Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [A] Rock'n'Roll Circus Tour FINAL ～7days Special～ thoughts?

Hmm, it's not that different actually. (Probably due more to the exchange rate being baaaad as ever)

The Blu-ray is a bit more than usual, but that's a Blu-ray and SUPER high quality. [Basically uncompressed footage kind of...?]~

REVIEW~
00. circus - These damn clowns, haha. Loved them. I liked how high energy they were and they really got the show going despite kind of really being inappropriate for what was coming next. They were ~SURPRISED~ by THE introduction when it started up and started running away as soon as things kind of got eerie, dohoho~

01. THE introduction - I'm pretty sure this is one of my favorite concert openings EVER from Ayu. The robodance sequence before Microphone is just... WOW. Whoever choreographed that, KUDOS TO YOU. Because I don't even know when the last time they did something that epic-looking when it comes to choreography was. The background images of Ayu grimacing/smiling/whatever with and without makeup were breathtaking and beautiful even if you only saw them for like, two seconds.

02. Microphone - Stunning performance. Her voice was on point and the robodancers were all awesome during the entire song. It was like this song was made to open this exact show. We needed to see some more of the background with the giant swinging guitars and semi-Real me cloaked Ayu, but hey, you can't have everything!

03. Last angel - Loved this more than the performance at CDL. Still was kind of peeved at the lack of singing during the verses, but she did well. This song really is not easy to sing and she pulled it off. The screens in the background had multicolored flashes of light and feathers/angel's wings while she was singing and the entire thing kind of just went to the beat of the song, quite pretty actually. The acrobats were a welcome sight. Lots of flips and all that throughout the show from them! (and the clowns.)

04. About You - Standard performance of About You, but somehow it was better than previous ones? Maybe it's because the entire thing is contained in such an amazing package, haha.

05. solitude - Gorgeous sequence of lovers searching... Ayu looked amazing in the screen shots. I think she should've kept the other dress.... but probably since the MOON dress had to be underneath, they did a bit of a switcheroo? I dunno. I did like that older dress better with the empire waist and etc. The scenes with the tears against the silhouettes and the crying + blood/vomit/whatever... agghh amazing.

06. rainy day - Vocally, she did well. Somehow I feel like the AT06 rendition was better when it comes to her singing, but the execution was WAY better here. The minimalist raindrops, the other dancers as bystanders/etc... it all just worked! They really did not focus on Ayu as much as they should have, but this set of songs was all about the four of them.

07. BALLAD - Stand out! STAND OUT! It's like... the defining performance of a song that makes you LOVE the song that you weren't so sure about before. This year's HAPPY ENDING from AT05! It's like... EPIC. Flowers flying everywhere, people dying, and Ayu breaking up into tears at the end! She does superbly when it comes to her vocals and is it just me or did Ayu's acting get REALLY convincing for this tour? She probably got lessons in LA or something, huh? Haha.

08. MOON - Simple performance of MOON. She looked great [slimmest she's been since 2006 I think?] and sounded fine. Her voice had a bit of a shaky quality to it from crying after BALLAD but she recovered. MOON could've used more moons throughout the performance instead of just during the last minute or so, but hey.

09. Rimbaud - LOVED THIS. It was amazing! This is how they should do wadaiko shows from now on! Subaru, good job. You get a cookie and some cake. OH OH. And the screens! AMAZING. SO BRIGHT AND SHINY.

10. count down - Vocally, probably the best performance of the show on this disc. SHE SANG THE SONG BETTER THAN IN THE STUDIO VERSION. HOW DO YOU EVEN!? I don't get it! Haha. But yeah, this song was amazing live and she looked great in her weird metal-eaten red dress thing.

11. Memorial address - On par with the original AT03-04 performance of Memorial address, I'd say. She didn't cry or anything, but she already did that during BALLAD soooo, eh. As usual for this concert, she did great vocally. Not much I can say other than bravo.

12. Virgin Road - Beauty! Gorgeous! Weddings! Ayu scurrying around is hilarious though. I think that this is how they should've done the DT01 'M' performance... without that weird light up headdress/dress. Vocals were great, background screens were awesome [Groom silhouette! Stained glass!] as it seems this tour really pulled out all the stops when it comes to the visuals.

13. memories - D'awww. One of the most innovative uses of the screens Ayu has ever had in the history of her tours! The dancers interact with the screen and we see some cool stuff like faeries, veiled Ayu, and some pop art Ayu~ I want more of this sort of thing in a tourrr~ Dancers did a great job too!

14. Don't look back - Choreography was so tight for this set. Ayu was really fierce during the last half of the concert... not sure what came across her, but she was like whipping her hair back and forth in these next three numbers. Voice was just fine.

15. INSPIRE - Typically awesome performance of INSPIRE [way better than the one at CDL09-10 I think] and the crowd seemed to be way more excited this time around. Ayu did great vocally.

16. Because of You - Mmm, after not really doing so well on the day of filming for CDL09-10, Ayu did Because of You justice! There are some points where she stops singing where she normally [in 2003-2005ish] would've kept going but that's the case for a lot of songs. Ayu x Kazuma seemed to be happening a lot in this set. I wish Ayu kept her damn crystal hat thing! No complaints from me here!

17. THE CABARET - I dunno what this was. It was fine imo, but... I didn't understand what PECO and PRINCESS were singing half the time, haha. "CABAREEETTTT, shinjitsu noooo ??????????????" Wasn't bad, but it wasn't fantastic or anything.

18. Sexy little things - Interesting performance of Sexy little things. SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING. You have acrobats sitting over there, clowns doing tricks, Ayu and Kayanocchi on a piano, GO-MI running around in his 'drag' or whatever... it was just a lot going on! Very cute though. Thought they'd use some more effects on her voice, but they didn't. Oh well, still sounded great to me. Costumes were cute too.

19. STEP you - FINALLY. SHE DIDN'T PERFORM STEP YOU LIKE THE LAST 4-5 TIMES SHE HAS. Her "1234youandme1234youandme" after the bridge was so lol. I totally didn't understand why the dressing room/bedroom split and why the end went same-sex couples but eh! Haha~

20. Jump! - Hot dance battle! That's about all that happened here.

21. Lady Dynamite - Great performance! I think I'm gonna stick this into my memory vs. the PV as my representation of the song, haha. Ayu sang it well and everyone looked like they were having tons of fun! Creepy half motorcycle clown was awesome too~

22. until that Day... - Not really a fan of this song in concert for some reason. I think it's because she does it a lot... and it tends to be the same. Thankfully this time she did NOT perform it in the same way as usual and things were just fine! Seems like this concert did that a lot for most songs she performs pretty often.

23. SURREAL 〜 evolution 〜 SURREAL - Mmm, loved how the dancers all ended up in various outfits from throughout the concert. Could've ended with a different song/medley since we've heard SURREALevolutionSURREAL HOW many times now? But it fit the occasion. Every time she does SURREAL I kind of think about that CDL07-08 performance before she announced the deafness thing and I feel like she's come a long way since then. She's such a trooper.

Overall, this is probably her top concert tour for me now. She really did outdo herself this time and 5 years after AT05, she's outdone herself in this concert for the 2nd time. She was seriously performing at 110% for the entire concert! I want to watch this over and over and over and over again in HD. I wonder if she'll keep the momentum going for this year's POWER of MUSIC tour~?