her.) I don't remember much else
because it was kinda boring. Finally Ayu disappeared beneath the stage
at the end and Shuya did hsi dancing thing and I had to put up with the
girls next to me screaming over him, ugh.

<b>Curtain Dancing</b>

The music continued and KAERU from last year returned (LOL you Japanese
studying people will get the joke there) and descended from the top in
her curtain thing. She was wearing a beautiful, white sparkling
leotard that really shone through the lights as she did her acrobats.
It wasn't as special as last years but still a pretty awesome thing to
see in person. She even touched down adn ran around for a while before
ascending back up into the ceiling and the band started playing the
notes to a song I know and love. =D

<b>evolution</b>

Ayu popped up and the song started. I went NUTS AGAIN since this is my
FAVORITE SONG EVER and I didn't care WHAT song she played when I saw
her live as long as she PLAYED EVOLUTION. AND SHE DID. <3 It was the
same thing but omg it was so amazing live. I think I almost started
crying because I just love this song more than any other. I screamed
the lyrics at the top of my lungs, esp. at the parts where she hands
the mic over to us. Now whenever I listen to my favorite song I can
remember screaming it in her general direction. <3

<b>SIGNAL</b>

AGAIN SO DAMN RANDOM AND PCDL-ISH. But thsi song is CRAZY live. It's
so classic and a real crowd-getter. THE LIGHTS COULD'VE GIVEN ME A
SEIZURe. So many flashin' colors, it was so intense and
awesome. NEXT LEVEL was such a colorful album and this tour reflected
it. The stairs, the main lights, the bordering...EVERYTHING was
flashing rainbow colors and it was a happy time. Ayu also sounded GREAT
in this song. I want her to resign all of ASFXX because hogod her "new"
voice is perfect for it. I loved this song live. Actually, if I could
resee any performance again now from this live, this one would be
towards the top because the colors were so entrancing. XD

After Ayu disappeared again the dancers had their intro and had some
danceoffs between each other. Usually I don't care for the dancer stuff
but this was pretty amusing. =) Especially when GO-MI was being weird
again.

<b>-rollin' intro-</b>

Right from SIGNAL we went to one TRIPPY video filled with colors
and shapes zooming all over the place. It was so awesome. <3 Techno
beats blasting and yeaaah I was happy. <3 Especially since I could
guess what two of my fave NEXT LEVEL songs were next. =D

<b>rollin'</b>

So uh...somebody is a capsule fan.

Ayu was wearing a purple top and a short blonde wig that, if you
plugged the JUMPER sunglasses on her, she would've looked like
Toshiko's twin.

Nothing super special about this live besides it was just so funny
because of the outfits. IDK why either but Ayu seemed determined to
sing like a chipmunk again. She and her astronaut dancers danced like robots which was kinda whut.

<b>Sparkle</b>

...and on this one, too. Seriously, Ayu, what's with the chipmunk
singing? Stop it. D= Nothign much special abotu this one either. This
whole tour seems to be centered around video and light work as opposed
to stage work since that's what most of this was. It sounds boring, but
if you were there you really were having the time of your life.

<b>Bridge to the Sky</b>


The video then cued to show a very pretty Ayu staring off into space.
We are zoomed into her eye and granted access to her "memory" as
pictures flashed on the screen from recent times, gradually going back
in time through the years to her debut and even before. We even saw
baby pictures, haha. (It was weird. o_O) Once the song really got into
gear though everythign zoomed backwards until we were pulled out of
Ayu's eye again and we are showed that her profile was the last picture
in a photo album to be left on a white chair. It didn't take many
guesses to know which song was next.

<b>NEXT LEVEL</b>

The chair appeared in a mist of fog at the top of the stage, and Ayu in
a white suit and top hat at the bottom. The lights were fixed on the
chair and her. She began singing as her dancers, dressed in toga-like
garb, appeared and danced beside her. It was all very ethereal and dare
I say...heavenly...looking.

Towards the end Ayu went up and sat in the chair, in which it was
raised from the platform to show a chandelier hanging from its bottom.
As she sang the last chorus she was pulled out over the stage a bit
before being settled back down. She got up and went back down to join
her dancers at the end of the stage for their bows and thank
yous...even though we all knew the encore was coming, haha.

