Concert Report: 6/20

[polka-dot-jewel]

Here's my review of tonight's concert... this includes A LOT of spoilers, so if you wish to remain unspoiled, definitely do not read this. Don't say I didn't warn you!

So, a little backstory: I did not know I was going to the concert until today. My friend, KillTime111, bought our tickets yesterday, and told me today that he got them, and that the concert was today. So, after hanging with some of our friends, we got to the arena and got to our seats. We were in Section J, row 3, on the first upper level. The section next to us, K, right right at the end of the stage where Peco stands, and my seat was very close to that section. I was so excited! Last year, I sat in Section B in the second upper level, so this was a HUGE improvement over last years seats.

Pieces of SEVEN - The concert started a little late, around 6:45, but whatever. The lights dimmed, and the concert started. Yo-chan and Enrique stepped into the middle of the stage, and kinda played a little bit until the big guitar part came up. The lights shined on them, and they JAMMED.

Rule - Ayu came up at the end of the catwalk and sang a portion of "Rule" acapella. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, but that didn't matter, because she actually sounded really good during the rest of the song. The guy dancers are around her, and her part of the end of the stage rose up until the chorus. After the first chorus, her and the guys walked back to the main stage.

UNITE! - After saying hello to us, she started to sing. It's your basic Ayu song with the same dance. It was great to finally hear live, though =) Oh, and Peco actually walked over to the end of the stage (she's not exactly at the end of it this year), and I waved at her, and she waved back =D It was incredible! My friend and I were, like, "WOW! PECO SAW US!" lol (I'm pretty sure I was very noticeable, because I was really the only white person in the general area.)

Disco-munication - Ayu pops up on the screen, and it's so Mario-themed. She keeps "eating" things and keeps growing bigger. The even flies up and collects stars! And instead of those bomb-things killing you, a baseball knocked out the guys but Ayu dodged it. Oh, and while Ayu is running around, each of the dancers are introduced.

EnergizE - She appears at the top of the stage, and makes her way down during the song. She uses a very high-pitched voice (very child-like), and it's very quiet, but she sings a bit louder when she sings in a slightly lower register. At first, the girls are with her. Two are wearing green cheerleader outfits, the others are wearing blue ones. The guys come out once Ayu and the girls are down on the main stage, and they just goof off (similar to "Depend on You" from last year.)

AUDIENCE - Again, staple Ayu song with the same dances.

Load of the SHUGYO - Like the intros to "until the Day..." from AT07 and "don't (leave me alone) from AT08, this is one of the best intros ever. At first, you see the girl dancers torturing one of the guy dancers (I think it's Maro), and then they start to torture Shu-ya. Ayu watches from the back, almost horrified but intrigued at the same time. Later, all the male dancers but Shu-ya are stuck in a cell, and Shu-ya is in one of his own. Ayu walks up to his, types in the password, and opens it up. They stare at each other, and Shu-ya walks out of it. She holds out a glass of water for it. He smacks it out of her hand and breaks the keypad, opening the other cell. The male dancers all run out, and Shu-ya falls to the ground. Ayu looks even more horrified and surprised, looking at Shu-ya like, "WHY?!" The girl dancers find out, and they suddenly appear on stage, looking around for them.

LOVE'n'HATE - Ayu appears and starts counting. The dancers were all up on her, and she was all up on the dancers.

identity - Another song where Ayu and Shu-ya were all on each other =P

In the Corner - There isn't a video for this, but chairs appear on the stage, and the guy dancers come out and find their respective spots. Shu-ya comes out last, and Ayu appears in the stage. From the photos that I saw, I didn't think her outfit would be sparkly, but it was INCREDIBLY sparkly.

HOPE or PAIN intro - While I can't remember most of the video (it involved a lot of snow), Maro and Midoring ended up on the stage, and they were basically searching for each other. At the end of the video, you see Ayu looking into the camera and is crying.

HOPE or PAIN - I'll admit, this song made me cry a lot. It was beautifully performed. Ayu appears in her big, white overdress, and walks on the catwalk. During the first verse and chorus, we see Midoring dancing on the main stage. During the second verse and chorus, Maro is dancing in the cage-like thing.

GREEN - Ayu continued to walk and sing on the catwalk. Towards the end of the song, the cage came back up, and Maro and Midoring were dancing inside of it. And Ayu even though some of Ayu's notes weren't as long as they were on the CD, she hit every single note. (I have reason to believe she did not lip-sync at this concert, much like the one in Hokkaido. While I won't get too much into it, Ayu is quite a loud singer, and she was singing loudly throughout the concert. She didn't hit all of her notes, some notes were shorter than others, and you could hear her breathing during the songs.)

