Thoughts on PCDL '08-'09
 

Well, there is a thread made by truehappiness in the News section. Even though not much is out, what do you think of everything so far?

All I can give for now is my opinion on the track list. :)

I think I agree with you on everything!
The opening set is amazing and then with End of the World, Heartplace, Real me, And Then - Naturally, in the corner! All amazing! And I'm so excited to here Who rock version! And all her cute dancing songs! I can't wait to sit in front of my computer and do the dances! haha
I'm so excited!
I hope her costumes are good!!

I think that this is gonna be one of the best CDLs from ayu.
I get happy when I think about her singing about Will, Naturally, and Over =]
can't wait to see the costumes!

It was her best concert ever in my opinion, GREEN was an amazing way to open up, especially the dragon dances, and Maro taking centre stage.

When it Will started to play, it did not disappoint and i recalled someone on AHS saying that they hoped Will would be sung :)

Then came the rock songs and they were soooooooooo......whats the word...stunning and i was just speechless, half the time though i was trying the remember the title of the songs

Then came the slow songs, i thought that she was gonna sing Days here, cuz Shuya and her costume were almost like in the video....or something that fits winter. My favourite songs here were Hope and Pain, and Over. I was waiting for Days here, cuz she was taking forever to get accross the stage, haha Then when SCAR was over the quickly walked off the stage and Kaeru was doing her sheet hanging dance thing

After that the songs the gets the crowd going were sung, Unite! really got the crowd going, everyone was doing the fist the the air.

Then came the 10th anniversary video followed by Who...

When Who... was sung next, I wasnt expecting her to sing this, and for a second, I thought to myself. What? the concerts already over??!! I thought this was one of the best performances of Who..., I was singing along to it the entire time, it was really amazing...made me speechless

Trauma was really fun, its my first live ayu concert so i wanted this song to be performed and see the crowd dance to it. and everyone did, and it she forgot her lyrics haha. actually twice. First time she just went like la la la la la and laughed it off and walked across the stage and the part came again and i think she just didnt bother singing it and just went like la la la la la la again and said sorry hahaha it was cool though

Independent was a classic performance, with the dancing and ball throwing. I was so close the catching one that Ryoji threw, it landed two seats beside me. ayu was throwing with her left hand, i guess due to her injury

Everywhere nowhere was sung, but i cant really remember it lol sorry

Mirrorcle world was a great performance, the was the end of the first half, before the encore, so the violin players, dragon dancers, and choir all came out onto the stage and danced. the performance was like the one in a-nation 08

Then came the encore, Days was performed and i was really looking forward to this, it was just a nice performance and For my dear... was great too, i really liked her vocals and when she did the vibrato thing

Then Zin came and taught the MY ALL dance and that was the only talking part of the encore, none of the band members talked except for the keyboarder cuz him and Zin couldnt get the timing right to the song when Zin was teaching

+ was the same as last years, really fun

flower garden - im not a big fan of this song, but it was still fun to see ayu....i think she was rhyming in the middle of it...

Boys and Girls was a great performance, a classic one, ayu sings/yells at the fans, the fans sings/yells back

then MY ALL started playing, and i was like aww its over....? this was an awesome performance. Everyone was dancing to it

Ayu didnt cry once, except a bit during Days, she seemed really happy

She gave a wonderful show, and i really want to go to her concert again.

I was sitting on the side, in the 5th row, so i was pretty close and could see pretty clearly

Maybe if I go over each song seperately I'll like it more. Let's see.~

0. Mirrorcle World (interlude edit) interlude..ok
1.GREEN LOVE
2.Will HATE

3.vogue (side stage) ok, as long as she has cool costume
4.HONEY LOVE

5.ANGEL'S SONG LOVE
6.End of the World HATE
7.Heartplace LOVE
8.Real me LOVE
9.And Then ~ Naturally ok, I guess
10.In The Corner HATE

11.POWDER SNOW (rear stage) HATE
12.HOPE or PAIN LOVE
13.Over HATE
14.SCAR LOVE

15.SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late ok
16.UNITE! ok
17.SURREAL~evolution~SURREAL again this format? it's OK.. seperate they'd be LOVE

18.Who.. (rock arrangement) LOVE
19.Trauma HATE
20.independent HATE
21.everywhere nowhere HATE
22.Mirrorcle World LOVE

ENCORE
23.Days LOVE
24.For My Dear... HATE
25.+ HATE
26.flower garden HATE
27.Boys&Girls HATE
28.MY ALL LOVE

Hate: 11
Love: 11

I guess it's an OK set list.

I just hope that not all the songs are just her with the band members. I hope she's come up with interesting backgrounds and videos like Kumi and Hikki. Or else it'll be really boring.





@mike: Ayu didn't cry? Truehippo said that at mixi's or w/e they said (lol) Ayu cried a LOT. :S

There's a lot of songs that Ayu usually doesn't sing so I'm excited about this. Most are songs that I really like also. I can't wait to hear more about the "Who..." rock version.

i didnt think she cried a lot, only after Days or For my dear... cant remember

i didnt expect her to cry in this concert, only the 2nd one cuz its new years and all and its gonna be more emotional then this one

I'm really excited to see this--though I obviously didn't attend the dates, I'm definitely going to buy the DVD when it is released. I've made a playlist with the songs just to get a feel of how they flow, and I have to say it really does sound amazing. The transition from powerful songs into upbeat or "dance" kinda songs is really interesting, and it must have been AMAZING to see it live.

I know that a few people thought she should have re-recorded her ASFXX songs during her 10th anniversary year, and I guess this as close to a re-recording as we're going to get, even if she only did a handful of songs from that album--still, that's more love than the songs have had in a long time! Some of them never even performed~ Seeing POWDER SNOW is like a dream come true for me. I can't WAIT to hear it.

I love that she opened with GREEN, too! People have said that that song has been kind of put to the side, what with Days and all, so it's great that she started off the set with that song. I remember how excited I was when I first heard the clip in the background of the CM.

Ahh, I love that she pulled out some of her really powerful, older songs. SCAR, End of the World, Over, For my Dear... It's so great to see them on this list! And I'm REALLY interested to hear this rock version of Who...

