Thoughts on COUNTDOWN LIVE 2007-2008 Anniversary

[lfe.]

i think it was a pretty good concert. the stage was amazing, avex really stretched the budget this year for the 10 year. the costumes were also great and i dont think i disliked any of them. i think the best performance was Ladies Night, the dancers really made that the ultimate performance of the concert. i liked the fated/together when performance also. shuya is a great dancer and its nice to see hes doing the solos recently. nice lil transition after fated when he leaves the stage. ayu is faced away while he does this, she turns and looks for him only to see he is gone. then, what do you know, the next song is together when hehe. her other new songs from GUILTY like glitter & my all were performed well in the sense that they can possibly be new concert staplers in the future.

the performances of her old songs were mainly good. i was really disappointed by her SURREAL performance. since it is one of my fav songs from her i was really pumped to see it in the tracklist but her voice was really off, it got worse towards the end of the song, and no dancers! the dance to SURREAL is really cool (if u see in CDL 05-06 & AT 05) and its a shame it wasnt performed. other than that i do not think she struggled as much as some people say, or i dont think she struggled much at all. sounded a bit different from her recent concerts, but i think she generally sang most of her songs well.

Best of CDL 06-07 was my favorite CDL before this and i think this one ranks up there also. dunno if i would rank it higher than the 06-07 concert, but i was very pleased with it.

i noticed in recent years, the more concerts ayu holds, the more touchy-touchy she gets with shuya! it just keeps going at an increasing rate! i still bet big bucks they will hook up someday in the future lol

[Lumix]

Aww, poor Ayu, she sounds pretty terrible most of the time. =/

But RAINBOW and Together when... were really good I think! SURREAL was a total fail.

I was skipping it quite some, I really tried to not to in the beginning, but it really wasn't her best show.

I enjoyed it anyway!

Thanks Ayu, I love you.

[AyUmIXx]

her slow songs she did great..
she did great on Shotsugyou shashin~

[~juJu~]

I had high expectations for this CDL.

I got the phone call on the 30th from my boyfriend (hilarydufffanboy) who attended the show and he gave me the full low down. it sounded great.

anyway he finally gave me the TV version today (only got back from europe on monday, hadnt had time to download...) and i watched it all.

i'm impressed with the new stage. Love the new costumes. I like the setlist too (though i'm guessing this means there will be few GUILTY songs in the next tour...)

but her voice is just off. SURREAL was pretty bad IMO. RAINBOW was a bit poor and i didn't like how she did the countdown in the song, that just wrecked it for me.
STEP you was bleh and Ladies Night was fun but again her voice wasn't that good.

I skipped the last three songs in the show... and i also skipped Humming + MY ALL.

I'm just really sad about her voice... i'm sure it's because of the ear which can't be helped, but that's what makes this show not as good for me, though it still is my favourite CDL at the moment.

the stage will be used for this year's ASIA TOUR i'm sure, i just hope there will be more surprises in stall for us~~ and i hope no more ballad song on the platform with dancers around it !!!!! and a longer encore.

oh yeah.
ps. Peco + Princess' mics need to be turned down : P

[nomizo31]

when your there live - the vocals are properly leveled - its just that the broadcaster has only limited control over what they recieve on the night. thats why peco and princess sound a bit louder.

also ayu has never re-used a stage setup for her concerts, she has used elements of the stageing, but never has she just used the same stage.

freedreamer: how can you skip MY ALL? haha how did you practice the dance? O_O

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by nomizo31

freedreamer: how can you skip MY ALL? haha how did you practice the dance? O_O

u quoted the wrong guy....

[~juJu~]

CDL 06-07 and ASIA TOUR 2007 have the same stage. It's almost identical to ARENA TOUR 2005 too. AT06 was slightly different with a plane theme and more relying on the huge moving screens which i love. i love the lights on that concert actually.

Though it's the same tricks every time. Cages for NEVER EVER > 1 LOVE. Ballad platform for Moments > Pride > part of Me. etc etc etc.

