I have watched the Countdown and I think I have the opposite opinion of everyone. I thought the vocals were rough in certain spots but overall it was decent. But I didn't really like the show. The first section being the lowest point for me. When she poured the water on her chest and when she was flashing her underwear was more cringe than any of the vocals. I will say though that the little mini countdown during Lady Dynamite was really cool. I loved the graphics and lights.
I was really excited for Together When... because I have been wanting that for quite some time now but I was slightly disappointed. Ayu looked beautiful and her dress was pretty and the vocal was stable. But she mostly just walked around for the performance. I was hoping for a bigger performance like Countdown 07-08. But I am still happy my wish was granted.
I think WATQ was actually my favorite moment. I thought the vocals were pretty good and all the A flags waving was cool.
In the end, I am kind of just happy to see Ayu again and have something new to experience from her since she isn't releasing anything anymore.
Also, I love Suzanne Vega too! It isn't Ayu's age that is the problem. The current state of her vocals is due to a variety of factors that I think we all are aware of by now. At this point she either has a good day or a bad day.

I don’t disagree. However it may be possible to work within her limits, such as lowering the key or changing melodic notes so she’s not reaching for the high ones. She sounded fine when not straining to reach the high notes. There are things she can do (which I believe she IS doing) to try to make it easier on herself and her voice.

In regards to tour schedule, it’s true that she’s only performing a few times a week. But in between shows she (at least in the past) reviews the footage and then uses that as basis for improving the next show, which means more rehearsals. I don’t know if she’s still doing that, but she still could be singing every day. Plus all the sound checks. So it’s definitely possible she’s running her voice to the point of hoarseness. But there could be other factors. At the end of the day, I’m thankful that she’s still doing shows. The hoarseness didn’t bother me so much this time, it was more the off key notes (which were expected but sound unpleasant nonetheless), which she may be able to work around by lowering, since she was good when not reaching for them.

The hoarseness and her unstable voice is exactly what shocked me.
I expect her to not be on-key and do shouting here and there, but that her voice is so coarse from the very beginning... she had a week off since the last date on December 23. I really don't understand what's the problem. Did she ruin her voice earlier in her career so much, that it's going hoarse without her doing much?
Except rehearsals of course, but every other singer does that as well.

I think she rehearsals as crazy all the time. Maybe because she posts photos only from the studio

What’s cringe worthy is some of the comments on here. When ayu is doing the best she can with her current situation. She’s more than half way deaf and yet some think that’s a small thing. She can’t hear to 100% capacity which means: she easily goes out of tone, screams most of the time which destroys her vocals for the night and adjusts her ear piece as the show progresses. I’m sorry if I sound a bit harsh but hearing loss isn’t something to take lightly.

^I don't think anyone really sees it as "small". Also, she doesn't shout all the notes anymore like she did and the best she could do vocally at this point would be something like PoM18. The problem isn't that she sometimes hits the wrong note (not for me at least...), key but her strained vocal chords. That doesn't have too much to do with deafness. She's been singing rather lightly for quite some time now, which is good but she still gets hoarse. As Aderianu said, she seems to rehearse like crazy and if she can't handle all that without ruining her chords, then she needs to change things.
I personally liked the CDL and it felt like her vocals kind of warmed up during the show but that should happen before the show. This was way better than the last two CDLs vocals wise, though. Her voice wasn't hoarse during nearly every song this year (she was sick before MIT tho iirc).

Not gonna make some huge technical analisis because everyone already did it and I agree in many points with y'all, so vocals problems aside I'm just going to write my personal opinion: I REALLY enjoyed this whole show, her energy, her sensuality, her emotion (didn't see fake crying this time when she teared up a little in NOW & 4EVA it felt pretty real) she delivered a great show and performance. Personally speaking, I enjoyed this CDL more than any other show since MIJ 16 (maybe PoM 18 could be an exception but has such a different style overall so is hard to compare) so that's it for me, great show and I really enjoyed it.

This conversation has been around since 2007/2008 (when her vocals were, in contrast to 2005/2006, far worse), and I think it is due to her hearing loss more than anything, but I do agree that rehearsing and touring so often cannot be good for her voice (and remaining hearing) either. I feel quite apathetic towards her tours now though, and have since about 2012. This CDL was fine visually, average for her vocally, but eh. She's different now from the artist she was when I started listening to her, it simply feels unfair to compare her now to what she was like 'then', particularly as I'm aware of her hearing issues....

