[Translation] ViVi Deji Deji Diary vol.90 (April 2008)

[isaac hiew]

Ayumi Hamasaki Countdown Live 2007-2008 Anniversary

"Rainbow ~ The count down ceremony"


On this month's digital diary, let's put on scenes of Count Down Live for everyone!


"Starting over~talkin' 2 myself"


These are the numerous laser rays that shone up the entire stage during the song "starting over".

The "Ayumi Hamasaki Countdown Live 2007-2008 Anniversary Concert officially starts upon this song.

When prologue of "talkin' 2 myself" began to blast, the entire stage plunges into darkness, and the super-cool black-clad ayu emerged from the second floor's staircase! The audience welcomed her arrival with roar of cheers.

The energetic and vibrant dancers. Ayu who was at the center of the stage, singing with her might and radiants her charm.

Pushed the atmosphere of the concert to the top in a second!


"STEP you ~ Ladies Night"
After finishing the song Step You, Ayu lowered back into the depths of the stage,

While everybody was staring at the performing male dancers.

Ayu, who was dressed in a cute and sexy school-girl-look costume suddenly pops out from a special elevated stage platform right in front of the VIP area!

The fans were going crazy, upon seeing their idol was just right within their reach. During the last part of "Ladies Night", a lucky girl (who happens to share the very same hairstyle with ayu) burst into tears of joy when she got the prop handkerchief directly from ayu.

Apart from that, the humorous story performed by the dancers using the "Ladies Night" as background music were fascinating too, and they all of the male dancers were mesmerized by the sudden appearance of a female dancer in the portrayal of Fukijo Mine (female charater of anime & manga Lupin III).

Guess that all the guys are the same no matter where you go, eh?



"fated ~ Together When..."
fated~ together when...

At the stage that was the opposite side of the main stage (namely the side stage).

Ayu clad in glittery white evening gown appears on the stage!

The center light cast its rays onto miss ayu and the male dancer, as if they were being together but were cast apart from each other, it is talking about
a tragic love story.

This part of the concert and the later broader-sighted "Rainbow" are the most costly part of the entire event, and took most of ayu's efforts and determination for its accomplishment.

The next song was "together~when...". During the song, ayu walked steadily and slowly on the 70-meter long center catwalk, and captured a lot of her fans' heart.

"decision ~ SURREAL ~ Bold & Delicious"

Ayu dressed in an all-red latex costume during this song.

After the energetic track "decision", ayu suprise her fan once again by hopping onto a red & white flag-tagged pneumatic platform during "SURREAL"

Wonder what does ayu think when she view her over-crowdingfans from over 10 meters above them?

"RAINBOW ~ The count down ceremony"

The performance of "RAINBOW" that brew a solemn atmosphere.

Whether it were about the angle of hands holding the candle high or low, the speed of walking around the stages, or even the facial expressions, Ayu did have a lot of insists about the details of the song's dancing performance.

The huge screen at the center of the stage, shown highlight footages regarding the footsteps of Ayu during the year of 2007.

The screen also showed her Asia Tour, the series of live performance started from Taipei, then to Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The A-Nation, many Music Videos, all of these was fast forwarded towards the conclusion of the year 2007. The footage was narrated by ayu herself.

"We shall be yet once more time on the starting line of the year 2008. Let us begin.... begin moving on with our friends that we are proud of..."

Ayu's heartwarming words should be moving a lot of people now.

"Evolution ~ Boys & Girls ~ glitter"

The inter-year concert finally ended without a hitch. Hello New Year 2008!

The "evolution", a song which was released during on of the new years, has been a very suitable song to welcome the new year.

Following song was one of her very first best selling song, "Boys & Girls" ( Isaac note: Boys & Girls is the very first single that hit the 1 million sales mark throughout Ayu's career)

After that was the last song of the countdown live, "glitter".

The song, which was firstly announced on the very last day of Asia Tour and was accompanied by a huge band of dancers during the A-Nation summer concert, and finally it was presented in a finalized version on this countdown live concert.

The hat, the singlet, and the boot, these three glittery items made ayu and her dancers' facial expression shone with energy.

Such a dazzling staging performance. And the floor was rained with star-shaped silver paper, which lowers the curtain for this year's countdown live concert.



