ayumi hamasaki 『Just the beginning -20- TOUR 2017』
 

ayumi hamasaki Just the beginning -20- TOUR 2017

http://www.ayu2017tour.com/

Groundbreaking

Perfect! I loved the changes she made in the CDL and I want it in a big scale but with better setlist and voice.
And hoping for 2018, I think she will make a 20th anniversary tour again.

so it was just tour =)

OMG this is HALL TOUR，not ARENA TOUR
just like Koda Kumi tour 2014/2016 or Namie Amuro live style 2016-2017


http://i.imgur.com/HTaJHSu.jpg

WHOA. I expected this, but still, when you finally see the announcement, it's shocking :laugh

Here's hoping for updated set-list with significant difference, much better vocals, and an infinitely more flattering hair-do.

Also, the web site uses the A BEST image. I'd love it if this is a foreshadowing of a nigh-mystical A BEST 3, but, knowing ayu, this is probably another bait-and-switch and we'd get A BEST -16th Anniversary Edition- (with nine BluRays and sixteen DVDs!) (all containing the exact same PVs!) (all for just 480,000 Yens!!!!) (!!!!!!111!1!).

J/K I do hope we're getting A BEST 3 someday.

EDIT

OMG THIS IS A HALL TOUR.

60 dates :dead2
It's cool but I'm a bit worried at the same time... I hope the dates will be spaced so she will be able to have good rest inbetween !
Hall tour is definitly a great thing !!

it will longest tour in ayu's history with 60 performances

Longest in her history

yes, in ayu's. Not pretending to the world record =)
30 Seconds to Mars had tour with 304 shows

The TA email says it's starting with an arena, not sure what that referred to...

Haha sorry I didnt mean to insinuate that's what you meant. Just wanted to clarify before any unnecessary comments started :-p


And yes, according to this: "アリーナを皮切りに全国のホールを駆け巡る" this tour will supposedly include arena and hall dates. 皮切り means start, so that could mean just one arena date, or many arena dates that then transitions into hall dates.

It's really weird how like...she's celebrating -before- her 20th anni... but we'll see how everything goes lol. I love the promo image.

wow then she'll probably come to Kyoto!!! :heart
I can't wait to buy a ticket!

also it will be something like BEST tour with hits, right?

I know right, it's like she or her team ran out of ideas so they just told themselves "let's celebrate her 20th anni both in 2017 and 2018"
If she does a super long tour and perform famous songs in 2017 what will be left for 2018 when it's her actual anniversary ?

I felt the same :P but whatever you know. I'm excited to see how this will play out.

a .com not .jp site :P
with 60 preferences, is that how many shows, or how many songs she will sing. If its dates, it might be a asia tour or even a world tour :)
(unprecedented special edition that many fans have been waiting for) this part with it being a .com not . jp could indicate a world tour :P
Unless she has completely redesigned her tour layout. Or it will run into her 20th anniversary, so that's why instead of having to do 2 tours. Or even that costumes and songs will change through out the dates, giving something new to watch though out the year, for the people that go.
So many questions :P

ah so many thoughts ...

sad she's finally having to resort to play halls. yes she can ~reach more fans~ but there are a lot more arenas in japan she's never played in (for example, kagoshima, tokushima, etc.).

i wonder if the title also indicates there'll be no new album this year? she'll take a break from music after the amount we've had over the last two?

and finally... give me those dates!! i have a two week window in which i can go, come on ayu.

Maybe it'll go the way of arena tour 2003-2004?

Was that tour originally announced as being a tour that would be over two years? I wasn't part of this forum at the time so I have no idea.

Yooo I'm so hype! This tour sounds like it's gonna be epic

I think this depends where your fans are located as well. I am not sure how many of the arenas she usually performs in Tokyo area will be available this year...

I need the dates too. As I need to plan the trip. Still debating whether I should do a South Korea~Japan trip this year. I am also very tempted to have a 3 day trip to North Korea :D

@tokyoxjapanxfan The Arena Tour 2003-2004 was from December to April, it wasn't a long tour (two dates in December and two in January, the rest of the dates were in February, March and April).

I'm excited about this "hall tour", maybe we'll finally see less dancers and more Ayu.