...but when you start thinking about her show as a product to be consumed, and that there are potential factors that exacerbate certain issues, then certainly I feel people have the right to make comparisons with other touring artists and express their dissatisfaction. Larger shows with fewer dates would be more preferable, and would allow her more time to give to other aspects of her career (like...releasing singles to boost interest in attendance).

I really, REALLY LOVED W. It was so sexy and ironic at the same time. She was going full sexy and mocking that situation. Best part of the show for me.

Her schedule is not that busy and she released music before during busier times.

People like to complain we would get more music with less touring, but she most likely just doesnt feel like releasing something new and with no touring we probably would get nothing instead.

I was kind of surprised as I really enjoyed watching this CDL. Ayu really looked like she was having fun and I liked the setlist too (even when it wouldn't be anything I'd usually put together)

Her vocals actually seemed to improve later in the show? I think the problem is that when she has put in the effort with a vocal coach, her voice has been better even with her hearing. Mostly it seemed like she was hitting the right notes to me but she almost sounded hoarse from a cold or being at a loud party and shouting (which has been me over Christmas :laugh

I even kinda liked Timmy as a Caberet-esque MC character before 1LOVE. I actually think that MC character look could work well in the show for him instead of the current outfit?

I was expecting to be disappointed by the smaller scale shows but I even really liked the stage. The stairs were simple but effective. I also wonder if Ayu felt the need to fill the larger stages with more dancers before whereas now it felt like the right balance for me.

I couldn't disagree more with most of the members in this forum then right now. I really enjoyed and loved the show. Her energy was amazing! I don't know why but I feel that she now fully enjoys holding a concert. It's clearly that the fans attention is her source of strength. The venue was really nice and I kinda enjoy her concerts more with this layout, closer to the audience, with no middle runway. The visuals on the screens were really amazing and it felt that the concert has a nice flow, just like her concerts used to be, with some kind of storyline (AT 2005 and 2006 for example). Talking about the vocals, I really was surprised. I don't think it was terrible at all. Only the start of WARNING and then UNITE but everything else was lovely for me.

I laughed with her eating the snow by accident during Days. lol

Okay I have finished watching the CDL.


Positive thoughts :
- I was not bothered by her vocals at all, they were bad during some songs but like 2 or 3 out of the whole show so I don't mind.
- I liked the intro and the interludes.
- Overall the show was nice and energetic, I had fun especially during W, 1LOVE, We are the QUEENS are Dream ON. Ayu seemed to be enjoying herself.
- The outfits and props were cool.

Negative thoughts :
- I'm not into small venues, it makes the show feel underwhelming for me. That's not her fault since Yoyogi is under renovation but I hope halls do not become her default setting.
- I didn't like the setlist because :
- The show just feels too homogeneous, there are just too many energetic/upbeat songs that it just gets boring.
- She overperforms some songs these days, i absolutely love WARNING as a song but i just don't want to see it ever again lmao Love Song needs to die too and that performance of 1LOVE has now been used 4 different times, even though i enjoyed the new visuals a lot the choreography is the same so it needs to die.

To all who criticized her for her voice...
Her voice is hoarse since the end of 2015 - MADE IN TOKYO was the beginning of extreme low quality live voice and that was after her first pneumonia which wasn’t really cured.
At the end of 2016, she had a second pneumonia which wasn’t fully cured.
At the beginning of 2017 avex announced that she is almost completely deaf.
What Did you guys expect after all this?

She has proven her ability to sing well and not have a hoarse voice during MIJ, PoM18 and TV performances this year. That's what can be expected since she clearly can deliver it.

Not about what I expect from her but let me just add, it's simply irresponsible to not cure things such as pneumonia. It's not a surprise with her but she should cure things properly, both as a singer/performer and simply a human. It can backfire easily and if the pneumonia(s) is/are actual reasons for a 'permanent' kind of damage then it's an explanation but not an excuse, imo.

But that's just what I think and in the end she will do things the way she wants to. After all she is a 40 year old woman who can decide for herself. One doesn't have to agree with how she deals with different things, though.

Anyway, not gonna add much to that discussion. I said everything I wanted to say and I don't want to repeat stuff too much. Also, for me this was more of a general discussion since it did occur in this CDL (hoarseness) but not as much as in others. I generally enjoyed it a lot!