"Encore"


All encore performances were always matched with Concert Tour T-shirts and jeans.

And on this year, Ayu specially added a Scottish square shirt, well it was definately Ayu-style.

The encore kickoff with "untitled~for her ~"

Ayu cried in the midst of the song when it is a song that brought her special memories.

It droves to tears, seeing her crying like that.

The next was a cover of Yayumi Matsutou's "Sotsugyou Shashin" (Picture of Graduation).

After 2 ballads and some talkings, the next song was "+" that has never been heard in a few years' time.

And the current must-song "Humming 7/4" that best used to spice up the atmosphere.

The song, was specially requested by Ayu to choreographer ZIN to create a dance so she can dance with everyone, the place was boiled up by the
emotion of the audiences, that spells towards the end of the concert.

Ayu, beginning her 10th year anniversary with the "ayumi hamasaki Coundown Live 2007-2008 Anniversary",

What kind of performances and projects will she bring for us during her new round of libve performances starting this April?

Stay tune for it.


Translated by Isaac Hiew
Translated from ViVi April 2008, International Chinese ver.
7/June/2008

This article is only for use for Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai Forum only.
If you would like to use this piece of article somewhere else, please
ask for my permission via email, PM or MSN

[isaac hiew]

So there you guys have it.

Sorry for being away for so long. I was bogged down by my Master Course's enrollment..... kinda hard tho.

But I'll continue post up March and May issue of Vivi..... May has got Ayu's interview on it!

[CookieAyuMix]

thank you!

[isaac hiew]

errr..... that's all.....? any comments/ suggestions/thoughts.....??? I appreciate your thanks, but I sincerely hope that my articles can heat up the atmosphere of the forum a bit by involving anyone who cares abut ayu's latest activities.

[Lanz16]

Thanks for the translations!
Can you make a scanslations if ever for your next project please?

[isaac hiew]

erm sorry but no, cos' I don't have a scanner, and you can get the scans from anywhere.

[minna]

thnks a lot for sharing

now I know what it says XD
I can't wait to see your translation of Ayu's Interview

[MissElin_]

Ah WOW thank you so much! All those memories just comes back to me. Im happy that I got to celebrate the first 10th kick off celebration with her!
Im looking forward to more translations in the future. ^^

[ayumisrael]

Thank you very much isaac hiew!

I loved the describings of the whole CDL 07-08 through!
This concert was amazing even though ayu's vocals were a bit off.

I love those interview/articles translations so please keep it up if you can, that's great!!

[CookieAyuMix]

Originally Posted by isaac hiew

errr..... that's all.....? any comments/ suggestions/thoughts.....??? I appreciate your thanks, but I sincerely hope that my articles can heat up the atmosphere of the forum a bit by involving anyone who cares abut ayu's latest activities.

I care about ayu's latest activities... I really enjoyed reading the translation. i dont understand what exactly i did wrong?

[Yoake]

wow thank you very much for the translation

[Linza-mo]

so interesting, thanks !

But when you write

"The next was a cover of Yayumi Matsutou's "Sotsugyou Shashin" (Picture of Graduation)."

The name of the singer is Yumi Matsutoya, isn't it ? '__'

[4ever*ayu]

great translation once again by our Master, isaac hiew...woot!!
thx , i've anticipate this for awhile...!!

*...still reading so seriously...*

Btw, i hope your Master Course's enrollment won't make you stop sharing with us all in AHS...Ganbatte..!!

[AyuGAME]

ARIGATOU!!!

[LEOyumi]

Thanks a lot for the translation! Makes me want even more the DVD!
This show was sooo great, I loved watching the TV version, and the DVD will be a blast, with the editting and all!

[isaac hiew]

Originally Posted by CookieAyuMix

I care about ayu's latest activities... I really enjoyed reading the translation. i dont understand what exactly i did wrong?

Oh sorry..... that's ok..... thank you for reading! XD

[GRACE]

Why does it mention Bold & Delicious in the title if they don't mention it in the article nor did she preform it... o_o?

[prussian blue]

ooo thats so good~ thx for sharing~ and how much did you buy the vivi chinese mahazine?

[zoomzoom]

Added text to magazine.

Spoiler:

[isaac hiew]

yeah, strange..... I checked my original article and it really didn't mention Bold & Delicious!