Ayu really spoiled us fans this year :3

I'm not a really fan of her lives.
Well, they're beautiful and she's awesome *_* (she's Ayu!) but It's sad see they only through DVD >_< I want to enjoy the performance for real :yes but Japan is soo far ;__; I'm envy of AHS'users that they has been in CDL!

btw I :heart THIS CDL.

The setlist is pure love :heart and I'll buy the DVD è_é9

mikecavs11 - you watch PCDL live? wow...that's cool

OT, but I think one of the reasons Ayu doesn't really do that during the songs is because her performances are elaborate and theatrical enough as it is, add a background music video and it would actually distract the audience. Especially for the Arena Tours.

As with CDLs? It's 2 days live. Making a background music video means more investment in terms of money and the tours are not really long enough to really put in that budget.

Hmm, okay, thanks. ^^ I think she will also cry more than on the 2nd day as it's recorded for DVD, too.

@Kikaru: Well, standing with a band isn't theatrical. I mean those perfs, of course. ^^ Not things like (d)Lma or Marionette or Mirrorcle World from Asia Tour 2008. But more like.. No way to say, Heartplace, etc. It'd be pretty cool to have a fire video at the background of Heartplace, or w/e.

I see your point on the 2-days. Though I don't think making a video would be that expensive. Basically any art student can do something relatively good, as it doesn't need to feature actual people. It could be abstract like Hikki's. ^^

The advantage of 2 days is though that you can hire more stuff for the concert, like an orchestra and more dancers. :3 She should do that~~ Like with the dragon dancers.

Yeah, for a concert that lasts two days.. NO. It just logically doesn't make any sense.

I really don't think you get what CDL is about. And stop referring to me!

I usually don't care for her CDLs so, this one should be very good :)

I just wanted Ayu to sing songs she doesn't usually sing.

"Surreal~evolution~Surreal" I really hate that. Surreal deserves it's own time and it's own theatrics...evo...needs to resign from it's post and rest already.

@Melrose: I get what you mean. But I guess we have to agree to disagree about this then. I find the backgrounds really distracting, so I don't really mind her not having it. I'm actually glad she doesn't have it.

And Hikki's use for it was in a tour, so it's a lot longer. And making those backgrounds take a lot longer than you might think. Especially on the artist's part.

And for me, CDL was always more of a concert where she celebrates New Years with her fans. Yeah sure, the costumes get elaborate, but at heart it's not really a tour.

the setlist was awesome! this will be the best CDL ever! HOPE or Pain is the most exciting song for me! because it's one of ayu's song which attract me to her music world

Whew I'm really surprised and excited for the setlist she performed!!! :luv2:love
I'm totally LOVE it!!!

Though I wish she could perform It was, but nah it's OK with those super neglected songs being performed live!

Yay for Ayu's effort this year!!!!!! :yes:yes:yes:yes:yes:D

im so sad because I was really hyped about seeing the tracklist and when I saw it...I didnt feel a thing!

dont get me wrong, i think its probably because I havent been listening to LOVEppears and A SONG FOR XX and some of the songs are really unfamiliar to me...

But its definitely an Epic setlist

GREEN-Will-vogue is gona be such a great opening! Very Oriental.

I dun like SURREAL~evo~SURREAL again...too many this year hahaha

Who... ROCK seems very cool since its gonna prelude to Trauma..

And im very happy with Will, everywhere nowhere, Naturally, SCAR, HOPE or PAIN, In The Corner..

she could have done teddy bear, WE WISH!!!!!!, momentum, HEAVEN (Ayu should just PERFORM that)

this concert seems epic!

I really can't wait to watch it xDDDD I love the tracklist (even that I missed HANABI epII, WHATEVER, monochrome), ayu seemed happy too!!

I'm really excited and more than likely, I'll watch this CDL.
There are a few more songs I wish she would sing, but overall I like what I'm seeing, especially SCAR and POWDER SNOW!

that's a long tracklist! i can't wait to see that!

I am sooo incredibly excited! The tracklist is amazing! Granted there were some songs I wish she would sing but overall I love the ones that ARE getting love. Can't wait to see it, myself.

I'm very happy and excited to see she sang some "uncommon" tracks she normally doesn't ever sing. A great change of pace.

I am actually quite interested in this concert because of the tracklisting (maybe that's the reason I disliked CDL 06-07, but then again, I hated that concert because of her cutesy voice)

btw no Bold & Delicious = Fail

It was played last year. It's obvious that these songs were compiled because a lot of them aren't songs she's played in a while or ever. To say it's 'fail' because B&D is missing is kind of silly... Unless you were being sarcastic lol.

i know i was one of the peoples that wanted Will to be sung~ i think a lot of people wanted ayu to sing Will~ <3 so glad she did, and thanks for the review~ when was the last time ayu threw the balls during independent? i only remember Stadium Tour?....i just remember a lot of big balls floating along the audience

I'm always sarcastic :B I just wanted to see Bold & Delicious on the track listing.

ya... i guess ill look at each song...

Mirrorcle World (interlude edit) -- sounds epic
GREEN -- YUH ITS LIVE!!
Will -- sounds epic... so epic so far lol

vogue -- a great way to end the epic-ness
HONEY -- ok WAAAY too random from the end of epic for my liking lol

ANGEL'S SONG -- good way to continue the cute-ness
End of the World -- omg straight to the depressing... WAAAY too random lol, and i really dont like this song >.>
Heartplace -- YES AMAZING SONG!!!
Real me -- ya... i was always turned away from this song... but yay@ayudancing?
And Then ~ Naturally -- YUUUH IM EXCITED FOR THESE TWO!
In The Corner -- ya, sounds like itll be nice

POWDER SNOW -- yup, sounds like itll be heart wrenching
HOPE or PAIN -- i always liked this song. yay for it being live!
Over -- omg. "its ober..." i wont like this lol
SCAR -- !!!

SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late -- eh ill see lol
UNITE! -- omg itll sound all perfect i bet lol
SURREAL ~ evolution ~ SURREAL -- AGAIN? omg
Who... (rock arrangement) -- hrmmm
Trauma -- itll be too low
independent -- a great audience pumper! =D
everywhere nowhere -- YAAAA im pumped for this!
Mirrorcle World -- lol classic performance, but im down

Days -- i like i like
For My Dear... -- cant wait to hear this one lol
+ -- hopefully itll be more lively then it was last countdown
flower garden -- ayurappingftw
Boys & Girls -- oh no.
MY ALL -- what a nice ending. please dont cry this time ayu lol

the tracklist for this CDL gonna win it all!but im not sure about the effects used for this concert yet...so i still cant fully judge it

0. Mirrorcle World (interlude edit)
1.GREEN LOVE
2.Will LOVE

3.vogue (side stage) Meh.. So/so
4.HONEY LOVE

5.ANGEL'S SONG LOVE
6.End of the World LOOOOVE *kicks Melrose and anyone else that hates this song* (This one is one of my all-time favorite songs! :P)
7.Heartplace LOVE
8.Real me LOVE
9.And Then ~ Naturally And Then-LOOOOOOOOVE, Naturally-LOVE
10.In The Corner It's ok
11.POWDER SNOW (rear stage) LOVE (How can you hate this song, Melrose? It's a classic)
12.HOPE or PAIN LOVE
13.Over LOVE *kicks melrose to the moon*
14.SCAR LOVE

15.SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late O_____O NEAT!
16.UNITE! LOVE
17.SURREAL~evolution~SURREAL Cool
18.Who.. (rock arrangement) LOVE
19.Trauma LOOOVE
20.independent LOVE
21.everywhere nowhere LOVE *punts Melrose for hating Trauma, independent and everywhere nowhere*
22.Mirrorcle World LOVE

ENCORE
23.Days LOVE
24.For My Dear... .... no words
25.+ no comment
26.flower garden LOVE LOVE LOVE *it's one of my favorite songs*
27.Boys&Girls LOVE (SHAME ON YOU, MELROSE, FOR HATING THIS SONG!!)
28.MY ALL LOOVE

I look forward to this CDL! :)

actually, i have this feeling that since the concert is long, the stage is so big, the is probably gonna be very little costumes and nothing extravagant..

not that i am hoping for all these, but i have this feeling. i would judge after i watch the concert. :) So there is really no point in commenting because all we have is just the setlist. we dont even have any pictures of ayu performing.

I was really surprised by the list..
Really xD
Maybe is the list a little bit too long?
Okay here my opinions!

0. Mirrorcle World (interlude edit), Oh, well okay. I dunno how to imagine a interlude of that. Kind of Mirror?
1.GREEN, lovely!
2.Will, lovely!

3.vogue (side stage), great chose!!
4.HONEY, lovely! It's cute!

5.ANGEL'S SONG I didn't see that coming... it's a good choose
6.End of the World Yahoo!!!!
7.Heartplace Didn't see that coming... It's great to see that she's doing a song which she didn't use earlier.. but Heartplace is not really my song.
8.Real me GREAT CHOSE!
9.And Then ~ Naturally I dunno what to imagine.. but I think it's okay
10.In The Corner Where does that choose come from? It's lovely!
11.POWDER SNOW (rear stage) rear stage? Well, I will see... POWDER SNOW is lovely
12.HOPE or PAIN What a choose! I didn't see that coming too! Great choose!
13.Over Again a surprise! Lovely surprise!
14.SCAR This CDL-list has a lot of surprises... SCAR.... lovely choose

15.SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late Surprise!! Wowa.. is this a surprise countdown? However... I think it's great!
16.UNITE! I love this song but she is always doing this songs... It's kinda boring now.
17.SURREAL~evolution~SURREAL again? Well yeah.
18.Who.. (rock arrangement) A rock arrangement? Haha!!! Who... is also a standard song -.-
19.Trauma I hope she can remember the words! Trauma is a trauma for Ayu xD Well, I dislike the song but okay.
20.independent Mwuh... it's too much ....
21.everywhere nowhere SURPRISE! Haha.. I really love this choose!
22.Mirrorcle World Whaha! It begins and ends with Mirrorcle World... amazing strange but cool choose.

ENCORE
23.Days Yup.. we couldn't miss this fantastic song
24.For My Dear... LOVELY! Where does that choose come from?
25.+ Mwuh... not really a good choose for a countdown.
26.flower garden She had not to do that! Really a surprise.. the song is ok, but maybe not for a countdown
27.Boys&Girls What? Again? Same for UNITE!, Evolution, SURREAL etc. It's ... can't she sing other songs? But the song is okay
28.MY ALL LOVELY END!


@ HONEY_INSPIRE_ME19: I REALLY AGREE WITH YOU! THE SONGS ARE LOVELY! And I also can't understand Melrose opinions.. but okay.. opinion = opinion

@ Melrose maybe you have to hear some songs more... the most songs you say: it's terrible.. are lovely.. at least... for me and others (maybe) here! Come on! Give them a chance! *beg*

The trackinglist is nice but I wish she would perform more recent songs like momentum, decision or one of the new songs.

Hmhm. I get what you mean. ^^

I wonder if a video or costume is more expensive.. I'd say costume?

@HONEY_INSPIRE_ME19: Hahahahaha ^^
End of the World: Her voice is so bloody awful in this song, honestly. It's downright painful.
POWDER SNOW: I think the song lacks oomph, or a climax, I dunno. I just think it..drags along a little and then finally ends after 5+ minutes. Her IIIIIIIII voice doesn't help much either.
Over: I hate the melody and instrumentation here, I think it's really ugly. *wheeeeee to the moon xD*
Trauma: Don't like it because it used to be a staple song and I got tired of seeing it, but I dunno if I like it as a song or not I should listen to it again then. =p
independent: Live versino better than studio version. If she ditched the dancers this would be LOVE, but then there won't be much ball throwing going on lol.
everywhere nowhere: Annoying instrumentation and the way they digitally edited her vocals.
Boys & Girls: Shame on me? xD Shame on Ayu for singing the studio version so painfully high pitched.

