Koda Kumi UNIVERSE Tour @Saitama Super Arena 15/05 reviews

[Lee^ChaN]

This UNIVERSE Tour review is especially reported by us (me & LacusClyne) for AHS. If you want to post them to another forum, please credit us.

Lee^ChaN version:

Spoiler:

Before the concert started

There were two big screens on the right and left. The audiences practiced to applause and call out "Kuu-chan" for couple of times. Like her previous tours, the screen showed couple of people, and there were orders to do what was showed at the screen. Some people had to make some silly faces and stuffs. The one who was the MVP of the day, was 2 guys who were told to chu~ (kiss) each other, and they did XD It was so hilarious!

So there was an announcement that the space ship is going to depart soon, so all the passengers may return to their seats.

OPENING MOVIE
There was a big crash sound and the opening movie was played:
It was raining, and then when the rain stopped, the rain drop became a big wave. And the water spurted out from the circle stage at the central of the stadium. All backlights on the stage at the back turned to red.

Step Into The World
Kuu-chan appeared on the middle of the circle stage surrounding with the water column, giving a water fountain effect. She wore a futuristic sexy golden outfit with blonde-straight long ponytail-haired + sunglasses + boots. Her dancers also appeared. Her vocal was really great, she did some choreo.

UNIVERSE
There were fireworks. The big screen on the middle showed Kuu-chan with blonde short-haired (her haircut really looks like Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, so COOL!!), she was sitting in a chair and there was a lot of laser effects during this song. Her vocal was just too awesome, and UNIVERSE live version was just too good to be true! Definitely the best background movie!!

BUT
Short version, had different choreo. But entertaining!

INTERLUDE MOVIE
Kuu-chan was in the pilot room, she dressed in AIR KODA cosplay (damn cute!). She welcomed all the passengers to the KODA AIR LINE. While she was talking, her pilot was sleeping on his seat. The screen then showed her female dancers who were act as the stewardess. Then Kuu-chan hit her Pilot to wake him up.

Lick me ♥ (Remix)
The background screen was vertically divided into 5 colors (green, pink, tosca, yellow, and i think red.. i forgot) and Kuu-chan + 4 female dancers appeared on each colors. She wore cute pink AIR KODA outfit, and her dancers wore other colored outfit (i forgot what's the color, maybe orange?). At the end of the song, they were carrying suitcases with lots of stamps. She did some choreo just like in PV, and vocally good! The DA DA DA DA part is still catchy!! Background screen showed some cute colorful shaped, like hearts, stars and stuff.

SUPERSTAR
In the middle of the stage, there was some passenger seats just like in the airplane. Her male dancers act as the passengers, and Kuu + her female dancers acted as the stewardess. There was a cute moment when the background screen showed "no cellphone allowed" sign, and one of her male dancer (Shun) was currently on phone. The background music stopped for a moment, and we can hear shun's laughing, then Kuu-chan hit his head.
The stage was like a elevator, it was shaken/lift to the right and to the left (as if it just had a turbulence)

恋のつぼみ (Bossa nova ver.)
Sexnosuke appeared in Pilot outfit (GAWD, he's so DAMN HOT!) and in the end, Sexnosuke kissed Kuu-chan's forehead.

Stay
The setting time was in the evening, where all of the passengers slept. She covered them with some blankets. Her voice was very good! It made the song sounds prettier!

INTERLUDE MOVIE 2
Still at the pilot room, and her pilot was still sleeping. She was confused because the space ship was shaken, so she hit the pilot to wake him up. Then she heard loud song from the back. When she opened the door, the passenger room became a club. The passengers looks like aliens with elf ears. They were dancing while holding PEPSI NEX ZERO bottle on their hands.

GOT TO BE REAL
The background screen was horizontally split and then Kuu-chan appeared on the top of giant silver disco-ball (Hell, I was so surprised!!). It was lifted quite high from the ground (Our naughty reporter from Singapore aka Lacus took a great shot on this!! Just wait for her to come back home on Wednesay/Thursday), She wore a sexy two pieces baby-blue/tosca sparkling outfit, with boot until her knee. She sounds great!! BUT!! I definitely didn't get what she sang XD I just love her Engrish XD

キューティーハニー
Short version of Cutie Honey (yeah! I sang the Honey Flash! part ) So fun!!