Days - Ayu is now at the end of the catwalk, on the center stage. Her white overdress is gone, revealing her pink dress. It's a lot prettier in real life. It's very shiny and actually cute. It raises up, and Shu-ya suddenly appears, in a trenchcoat much like the one from last year. The stage rotates some before going back down. She walks to the center stage, starts "crying", and Shu-ya runs down to her and hugs her.

Days outro - One of the dancers appears in a ball-like form inside one of the sheets, and slowly rolls around. The rest of the dancers come out, all like flowers (their outfits don't look like flowers, but they're very flow-y, and there's flowers on the screens). Each dancer comes out, does their dance, and then th next one comes out, and so on.

evolution - The intro for the song comes on, and Ayu appears and talks to us a little bit (just a few words) before starting to sing. Again, another staple Ayu song with the same hand movements and such. But, there is one thing I noticed about her hair that I didn't in the photos... it's obviously a wig, but part of it is in a bun, while the rest hangs down.

SIGNAL - I'm not too familiar with this song, but most people in there seemed to be, haha. But, it's an older song, and Ayu's just basically dancing a little and singing.

rollin' - Ayu changes into the purple outfit with the nasty bob (that doesn't look so hideous in person). She's wearing cyclops-like sunglasses, along with the other dancers. She acts robotic very, very well.

Sparkle - There's some sort of "Sparkle" dance that EVERYONE seemed to know! lol It's during the "no no no" part, and it's like one hand up on the first "no", the other hand over that (almost like an "X" with your hands) on the second "no", and then you move your hands apart and down on the third "no". I caught on quickly, though =P The part where she kept making us say "no no no" was at the end of the song. She would say it with us for a while, and then we'd say it by ourselves. Sure, I was loud, but it got repetitive really quickly, though I was still smiling, because it was goofy, really.

Bridge to the Sky - You see Ayu kinda staring off at first, and then the picture staring rolling in. Some pics we've soon, others we haven't. I especially love the ones towards the end. There's some from when she was a teenager, a couple from when she was a toddler, and a few from when she was a baby. The last one was her sleeping against her Mom or Grandmother, probably. At the end, after all the pictures zoom back into the future, Ayu continues to stare off, and the this book that they were in shuts and lands on the chair that appears on stage. The dancers also appear on stage. The main screen has a bunch of chairs leading off into the sky, the stairs on the screen matching the stairs on stage (all were blue).

NEXT LEVEL - Ayu appears and sings to the audience. She's obviously very, very happy with tonight's concert. You can tell she's very happy. The Ayu's shoot out towards the middle of the song, and she doesn't go on the chair until before the last chorus. She buckles herself in before it's hoisted above the stage. She lands back on stage, and the song is over. The band starts up again, and she turns to each side and thanks everyone.

ENCORE

Curtain call - A gospel choir appears on stage, and Ayu is at the top of the stairs. The song is just her at the top singing.

For my Dear - This actually sounded really good today. It sounded just like her performance from PCDL.

MC - Oh, in the encore, she's wearing her white shirt with the dice in her hair. She finishes FMD, and Subaru and Zin come onstage. Remember back when "NEVER EVER" would start playing, and then Yo-chan would sing a little bit? Well, that happened today, except it was Subaru and Zin who were singing that tiny part. It was really funny, and they ended up doing it a second time. They talk some, I don't really know what they were talking about, but then they start "Ready Go" (or whatever it's called, the game that's like "red light green light"). The rest of the dancers come out, and they start. Shu-ya and Ayu are usually somehow all over each other, until the final round, when Maro, Shu-ya, and another male dancer were somehow all over each other. Gomi and Midoring stuck together as well, until they were out. Maro was HILARIOUS! During the first two parts of the game, he usually posed in this dramatic-like way, and after one moment, he looked at the camera and winked. It was really funny. Everybody was laughing a lot. Ayu won the first round, and almost won the second round, but her and another girl dancer fell right as Zin turned around. Ayu was alright and laughing. Maro won the second round. After that, I think Subaru brings out a basket with five balls. She sings all of them, even including a heart in the last one. They got up and down the catwalk. Ayu doesn't hit the first few very well, but hits the other two well.

everywhere nowhere - Ayu walks to the end of the walkway and back, singing and dancing some.

Humming 7/4 - This is another song I was excited about hearing live. Everybody knew the dance to this, and everyone was jumping up and down.

Boys&Girls - The same Boys&Girls we see at every concert.

MY ALL - Yes, it's the end of the concert. Everyone seemed very pleased and happy and you could tell they all worked their best. And, of course, everyone knew the dance to this, too.