@xLuna&1LOVEL: How did you go from hating the set list in one topic to suddenly LOVING it? ~_~ (And you said you hated SIGNAL and Hana) o_O Seems rather odd.....

But. I really don't like those songs. I think they're OK. I enjoy them once a week, maybe. Seeing them live might change it. Though I doubt it, because seeing songs live more often tend to get me to dislike them more than like them. I got so tired of seeing all the staple songs that I stopped liking the songs, too. But now I love UNITE! again. ^^

I'll go listen them again for you <333 =D

0. Mirrorcle World (interlude edit) Hmm... Interesting, I wonder if it'll be the minute string section.

1.GREEN FINAL-****ING-LY, I've wanted this live for SO LONG NOW

2.Will Wonderful choice, perfect follow up for GREEN, and desperately needs a live.

3.vogue (side stage) Interesting choice, I want to hear it how she'd sing it now <3

4.HONEY alright, as long as there's less pink than AT05.

5.ANGEL'S SONG **** YES, AS LONG AS YOU DITCH THE WAITRESS CRAP

6.End of the World Squeeeeee~

7.Heartplace Okay, but I never really understood the hype around this song.

8.Real me No stripper dancing, back up dancers, kay?

9.And Then ~ Naturally Sounds like fun =D~ I'm curious as to how they'll pull this off.

10.In The Corner Aaaah~ One of the more unappreciated (m)u tracks <3

11.POWDER SNOW (rear stage) FINALLY~ I think her voice now will spruce the song up a bit~

12.HOPE or PAIN SQUEEEEEEEEEE~ This is one of my favorite MY STORY tracks, along with Liar.

13.Over It's such a pretty ballad, I never really cared for the "IT'S OBER" though, well, maybe her English is better now.

14.SCAR I used to hate this song so much, but now I can't get enough of it <3 I'm glad to see her perform this life.

15.SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late YAY! SIGNAL! HANA! too late's cool too I guess.

16.UNITE! gotta have some staples, I'm glad it's not one she did on AT08

17.SURREAL~evolution~SURREAL niether of these songs get old, and they're always a crowd pleaser. I really like it when she medleys them too <3

18.Who.. (rock arrangement) Ooooh rock eh? ...It's Who... so it'll probably be boring, but I'll be optimistic =D

19.Trauma An old staple~ When was the last time this baby saw the light of day~?

20.independent I love the song, but I don't think she should have packaged all the staples together at one time >.>...

21.everywhere nowhere Do my eyes deceive me? This is really happening? THANK YOU WONDERFUL GOD FOR THIS DAY, THANK YOU SO ****ING MUCH <3

22.Mirrorcle World As long as we get rid of the really useless ship, cool. Nice closer. Ayu REALLY must like this song to perform it so often.

ENCORE
23.Days again? Well, it's a pretty song, but I feel like it's been *****d enough x_x...

24.For My Dear... Very interesting ._.... I woulda thought if anything, it would have been Depend on you, YOU, TO BE or LOVE~Destiny~, way to surprise us all Ayu~ I'm curious as to how she pulls this off as she is now.

25.+ Didn't... you just do this one? Oh well,it's a decent enough song.

26.flower garden you're finally back from the dead <3 It's so good to see you again <3

27.Boys&Girls What's an Ayu concert without Boys & Girls? Crowd loves it, it has to be there, whether we like it or not =P

28.MY ALL Powerful way to close out the night, I really like MY ALL as an ending song.

It looks like it's going to be an AMAZING show, I really can't wait to see it!

It depends on the costume's fabric and such. I guess video's more expensive in that you can only use them for one tour, and that's it. Where with costumes it's more practical and you can use them for later concerts and stuff, and they're easier to alter and they can look totally different, whereas with videos you have to shoot it again.

Hmm, you've got a point.~

But I think that semi-artistic video's that are just for background and don't feature any acting or people would be cheaper than a costume. Like AT08 talkin' 2 myself's fire background video. It'd be pretty cool if they did that more often. Like for SCAR show some kind of sky as background. :3

So you look at the screen and not... at the performer? I think that would just take away from the performance.

But it's a moot point, as PCDL didn't feature any of that, and thank goodness. Too much of a spectacle =/= good thing.

Yes, listen to them again because you are insane to hate those songs, haha. :) The lyrics to powder snow are enough to give that song a 10/10 for me. And end of the world? the last and only time that she performed it, there was so much emotion in her voice that it was amazing.

End of the World + POWDER SNOW + Naturally + And Then = WIN ^-^
I love the tracklist <33 can't wait to see it

I was at the 12/30 concert and thought the setlist was good! I REALLY enjoyed the medley of her old songs. It was all very nostalgic. Plus, it was definitely great to hear songs that she hasn't sung live before. :)
"MY ALL" was a great ending, I think, and the audience was taught the hand movements before she started singing the last few songs.
Overall, it was a great concert and I think her voice sounded great throughout. If her arm hurts at all, she certainly didn't show it!

Wow, listening to the concert audio from 12/31.. WOW.

Best vocal TV version of a CDL / any of her concerts ever, it seems.. oi.

I just heard POWDER SNOW...omg i almost cried...the music is SO powerful and Ayu sang it well...i mean after so long..she could still sing this song like THAT...it was amazinggg...goshh

im gonna hear End of the World and HOPE or PAIN now

EDIT: OMGGGGGGGGGGGG
End of the World IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
her voice is still drowned in TV lives lol...but HELL! THAT WAS AMAZING

HOPE or PAIN as well...omg..im really happy.

ok what else have I heard...

SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late IS AMAZINGG OMG...very very nice. It's gonna bring more love to these songs..

Will is quite disappointing...not as strong as the cd wan...GREEN also...wasnt sounding powerful...I think because her voice is drowned by the sound *fsat forward to YO KAAAA!!!* OK ..i CANT HEAR IT o.o

Heartplace is very powerful as usual.

And then ~ Naturally...I think And then was very good..but Naturally sounded a little strained..but i cant blame her...

In The Corner: sounds gd! cant wait to watch it omg...dancey!!

SCAR & Over: Lovely!!! Nostalgia~~ The guitar solo after SCAR was amazing

everywhere nowhere: im surprised they opened this song with the fun part hahaha...very cool.. I hope Ayu uses this song one more time soon. It can really be a hype song!

