To sell doms ayu need to stop her activity for some time. And they return with new material and huge promotion

^Domes are out of reach nowadays and I don't think she can do anything about it anymore.

I think that Avex has lowered the budget given to Ayumi. All the big shows cost a lot of money, and right now Auy do not give as much profit for Avex as she used to. They do not even try to release DVD's anymore.
And i think that 50 small concerts can give more money rather than few big shows. Cost wise it is easier to make hall show rather than pay all staff to organize big arena event, pay for big stage, for more dancers and special effects...
For us it is much better to see one great performance, later released on BluRay. For Ayumi and Avex, a lot of small concerts is the way to go as they can earn more money. The era of Hamasaki is over as not many young people listen old lady, so best thing they can do is to take as much money as they can using her fading fame.

If Kuu can still get DVDs released then I don't see why ayu couldn't.

Also one comment earlier said that ayu is not as close to her fans in the sense of doing meet & greets at her shows, that's true, she doesn't. However she also took photos with them at train stations (?) during AT16, as well as talking to them when one of the hall concerts was cancelled.

Also, her dome time is pretty much over. Yet I don't see her selling out a dome until 2010 as a stretch since several artists still managed to do so with sales lower than (m)u. Maybe just not as many concerts.

Actually I don't think this is totally true. Take AAA for example - they sell around 50 000 cds each time they release something. They've only every had 1-2 bigger hits. They did domes a couple of times in the last few years. The thing is they constantly release and appear on TV shows - they are out there and people know who they are, even though they aren't big.

Of course Ayu could do a world tour and also a dome concert. Other artists do this all the time. She wouldn't be able to do a whole dome tour, but a big live a Tokyo Dome would be no problem, if promoted right. Also a wourld tour would be no problem. Most dates in Asia, some in Europe (especially Germany and France as well es UK) and maybe one or two in the US as well as South America.
Thing is, even though her fan base shrunk a lot during the last few years, there still is a fan base. What I worry about is her boring her fan base with doing one thing over and over again. If she wouldn't stick with the same thing for years, which gets boring after some time, she wouldn't bore her fans that much.
We saw this with a lot of other things too. Things that at first were exciting and cool she over used. This time it's her touring again and again and again and again in halls.
Ayu managed what not many artists after being THAT big after her prime managed to do, cultivating an extremely loyal fan base. She deserves this fan base. But if she wants to keep it, she needs to do what she did to build this fan base. She needs to reinvent herself and to take risks again.
Ayu is kinda a living legend. Of course she could do a world tour. X Japan also did very small venues after they reunited in order to check out if there is demand. There was. No one knew back then if they could really do a world tour abymore and in fan forums everyone was skeptical too. But if you don't try, you can't succeed. In the end they did Madison Square Garden and Wembley as well as Coachella. People from all over the world came to Wembley. If promoted right Ayu could definitely do some halls in Europe and Asia and call it a world tour.
After all she is an amasing live performer and still Hamasaki Ayumi, which counts for something. Also in Europe, from what I know, she has a pretty strong fanbase, I truly think this wouldn't be an issue.

Keyword performer. If it comes down to a stripped down version of her show, I'm not sure she can carry the show with her vocals. As someone said, foreign audience may not be so forgiving. The videos would probably leak as well. But maybe I'm wrong and nobody expects DVD quality singing anyway.

If it's a rock-gig without too many ballads, she could still pull off a decent show. She could do a couple of acoustic tracks and sound super pleasant to the ear of people who aren't accustomed to her way of singing.

Don't get me wrong, disregarding the fact she screams, I like the way she sings.

Well, there are people who would pay to watch stripped down shows from people like Madonna or Mylene Farmer, who also happen to be atrocious singers, worst than Ayu.

Even if her vocals aren't 100%, she can really sell the emotion a song asks for on a simple setting, and there are people who would pay for that even if the singing is not always spot on.

I mean, Utada is a way worst live singer and she did a scalled down tour through the USA and it all worked. :B

She could do something like her COUNTDOWN LIVE 2005-2006 I think is her most strip down concert ever (my fav conecert btw) and her voice was on point, now she needs the props and dancers to distract from her voice, it wouldn't be the same.


