Kaoru Abe's blog entry about final NEXT LEVEL date
 

So, apparently for the entire duration of ARENA TOUR 2009, Ayu had used Kaoru Abe as her drummer instead of the usual Nobuo Eguchi. I'm not really sure why, but I guess Nobuo might've been sick or had other commitments. Kaoru Abe was also Ayu's drummer during DOME TOUR 2001, so it had been around 8 years since he last worked with her....

Note: Nobuo Eguchi was her drummer at a-nation '09 and CDL09-10, so it's not like he's gone, haha. However, Nobuo was not at a few You were... performances during December, and Kaoru was there instead.

Anyway, go to the following link to look at his entry about the last NEXT LEVEL performance.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/k-abe_0111/e/2...22e1dccea8ac55

He also has a tag for all of his Ayu related (not necessarily with Ayu in them, but about his journey with Ayu's entourage) entries (84 of them + many photos) so check those out too at the link if you'd like to see them!

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/k-abe_0111/c/0...cff4d2a6682cde

It's very interesting imo to have a staff member take so many pictures from behind the scenes... usually her band doesn't do this kind of thing.

thanks for sharing...
will cheking it now..

thanks for sharing! interesting read. =)

and his photos are amazingly beautiful!

He seems to like kitties! Very cool. I love Ayu's band. <33

EDIT: ^His photos are quite good quality too!

The pictures really good quality.

Thanks for sharing.

It'd be cool if someone could translate, their outfits are so cool. XD

not a single pic of Ayu in all his blog? Maybe ayu and her band are not as close as it seems

I think maybe he's not supposed to take photos of her? If I'm not wrong, Zin's blog doesn't have any clear photos of ayu either...

@zyoeru : second that, all we need is to understand what he said XD

That might be it but still...isn't that weird? Having groupphotos but not a single pic of Ayu?

Thanks for sharing :yes.

I don't think her staff is allowed to take photos of her... or if they do, for contractual reasons, they cannot post them online.

Max Matsuura and Mikajohn [her "mama"] have taken pretty clear photos of themselves with her. Other than that, no one really ever posts photos with Ayu...

Kaoru Abe uses a pretty expensive camera with his shots, so they're very high quality.

Thanks for sharing. Going through them now. But, why is he in a wedding dress in his profile pic?

I was going to mention that...

He's a strange person.

^ Oh yeah, I really forgot to mention that, he's so weird :laugh

Thanks for sharing!!
I love the cute picture of Yusuke!! <3

a second occasion for abe!

Probably my favourite sentence ever. I like him~! ;DD

As for the lack of Ayu pictures, I'd put my money on legal reasons. I don't think Ayu's on bad terms with any of her band... of course, we can't know. :P

LOL at miyazaki yusuke's net singlet. LOL

I love the pics-- it's cool to see the arena from the drummer's POV.