-Dance show-
There was introduction of her dancers just like she did on her tours. But too bad that there's no Dance Battle this time, and the Dance Show is too short IMO. The songs weren't as catchy as her previous tour. But it's still good.
At the end of the dance show, the background screen showed "LAID BACK, LAID BACK, LAID BACK".

Ecstasy (remix) - Physical Thing
Ecstasy remix version was kinda 80's feeling with disco-tune. Physical Thing was absolutely HOT! I didn't see her touching boobies this time But She did a lot of nasty movements just like in the shake-it PV with the female
dancer, HOT hip-dancing, doing this woman on top position with her male dancer. One of her female dancer (with the longest hair, i forgot what's her name) pulled off one of the male dancer pants. So freaking HOT!!

No Way
The background screen showed a lot of stars, so pretty. Her voice was a little bit squeaky during "Kimi ni Todokeeeee" first chorus. 2 or 4? of her dancers did some slow-ballet type of dancing. This song was just too beautiful! She really sang it with emotion (It really broke my heart).

INTERLUDE MOVIE 3
The pilot said that there was something wrong with the space ship. So Kuu-chan decided to go outside to fix it. This was the best Interlude Movie! Kuu-chan changed into an orange-astronaut outfit just like in Armageddon. When she appeared to the passengers room, she had the BEST facial expression ever!! So naughty!! It was so PRICELESS!! (I couldn't stop laughing watching her expression at that time). When she passed through the passenger seats, everyone cheered her up, just like a hero who's going to save the world . The funniest thing was she repaired the space ship with adhesive plaster Then it showed that they could see the planet from the space ship.

愛のうた
She appeared on the circle stage, laying on her back. The smallest elevator on the middle of the circle lifted up holding only her small body, and then there was an fountain effect under the elevator where she was laying, it gave effect like she was floating!! And the water spurted from the outer side of the circle, playing along with the song! So pretty!! Her voice sounds perfect during this song!! She wore a white-rainbow dress!!

Futari de...
Sexnosuke & one other male dancer (whether it's Shun or Ooba) were going down to pick someone. A girl named Ayumi was picked. She was pale and shock! On the stage there was a flowerly swings. The girl was sitting beside Kuu-chan on the swing, and the swing was lift up couple meters from the ground. Her vocal was so beautiful.

You're so Beautiful
3 back-up singers appeared (1 Japanese girl, 1 black male singer and 1 black female singer) It was soooooo great!! You're so beautiful live version + backing vocal was just GREAT!! At the end, the song was kinda extended, Kuu-chan asked the audiences to sing "You're so beautiful, You're so beautiful.." It was so nice!!

INTERLUDE MOVIE 4
Anyway the space ship changed the destination to a skeleton mark. The scene was then changed like star wars! The space ship was being attacked by other ships. And then it was plunged into black hole.

Can We Go Back
Kuu-chan was chained on the wall with her black outfit. There was a huge cage, big red flag on the left & right side of the stage. The full band appeared! It was the best stage setting IMO! It's more rockish than her normal CWGB live performance. The dancers brought red flags and did some choreo. In the middle of the song, she was unchained and laying on the ground, but looks like a circle rock, and the light went off for a while. When the light went back on, she was hanging upside down (like 30 secs++) and continued to sing the rest of the song. She amazingly sang without fail! Her voice was so stable!!

FREAKY
The live band version was just AWESOME!!

Work It Out!
There was a huge red heart-shaped sofa which was dragable in the middle of the stage. She was sitting there, and singing, while some of her male dancers dragged the sofa to the left or right. At some part of the song she did this crazy head spinning with her long blonde-haired. The song was rockish!!

走れ!
She opened the outer upper-part of her black outfit and changed it to neon (glow in the dark) top. But i think the song was shorter.

With Your Smile
The dancers appeared with towel. Just like other With Your Smile on her tour, the towel dancing!! It was so fun!!

Before the encore, all the audience started to sing the chorus of "Ai no Uta" over and over again, until the Encore movie started.