Who: I actually like the idea of using Who... as the "end" song for the year...really fresh. Her "OOO lalalala" sounded weird though haha...Rock arrangement??? dun hear it..

ANGEL'S SONG: sounds really different..i mean.. the opening tune. Her voice O.O...this is gonna spark off discussion...flawless HHAHA..but this song really doesn't need much force to pull it off..

Real Me: YAY. She missed it out in BEST OF CDL haha..

vogue~HONEY: i dunno how these two went together?...I though it shud be...GREEN-Will-vogue and HONEY-ANGEL'S SONG..was it? ok guess not...weird transition i have to say..But good vocals still



IM SO HAPPY! hahahha...she did well for this CDL..very amazed. I can't wait for the DVD now.

Her voice was really good..
Kouhaku didn't give any example of what PCDL was gonna to sound like!!!
I was really impressed with Hope or Pain, and Over.
And that most of the songs were in the original key.. ahahaha.
I love And Then ~ Naturally... And Then was a very nostaglic feeling to it, but it feels also she could release that song now too.
I love this concert..
It's one of the best concerts, not her most best..
But her vocals were #1.

AND PECO AND PRINCESS ruined In the Corner!!!! ><

I am looking forward to the DVD, so that it sounds 100% perfect LOL
There's not much to edit.. not like last year!!! it's 100% improvement~

I'm rather interested in what SunshineSlayer thinks about her vocals. I mean, they're so good, it's like woaaah.

I'm only listened up to Heartplace so far, and I have to say that she sounds top notch this year. Definitely a huge step up from last year, and I won't regret buying the DVD whenever it's released.

I just love her vocals. I was so afraid that she would sing these songs in that out-of-breath-not hitting-the-higher-notes style like in her MW lives... But she sounds great! EotW<3 Powder Snow<3 Everything (I've listened to)<3<3

But wth a rock arrangement of Who..? Sounds normal to me. Too bad, I wanted some really crazeh guitars.... xD :(

I'm amazed at how good her vocals are, especially with the older songs that have have higher notes and would seem harder to sing.

And Powdered Snow <3333333 Will <33333333 Hope or Pain <333333

In 'Over' her mic just before the final chorus is away from her face when she sings "It's over." I hope the file is messed up or something, cause if not it would really make me skeptical about the rest of the concert..

that was exactly what I was thinking
It's weird

EDIT

HER VOICE WAS REALLY ALL OUT !!!
OMG
ESPECIALLY IN THE ROCK SECTION

She's such a great performer !!!

She's not lip singing those song

I think this is by far the best concert ever !
It almost beats ASIA TOUR 2008 less the props only
OMG

ooo right most of them are sang really good! i was shocked to hear she was shouting for high notes in heartplace, and she could do it! i feel proud of her again! she really prove that she can sing!

I lvoe the Real me intro bgm :D

She sounded great in most of it, some of it she sounded really tired and other parts it was hard to hear her.

imo, her best vocals where during Hana.

also the performances of GREEN and Will were epic <3

Okay, so here's what I thought of the GREEN+Will performance!

- Vocals were freaking hot on both songs.
- The green strip they rolled out on the stage during GREEN was cool.
- It was funny that Ayu danced with Maro and not Shuya during GREEN. (I love me some Maro, and HATE Shuya!)
- After she took the kimono off-- she looked absolutely stunning! :O
- I really enjoyed the theatrics on both performances.

OMG ! this CDL 's really awesome ! i love this tracklist although she didn't add " Momentum " and " Jewel " ! but that's ok for me ! after watching " Green " and " Will " i know her vocal 's a ton better than CDL07-08 .

It's rather interesting to note that there's a song on each album she's released in the past EXCEPT Secret. I wonder why that was..

The dance for green was sooo much better choreographed and timed.
Maro and Ayu were in sync 100%!!! I was impressed about it~~~

ANGEL's SONG IS LYP-SYNCH!! UNDOUBETLY((((
The reason is same as with theme of a-nation but MUCH MORE OBVIOUS!((
She messed lines in the chorus and I never saw that "mita" could be sang with closed mouth, but you can see that she singing "motsu"
And before that she had same mystic smile as in theme of a-nation perfomance when she forgot right lyrics))

edited: "It's Over" part also lypsynch but I hope it's the same deal as AT05 Happy Ending when she lypsynched 1 line to sound more dramatic

If you are referring to theme of a'nation in countdown live 05-06, that was a REAL live no doubt~

haha. Well so far I've only watched Green, Will, Days, and For My Dear. Days and For My Dear were without a doubt live. Green and Will though....well they certainly SOUNDED live. But did anyone else get the feeling that her mouth was just kind of, I don't know, weird in those? I noticed several moments when her mouth appeared either slightly ahead of or behind the vocals sooo....Did anyone else notice this? Or is the file possibly lagging? (because it seriously happens a lot if you pay attention to her mouth.)

edit: And wow yep, Angel's Song is for sure lip synched. She had a Theme of A-Nation moment but even more pronounced. It was very obvious that she said motsu when it was supposed to be mita. Please dont anyone try to deny it. :) She is for sure lip synching more and more these days and that's disappointing. It really wouldn't surprise me if every song from Green-Angel's Song is lip synched. Hopefully the rest of the concert isn't....

^well, Do you think physically possible to make 3,5 hours long concert singin well to the end? in fact, I waited lipsynch but I hoped it wouldn't be so obvious. Also I have to add that vogue+HONEY as for me is live because she is singing so close to the audience(like Ladies Night at 07-08) that people staying close to her would hear is it live or not, so I don't think she dare to use lip synch there.
PS. I have strange feeling about her mouth movements in SIGNAL
PSS. I have to admit that ANGELS SONG sounded very good and fully lypsynched, when End of the world is 100% live
PSSS. ANGELS SONG confuse would be not so easy to hide on DVD
PSSSS. TBSch also a bit stupid, they wrote SURREAL at the middle of UNITE)))) (am I spoiling too much??)
PSSSSS. What about evolution, it sounded live, but i dunno. Maybe she was in synch with Peco and Princess but when in chorus she was crying WOOOOEEEEY!! in the midle she cried to the Audience "More Time" and at the background we heard EEEEY!! but i dunno if it was Peco & Princess voices, and she cride More Time with exactly the same voice she sung all song
MY DARLING!! EVEN when she cried "Yochan" at evolution it was lyp synched and you will see it, and see her smile again. The lat part of evolution is also lyp-synch. GOSH! so disappointing

I thought the same thing for the majority of the clips I watched. It's almost like she's over (or under) exaggerating her mouth movements much like she does for PV's.

