[Koda Kumi] The 178th thread - Summer of Love 2015

[se7entheaven]

^ I got a blue one. Lol.
During the MC someone's phone rang and Kuu was like "Ehhhhhh", followed by her "calling gesture" as she said "Hello?". Then the guy was like "SORRY!!!" And she said "It's okay".

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by se7entheaven

^ I got a blue one. Lol.
During the MC someone's phone rang and Kuu was like "Ehhhhhh", followed by her "calling gesture" as she said "Hello?". Then the guy was like "SORRY!!!" And she said "It's okay".

ahahaha yeah someone's phone rang when she was talking prior to the end before she sang walk xD

At least she was a good sport when that happened x)

[dumbellz]

Well luckily it's a normal phone ringtone. .. can you imagine it's some other artists song? Lol.... that person should switch to silent mode!!!

I did heartshape to her and she did back to me!!! She is so perfect!!! Her body!!! Omg

[jiarongisme]

So!! Here's the experience I had today with the Kuu concert. It was amazing!

Spoiler:

So Meat Pao and I went to the venue at around 5pm to get the goods and also have dinner before the concert. There were actually no one getting the goods while we were there. I guess they actually got it when the booth first opened at 12pm. To our disappointment, there weren't any banners or photo ops for us to take photos. The set up was rather small scale altogether. Whatever that Karen and her sister had posted on their respective Twitter accounts were it. There were nothing more. I guess that was the only disappointment to the overall experience.

Anyway, I bought one of the button badges, the brochure and also the light stick. I also renewed my Koda Gumi membership and they gave me some bonus items too. 4 of the latest Koda Gumi magazines and a sticker.


Not pictured: 15th anniversary sticker

Fast forward to queueing to enter. My friends and I had tickets number 16 - 18. So we were the first few to enter the theatre. Some fans actually ran for their standing area. We kinda did too. But it's great because we managed to stand in the first row!! We were SO near to the stage! It's literally just 2 metres away and the view was AMAZING. We entered 30 minutes before the show started so it wasn't really a long wait.



They were playing some urban tracks and they were great. All of a sudden, the lights were switched off. Not even dimmed. It took us by surprise for a bit. But that's also when the screams started.

01. Introduction ~WALK OF MY LIFE~
The dancers entered and the crowd got really hyped! I recognized the outfit though. I think it's from the opening segment of TRICK tour?

02. POP DIVA
In the intro, that's when Kuu entered from the back of the stage, below the screen. Outfit was the giant fur coat and she opened it up to reveal the bikini mid song. Jesus, her legs are out of this world. The house went crazy pretty much. The song can actually be pretty annoying when you listen to it but it's so fun live! Especially the chorus where we were all just screaming along.

03. Mercedes
I didn't think much of it. I enjoyed it though. She took out the fur coat in the end and threw it off stage.

04. House Party
So. Much. Fun! We were all screaming along to the chorus and of course, THE ROOF, THE ROOF, THE ROOF IS ON FIRE! The choreography was great too! The screen showed Kuu singing along to the song. Everything looked very pop art and colorful.

05. Poppin' love cocktail
Your usual towel spinning shebang. I didn't buy the towel so I spun my light stick instead. Really fun too! That's when she started walking to the left and right of the stage. SHE WAS SO CLOSE!!

06. IS THIS TRAP?
This was one of the performances that I was looking forward to the most. It's such a banger tbh! We were all jumping during the ohhhh! part. My only gripe is that they cut out the second verse and chorus.

-Interlude video-
Pretty cool. Basically she showed her live history that were recorded on DVD. It ended with a little clip of WALK OF MY LIFE from the latest arena tour in Japan. It looked really beautifully filmed! I guess it was also sort of a preview of what outfit was next.

07. Ai no Uta
She walked onto the stage in the green dress. Beautiful performance, she walked around the stage during this. I guess I'm one of the few Kuu fans that actually love this song to bits so to see this performed live was great.

08. Sometimes Dreams Come True
Got her mic stand from backstage and dragged it to the center of the stage. Pretty damn badass. It was great because english lyrics of the song was being shown on the screen. Honestly, even for the WOML arena tour, I was expecting her to turn it into some sort of a fun or cutesy performance. But it was pretty badass. Like a rock performance. Just her standing behind the mic stand and singing. I loved it.

09. WALK OF MY LIFE
No piano. Boo. She sounded alright. Again, english lyrics on the screen. Really touching tbh. At some points it sounded like 'so begins the wook of my life' though lol.