<b>Are you ready?</b>

I love this little song, really. XD "ARE YOU ARE ARE ARE YOU ARE ARE
ARE YOU READY FOR THE DRIIIIIVE (or whatever that last word is). The
CG A symbol was craptastically done which made me continuously laugh.
For us the themes were riding a bike, playing baseball, etc. (spring
activities). This was supposed to distract us from watching the
stagehands change the stage around and haul out a bigass piano, but lol
I watched them anyway. The A symbol also gave us a quiz by showing us a
single cover and crossing out the title so we had to guess what it was.
(SEASONS, btw)

<b>Curtain call</b>

Ayu appeared at the top next to the piano, which Eguchi was playing
acoustic style. As she sang a fake gospel choir apepared at the bottom
wearing purple robes I guess to give off an "authentic" vibe. I reallyl
ike this song so I loved hearing it live...fake choir and all. XD

<b>For My Dear...</b>

What. Really. This is my LEAST favorite Ayu song, but only because I
can't stand her vocals in the original recording. But now I am
thoroughly convinced, after this and SIGNAL, that she needs to re-
record the whole ASFXX album. And oh dear GOD was her voice loud! What,
did they crank up the mic or was she eating it? It still pierced my
ears and lol I still don't like this song. XD;

<b>MC</b>

Ayu and Yocchan started talking, even making us cheer for Yocchan so he
would talk. (lol somebody was being a little up in himself that day)
Afterwards Ayu informed us that it would be a "new MC" and had Zin come
out to talk instead of Yocchan. The same thing happened last year
though so idk what she was talking about. Zin taught us the MY ALL
dance alongside the new male dancers and my friend still didn't know
what was going on and just gave up haha.

<b>everywhere nowhere</b>

Nothing special happened. I was just a little "whut" from all the PCDL
rehashing.

<b>Boys & Girls</b>

I know a lot of you whine about how "done" this song is...but honestly,
you have no idea how amazing it is to be in an audience until it is
DONE LIVE. Singing with Ayu and watching the crowd go totally nuts and
everyone jumping up and down and Ayu with a huge smile on her face is
just...ugh, amazing. I would watch a whole concert of this song being
played over and over if it meant this much intensity for two hours!

<b>MY ALL</b>

Not my choice for a closing song but it wasn't surprising. Ayu cried a
little towards the end and all the dancers were dancing in a circle at
the end of the catwalk. The streamers shot out from the stage and made
4everyone go nuts...I tried in vain to catch some but all the Japanese
people around me were elbowing me and making sure I couldn't =D Some
people had GOBS of them and I didn't get one. =( *SAD PANDA*

At the end Ayu stood by herself on the stage and told us all to quiet
down before throwing her arm bands to some lucky duck in the audience.
Then she screamed "ARIGATOU" and ran off the stage. We were all
clapping like nutter butters and Who... started playing to signify the
end of the concert.

<b>OVERALL</b>

I griped about some things and didn't write much, really, but truly
this was an amazing concert. idk if it was because I LOVED the most
recent album or because I was there, but it was so energetic and fun
that it was worth the 130 dollars for those AWESOME SEATS.
This concert relied way more on lighting and video work than any other
I've seen from her before. There was little addition to the stages, and
they didn't even utilize the possible movements of the stage much.
There were really no sets, either. Yet it was still awesome because the
lights and videos WERE the sets, and I guess in the end that's easier
and cheaper to do. If you loved NEXT LEVEL you are probably going to
love this live...on that note, I think this was the only concert I've
seen from her in which she actually performs EVERY SONG from that
album. Once I realized that I was pretty happy. XD

Oh, and "AYUUUU!" guy was there. He was sitting next to me.
Evening to remember? Heck yes! It was even worth breaking a bracelet
and getting lost afterwards in the dark for.

So yeah. Afterwards David and I bought some omiyage (souvenirs). I got the bag, the sports towel, and the Ayupan. Then I bought some pics from an illegit vendor. XD; Yeah!

EDIT: Sorry for the typos, weird formatting, etc. I copied this from my journal. Some things may also be off because my mind is kinda wonky right now since I'm sick. Refer to the original post for pictures.