The concerts are so loud that you can barely hear the person next to you, let alone whether Ayu is really singing or not, so I wouldn't rule it out.

Honestly, as I'm going through the concert, so far every song with the head set mic SOUNDS live, but does not look live - lots of missplaced mouth movements. Usually when she does lip synch it is better than this, thats why I'm wondering if it could be the file since it happens so much - I guess I'll know when I finish getting the concert from the second source.

As for Angels Song being difficult to cover up on the dvd - I don't think so. They'll just use a shot that doesn't have Ayu in it at that moment.

^that would be unnatural, at at CDL05-06 they used other angle but here it would be really unnatural. Well I don't think she did so much lyp-synch in the past, and maybe that's why so many mistakes at this CDL???

Maybe. Or maybe pain medication made her a bit off. btw, I just watched In the Corner - amazing dance performance, but so far in the concert its the only one that doesn't sound or look live. The others at least sounded live. :)

And yeah, Powder Snow is on now. Now THAT is what her live vocals sound like. Thank god she didn't lip synch this one or I'd really have to question her. :)

people will go all out to prove that she is lip-synching...gooshh...(which i can't understand why....Since it's a fact, must it go on and on and on?)
I just want to be one who will enjoy what she has done and the fact that she sang really well and moving

This is a discussion thread about the concert though, so I don't see how the lip synching thing can be ignored, especially when it seemed to comprise a fairly large section of the concert unfortunately. And I don't know about you but I can't think that she sung well and moving in a lip synched song...

Of course there are positives to the show too, but the negatives will always be more obvious and more interesting for discussion. Once I've had time to digest the concert, then I can talk more about the positives. :)

^i'm the one who will protect her and still saying that Marionette was live!! Read this forum.
But when you will see the concert you will understand that what i'm saying is true. Anyway more than half of concert is live.

I think we need to left comments on Maro's, Zin's and Matsura's blogs and maybe someone would ask at TeamAyu

Ummmm ok. Its weird that finding fault or errors become interesting and furthermore, if you look out for those, i wonder how you will be able to even Digest the concert and concentrate on positives with all those thoughts in your mind. Since it has been SEEN that Ayu lipped ANGEL'S SONG, dun tell me there was nothing positive about that performance. Because if there isnt, then its simply because it was lipped.
I don't see how obeserving someone's LIPS become more OBVIOUS then a SHOW.

the show is really good, but lip synching is disappointing, really((

Because it was very obvious; it couldn't be helped. I can still find positives in a lip synched performance, like saying the dance is great or the costumes are cool. But that is about it. I can't be emotionally moved by a lip synched performance because its fake, yet Ayu's songs are supposed to be really powerful and moving because of their personal lyrics - but if its lip synched, its like the song loses that reality of meaning and becomes too fake. If you understand what I mean. :) Maybe to you lip synching just doesn't matter, but to others maybe it does.

well show is a great addition to the live singing, but not otherwise

Idk, I've seen practically all of Ayu's concert DVD's and I've never been so suspicious about her lip-synching until this one. It becomes really obvious when something looks 'off' or unnatural... Even her body movements and facial expressions while she's singing seem almost too calm and kinda awkward in some parts.

Besides ANGEL'S SONG that was obviously lip-synched.. I think the following clips look pretty fishy as well. (Haven't seen the whole concert btw)

Naturally
And Then
Real me
In the Corner
End of the World
Heartplace
POWDER SNOW
HOPE or PAIN
Over
SCAR

Sorry if I draw attention to her mouth, but honestly, when Ayu sounds this good, it seems almost too good to be true.. so naturally, I'm gonna try and see whether or not she's lip-synching.

^ End of the World
is live

Honestly I felt the same way and I would also add every song from Green until Angel's song to that list as well. Heartplace and End of the World were the most strange because really you'd think those are totally live right? And they still maybe, but even those had some strange things going on with her mouth - that's why I still don't rule it out as this being a wonky file because it just happens simply TOO much unless she really is just that off from pain meds. Powder Snow seemed live to me except for once again, just a few moments where her mouth movement was questionable. Over I think was live except for that one line where it was completely obvious it was lip synched...at least I HOPE it was all live except that part.

Signal and Hana had less of the crazy mouth, but still a couple of moments (and both songs sounded way more amazing than anything she has sang live this year.) And trust me, I WANT to believe that those were live because I have been waiting forever to see those songs live and never thought that I would.

Honestly there are just a lot of really weird parts in this concert. I have seen every single Ayumi concert live and tv live and before it was just that she lip synched every once in a while, now though, with this concert, if its indeed not a problem with the file then oh boy....

Yeah, End of the World and Heartplace.. idk.. yeah you can hear the passion in her voice, but her stage presence is lacking which I think is unusual for these types of rock songs. She just doesn't look like she's into it - it's unusual...

I didn't see GREEN up to ANGEL'S SONG, nor SIGNAL~..

I heard the mp3 of Who..., which sounds really live.. and quite mediocre compared to the rest of the concert.

Days and For my dear... are live. Days is mediocre sounding so it must be, and For my dear... is excellent and you can see her struggling with it on stage, but idk she seemed to have fooled many ppl with the first half of the show. :P



I just hope to god somebody proves me wrong with all this because sadly, this is the first time I'm actually questioning my fandom..

I know, I'm like praying to God that this is just the result of a bad encode. Lip synching Greatful Days or Angel's Song occasionally is one thing, but THIS? Seriously I'm left shocked. This probably wouldn't bother me as much if it were from some other artist, but for Ayu who prides herself on her honesty in her music and her fans - it's highly disappointing. I'm doing my best to get my hands on an alternate encode, but it is going sllooooowwww.