I loved this concert. I thought it was way better than last years tour. It was quite longer, too, almost 2h40min. She did not perform the new song, nor was there any mention of it. Also, in one of the songs, I waved at Yo-chan, and he kinda smiled / smirked and nodded in my direction. Ayu didn't walk to the ends of the main stage very much, but the first time she really did, I waved at her, and it seemed like she looked at me for about 5-10 seconds. There were only a few non-Asian people there, and I was the only one in my general area, so I'm not too surprised they noticed me, but I'm very happy they did. =)

All the concert goods are now on sale, and nothing is sold out yet. I myself bought the Ayupan (which isn't as great looking as some of the other ones), a passholder, and a glowstick. But, I will mention this like I did in another thread: Along with Hello Kitty, Ayu is doing a collaboration with Rimmel London. The set includes a large mirror, long lash mascara, and eyeliner, and the set is 2500yen. It is a huge collectors item, because who knows how long they will be selling this, or if they will sell it anywhere else. They come in nice, medium-sized bags. I didn't go over that specific table, but I think they are still selling NEXT LEVEL USBs.

I have some pictures of the concert and goods, but I need to put them onto my computer and online first. So, when I do that, I'll post them on here =)

edit: Here are some pics =)

The merch I bought:


The Rimmel London bag:


The limited edition Rimmel London set:


As we entered, we received a bag with various posters (and a Rimmel London pamphlet, but no pic of Ayu), and here are the two Ayu-related posters that came with it:

[waterballoon]

Thank you! Interesting concert... all the reviews have been nothing but praise baby! Can't wait for DVD!

[freedreamer]

nice review!! im quite intrigued by Sparkle's 'dance' hahaha

[majrakun]

I'm now really confused with HOPE or PAIN. The early reports I read said it was Maro, but now it became MaroxMidoring? Some even say it was only Ayu on stage during HoP.

But, I can't wait for the DVD too. T__T With no Asia leg, chances of more fanvids is less. I'm lovin' their MCs nowadays, the games they play are so funny!

[polka-dot-jewel]

Updated the first post with pics =)

[rookies]

Thanks for sharing your report, and some pics.

I'll be sure to read it!

[AyUta]

Thank you so much for this review .

[noidea]

I have a question xD what is this "cage" thing youre talkin about? Is it a prop? Because we haven't seen something that looks like a cage on pictures yet.
Well, I begin liking the concert mnore and more from all the reviews^^ I only want more videos xD

[yatsudamf]

Hey, polka-dot-jewel, great review (so up to the point!!). I was at the 6/20 show too, 1st level F section (over the private VIP box, but I couldn't make out any of the famous people except for one of TRF's female members. There were a few foreigners sitting there though, and lots of Avex related business men...). I too really enjoyed the concert, especially her goofy dance and faces when performing rollin'. I too got teary eyed when she performed HOPE OR PAIN (I actually don't really like the song... but I do now!). LOL, I've already taught my daughters the Sparkle "dance" since they love the "no no no" part so much. Speaking of which, I thought she overdid it with the "no no no" singing, argh!! I guess she got super excited, she was saying that she and her staff were amazed at the energy that was displayed on 6/20 on her TA blog. The game "Daruma-san ga koronda" was hilarious indeed!! Ah, Ayu X Shu-ya...

[polka-dot-jewel]

@ noidea: It's kinda hard to explain... and, no, we haven't seen it in pictures yet, because either Maro and Midoring are in it, or Ayu and Shu-ya are on top of it. But, remember the carousel-thing that appeared during Marionette last year? It's just like that, except without the fancy technical stuff, only with curtains on the side. It's green during "GREEN" and pink during "Days".

So... I also went to tonight's concert. I went with KillTime111 and Calico. I got incredibly better seats this time. I was in section C2, in seat 58, which is basically the fifth row, and the seats closer to the middle. I was about maybe 30-50 feet from the center stage. AYU LOOKS EVEN BETTER UP CLOSE!!!

During Rule, right before the last chorus, some fireworks shot up from the main stage. Also, right before the last chorus in identity, a firework was shot at the top of the stage.

Both EnergizE and rollin' have their own little dances. The EnergizE "dance" is more of a specific way of clapping during the "Put your hands up together" parts. The rollin' dance is very interesting. The first part is doing this wave-like thing with your arms and hands, and then in the second part, there's this moving you do around your head. I didn't see many people doing the second part yesterday, but I saw a lot more people doing it today.

Here's a better description of the HOPE or PAIN intro: Ayu appears to be alone at first, with snow falling around her. Maro suddenly appears, and they do this walk-thing, very similar to the walk that Ayu and that guy did in the TW... video. It starts to rain, and Ayu and Maro are hugging. (I have to admit, they both looked very good right there XD) Midoring appears on stage and does a dance. Soon Maro appears, and in the video, Ayu is crying. It's like she's looking right into you as she cries. Maro disappears, and Ayu appears, with Midoring behind her. They do similar movements.