[asainthug9]

It's been a while since I've been on an Ayu forum. I had the chance to go to Japan for the holidays and I even got lucky and got tickets to see her Countdown show. It's probably my first and last show I will ever see of Ayu but every single minute of it was awesome! Her singing was great and I got some pretty good seats too. I dunno what else to say but I am just glad that I had the opportunity to see her live after listening to her music for over 7 years.
I've watched her past CDL shows with the same impression that her singing wasnt gonna be that great, but she hit all her notes and her voice was perfect. She did have to wear some ear pieces though, that she had to keep readjusting during the show they they always fell off.

[Surreal]

Oh my god, what happened to her? SURREAL was soooo bad! (( I sure hope it's not the ear thing....

[Sommernacht~]

I LOVED this CDL. It's much better than last year's imo, especially the feeling was so... exciting and happy! I also loved the songs she peformed, her performance of TW... made me love this song.

[namiie]

Originally Posted by Sommernacht~

I LOVED this CDL. It's much better than last year's imo, especially the feeling was so... exciting and happy! I also loved the songs she peformed, her performance of TW... made me love this song.

I already loved Together When..., but the CDL performance was definitely the best live of it Ayu's done. The vocals were the best out of the whole thing

[Minttulatte]

I've seen this concert too, and I guess I'm gonna say something about the performances.

0. starting over
I love starting over intro. It's really nice and brings memories back to me. :3 This is the only time I've seen starting over as a concert opening song, but I liked it. Those light flashes were nice and I like green. Looked a lot like Not yet from CDL 06-07, but I think this was even better. There was excitement in the air, and I was excited myself too. And I was just watching it! :0 It's good thing though.

1. talkin' 2 myself
Talkin' 2 myself is one of my favourite Ayu songs. I love this song a lot. It sounded nice on live and was a good opening for this concert, I think. Ayu's outfit was really nice, I liked that. She looked really nice in there, and the dance of the song was performed. I love talkin' 2 myself's dance, it's so sweet and awesome. And the band introduction after this was pretty funny.

2. STEP you
STEP you's performance was a bit boring in my opinion. I think it might have been too cute or something. But I really like the song. It makes me so happy everytime I hear it. Ayu's schoolgirl clothes were nice and I liked them too. I think her voice was better in this than in Ladies Night.

3. intro + Ladies Night
I haven't ever liked Ladies Night live performances. I've seen the one in AT 06, but I didn't like that either. She was way too cute, and she was a lot the same in this too. And that woman in black clothes was really a surprise, I thought it was Ayu herself, but she wasn't, which is nice. Ladies Night is ok song and I laughed at that woman in black. Those male dancers running after her was comical.

4. fated
Fated performance was a lot like the one in a' nation 2007. At least in my opinion. I liked it. Ayu sang this really well, and I didn't really see any mistakes in her singing (or I was so sleepy I didn't notice), but fated made my eyes fill with tears. It's so beautiful song with beautiful lyrics and the video on the background was really awesome. That made fated best performance of this concert in my opinion. Ayu's dress was beautiful too.

5. Together When + outro
This is one my favourite songs from Ayu. She looked so nice when she walked down that runway alone. It really had that lonely feeling in it, because there was no dancers with her there. That's cool. And the outro of this song was awesome when that female dancer starts dancing on that ribbon thing. I loved that. It looked really dramatic though, but cool. This is the first time I've seen anything like this in Ayu's concert. :3

6. decision
I thought they had GUILTY on this place but it wasn't! :0 I waited for GUILTY performance, but it was decision. Not that it matters at all, because decision is also my favourite song of Ayu's. Ayu looked great in her clothes, that red was really cool on her and those gloves were awesome. I loved this performance. Ayu's singing was perfect imo. And the lights flashing everywhere were so beautiful and wonderfully organized. Loved it~ <3

7. SURREAL
This didn't sound so great I thought it should had. :< But Ayu was exhausted I guess. But SURREAL is awesome song, but this performance wasn't so great compared to others I've seen before. But that crane was nice.