^well, i'm still fan of Ayu, ut I'm disappointed in this show, but I have to admit that because it's really long and problems with Ayu's hand they recorded lipsynch to more songs than planned

I'm thinking again about Over performance and I think maybe that line wasn't supposed to be sung live as some part of evolution.

Still haven't seen it, but she sounds great! ^-^ I'm loving POWDER SNOW, especially the ending ~yuki yamu made~.

Personally I think it's all live, remember how upset she was when during Asia Tour 2007 some famous Chinese guy claimed she was lipsyncing? Ayu works hard to try reach perfection, so I doubt she would 'cheat' in such a way. (Though I can understand faking one or two songs with such a long setlist and an injury.)

I don't know what her hand would have to do with her singing though. If anything, you would cut down more of the dancing, not the singing right? Plus I think thats a really short amount of time to have rerecorded those songs after the surgery.

Watch it first. :) Also, not saying that she did lip synch asia tour 2007 but it has been proven that she lip synched in the past and most likely lip synched at least Evolution at AT 07.

Evolution is not lip synced...No one has proved that....

Check the enquiries section. It is most likely. But that wasn't the proven instance I was speaking of anyways. :)

I actually find it really sick when someone says...
"She's too good, it's suspicious."
We have to continuously break down these concerts on this forum, and go through which one is lipsync, and not.
In reality, if you are questioning your fandom, you probably weren't a fan in the first place, always investigating if she lipsyncs or not.
I thought fans were supposed to support the artist, and not always look for faults??????
The fact is that you really cannot prove that she lipsynced anything, unless there's a big mistake in lyrics.
They fact she makes facial expressions is your only proof is quite sad, and really, it always brings down the mood of a thread.
Also saying that she would go to "great lengths" to fool everybody,
Like pretending to struggle through songs is also quite sad.. it's also hurting to many fans, because it's saying "she's not honest."
If you have those opinions, I think it's preferred you to make another thread dedicated to lipsyncing, or investigating it, because now, the only thing we will talk about is lipsyncing.
It always happens.
All of a sudden SunshineSlayer mentions and how she lipsynced songs in AT 2007 there, which has nothing to do with countdown live 2008 - 2009.
And then people bring proof, and defend, and attack, and it just gets tired.
Honestly, if you dont wanna to be a fan anymore, go ahead.
I find it also funny that Japanese fans never talk about this in the mixi groups, and I just wonder why its not the same here.

I really honestly think maybe she lipsynced one or two high energy songs, but other than that, there are many moments in each song which are out of tune.
Also in a few songs, you can hear a change in volume with her moving her mic and stuff.
But I will not argue about it, because obviously, the people who continuously talk about her lipsyncing will not change their minds.
So I wish we could ban the talking of lipsyncing, and only allow it in a lipsync thread... I really wish that.

I really loved this countdown, the spectacle was so nice, I only could watch about half of it right now,
My friend is downloading it, and letting me watch it as it goes~ (I am at her house~)
I have no idea about these downloading programs! ahaha.

Her vocals are not perfect, but a change from last year!
And again, I really really love Maro's dance with her~~~ I wanna see it again and again LOL
I really, really love And Then!! I wish she sang the whole song... :(
And I really... cant stand Heartplace in the first place. ahaha.
So I dont care about that performance, but it was good.

But I loved Mirrorcle World mp3, so I can't wait until the performance is able to be seen.
I also didnt hear the encore yet, so of course I wanna to hear that one.
And Surreal! I was surprised that she could step up the vocals this year. haha

Overall, it was a really good performance. So spots here and there, but when it's 3 and half hour performance~ you can forgive a lot ahahhaa

That's totally not the reason. It may be PART of it, but the main reason as several people have stated (including people who don't usually suspect Ayu of lip synching) is that her lip movements are off/unnatural/just plain weird in several of the songs. And there is no deny that at least Angel's Song was lip synched - it is totally proven if you've seen it. The same thing with that part of Over.

Seriously, the mismatched lip movements happen a lot, thats why I'm hoping its just the file. If it turns out that Ayu really did sing this good in most of the songs, I'll jump for joy.

That is complete and total BS. If I'm not a "fan" I certainly wouldn't have gone to Japan several times just to see her in concert (6 times now). And I don't see how investigating her lipsynching means that you are questioning your fandom as well.

lol, completely ignore the fact that I was replying to someone else that brought it up.

People should actually watch the concert first and then realize why we are talking about this. As I've said, I have seen every Ayu live and NONE have jumped out in terms of lip synching as much as this one, not even close. If it had been one or two high energy songs like you say, then that would be fine - expected actually. But this is way more than that.

edit: actually its 7 times now...I'm losing track of things in my old age. :) And going back again in Feb. woo-hoo!

Ayu's Performance
 

Well, if she's in pain, even if she's dancing less than usual, surely its possible her singing might be affected ? Give her a break, she was brave enough to go ahead and do the show so as not to disappoint the fans, surely that deserves our support, if nothing else ? Criticize constructively, but also remember Ayu is human, and not some machine. Cutting down one part does not balance up or have no effect on another.

So let's say you're correct, she lip synched on numerous occasions although she denies doing so. I give her the benefit of the doubt.
She may have lip-synced at AT07, ok, there's no smoke without fire. But I also believe that we do not know the full story behind all this lip synching, but I CHOOSE to believe in Ayu, knowing how much lip synching amounts to a betrayal, to simply cheating her fans.

If so, if she lip-synched A LOT this CDL, why didn't she do so last year, then? Why lipsynch evo at AT07, butcher Surreal at CDL 07-08, lipsynch Marionette and (d)Lma at AT08 (suggestions) and suddenly lipsynch CDL 08-09? It doesn't really make any sense to me...

IF she would have lip-synched she should have done it last year, but judging from what we heard back then she didn't.

Her vocals weren't the best last year and she didn't lyp-synch. Why wouls she do so this year. The day someone can answer that question I'll promise to eat my foot!