-Invitation-
One of her new male dancers came on stage, and the screen showed that a lucky audience member had the chance to go up on stage to choose a song to be performed. So he was just walking around stage with the invitation letter and teasing the audience to get them all hyped up.

He ended up getting a girl in the middle of the crowd named to go up on stage. When he went down to get the girl, Kuu came in in a pretty sparkly dress, like the one in the WOML tour.

When both the girl and Kuu sat down on the couch, Kuu asked the girl for her name, to which she said that her name was Natsumi. She got the audience to clap for her and then realised that the name was Japanese. She asked if she was actually Japanese but Natsumi then said that that was actually her cosplay name.

Natsumi chose Suki de, Suki de, Suki de. And so, the performance starts.

10. Suki de, Suki de, Suki de. (Fan's request)
It's pretty cool because the screen showed 'To natsumi, Suki de, Suki de, Suki de.' And the Japanese lyrics started showing. She sounded alright, kinda strained at some parts. But omg, there was so much interaction with Natsumi! Kuu leaned on her shoulder, held her hand, patted her back. I was so envious.

11. Someday
Kuu sent Natsumi off and she started singing the first line of Someday. Everyone knew to sing along! Pretty sweet performance.

12. Dance In The Rain
Kuu stood there in the dress and sang. No tissue dance, but it's fine. Again, sounded pretty strained. We all sang along during the oh~ part before the chorus.

-Interlude video-
Album history video. They showed the one PV clip that were from each studio/cover album. It ended with SUMMER of LOVE, showing the clips from EX TAPE and HURRICANE.

13. HURRICANE
She came out with a leather bra top with shorts and what seemed like the shawl from the dance section of Premium Night ~Love & Songs~ and it covered the shorts she was wearing. I think she changed her make up too! Heavier eyeshadow with red lipstick. Omg the song is such a bop. It's a great dance track. I loved it. The PV seemed pretty boring though. But the choreography was on fire.

14. Like It
Pretty standard Like It performance. I was dancing and jamming to it pretty much.

15. real Emotion
I guess those who didn't look up the setlist beforehand were pleasantly surprised. It was really nice because she got everyone to sing along to the chorus and we all did!

16. Dance part (Interlude ~Dance~)
It was basically a dancers introduction section. Omg Kuu's new male dancers are so cute. Heh.

17. TABOO
She came out with a change of top and removed the shawl. It was similar to the KXVK long T-shirt. Great performance. Cut short though. No second verse and chorus again.

18. BE MY BABY ~ LOADED
Another performance I was looking forward to. They didn't cut out much from both songs. And I thoroughly enjoyed them both!! It's so fun to dance along to BE MY BABY and sing along to LOADED!

19. LIFE so GOOD!!
Another towel spinning song. Really fun but she did sound rather tired. No confetti though! I was expecting it.

-Encore-
So the screen before the show started showed up again. Everyone was shouting for an encore. I think some Japanese fans wanted everyone to sing for Kuu but it didn't really happen at the beginning so we shouted encore. We ended up singing TAKE BACK though!

EN1. Medley (Cutie Honey / Lady Go! / WIND / I'll be there / Butterfly)
They didn't cut that much from the songs actually! I was expecting her to just sing the choruses for each but most of them had a verse and their respective bridges too! Cutie Honey was fun! Okay, so here's the thing with Lady Go!. She has this dance during the chorus where we waved our hand and then reached out and wiggle out fingers. On one of the choruses when she stood in the middle of the stage, she turned into my general direction and so I tried to get her attention. And guess what, she saw me! So we actually did the dance together! I was so excited!! Everything else was great.

EN2. LALALALALA
It was alright. Singing along to the lalalalalas. She did sound a little strained though. That's a pattern I've noticed in this concert.

-Talk-
So she said hi to Singapore and also to her Japanese fans that came to Singapore for the show. She started talking about how the concept of the show and her 15th anniversary tied in with WALK OF MY LIFE. And basically told us all that it's okay to chase our dreams and ignore what the naysayers say. A translation of the message was scrolling through the back. And yes, someone's phone rang in the middle of Kuu's speech and she was like EH?! Mimicked picking up a phone and said Hello? The guy shouted sorry and Kuu said it's okay! It was a really cute moment.

EN3. walk
As usual, she ended the concert with walk. She started to choke up and cry a bit in the middle of the song. Left the stage after saying thanks.