ENCORE MOVIE
After being survived from the black hole, she was being interviewed. But then the space ship went alone, leaving her behind. Somehow the pilot was a spy (i don't really get the last story, but i think he's a famous Japanese comedian). Kuu-chan wanted to chase the space ship, so the pilot told her to go inside the cannon, and he shot the cannon.

Medley (Lady Go! ~ Stay with me (Remix) ~ Butterfly ~ LAST ANGEL ~ TABOO -remix- ~ girls)

She was riding a truck while singing the medley part. We're crazily waving and screaming her name Too bad she didn't really sing TABOO. She wore a purple top (which you could see her amazing abs) and light blue jeans. She's sooo small!! And i love her cheezy smile all the way~

Good☆day
When she arrived on the stage, the big screen showed a white SOGO bear just like in the CM. Then Kuu-chan started to sing "Okaimono, Hai" followed by the audience. But somehow our voices were not loud enough for her. So she stopped and said: "well, i'm almost 30 yo, and singing this song, this is embarassing. So let's singing it together louder!"
Then she started again with the "Okaimono, Hai" for couple of times. Then she sang Good Day. So great! Too bad it's only short version.

-MC-
She thanked the audience for coming and for the encore. Then she called Shintarouw to accompany her on MC. She mentioned that her latest single was a rock song (CWGB) and then the next song will be a dance one. Then suddenly a picture popped out for like 3 secs on the left & right screen. It was the cover of her upcoming single which is gonna be released on July. The cover shows that Kuu-chan is with a guy, her arms are around his neck. She wears a hanging colorful top model while the guy is topless. It's so colorful and HOT!! Really reminds me of Butterfly/FREAKY covers.
And then she talked about her grandma which is 77 years old now, and showed some pictures of her holiday with her mom and grandma. She did a lot of stupid poses on the pictures! So amusing!

Comes Up
Before she sang this song, she told a short story about her debut time. She started to go to audition since she was 10 years old. But she finally debuted when she was 17. She mentioned not to give up on what you believe in. Then she said, this is my letter. She was crying at that moment. So cute!
She sang Comes Up, her voice was shaky because she forced herself not to cry. The letter which was shown on the background screen was the hand-writing of Comes Up lyric. (now i know the story behind the song.. "dakara I believe, i believe")

walk
Different arrangement!! AMAZING!! At first it started with piano only, and then violin. After that followed by the band! And as usual, she cried. At the end of the song, there are cloth/rags just like in the Ningyo-Hime performance on BEST ~SS~ Tour. She wrapped herself with the cloth, then was lifted up in the air, doing upside down movement (i'm not sure she was wearing any safety-equipment) and then she went down into box or something.

Overall, this tour is just DAMN TOO GOOD!! I would say UNIVERSE Tour is equal to BC Tour. Too many surprises! Her vocal was undoubtedly GREAT!! I'm so damn lucky!!

See you again on Yokohama Stadium, Kuu!

We will get review from LacusClyne once she got back home on Thursday.
She has some good shots during the tour (naughty girl )

edit:
PIC-SPAM!!

Spoiler:

Arrived at Saitama-Shintoshin




Saitama Super Arena


Tour goods






















Bought the goods (minus towel.. really want the FC towel )


My ticket


Fans waiting at the cafe


Selling Koda Mug & Slippers


Koda Mug


Best ~3rd UNIVERSE~ Promo






Fans were watching Koda Kumi live in Taiwan






UNIVERSE AIRPORT




Boarding Gate (you have to choose between gate 1 and 2 to get your gift)


AIR KODA Towel or Phone Strap (I got phone strap )


So cute


A fan with Kuma!! (got picture with Kuma too~ )


My boarding pass + phone strap


Light-stick OFF


Light-stick ON


Secretly took a snap on the stage (sorry, there were too many staffs, couldn't take better pic)


Crowded!!


Before the concert started~


Got Easiyo Yogurt after the concert! SO DAMN GOOD!


Unofficial accessories after the concerts (phone straps, posters, mouse pads, key chains & etc.. really gonna make u broke!)










This is what i got!

[Twinkle !]

