What did you think of Hotel Love Songs?

[ExodusUK]

Since some people have the DVD already. From the performances I've seen (Appears, NaNaNa, Sparkle, A Song Is Born, Happenin' Here) it looks really good, I appreciate the change in arrangements to songs like Appears and NaNaNa.

[Andrenekoi]

http://www.tudou.com/home/_68053048

[Delicious n Bold]

i only liked the Tell me why performance

[Andrenekoi]

The whole thing was... surprisingly dark...

I'm still digesting it.

[Leaf King]

I've only watched a few songs.

I liked NaNaNa and Sparkle, because ... Ayu reminded me of Shuichi Shindou ... which is probably not a good thing when judging a performance by a real singer.

I'll wait until the whole concert becomes available before I decide whether I like it, and whether or not to buy it.

[ayuinh.k?]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

http://www.tudou.com/home/_68053048

omg the concert in full minus the interludes!
i feel like they downscaled CDL 11-12 on purpose, just so that AT 2012 would feel more epic and mindblowing (love the new rearrangements they made to love song btw)

[terra]

I just watched the first performance and until now I always dreamed that Happening Here never happen :| idk it's just hard to like the song and I hope she'll never perform it again in the future. The first act of the tour look nice

[freedreamer]

can I just copy n paste my thoughts from the other thread? haha

I just watched the concert in full. HLS is one crazy violent hotel if you ask me. I think Song 4 u sticks out SO WEIRDLY. LOL! Tell me why and reminds me are really powerful vocally but like what I didn't really enjoy in the CDL-HLS- -> the overdramatization and that there's just TOO MUCH going on on stage. appears was beautiful and Missing was great! I was thinking, "FINALLY Ayu's alone"...until...lol.

Shake It and STEP you were fantastic! Shake it was amazing in energy and omg, Ayu looked so incredible in that getup LOLOL!! and that wink at the bridge *faints* I have to admit though. When STEP you started playing, the nostalgia hit me and it made me realize...what on earth was Shake It all about HAHA! Was that even a Song? like..both these songs differ so much in sound and style. Then I realized how much Ayu actually has ventured out in the Party Queen album. Honestly.

I also really enjoyed NaNaNa and Sparkle. And once again, NaNaNa just showed how much un-Ayu Ayu's music can be. I loved her vocals on this one actually. I do love how they linked the guns scene to the sirens. Then again, I didn't enjoy the screen that was going on before the song because it felt so messed and..ok, too violent LOL. And i think Sparkle can register itself as a concert staple already. DO IT AYU.

the next LOVE and Eyes, Smoke, Magic...had potential honestly. I felt that the next LOVE was a bit toooo busy. for such a slow song. Eyes, Smoke, Magic was quite entertaining..especially the part where Ayu paused LOL. kiss o' kill was like the replica of its AT07 rendition except with a much much better costume and hairstyle. Though its so weird that this song belonged in the "garden" section, which I figured perhaps in the ORIGINAL HLS line-up, Aria should play. LOL.

Serenade in A minor was wow. The tissue dance was beautiful and emotional with that music. Party Queen was another superb performance! The lights seem to be enhanced from CDL's version and I loved how the audience did the KAMPAI together. The Lonely queen section gave me many goosebumps. I could feel that emotion coming through..it was really depressing ><. And once again, when the SURREAL ~ evolution came, all that was in my mind was...THIS.IS.HAMASAKI.AYUMI. It just felt so strange really...its as though, this classic sound spoke for itself. Comparing beside Ladies Night and Party Queen, SURREAL and evolution's music really spoke for themselves and ayu. I can't explain the feeling I got from watching honestly.

When it reached the One Night Carnival performance, I felt that it was so fun. Ayu was really enjoying herself and with Boys & Girls coming after, you could really hear that sort of fun, old-school 90s J-Pop sound which it just seems all so natural that Ayu would sing.