A clip played at the end. I'm assuming it's from the WOML tour. She's walking through the streets of her 15th anniversary city - buildings with billboards of her past covers and videos - and walking towards a light. While she was walking she, there were some words at the bottom, basically it's the gist of the tiny speech she made before walk. After that it faded to black and WALK OF MY LIFE came up on the screen. Then the MY got replaced by YOUR so it became WALK OF YOUR LIFE.

After walk, everyone shouted for her to come back. And so she did, she thanked everyone again and the dancers came out and they took a final bow. This is what the screen showed after the show ended:

Overall, it was an amazing night. We all know Kuu is about big shows and creating a big spectacle in her concerts. But this is a refreshing change and honestly, I was a bit worried if things would be bare and she would lose herself on a stripped down show. Turns out, she commanded the stage pretty damn well. I guess that's why she's dubbed the queen of live. She does so well in any setting. I would love to see her up close again, just like tonight. I was literally 2m away from her! It's so great to see her like that. She looked genuinely happy. If I could see her now I would definitely thank her for an amazing night and thank her for her music. I've been fan of hers for about 8 years now (ever since FREAKY) and I'm so so so happy to finally see her live. It's something that I can't really put into words but I guess the closest adjectives would be happy and grateful.

[Toniayu123]

@jiarongisme thanks for your review!! It seems it was an awesome concert

[Honey_Jae]

I love her hair. It's so beautiful *-*

[KarenPang]

I finally finished my LONG (lengthy & rather long winded) concert report on Kuu's 1st Singapore concert X_X

http://minlilin.livejournal.com/1619047.html

And Jia Rong , from 1 Kuu fan to another , I'm happy for you & Travis ! Likewise to all whom saw Kuu at her 1st concert in Singapore earlier on

I don't think we were able to forget how magical 18th July 2015 was for everyone

[oaristos]

I'm so happy for all of you who attended the concert!

[koumori]

Thanks for the reviews everyone It seems like it was an awesome concert!

[Gustavopc]

Thanks for your reviews! I read them with a smile on my face hahaha It's pretty clear it was a fun and awesome concert, and it's also amazing how well received Kuu was at Singapore!

[Minttulatte]

You lucky people, you. I'm happy for you. I wish I was able to attend that concert, too. But I was born in bloody Europe. -.-

SHE SANG SUKI DE, SUKI DE, SUKI DE?! OMFG! That's like... one of my top 5 favorite Kuu ballads ever! I hope we get to see that performance!

[Beauty4123]

Originally Posted by Corvina

Spoiler:

Summary of Happy Nuts:

Thanks to Emi Takahashi and KK Spanish Fan page on FB

What a flawless, stunning & perfect photoshoot. I love it all! Especially the last two pics.

Originally Posted by maze

pictures of SoL Bluray edition

Spoiler:

Gooorgeous!

[jean-baptiste]

Although I was absolutely disappointed with the content of Summer of Love release, I caved in and pre-ordered it...damn the collector in me lol.

[melissalove]

Thanks for the reviews. Sounds like an unforgettable experience.

[chocopockymaster]

Originally Posted by jiarongisme

They gave me some bonus items too. 4 of the latest Koda Gumi magazines and a sticker.

omg back issues of koda gumi mags?!? WANT

Jesus, her legs are out of this world.

Right??? homegirl's body is INSANE. Especially when you see her that close in person *__*

04. House Party
So. Much. Fun! We were all screaming along to the chorus and of course, THE ROOF, THE ROOF, THE ROOF IS ON FIRE! The choreography was great too! The screen showed Kuu singing along to the song. Everything looked very pop art and colorful.

omg yaaaaas I loved House Party on the album but the live performance was hella fun

08. Sometimes Dreams Come True
Got her mic stand from backstage and dragged it to the center of the stage. Pretty damn badass. It was great because english lyrics of the song was being shown on the screen. Honestly, even for the WOML arena tour, I was expecting her to turn it into some sort of a fun or cutesy performance. But it was pretty badass. Like a rock performance. Just her standing behind the mic stand and singing. I loved it.

Honestly, this was one of my favorite performances from the arena tour. I loved it so much because it's basically her, with a mike, minimal effects, in a badass dress, singing her ass off--it's like the epitome of what the song is about, and it gave me chills. I'm glad they didn't change the performance for the Asia tour! Did they have a wind machine going too?

Kuu asked the girl for her name, to which she said that her name was Natsumi. She got the audience to clap for her and then realised that the name was Japanese. She asked if she was actually Japanese but Natsumi then said that that was actually her cosplay name.