YES! Plus she had pneumonia twice and got back to stage while still not fully recovered. This women is insane. Love her <3

I wasn't really into this tour until watching the CDL and now I'm super excited to see it live in February! <3

I also think that lowering the key or using pre-recorded vocal for the notes she can't reach, or struggle to reach. I don't mind having the UNITE chorus in playback.

I agree with this.

Hajimemashite, new member here, although I do read posts from time to time

I went to her 12.23 show in Kyoto (my first time seeing her live actually, I'm finally making enough money on my own to afford a trip to Japan) and saw the new year show online yesterday. I honestly think she sounded better on her 2nd night in a row in Kyoto than on the CDL show which she had a week to rest for. I don't remember any shouting or going off-key, and there were some moments in the earlier songs such as How beautiful you are that she actually sounded like a 10yr younger version of herself, although her voice did get waxier during the encore songs at my show as well. I think one of the factors is that the CDL show was longer with a couple of additional songs to rehearse in the final days (rawrrr I missed Talking to myself), and this tour was full of dance songs which are more tiring to prepare and perform. It was also much later into the night at the CDL, and she sounded more worn during the final songs at CDL than the one that I saw live.

And honestly let's be realistic, her voice expired 10 years ago. She was never a vocal powerhouse, but she had a unique and inexplicably addicting voice. There was a lot of friction on her vocal cords to produce that voice, and the damage is done, that voice is long gone. She's also sth like 80% deaf now, so she doesn't get enough audio feedback when she's singing, which probably causes the shouting and going off key. I guess the realistic solution is just cut the hard songs and do less dance songs, cuz I'm pretty sure given how hard working she is, she's already doing the best she could to sing in her current physical condition.

For the ppl who have problems with how sexual the CDL show was... well the Kyoto show was even more sexual. She picked some fans on stage, made the girls sit on chairs while she sat on their laps and hugged them, and the way she threw her legs over theirs and her arms around their necks looked like a quick lap dance. The guys lied horizontally on stage while she bounce-danced on top of them. I guess this sounds bad in words, but I just laughed at the concert and said "lucky bastards". I'm actually OK with the water pouring and stripping part, even though it surprised me at the show (W was the opening song at Kyoto). She must have put in a lot of effort to get back in shape, so if she wants to show off her body, go ahead, she's not going to be sexy forever. And there's always Timmy on stage to set the lower bar anyway.

One last thing... I'm pretty bummed at how strict Japan is with the no photos/filming policy. I know it's the local laws and culture, but I just wanted sth to remember that moment by... I got scolded by the fans next to me. I don't blame them, but awww...

I'm off to see her tomorrow in Ibaraki. I'm excited to see the hall arena as I've seen her central stage and regular stages live before so this will be something different. I kind of hope I am on the second or third floor so I can take a few sneaky photos :laugh

after the tv broadcast of PCDL, ppl caught her lip sync during cute section (ANGEL'S SONG), lip sync no more a choice for her after that, she just having bad voice for live/broadcast, or edited voice in dvd release.

I watched the CDL 2018 concert last night and the one thought I have is that those who say he sounded awful must've never heard her at her worse. Sure, she was rough in some spots, but overall I didn't come out of this anywhere near as shocked as I was a few years ago.

I'm also looking at my downloaded files right now - was there no CDL last year? The previous one I have before that is the one for JtB (broadcast 2016/12/31)

As for the tours, I have Made in Japan (2016), then the two JtB ones that are bundled with the Trouble CDs. Then somebody's TV rip of PoM 20 - has that one been released on DVD/Blu-ray yet? Am I missing anything in-between? I'm a completist :-) and I feel like I haven't purchased anything in a long, long time.

She was wearing a black outfit underneath W's white shirt and skirt, so it's not like that turned into some sort of braless wet t-shirt thing you might expect from..."other singers". And as far as I can tell, the "underwear" you describe her flashing is still part of that black outfit as well (she just took off the skirt for 1 Love).

No PoM18 DVD (so far) and last year there was a concert on the 31st but no CDL

There is the TA Limited tour 2016 TV rip that you seem to be missing ;)

They just uploaded her selfie video from CDL on TA. <3 Hikaru is sooo cute! Love that he's being naturally embracing that he's a femme queen!