During HOPE or PAIN, towards the end, when Midoring is on the stage behind Ayu, Maro is still at the end of the catwalk, on the center stage. Maro turns around, and starts dashing for Ayu. She just stands there, and he runs right past her and over to Midoring.

She also acted very goofy today during rollin'. She made quite a few faces and would dance in a funky way sometimes. It was very funny.

The beginning of the MC was a bit different, too. During the beginning of the A part, there was a notice that basically said, "See you in October!" Subaru and Zin came out, and they made Ayu introduce her dog, Maron! He was so cute! Ayu tried to make him talk, but he just kissed her face. Everyone was going "Aww!" He's a big of a large dog, and Ayu even joked about that as she picked him up. When Subaru and Zin were talking afterwards, Ayu kept messing with her nose. She said she could only smell dog! It was really funny, because the camera kept focusing on her messing with her nose.

They also played a new game today. I don't know the name of it, but there are six players, and three teams of two: Ayu and Shu-ya, Maro and Zin, and Enrique and Yo-chan. Ayu introduced Maro and Shu-ya, and Maro was carrying Shu-ya out via a piggyback ride. Enrique and Yo-chan were also introduced, and they were wearing sunglasses like the ones Ayu wears during rollin'. They also did the Sparkle dance, which made everyone laugh. The game goes like this: One word appears on the screen (in Japanese), and one person has to act out the word while the other guesses. (I guess this is like charades, haha.) They either pass or continue on until they get it right, and they switch places. Maro and Zin go first. They did okay. Ayu and Shu-ya go next. When they came up, everyone started screaming, saying things like "AYU!" and "GANBATTE!" (Of course, I just said, "GO AYU!" lol) Ayu and Shu-ya did really good! When it came to Enrique and Yo-chan, they said, "We don't want to play anymore" but they ended up playing, and they also did really well! So, it was basically now sudden death, between AyuxShu-ya and EnriquexYo-chan. They only had two words to guess, and to win, they had to actually guess the words, and in the quickest time. Ayu and Shu-ya took a little bit longer than Enrique and Yo-chan, so Yo-chan and Enrique were the winners!

There wasn't really anything else different about the performances tonight, except Ayu used her cute-sy / high-pitched voice less tonight.

[polka-dot-jewel]

Originally Posted by yatsudamf

Hey, polka-dot-jewel, great review (so up to the point!!). I was at the 6/20 show too, 1st level F section (over the private VIP box, but I couldn't make out any of the famous people except for one of TRF's female members. There were a few foreigners sitting there though, and lots of Avex related business men...). I too really enjoyed the concert, especially her goofy dance and faces when performing rollin'. I too got teary eyed when she performed HOPE OR PAIN (I actually don't really like the song... but I do now!). LOL, I've already taught my daughters the Sparkle "dance" since they love the "no no no" part so much. Speaking of which, I thought she overdid it with the "no no no" singing, argh!! I guess she got super excited, she was saying that she and her staff were amazed at the energy that was displayed on 6/20 on her TA blog. The game "Daruma-san ga koronda" was hilarious indeed!! Ah, Ayu X Shu-ya...

Thank you!! =) Aah, my friend and I were trying to figure out who was sitting there both yesterday and today. (We could see it better during tonight's show, but we couldn't make out anyone.) I actually didn't notice her goofiness during rollin' last night... the things you see when you see the show two days in a row lol Yes, the "no no no" was horribly overdone. It got a little boring quickly. Haha, Ayu and Shu-ya... the things they do together =P

[nanakopy87]

wow...look so interesting..wish i can attend one of her concerts

[noidea]

thanks for the explanations^^

[Huaka]

To add to this: Ayu was crying during the second half of Days and I think for Sparkle she made a tiny mistake because she started off singing the wrong lyrics and then caught herself quickly, laughing and smiling about it. She didn`t cry during My All like she usually does for concert enders but was smiling and happy. She seemed super happy during the concert.

I got to sit in the arena in B7 block in seat 17. Great seats! I definitely have to get some closer to the stage the next time I go. I totally went crazy and spent over $200 on concert goods. Bleh. Oh well, it was worth it for Ayu!

[dreamland2.0]

Great reviews! I can't wait for the DVD!
I hope they put all these games on a third disk or something!!

[SolarAngel]

Wooh great concert! I think nothing makes a performer happier than to have the audience in-sync with you.

[majrakun]

Oh yay, a new theme for her ballads, finally? Awesome. Now I get it~ Thanks for clearing that up!

[AyuGAME]

looks like its a great concert
can't wait to watch it on DVD

[prussian blue]

the little poster about the a-nation is so cool! i want to get it too

nice report!

[vampireknightzero]

omg i'm so envious of you!! thanks for the interesting review!!