8. Bold & Delicious
Bold & Delicious <3 This is so awesome song. So powerful and happy and everything. Makes me happy. Ayu's version of this song is better compared to sweetbox's. This performance was even better than the one in ARENA TOUR 2006. This performance was more full of energy and that "older".

~COUNTDOWN~

2007, a year has passed. We walked strongly.
And shared the pain, sorrow, and tears.
And I want to share the joy, and I wish you happiness.
I was never alone.
You were never alone.
Yes. We always stick together.
2008, a new starting point. Let's work hand in hand and with pride, heads up.
I still believe in love. Ayu.
Now some audience members are crying, and AT07 footage is showing. Now making of footage from GUILTY.

I love this. Ayu should make a song about this countdown message. It would work perfectly as a song too. That's beautiful message.

9. RAINBOW
RAINBOW is beautiful song. Ayu really sang this song beautifully. I haven't ever seen RAINBOW being performed live, but I don't think she has sang this song so much. But this was awesome and beautiful. That Countdown in the middle was fine, I liked that too. And it was funny when Ayu started singing again as if nothing had ever happened.

10. evolution
Evolution. <3 This was nice performance. I don't think she sound too bad in this. I liked this a lot. It was like a normal evolution performance with typical hand wavings and everything.

11. Boys & Girls
Does Ayu sing this in every single concert? :0 Well, anyways. This was nice performance.

12. glitter
Glitter is so wonderful song! <3 I love this song's energy and happiness in the music. Though the lyrics are a bit dark or something. But I liked this song a lot. Performance wasn't so bad. Ayu sang this song really nicely.

~encore~

13. untitled ~for her~
Ayu cried. :< That's really understandable though because of that friend who passed away. She looked so sad sometimes while performing and that really made clear that she and this friend of hers were really close. I love this song, it has wonderful and touching lyrics.

14. Sotsugyou Shashin
This is so beautiful ballad. I love this song a lot and Ayu sang this wonderfully. I can't remember she had any problems with vocals on this one.

15. +
This is always so nice. Happy, upbeat and full of energy. I love this song, but independent is better. :3 Performance was cool.

16. Humming 7/4
I've learnt to like this song. I didn't like this at all first, but now I love it. Happiness continues, which makes me feel happy too.

17. MY ALL
Ayu cried through whole song. Or at least she sang oddly. But MY ALL is nice song to end a concert. Too bad Ayu sounded so odd while singing this, but maybe there is a good reason for this.

I loved this concert. It was wonderful. <3

[alternarist]

lol.. the choreography for MY ALL was pretty easy. BUT I JUS SIMPLY CANT FREAKING REMEMBER IT!!

it would be nice if we could do it all together

[AyuGAME]

Powwo - you attend her CDL concert?!

[Minttulatte]

Originally Posted by AyuGAME

Powwo - you attend her CDL concert?!

No I didn't, I live in Finland and I don't have money to journey to Japan. :> I downloaded the concert and watched at home through computer screen. But somehow it just happened that the feeling in there affected to me so that I was really excited. :3

But really, I would pay a lot of money to go to Ayu's concert for real someday.

[AyUmIXx]

at first, before i watched MY ALL performance, i thought that it would be not appropriate to have the choreography, but after watching the performance, the choreographer is so nice...and it's really suitable with the lyric..

[AyuGAME]

^haha i thought you go there...
yeah its every fans dream...to watch ayu concert...
i think i will go to watch her asia tour this year...

[juunigatsu]

On the contrary, I thought glitter was sung badly as compared to her A-nation performance! I dont know if it's the ear since glitter is a new number... surreal and bold & delicious wasnt as good too... but I still love watching and listening to her.

[lfe.]

Originally Posted by juunigatsu

On the contrary, I thought glitter was sung badly as compared to her A-nation performance!

yea her vocals were definitely better during a-nation, but i think the performance was still great. even though its not that popular of a song still seemed to pump the crowd

[sibby]

I WANNA LEARN HOW TO DANCE MY ALL..its one of my favs in GUILTY!~