Well if you want to be technical then sure.:laugh
But that doesn't really change anything for me. I don't know if perhaps Ayu was making a commentary on how women are sexualized or if she was trying to be humorous or trying to "enjoy herself". But it didn't click with me. I don't find it offensive or upsetting but I was sitting there while watching like::confused:no.
It looks like the majority of people really enjoyed the show and the only complaint was the vocals. Ayu has had much worse reviews so it seems unnecessary to argue over her voice. It's the same talking points every time. I personally have just accepted that Ayu's vocal performance on any given day simply is what it is. Sometimes it is not enjoyable and other times it can be good. I don't think her voice will return to the way it was.
Hopefully Ayu will give touring a rest after this tour is over and release a full length album later this year.

I wonder how the set list will change and whether she’ll keep some songs. I hope she adds WORDS!

I kind of read W's performance as a bit tongue in cheek.
The lyrics include "It's your own fault for taking it seriously, you know?" and "Intentionally playing the part of a woman without intentions is also a strategy" which I felt fit with the possibly deliberately over the top 'sexy' choreography

There is one half of the concert on youtube and I watched the opening part, so WARNING, W, Lady Dynamite and 1 LOVE. Plus I saw Together When... in another video. I was a bit prejudgemental to comment instantly on her hoarse voice. I am not denying that her vocals were strained, but overall I just wanna say how amazed I am by her energy throughout this part. She did really good. I think this CDL is great and everyone who went there are lucky! I wish I was there!
Great vocals ain't it all huh.

Chapter 2

01 W
02 Lady Dynamite
03 1 LOVE
--- Show Time ---
04 No way to say
05 Together When...
--------------------
06 Movin' on without you
07 Lelio
08 XOXO
--------------------
09 We are the QUEENS
10 Survivor
11 talkin' 2 myself
12 Startin'
13 evolution
14 Love song
15 NOW & 4EVA
---------------------
ENCORE
~Sorrow Instrumental~
16 Days
17 Feel the love ~ Merry-go-round
18 Boys & Girls
19 The Show Must Go On
DOUBLE ENCORE
20 MY ALL

I'm also grudging over Words. That's the best song in the album imo. I know she's more of a legacy singer, but this tour is supposedly held to promote that album.

And I agree, vocals aside, I'm really impressed that she's able to sing all those high energy songs for 2.5 hours straight. I think she was better vocally at the Kyoto show that I attended, so maybe she's just tired at the Tokyo CDL. Just for the record No way to say is a hard song, I tried that song at a Karaoke in Japan last week and it killed me... I think she should just steer clear if that song's out of her vocal range now.

Arhhh Give me back aeternal!!

Only 2 songs from TROUBLE in Chapter 2..

Length 55:42




Cont’l Length 33:40

The fact that she ditched The way I am and aeternal is a scandal.

I really enjoyed the Evolution performance from CDL - loved how the arrangement sounded closer to the studio recording.

Idk what y'all talking about she sounded fine, not the best, but it was ok. The show was good, heck much more enjoyable than the last 2 CDL's. I mean the only complaint i have, and it not even a big deal, was the venue. Y'all complain too much.

Did Naoya show up? That looks like him in the still for the second video

^yes, he and Ayu performed ANother Song... and Dream On instead of Ayu doing Feel The Love ~ Merry-go-round

She lip synced several times after that...

ayumi hamasaki
LIVE TOUR -TROUBLE-
2018-2019 A Chapter 2
2019.01.06 UTSUNOMIYA

01 WARNING
02 W
03 Lady Dynamite
04 1LOVE
05 No way to say
06 æternal
07 Movin’ on without you
08 Lelio
09 XOXO
10 We are the QUEENS
11 Startin’
12 evolution
13 talkin’ 2 myself
14 Love Song
15 NOW & 4EVA

————
Encore
16 Sorrow -instrumental-
17 Days
18 Feel the love ~ Merry-go-round
19 Boys & Girls
20 The Show Must Go On

Double Encore
21 MY ALL

aeternal is back!!!

Bah, why didn't she sing it at Ibaraki? It's my favourite song from the new album. I was super happy to see her regardless. We were row 21 so we were pretty close to the stage. Seeing her that close was such a blessing. I'll remember it forever. :luv2

I also got to shake hands with Zin and Midoring and a new female dancer when we they walked down at the end to say thank you.