Lastly, I think Ayu really nailed how beautiful you are. A pity the most moving section for me was removed and made into the dancer's introduction but she came back full swing and sang the heck out of the final chorus which I felt was really powerful and strong and earnest. And on this note, I really loved her vocals throughout the concert. Many songs were sung very strongly and in control.

This concert is definitely unique in its own right. And actually, I feel..without PQ's new addition of songs, perhaps it wouldnt have been so entertaining and varied. and I like that Ayu moved/danced a lot more than before in this

[Kirshwasser]

My blue-ray disc arrived today. I'd say the concert goes beyond my expectation, i really hate to say it, i enjoyed it more than rock and roll circus. The song happening here was such a perfect opening song. She wasnt lying when she sang "there's some great things happening here" lol.

Song 4 U was cut short i dont know why but still great.. Then tell me why and remind me, omg her voice was flawless in these songs, the choreography really suits the songs well very very emotional.

Appears and missing were allright, not bad and again missing was cut short, i was like what the hell.

Shake it and step you. She's unbelievably so cute in that maid custom, i really love shake it performance, i went crazy when she shook her butt like in the pv lol, step you was also cute just like her older performances

Nanana and sparkles, AMAZING !!!!!! ******ing SEXY !!! I didnt mind timmy's rapping to be honest, he was funny and entertaining

The next love and eyes, smoke, magic. This is ayumi's version of broadway show. So many things going on in this part. I really really enjoyed this part.

Skip to the ending, she chose how beautiful you are as an ending song, and it works, so emotional and beautiful.

[adrtwb]

This is probably the BEST arena tour ever since MY STORY tour. I love the performance of "Song 4 u", wonder why she decided to cut the song short.

Costume wise, i don't like the outfit of "appears" and "missing". It's just too normal...

I'd rate this concert a 9 out of 10!

[HEAVEN~Destiny~]

After watching the Tell me why~reminds me segment, I couldn't look at the other parts of the concert the same way. Like a lot of people said, the show was really dark. Even the songs with up-tempo songs felt different. I wish Return Road had stayed in the setlist.

AT10 will remain my favourite tour ever, but this concert was really good. The fact that it was so dark is what appealed to me, plus Ayu's vocals. They were great

[Jason]

My blu ray arrived yesterday and I literally started watching it 5 hours after playing Ni No Kuni so I was pretty damn tired... So far I've only watched nearly half of it. But I liked what I saw and heard.

Happening Here is a song I still hate but it serves as a good opener given the concept. It was fun to watch

Song 4 u: I can't say much about... Why was it cut short? O.o

Tell my why & reminds me: Awesome! I thought the choreography and theatrics fit in really well and Ayu singing these songs so passionately just transcended them into a whole other level.

appears: I didn't really look at the tracklist before I popped in the disc so I was really surprised to hear this one... I got really tired at that point so I don't remember much about it.

Missing: Solid but the performance around it was very typical, in my opinion.

Shake It: Was this the point when Timmy was going mental on the mic? Or was that NaNaNa?

STEP you/NaNaNa/Sparkle: I don't remember much... I think I fell around this point. I'll watch it from this point on tonight and see what I think

So far I think it's a pretty solid show. Although it comes nowhere near to her 2011 tour (which I thought was mind blowing). I also don't really like "hotel" concept. I know that's just the backdrop and decoration and all that but... I dunno. I found the video interludes uninteresting and the "hotel tour guide" thing at the start just had me cringing

Still , Ayu herself is amazing as always and so far it's as enjoyable as I expect any of her live shows to be.

[ExodusUK]

Watching bits and pieces now..why can't she perform Ladies Night? I wish she would perform the ~Another Night~ version so she wouldn't do the obnoxious cute voice and stuff.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by adrtwb

This is probably the BEST arena tour ever since MY STORY tour. I love the performance of "Song 4 u", wonder why she decided to cut the song short.

Costume wise, i don't like the outfit of "appears" and "missing". It's just too normal...

I'd rate this concert a 9 out of 10!

OMG, how dare you, lol. R'n'R Circus is a masterpiece.