I find this incredibly pretentious for some reason.

10. Suki de, Suki de, Suki de. (Fan's request)
It's pretty cool because the screen showed 'To natsumi, Suki de, Suki de, Suki de.'

Honestly, her staff are awesome about making the screens interactive with fans. I'm not sure how to describe it, really? But anyone who's gone to a Kuu concert and gets to their seats early probably knows what I mean; they pan the cameras around the audience to different people and type out prompts that they want the person they're filming to do (wave your fans, do a peace sign, kiss your girlfriend, etc.) so it's nice to see that they kind of carried that over and personalized things a bit

13. HURRICANE
She came out with a leather bra top with shorts and what seemed like the shawl from the dance section of Premium Night ~Love & Songs~ and it covered the shorts she was wearing. I think she changed her make up too! Heavier eyeshadow with red lipstick. Omg the song is such a bop. It's a great dance track. I loved it. The PV seemed pretty boring though. But the choreography was on fire.

She changed her makeup for the arena tour setlist too, iirc--much darker lipstick, stronger eyes, etc. (though HURRICANE came later on in that segment)

16. Dance part (Interlude ~Dance~)
It was basically a dancers introduction section. Omg Kuu's new male dancers are so cute. Heh.

omg did they have the video showing where it was like everyone was getting booked into a police station/having their mug shots taken?!?

A clip played at the end. I'm assuming it's from the WOML tour. She's walking through the streets of her 15th anniversary city - buildings with billboards of her past covers and videos - and walking towards a light. While she was walking she, there were some words at the bottom, basically it's the gist of the tiny speech she made before walk. After that it faded to black and WALK OF MY LIFE came up on the screen. Then the MY got replaced by YOUR so it became WALK OF YOUR LIFE.

Yep, that was at the end of the arena tour all my teeeeeears

So glad you guys had an amazing time!!! I hope she comes back to SG again for you soon!

[jiarongisme]

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

omg back issues of koda gumi mags?!? WANT

It's essentially all the issues that were up on Koda Gumi ever since the international FC has opened!

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

Right??? homegirl's body is INSANE. Especially when you see her that close in person *__*

Omg, I can't emphasise how hot she is. Especially during the last section of the main show.

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

Honestly, this was one of my favorite performances from the arena tour. I loved it so much because it's basically her, with a mike, minimal effects, in a badass dress, singing her ass off--it's like the epitome of what the song is about, and it gave me chills. I'm glad they didn't change the performance for the Asia tour! Did they have a wind machine going too?

No wind here! But still really enjoyable.

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

omg did they have the video showing where it was like everyone was getting booked into a police station/having their mug shots taken?!?

Yes! So cool!

Oh! I forgot to mention this! The dancers went off stage during the medley in the encore, I think it was during WIND, with buckets of the balls. Not all were autographed actually! My friend got a plain one ahahaha. That said, my hands and one of the female dancers (MINAMI I think) brushed against each other hehe. She's got sweaty palms

[freedreamer]

Reading all the reviews here from all these awesome like-minded Kuu fans...and in my mind, IM MISSING HER ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!! KUU-CHAN!!!!! ><

She was one heck of a performer..I just can't. The atmosphere was heated for such a small venue (I was honestly shocked when I walked into that Cube LOL) but ahh omg...Kuu was on fire (no pun intended LOL). But being a small venue, everything was so intimate. She was just THERE! Standing 3m from us OMG...Something you won't even get in Japan!

[freedreamer]

Reading all the reviews here from all these awesome like-minded Kuu fans...and in my mind, IM MISSING HER ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!! KUU-CHAN!!!!! ><

She was one heck of a performer..I just can't. The atmosphere was heated for such a small venue (I was honestly shocked when I walked into that Cube LOL) but ahh omg...Kuu was on fire (no pun intended LOL). But being a small venue, everything was so intimate. She was just THERE! Standing 3m from us OMG...Something you won't even get in Japan!

[KarenPang]

I used pictures from last weekend's Taipei concerts of her & summarised what she sang when she wore these outfits



POP DIVA



Kuu took off her coat after she sang POP DIVA which revealed the above outfit

- Mercedes
- House Party
- Poppin' love cocktail Feat TEEDA
- IS THIS TRAP?