Thanks - I have two separate files from that one. I meant I'm looking for stuff that's released for purchase on DVD/Blu-ray.

Over the last year or two (or three), I've caught up with all of her concerts, so it's been so long now that I've had the opportunity to buy something of hers, I can't shake the feeling I've missed something and I'm craving something new to add to my collection... :-)

Startin sounded really good in that video. Her voice was really strong.

Just what I was gonna say lol!! So happy æternal is back, Yasss :P

What a shit idea to ditch Last angel, Survivor, The way I am and YOU and replaced by such fucking over performed songs like WARNING and evolution. I hate this woman always do the same thing in her second half part of the tour.

I was hoping Together When... would stay :( I would take WARNING over Survivor any time!

I'm surprised she kept No way to say over Together when. That was easily the worst vocal performance from the CDL. It was so sad to see her bomb a top classic. I was just saying she should probably just cut that song for good if it's out of her vocal range now. The same goes for Days. Her voice sounds so waxy in that song. I'd rather listen to How beautiful you are if she sounds better in it, and I don't care for that song at all.

I like keeping Talking to myself tho. That was my fav of the CDL.

I love startin’!!!!

Together When is great, I really like it. But if to choose between it and æternal I prefer second. Just because it's so rare

Did you also met Timmy?? He posted photo at the instagram, I thought girl on it looks like you

It's her :-)

That's cool!


----
funy unofficial photo from rongvsayumi

http://i.imgur.com/01DBUjUl.jpg

^meme material, love it! :laugh

That could bei meiner, If I'm trying to see what other people are doing/watching/writting in their phones. I guess my expression ist the same :D

Yes that's me, ran into him in shinjuku. He is an absolute darling, I feel so lucky to be able to call him a friend.

ayu: "my iPhone is out of battery, but I look so good. I can't take selfies. Dafuq?"

dancer: "let me give you some battery....now..."

^ eww...

This thread is now cursed. NURSE!

J/k, but also I can totally see now why Ayu’s team went back on allowing fans to freely take pictures with their phones during the show. That photo is definitely not too flattering.

Further, in regards to the setlist changes, I wholeheartedly agree that it was criminal to ditch YOU and The way I am for the new setlist additions, but a part of me believes that as much as we love these songs, Ayu herself probably gets bored with them in one way or another. I have a single Ayu playlist of about 20-25 songs I listen to regularly that I feel gets updated rather frequently just to keep it fresh or make it more cohesive.

She could've also just realized that these songs weren't getting the kind of response she was hoping. In the case of YOU, I can see how if she has a lot of newer fans attending the shows(which seems to be the case from watching the last few concerts), this song probably doesn't do much for them. The way I am(in Acappella no less) probably doesn't get much of a crowd response.

At the end of the day, as long as this woman keeps herself happy is all that matters. She definitely deserves it after the exhausting touring schedule she's had for the past year!

It is not allowed to take photos at the current Tour.

I think she looks amazing in this picture, tbh. The other picture the same instagram account posted is also really cute!

http://i.imgur.com/Co4h44ml.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rI3WtvHl.jpg

^ the first picture really got me into end 2006, 2007 vibes… she just doesn't age :)

I just can't forget her words during LINE LIVE that she'll "perform lots of songs from new album".:D

Considering there was 5 to begin with, 2 is still "lots" :tired

Any updates on the set list from today?

I know? I said her team went back on allowing fans to take photos, not went back to. My apologies for the confusing wording!

LOL did she really say that? I mean, technically she is performing 3 songs from a 5-track “album”(with partial inclusion of The way I am), so I guess you could say that is “lots” from TROUBLE :p

That setlist is uncreative as hell.

Ahhh now I got it, it even took me a while with your explanation to realize what you meant xD
That happens when english is not my mother language ^^

But she doesn't get bored with Boys & Girls and 1 LOVE. Boys & Girls made her come to fame, I understand why she keeps it in every single concerts (although I'm so tired of this song). For 1 LOVE, we've seen this song in concert every year since CDL14-15 and the choreography is almost 100% the same in these years performances. It's been so over performed and many fans have been sick to death of this performance. If the choreography is changed to the dance in AT07 I would feel more interesting.