Don't have time to do full write-up now, but it was an interesting watch. Hated the re-hashed crap from CDL. Really didn't care for the new non-Party Queen songs (even though I love Missing, I was just not feeling a performance for that... maybe because it was just a 'tacked-on' performance).

She can quit with the contacts garbage too.

Timmy is way too INTENSE for the show. I mean, half the time you can't help but stare at him, tot he point where he is over-shadowing Ayu, and definitely overshadowing her other dancers. And like, wtf was that giant lips gettup he wore near the middle/end there... Lol. He looks down-right scary the majority of the time.

I'll review performances later.

[emi♡]

I actually kinda like it.

It's like, there are a lot of details that I completely hate. Like I hate the dancers, even though they work with the concept, or I hate the stupid mattresses, or I hate the whole ESM part...I hate a lot of the vocals, outfits, ideas, lol happening here...

THE ****ING CLOWNS ****ING **** GO AWAY

...but as a whole, I feel like, it was structured nicely, there were distinct parts, and production was really nice. And I really like how Love Song tied everything together.

I think they all had a lot of energy, and even though I was bored at parts, I think it was still fun on the whole.

I liked the upbeat sections, Shake It - the next LOVE. I hate ESM with so much passion. Even live. It was so cheap and such a rip off. I just hate it. But then I loved kiss o kill to the end.

Surprisingly enough, Timmy doesn't bother me much. I think his craziness adds to the fun, because her stupid dancers, their ****** choreography, and other vocalists are boring as ****.

The dancers are best when they're upbeat dancing. Not when they're acting or flailing around. It's too much.


I was also happy that for at least one song, Missing, it was just her and the stage for a bit.

This tour still kinda bugs me a little, because I feel like they could have had something really big and epic with the concept of Party Queen...but then I guess this goes too.

I guess life is like that. Fun and heartbreaking.

idk if it's better than her last tours, cause I don't remember them. But it was fun. So. Meh. I'll watch the rest of it some other time. So yeah, as much as I didn't like a lot of things, I think they did a good job putting it together.

[HilaryDuffFanboy]

Same issue I have with a lot of her recent concerts, too much dancer involvement. A performance like kiss o' kill did not need that many dancers, or the other slower songs.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by HilaryDuffFanboy

Same issue I have with a lot of her recent concerts, too much dancer involvement. A performance like kiss o' kill did not need that many dancers, or the other slower songs.

I've had that problem for a while now myself. It seems like only once in a blue moon we ever see Ayu performing a ballad without some kind of distracting dancing going on around her. I remember AT03-04 when she sang teddy bear and Memorial address and it was amazing... The whole focus was just on her and the emotion was felt a hell of a lot more because of it.

I mean, imagine if she had one of her dancers flinging himself around while she was pouring her heart out during Memorial address... It just takes away from the magic of the performance.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by Jason

I've had that problem for a while now myself. It seems like only once in a blue moon we ever see Ayu performing a ballad without some kind of distracting dancing going on around her. I remember AT03-04 when she sang teddy bear and Memorial address and it was amazing... The whole focus was just on her and the emotion was felt a hell of a lot more because of it.

I mean, imagine if she had one of her dancers flinging himself around while she was pouring her heart out during Memorial address... It just takes away from the magic of the performance.

Memorial address at AT10 was just her, and count down as well - they were really good. But yes, I noticed during this tour it's like Ayu has become a narrator for a "scene" being portrayed on screen. She's rarely an active participant in the scene itself... and if she is, it's minor. That being said, I thought reminds me was quite effective. At first I thought it was all over the place, and I was disappointed that it sounded more like a ballad live than rock (I imagined them really pushing the guitars and it being all-out intense), but the ending redeemed the performance and I rewound it and watched it again. I was bawling, lol.

[miru2590]

I really didn't like this tour. To many dancers. Ayumi is sitting on a chair in the back I want to see Ayumi not her dancers. And what can I say about Timmy. At least Ayumi looks happy.

[ExodusUK]

Yeah the clowns need to go, haven't they been hanging around since CDL 2010-2011? God when Ayu likes something she runs it into the ground.