- Ai no Uta
- Sometimes Dreams Come True
- WALK OF MY LIFE



- HURRICANE
- Like It
- real Emotion



When that screen of Kuu flashed onscreen , it happened during the Dance battle where Kuu danced 1st followed by her 5 dancers (2 females 3 males)

My favourite outfit Kuu wore last night was definitely the green dress with the headpiece when she sang her ballads but then again she looked flawless from start til end

I didn't repost the encore photos as she wore a different outfit from what she wore last weekend

Also , prior to the end of IS THIS TRAP? , instead of singing 'Midnight in Tokyo' , Kuu sang 'Midnight in Singapore'

===

The Strait Times Singapore - J-pop queen Koda Kumi delivers on first solo concert in Singapore

Awesome concert report that The Strait Times wrote <3 I put it in a spoiler mode cos it's quite long but well written

Spoiler:

KODA KUMI ASIA LIVE 2015

SCAPE The Ground Theatre/Saturday

It has been a long 15-year wait for Koda Kumi fans to catch their idol's first solo concert in Singapore. With so much fervid anticipation, the Japanese pop singer did not disappoint as she sang and danced with explosive gusto in front of a full-capacity crowd at The Ground Theatre on Saturday.

In between one of Kumi's six costume changes, the audience was treated to clips of her past concert tours - dramatically elaborate productions of a younger, baby-faced Kumi emerging from a water-filled aquarium like a mermaid and brazenly swinging from a rope in the air a la Tarzan .

For those who were expecting acts of a similar grandiose scale, there were none on Saturday. Like some of Kumi's previous stops in Japan for her recently-concluded 15th Anniversary arena tour, the set at The Ground Theatre was kept to a bare minimum save for a big screen to air video projections.

Not that the lack of embellishments mattered. Dubbed the "Queen of Live", the singer captivated the 700-strong crowd of mostly middle-aged working professionals who would have followed her career since it started in the new millennium. Her high-octane performance was commanding and dance routines energetic throughout the two-hour concert. She powered through a 20-song set list made up of singles from her latest album Walk Of My Life and older songs, delivering hit after hit all on-key in her rich, husky voice.

It was a more mature showing from the sex siren, known for her provocative dance moves and skin-baring style in her music videos; perhaps even the dawn of a new age of sorts.

After all, at a press conference with the media on the eve of her concert here, the mother-of-one hinted at a desire to move on from her sexy image and instead be regarded as a "strong and independent female" by her fans.

The opening of the concert was one of the few glimpses of the singer's playful sex appeal.

Flanked by a five-man dance crew, Kumi kicked off the evening with a string of fast-paced, catchy tunes such as Pop Diva (2011), House Party (2015) and Poppin' Love Cocktail (2011). Clad in a colourful neon two-piece swimwear underneath an oversized coat (which she later removed), the atmosphere was akin to a frothy summer beach party as she shook her hips wildly onstage and danced with beach towels.

It was on the slower emotionally-fuelled numbers where her powerhouse vocals shone. Gracefully striding across the stage alone in a full-length gown, she passionately belted out hit love ballad Ai no Uta (2007) and the searingly intense Walk Of My Life (2015) with raw conviction.

The singer then returned in various edgy, punk-rocker outfits to get the crowd pumping again with tracks such as the hard-hitting dance song Taboo (2008) and the poppy Real Emotion (2003), theme song of video game Final Fantasy X-2.

Midway through the concert, one lucky fan was invited onstage and handed a book by Kumi herself to choose any song of hers. It was an intimate and sincere gesture from the artist, who proceeded to serenade the clearly overwrought female fan seated beside her on a white couch.

The highlight of the night indisputably came towards the end, when the singer returned onstage for an encore. With English subtitles flashing on the screen behind her, the Japanese-speaking artist was visibly emotional as she addressed the 15th anniversary milestone of her career and thanked her fans profusely for supporting her all these years.

"'You're never going to realise a big dream like that.' I've been on the receiving end of those words many times to the extent that I've had times where I actually had thoughts about quitting," she said as she struggled to hold back tears.

"I'm sure for everyone here, there are times when you wonder what other people think but your life is yours and I hope you will not be wavered by someone else's opinion," she added to rapturous applause.

It was strikingly symbolic that the singer chose to come full circle for her final song: a rousing rendition of the single Walk from her debut album (2002). As Kumi raised her arm up towards the crowd emphatically, there could not have been a more fitting way to close the show.

Photos from last night

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyl...t-in-singapore

[KarenPang]

From Kuu's LINE account

LINE (19-07-2015)
Singaporean thank you(ハート)

And that's the new outfit she wore at the encore segment last night