The fact is when I attended Gifu performance last year, ayu told the crowd to sing along during the last chorus of YOU, I heard a huge voice which sounds like everyone in the hall was singing. I don't see she has many newer fans in these year. Actually the 10s and 20s in Japan don't know much things about her and think she is already “out of date”. Acappella version of The way I am is one of the interesting point of this concert and most important thing is, this is a tour for the album TROUBLE, but she tended to ditch the songs from TROUBLE instead of other over performed songs (like 1 LOVE, Movin' on without you), even though there are only 5 songs in TROUBLE.

^ 1 LOVE was only performed during CdM concerts and the 2016 TA tour...it wasn’t included in Just the beginning, Made in Japan, TA 2015 nor POM2018.

This forum always exaggerates. She performs something in more than 2 concerts: OMG SHE ALWAYS SINGS IT I'M SO SICK OF IT!

I've seen 1LOVE live at CdM and Trouble and it's super fun live, it makes me laugh and entertains me. Isn't that part of the point?

Yes, she sings Boys & Girls in every concert and I was bored of it too.
But when I was on PoM‘18 I fell in love again with that song.
It‘s so much fun live while she and the audience sing along together...

That 2nd picture is not super flattering.

Thus I turned it into my avi.:yes

Songs that might seem repetitive on DVD are actually a lot of fun in concert. It's always different with the energy of the audience and the artist.

She also sang 1 LOVE in JTB Chapter 2. Starting from CDL 14-15 we can see how many times this song was appeared in concert:
2014: CDL 14-15
2015: ARENA TOUR 15
2016: TA TOUR 16
2017: Just the beginning Chapter 2
2018: TROUBLE TOUR
2019: TROUBLE TOUR

If we count CDL 14-15 and AT15 were in the same year, she performed 1 LOVE in 5 consecutive years. Except in JTB, the choreography were almost the same.

1 LOVE is not just performed in more than 2 concerts, but in EVERY YEAR since 2015. The most important thing make me sick of 1 LOVE is she didn't make anything new on the choreography after CDL 14-15 but only changed the background animation. Moreover, in TA TOUR 2016 she performed LOVE 'n' HATE instead of 1 LOVE during some performances. However she always only chooses songs which have been performed many times to be appeared in the filming date.

I think Ayu's always been pretty good at shaking up her setlists, while keeping the classics that fans that don't get to see her regularly will appreciate being present. However, I am hoping that the A^3 date will be lean more towards including a greater selection of classics, though JTB and Made in Japan did this pretty well imo.

I feel like M has been criminally ignored in the last few years, as has Dearest, but these two make sense as she did sing them pretty frequently around their releases.

Still more than 2. Have you ever seen her live? It's completely different that just watching her on DVD. Like I said, 1LOVE is really fun live and it fit well in this setlist next to W and Lady Dynamite.

Wasn't A song for XX the song that put her on the map? Tbh she has soooo many hits she could pretty much just throw darts to decide what to sing. I'm still not very fond of Boys & girls even after hearing it live, although the entire audience singing Sorrows to the lyrics on the screen was quite an experience. I do wish she shakes things up, cuz I might try to see her again while I'm still in Asia, but a trip to Japan is still quite a big deal. I do hope she filters it a bit. As much as everybody loves No way to say, it was quite sad and cringy to hear those vocals at the CDL.

I still think the no photo policy is dumb. Most fans are just trying to snap a souvenir to remember the show by. Everybody knows there are better and prettier official photos of Ayu online, and they're not trying to compete with those photos. They just want to remember it from their seating view, an experience that's personal. Why else would people pay so much to see Ayu in person from across the hall, instead of just buying the DVD release? I'll respect Japan's laws and culture, but oh come on.

I feel like she's much more conscious these days about which songs suit her current voice best, and so she tends to stray away from a lot of older songs.

That said, if she put effort into new arrangements, it could work really well. In TA2015 she sang M at the show I went to, which was swapped out for Last Minute on the recording date and it was the more rock arrangement like the first PoM. It definitely suited her voice very well.

Dearest, on the other hand, hasn't really had a great performance since the time it was a single (and all of those performances were great). So I'm OK if she doesn't sing that one live again - it just doesn't work for her now.

1 LOVE is one of my favourite songs, so I don't mind. Plus, I find her version of the TROUBLE tour much more refined, than other times. The choreo is perfect right now!