And Cher's Farewell Tour 326. :)

I'll be in Asia for a few months so I hope I'll be able to catch a show :) hope the dates will be announced soon as well!

i hope she provides with a new album before she starts the tour!

This sentence in english version news from TA Mail let me hope of Asia/World Tour.

I'm actually glad it's going to be a hall tour. For some reason I enjoy watching those more than actual arena tours lol

Given the amount of stadiums and arenas closed till the Olympics it's not a big surprise going for hall dares :P CDL was great so I have high expectations!

For me it's great the tour this year being a hall tour. Means I will be able to go somewhere for sure with my half year stay in Japan, yay.

I think she might perform first in Saitama/Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka arenas and then switch to halls in other prefectures.

60 dates? omg x-x girl better take really good care of her voice.

I hope this tour is different from the others because I haven't enjoyed her latest ones that much.

Maybe the reason she's been travelling so much is because she's been scouting potential concert venues in Europe?

/wishful thinking

^exactly my thoughts too! One can dream (really hard) ^^

You know that's not artist's job, right?:-P

I think it's safe to assume she's not doing TA tour this year.

It's really nice that it's going to be her longest tour to date, but I have to admit I'm not that excited... especially if they don't change a lot of things from the CDL (which, in my opinion, was pretty bad). I hope a better setlist, better outfits, and PLEASE a better performance of kanariya--we've been waiting for nearly 20 years. :dead

I'm excited for the reason that hopefully she will do lives in September/beginning of October and I will be able to go see her! =) so happy!!

And it's not unheard of to celebrate the 20th anniversary before and until the anniversary itself. kuu did it twice for the 10th/15th anniversaries for example. The tour will probably start after ayu's 19th anniversary in less than two months so it's just rational. Just the beginning probably implies that the celebration will be until the 20th anniversary itself. Not afterwards. Maybe she would release something like A BEST 3 on the 20th anniversary or special stuff this year too until then.

I would hope for a new original album until then.
Wouldn't mind if she goes A BEST 3+new original album too but if it's on the 20th anniversary next year so better release another original album until then :laugh

This is the first time ayu does a long hall tour, that's amazing! Maybe it is better for her to be closer to the crowd, it's a good strategy, the impact would usually be better.

If she will be vocally awesome like in the TA Tour date I went to I would be grateful.

60 dates..RIP Ayu's voice. Also stop relying on that A BEST legacy/imagery.

So how can I go to this....I am seriously going to go this year. Should I just fly to Tokyo and look for scalpers or how can an American get tickets!! Blahhh.....help lol.

Lmao. Seriously. At this point it's like they kind of just accepted her fate and are just clinging to anything at all that they feel might add a shred of relevancy to her in the public's eye. But ironically all it does is reinforce the general publics not-so-positive view of her.

Anyways, there is a possibility I might be studying in Japan next year, so it would be great if I could see this tour and next years as well. I was mad when she included STEP you on this year's CDL because that's the one track I want to see live this time around and I thought if she performs it this year she won't perform it on the 20th anniversary tour. But if this is a long tour and she still keeps the track in the setlist, I can finally make that dream a reality.

From what I can tell, it looks like it will be both arenas and halls. Which will be weird, because the venues would require different stage setups, but that could be interesting as well.

It makes sense, because with halls she'll get to play smaller areas that she doesn't normally and I'm sure a part of the reason is because several of the arenas, at least in the Tokyo area, are shut down for renovations in preparation for the 2020 Olympics.

Also, there must be some advantage to playing halls, because Namie does it all the time and she certainly could be doing arenas instead. So I wouldn't say that it's necessarily a bad thing to "resort" to playing at halls.

I think there are some threads on how to get tickets for an Ayu show in the Enquries and Chat-Room section :)

I'm guessing the stage setup for the arenas will have the runway and the concert halls will be a smaller version of the arena stage minus the runway

I'm also waiting for the dates, as I'm planning on (finally!) going to Japan this year to see Ayu. I want to try to see an arena and a hall date now. I'm also wondering if the hall show will be "more toned down" too.