I LUV YOO GURLZ !! the review is awesome i can imagine it w8ing for pix

[Kingdom]

sounds awesome, can't wait for pics!

[Luja.]

Oh my oh my... this sounds too amazing, just too great!! I want to see this tour NOW! I need the DVD

I am so glad she sings FREAKY & Good(star XD)day and I soo can't wait to see/hear Work it out!, You're so beautiful and No Way!!
Beside SUPERSTAR and Stay they are my favorite songs of UNIVERSE.. ah and I forgot UNIVERSE! I want to hear this song live, too

Sorry, your review just got me too excited This is the first time I am so excited for a Kumi tour! Can't wait for the pics!!

[maze]

amazing review omg

I didn't know what was the meaning of Comes Up I love you so much, kumiii

can't wait for pics!!! <3

[LacusClyne]

for people who miss kuu's dirty stuff, cutie honey was quite dirty

kuu banging her female dancer(bend down) and another dancer was banging kuu's back at the same time! hot er? it's the first time that cuttie honey choreography is different/

oh, and i got a nice picture of kuu standing on the globe during 'Got To Be Real'. please be patient till i got back to singapore to upload them

[Meat Pao]

OMG SOUNDS SO EPIC SO EXCITED FOR THE PICS GENIE!!!

[tenshi no hane]

Thanks for the review. It sounds like a great tour ^-^

[waterballoon]

omo this sounds so awesome!!!

[Corvina]

Thanks so much for the great review, Flo!
You and Genie are so lucky to be able to see this tour, cause - seriously - this tour sounds overly amazing! Can't wait to see it on DVD, really!

You're going a second time?
I'm jealous!
Ah, no, it's great, I grant you the lives!

[LacusClyne]

i'm back in singapore. prepare for the pics tomorrow. (^_^)

i'm tired now, and want to go to sleep and still need to unpacl my stuff!!!

[Lee^ChaN]

@Corvina: it's amazing! But when you're there live on spot, it felt so fast.. didn't feel like 2,5 hours concert! I wanna see it again.. but too bad i'm not living in Tokyo or nearby.
Yeah, i'm planning to watch the DREAM MUSIC PARK with Gubsi.. I don't know if i'll get another chance to watch her concert in the future again since i don't know yet whether i can stay in Japan longer or not

@Genie: take ur time & take a good rest
I wanna see the disco ball shot so bad!!

[LacusClyne]

here goes the picture first, please click spoilers, massive photos alert.

Spoiler:

Koda Kuma mascot

Spoiler:

the lottery booth

Spoiler:

the cd booth

Spoiler:

the tour goodies that i bought



my boarding pass

front



back



inside the arena

Spoiler:

unofficial goodies booth

Spoiler:

and finally pictures that everyone is waiting for:

her outfits

Lick me/Super Star/Stay/Koi No Tsubomi



Got To Be Real



screen movie: when kuu wears the spacesuit to go out to the outer space to repair the spaceship



ai no uta



for more performance pics, please go to my blog, link is in my siggy.

[Luja.]

Lacus, thank you soooo so so so soooo much for all the pictures!!
So many.. I feel like I was there for a second
You and Lee^Chan are my heroes

And the outfits are so wonderful.. the first is normal, but Got to be real looks great :O and Ai no uta looks beautiful!

[maze]

amazing pictures, lacus

I'm gonna die right now, this tour looks EPIC omg
the Got To Be Real outfit is a WIN! so Candyman-ish!

[ExodusUK]

Thanks for the review guys, sounds like a good show!



Like Endless Sorrow at Dome tour, right??

[Kingdom]

oh wow, she looks so cute with the blonde farrah fawcett hair!

[Cherry Dynamite]

Thanks for the Reviews and the Pictures. Totally awesome.

[♥Rain]

wow amazing! thank you for the reviews and pictures. i'm so excited for this tour *__*

the disco ball shot is amazing. though i think she should have had a globe instead! would have fitted in with the whole space ship thing but i think the disco fits in with the interlude movie before it where the people are clubbing?

[Polyrhythm]

For some reason I kind of like the concept of this tour way more than the Trick Tour