WHY IS THERE NO SNOW FALLING DURING POWDER SNOW WTF

And why do we see Shuya 3/4th of the time during HOPE or PAIN?!!!

BTW at ~8:34, GREEN, her mouth doesn't match the words.

Lip Synch Mania
 

To defend Ayu from lip synching now by questioning why if she didn't do so before when she could have, will not be convincing enough. Interesting, no doubt but inconclusive at best.

Put it this way, if Ayu were to read all this, how would she feel ?

Less than 48 hours after she put heart and soul out there for her fans, promising she and her team will shine brighter than before.

Did she manage to keep her promise ?

Surely her fans will understand and rally round her ?
She knows its impossible to please every fan, but surely if she gave it her best shot, they, of all people, would know and appreciate the effort ?

So, wouldn't they forgive any faults during the show because she was carrying an injury but still doing her damnest to put on a show for them ?

Or will she be disappointed and feel she has not done enough and let her legions of fans down ?

What say you ...

Actually, I did, but then everyone ignored the subject after that~

BTW the ANGEL'S SONG bridge IS live, but the song itself is lip sync lol.

Fine...then let's just assumes she lipped the whole concert ok? and well, we no longer need proof that she doesnt lipsynch so all of your points are valid.

wheeeeeee~~~

its already NOT the first time this has been discussed. Are you saying that whenever there is a NEW concert, your mission to spot OFF-LIPs, open your ears to hear for OVERLY PERFECT parts, and everything else is gonna start again? Coz I think that's very pointless coz I don't know what you are trying to achieve in this.



(anyway, what is wrong with AHS?... I have been getting this message for like 3-4 days already "AHS is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later.")

^no, she lyp-synched 5-7 songs. Trauma is live 100% because on 30th she forgot words by report and on 31st she didn't, EndOfTheWorld also live because she doesb't pronounce clear etc. only 5-7 songs maximum is lipsych to make her voice rest, and what about Over i think she wasn't supposed to sing that line.

You pretty much answered your own question. The reasons she would be doing it now is that her vocals haven't exactly been great the last year have they? There are already two confirmed parts of the concert lip synched and there are several songs, that if you have seen it, there are definitely problems with her lip movements - so unless someone can prove that there is another reason for that, how can one not think that those might be lip synched as well? Please, please prove us wrong. (seriously, I want to be proved wrong. ^_^) I can't say 100% for sure that all those songs are lipped of course, just that there is something highly strange about many of them.

Way to blow things out of proportion. :rolleyes This IS the first time this is being discussed for this concert and the only other concert I brought this up in was A-Nation 08 and after AT08 I said that I thought DLMA and Marrionette were lip synched (after seeing it live myself). And right now, I'm only replying to everyone that either a) specifically asked my opinion or b) are seemingly trying to provoke me. :)
Of course there are good things about the concert as well and I will give a thorough review once I've had the time to take it all in but you can't ignore a major negative either and at least some of us would like to find out whether it is true or not beyond the two confirmed incidents. Why wouldn't you want to find out?

Please, let's not make this into a discussion of what defines a supportive fan. Even if this turns out to be true I still plan on seeing her live someday, mainly because the woman continually makes damn good music and I love her for it. Otherwise, I'm falling less and less in love with the direction she's heading.. She seemingly spends more of her time rehearsing for concerts nowadays than actually recording music, and for what? to lip-synch half of an entire show? Seriously though, if you're going to lip-synch that much you mine as well use the original recording. I mean yeah, she made an effort alright.. to trick her fans into believing that she's actually singing. And now I better shut up before I say something I might regret later. :)

Well, I listened to the MP3 of the whole concert

I really disliked her vocals on a lot of songs :/ (the SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late medley was so good until she made those disgusting vocals on too late)

and one thing the ruined a lot of the songs were her back-up vocalists. Peco and Princess
They just, omg they ruined it so much XD (I HATED them in the vogue performance ugh)

I agree with the previous poster, lets just all agree this is lipsync, and therefore no need for argument.
Honestly, I dont really care if you plan to continue to go to her concerts, just slander her like this is really bad.
Talking in the mixi groups, no one would ever think to say these things.. "she's just pretending" "what is she doing?" "she is tricking us"
Because those are really slander things... it sounds like 2 channel.
I'm sorry if no one else agree, but that's not really right to say, especially when other people around really supports her.
If you have those opinions, isn't it better to keep it to yourself in a forum which supposed to support her?
Isn't it also hurtful to the fans that support her? I must be wrong, or I must be the only person who says that.

She could have cancelled everything, and not do this, but she wanted to celebrate with everyone.
I find it really sad and betraying for her if she put all this work into the Countdown, just for people to say "it's a fake."
She worked through things that any normal humans would run away from, and could still perform a great concert.
She said herself that she tells no lies, there are no lies in her music, or anything she does, so obviously, she doesn't "trick" people.
Isn't that enough to believe that this is a real concert, where maybe only 1 or 2 songs or lipsynced?
Honestly, it always feels like people are trying so hard to find ways to criticise her...
It's really sickening.
It's like you are saying "she's a fake, and she doesn't mean anything she says. All she does is make good music."
Unless I did not interpret what you said correctly. If I did, please correct me.

She has bad vocals, and she is untalented.
She has good vocals, and all of a sudden, she's a fake.

There is no winning.

You can tell to me how blind or how stupid I am all you want,
The fact is that what you are saying is hurtful.

^YOU ARE MY HERO!!
well yeah, she used lyp-synch beause of PHYSICAL LIMITS, to save hr voice to sing Das&for my dear live. From all concrt only 5-7 songs as for me lip-synch but i'm sure only for 2-3. And she did such a big concert in a month. She was sincere there. So yeah, IT'S VERY GOOD CONCERT!!

At least she's not like most singers who just lips their studio recordings, Ayu generally tries to record a live-sounding version to lipsynch too. I'd bet money that the reason is a long set list combined with her injury and the amount of pain meds she must have been on =/

I really like how she sounds, I can't wait to watch it

I just started watching it and my first comment is: you can actually see Ayu's tattoo!

Also, the dragons looked like muppets. Haha.