^ Madonna, farmer and Utada WORST SINGERS than ayu?... baby...:laugh

If she's all about the emotions she should be an actress, I wouldn't pay to see her live if she's just going to be just extending her arms with crazy looks in her eyes and rolling around on the floor because she's "feeling" too much. I want her to SING and she doesn't.

I mean, I know you are in love with ayumi but... baby... :laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh

Than I don't get why are you still here, because she always was like this and always will be

You don't have any idea about what singing is, how to sing and which things are important when you're performing for a public. If you're an Ayu hater then it's ok, but this sounds ridiculous.

And sorry for the tone of my post, but I can't be quiet anymore lol

@minkAYuko

Yeap, they are all worst singers than Ayu. Specially Hikki, who also happens to be my favorite musician ever. It's not my fault you follow them through overedited DVD footage or is one of those tone deaf Hikki stans who believe Kremlin Dusk live at UU is the best invention since sliced bread, when she actually missed way more notes than she hitted on that, even after it being edited.

They all have way more pleasant tones than Ayu, what it's an easy feat because Ayu actually has a pretty unpleasant tone. And her singing was always kind of terrible. But she never murdered a song in the level Hikki murders Kremlin Dusk, Madonna murdered the Prince tribute and Mylene murders pretty much anything she sings live, as she mostly lip syncs.

And by your logic they all should be actresses, and not singers, as none of them have a good enough technique to be considered anything close to a vocalist, even if them all excell on the emotional delivery.

I don't really get why someone who clearly hates Ayu keeps on coming in here to trash her. Why don't you get a better hobbie, or a job, or something?

Have you even watched POM 2018 ? There were no props and half of the concert was without any dancers on stage. Her voice was on point the whole time (and it's not just the DVD because i attended the concert twice).

JTB 3 had Ayu alone on stage for a great amount of time. People complaining Ayu's concerts are too big nowadays are just plain stupid, her concerts were mostly all prop filled monsters since the begining.

Older fan turning hater ....definitely the worst...
I must say that Ayu has always been more or less pitchy over the years so fans pretty much know what to expect ... especially since she is deaf.

Oh, I guess I am the only one who didn't think minkAYuko's posts were hateful.
Strongly opinionated, yes. Like all of your posts are. So I don't get it, why we treat him as if he is an hater/troll.

^ To be fair, if you take in consideration all of his posts in every thread related to Ayu he really sounds like an ex-fan now hater, the way he talks about her implies he just doesn't like her at all (as I said, just read his comments on other thread, not just this one) but he's not really rude and this is a forum where we all express our opinions, no matter how bitter they are, as long as they aren't rude towards anyone in particular :think

The hostility in this thread is getting to be too much. There is no point discussing anything in these current conditions.:tipsy

No, you were not the only one. Their opinion was interesting to read and shouldn't be attacked.

That's hilarious and on point to be honest. I'm sorry that you're getting attacked.


False. It's Ayu who had been lip syncing several songs per concert for years (I don't know if she still does). Farmer only lip synced the first verse of "À force de…", the opening song from "Timeless 2013" tour. She used loud backing track in choruses of many songs in Mylemium Tour, but that's about it. She does not lip sync, even with backing track she's singing over it and numerous fan recordings with wrong lyrics, off-key notes and improvisations prove it. There are also recordings from in-ear monitors. Or are you referring to TV lives? 99% of them were lipped, yes.

It's not OK to call people names.

For me Ayu, Utada and Mylene are all in the same category for the most part: beautiful and talented women who write their own lyrics, have an amazing catalog of songs, but are disappointing live singers. They all try to sing out of their range.
They all tend to go off-key a lot, however Ayu is definitely not better, she's the only one who screams, her voice doesn't sound like it comes out naturally, it often feels forced. Mylene is able to sell emotions too, but without portraying Ayu's crazy drama on stage.
Utada's vocals depend on the day, she's hit or miss, sometimes she can suprise me with decent vocals, sometimes she is nasally and out of tune.
Ayu and Mylene were not always that bad. Ayu used not to scream, which made a huge difference and she was better at hitting notes. Mylene damaged her voice by decades of smoking, her voice used to be clearer, stronger and she was actually good at hitting notes.

If I remember correctly you were ranting about embarassing performance of What Is Forever Love. Why can't other users complain too?