:luv2 Yes, yes, yes! I'm going to Japan this year, so finally I can see Ayu. Please give us dates :love

I'm excited too but it still is pretty much just a new tour announcement we knew was coming.
But I am very curious for details. She could have something surprising up her sleeve.:thumbsup
I think Gackt should appear again.:luv2:laugh

She's never taking a rest, isn't she?:P
Well, let's pray her voice is better now than the last Countdown...

Her voice is going to be shot like 10 shows in. 60 shows is all well and good if you can maintain a decent standard of singing, Ayu can't do this anymore. She/her team needs to realise that.

Mixed feelings. On the one hand I hope Ayu can have some rest for her voice. On the other I wanna see her perform...

I hear a lot of bad comments about the last countdown... I will admit that the first songs were not good... but after unite began... it sounded good to me.

It's not a matter of voice being tired, it's a matter of audio mixing, especially live audio mixing, not being an exact science. Much moreso for voice than for instruments as well.

Seriously, this is like when people thought PCDL was lipsynched because the audio had a delay due to a problem with the stream.

It wasn't a delay ayu clearly mouthed another word in contrast to what was being played. It doesn't matter, cause ayu was recoverying from surgery at that time, I belive.

The Ramones performed nearly 2.3oo concerts, touring nonstop for 22 years. I think NOBODY EVER will beat that :D

Wow but was that one tour? Or just overall, like, including all tours and concerts and not just the concerts of one tour.

I guess, that if we don't talk about the longest running tour but most concerts overall, Celine Dion could maybe beat that xD

What Arama Japan wrote (translation of the tour website?) sounds really interesting!
http://aramajapan.com/news/music/ayu...ur-2017/71031/
The content:

I wouldn't mind if she doesn't release a new album this year, with that crazy long tour the album wouldn't be promoted that well and would flop at charts, she has a loooooong list of songs for this tour, so many gems that haven't been performed lately (or never) :rolleyes I'm really interested about this tour, wish I could go to Japan but I'm a student and broke af. :laugh

I'm not very excited that they announced that. In fact I wish she didn't have a tour this year... Or at least not one that celebrates her 20th anniversary one year earlier. And that A BEST cover being used again??? I'm kinda disappointed but still hoping for the best.

About the hall and arena thing, maybe the last day/DVD recording will be in an Arena?! It would be interesting to watch a dvd version in a different venue...

Hope she don't do a TA TOUR this year! Otherwise she'll repeat the same issues from the last 2 years: national tour + a-nation + TA Tour = illness. Please take care of yourself, Ayu!!

Thank you for this! Finally some clarity ...that brings further questions :laugh

My dream scenario is that there would be different setlist/set-ups between the hall tours and the arena, so we'd get basically two different concerts. lol. Otherwise, it would be challenging to consolidate an arena tour's setup with a smaller hall's.

I hope despite the smaller venues, this tour maintains her usual extravagance. I've seen a couple of hall tour BluRays and they look so ...nondescript. I hope this is just because I've been watching the wrong artists. I hope ayu can carry this like the queen that she is.

Wow... 60 dates Ayu on concert in just ONE CALENDAR YEAR... And that's not including a-nation... Whoa... That sure is unprecedented...

(But then again, I'm concerned whether Ayu is able to do this task with minimal or no problems throughout the year...)

english translation from TA mail

I wonder if it is going last for 2 years - 2017-2018, hmm.
Anyways I hope it will be epic!

Pretty much this.

I know it has been done before, but I hope the fans can vote for songs again. It would be too similair as her 15th anniversairy, so she probably won't do it.

I don't mind her using the A BEST image again. I mean, every time she tries something different people bash on her like crazy and ask her to go back to "what she used to be." If she ever reads what people say about her online, that'd explain why she relies on that image so much...

Anyway, that translation from Arama is actually exciting. If they really plan on changing a lot of things from her previous tours, then I'm in. I just really expect something better than the CDL.

I hope so, I want rare or never perfomed songs, although the article already said she's gonna perform her biggest hits, so...

Since she already sang kanariya I feel like I can dream about she performing It was... :weep

Can't confirm till the dates are announced, but this is gonna be my first Ayu concert, so crazy excited!! Need Next Level lol

^Same here, I'll be in Tokyo for three months so I don't want to miss her this time!