I made a Spotify list with the songs in order of the setlist. Gotta say. The most likeable part for me is WARNING - 1 LOVE, and I guess they are the overperformed bit.
So, no complaints.

Most song that are boring ob DVD are not boring when you see her live, except My name is women, this song just pisses me off even when I see the concert live in person xD

This only looks bad if you disregard that she did not sing it during:
CDL 2015-2016 Made in Tokyo
Arena Tour 2016 Made in Japan
JTB1
JTB3
Arena Tour Power of Music 2018

So there’s been a nice gap between each of 1LOVE performances. She has been touring a lot in the recent years.

I've seen 1 LOVE live 3 times. The first time when I saw this song's performance was JTB Chapter, the choreography changed a bit but second half part of the song still same as CDL 1415/AT15/TA TOUR16. At that time I think it was okay but not quite interested in it. Last year when I attended TROUBLE TOUR, I just felt this song with the same choreography can be kicked out from her concerts. I would be more satisfied if she bring back the dance in AT07.
I won't deny it was fun when I saw the dancers spreading ayu money, which reminded me the MV of 1 LOVE. But I'd prefer other less performed songs like NaNaNa or identity next to Lady Dynamite.

That's why I use the word “every year”. I agree she should include some must-have songs in her concerts. Indeed I love evolution, SURREAL, Love song and even You& Me. But it shouldn't be 1 LOVE nor WARNING with 99% same choreography and performance which have been recycled every year since 2015. They should be thrown away unless one day she make something new on them.

Oh, it would be so nice if she sang them again.

When I saw the 1LOVE performance for the frist time (in CdM Tour) it was really amazing. The audience response to all the sex references was insane. It was really enjoyable. I don't think I'll ever be bored while going to her concerts. It's not that she's doing everything the same, there's always something new here and there to keep us excited.

This tour already is already a fresh breath of air compared to her recent shows so I'm happy. Come on we get new props, new visuals for 1 Love (and they are really cool) and overall she seems to enjoy it a lot. That makes me anticipate her April arena concerts even more.

I personally don’t mind seeing WARNING often. It’s so much fun live.

nobody can touch "identity" unless shuya is back!
jk...

I agree that that is most likely the reason that she stays away from them, but it's highly melancholic also, she should feel she can sing her own songs, even if they have to be altered and don't sound similar to the studio recordings anymore. Hopefully she does re-arrange some oldies in the future so that she can. :D

I still think her current voice would be really great for an acoustic live set a.k.a my holy trinity: Secret, Sweet Scar and Shape of Love, she could just sit there and sing without forcing her voice too much or shouting and I really love those songs and acoustics sets in general :laugh

Nooo... I don't like the most rearrangements... Bold & Delicious, ourselves, forgiveness and Born To Be... are ruined forever...

YES!! :heart
If I went to an ayu concert and she didn't sing Girls & Boys I would be very disappointed. And it actually happened, during the Nagoya shows of Premium Showcase. Not just me, but the Japanese fans around me were surprised and bummed without it. (I overheard some of them talking when leaving!)

Wow, those songs are amazing, if only she could perform Shape of Love more often. I love guitar part in that song.

Damn u put a super beautiful trio together and now I really dream that she could make it happen :D

^ To me, it's Evan's famous trio cause he mentioned it so many times already, but I love all of those songs. Sweet scar is pure beauty and I need it to land on some concert DVD finally!

Actually for the show I attended I was surprised there were so many new things like costumes, props, and performances, especially the new arrangement of The way I am. It wasn't same as what she did in Line Live. It started with acapella and then different instruments were added step by step after first chorus. Something new was added to Last angel too. During the intro of the song, the male dancer acted with ayu in æternal picked her up and then went to backstage. This made æternal and Last agnel connected so well. The background visual of Last angel was also very attractive. That's why I'm mad to see her ditched The way I am and Last angel but kept 1 LOVE and added WARNING. She is still able to make her shows brand new, but she tend to throw away the new things and recycle those overperformed items. Luckily she still hasn't ditched We are the QUEENS, which is one of my favourite performance of this tour besides The way I am and Last angel.

Sky High Same! she really should!

freedreamer I love those songs! I have a small playlist with just the 3 of them, I'd love an acoustic set from Ayu :yes

maxikot Yup, I'm guilty! (no pun intended lol) I always talk about those songs is just I love them so much :laugh