Yay!!! Can't wait for the dates... Hope i can watch it...

Do you think the price will be the same, regardless of being a small venue or a big venue?

so.. is she going to sing kanariya 60 times?

:P

I hope her new album is called sixxxxxxty.

I also don't see what the big deal is about using the A Best image. It is only being used for a website graphic homepage. Since it is for the 20 anniversary it would make sense to use the cover of her best selling and arguably most iconic album and cover. It also contains her most well known songs.
It doesn't make her a "has been". It's just promo.:rolleyes

Clearly 2 different things.

People want her to go back to her period of creative artistry and innovation and quality of music. Wanting her to be creative again and to sound good in her music does not equate to rehashing past imagery.

I can understand that since it's a retrospective anniversary tour it's sort of okay to reuse past (iconic) images, but this is not the first time she's reused that image. It would be nice to have something visually new for her 20th anniversary.

May be new album will be "Just the Beginning".

lol

I dont know if Id be back to see her again this year. But if she was going to perform outside of Japan I'd consider it.

Love this quote! LOL.

@js_surrealism Visually new... I hope she could achieve that. To be honest, I felt like watching the same concert over and over the past years, only with a different theme, slightly different costumes (if they are not re used), and a slightly different setlist. I do not really mind, because it is so Ayu. I am kinda wondering what she needs to do, to come back as fresh and new.

Me teas.

That could actually happen tbh.

TA tour was at small venues, price - ￥8,500
for Arena Tour ￥8,900

^Is that the average price? I imagine not all seats are 8900 yen?

I'm only now realising I have no clue how to book tickets for her shows and i need to be on point when they announce the dates!

Hall tour=less dancers on stage!! I'm happy.

All seats have the same price, it's standard.

I think 8900 is the only one price for every ticket. Resellers sell them for 20000 only because of the greed

I had no idea, Im glad to know what to expect! Thanks guys :)
I am so excited, I guess I won't be too bothered if she sings the good ol' classics since it will be my very first time seeing her live.

Hi everybody! Does anyone know how we can get tickets from Europe? I just saw the Made in Japan tour last year and I spent double price outside the venue.... This time I would like to have my ticket before going to Japan.

If you want to buy them officially the best way would be to sign up for TA and apply for the lottery. You won't be able to choose your seat, but you won't have to pay the markup that the resellers set.

Otherwise you have to buy from the resellers.

There are other options but I think all of them are only available to the residents of Japan.

Great info! But.. are we sure to get tickets through the lottery?

I can't wait to see the schedule for this tour.

I had a dream last night that she announced international shows. She listed a 7 city tour in the US, and then like 4-5 other international shows. I'm sure that won't happen, but it would be fun.

#prayforEuropetour

If we sign up for TA now it'll be too late to enter the lottery for this tour, right?

THIS I actually don't hate them, but less dancers means more Ayu, more music, less show, I like that!

I don't think it'd be too late ^^

I had a similar dream too, there were like 10 in USA, 4 in Europe and some more in Latin America and Asia. And I was checking New York date because all european concerts were sold out xD

no.

they didn't even reveal dates and venues so you're safe to sign up for ta right now.

Sixxxxxxty
---Just the Beginning---

I'm just glad that they are writing "beginning" right and not "begginning" lol

Just the beginning AGAIN -20- TOUR 2017.

Doesn't have to mean any of that actually. I saw Koda Kumi in a hall during her Bon Voyage tour. Plenty of dancers and it was all about the show.

Also i gave up all hope she will ever perform in Europe.

If she's doing all this now then what will she do in her real 20th anniversary, in 2018?

~20~Finally the ending~
120 concerts

UGGGGHHHH.
I hope I get to go this year!!! Wanna see a few shows and go back to japan around 3 years of being away!

Actually it doesn't mean less dancers, knowing Ayu it will be the same - if not more dancers on an even smaller stage!

The problem for me isn't the dancers being there. It's that the filming focuses on them too much. In a DVD I certainly don't want tons of shots of dancers.

Cuz like, stadium tour had -tons- of dancers, and I love that. It added to the grandness of the concert haha.