Okay now that I FINALLY finished the entire main concert, I can give an opinion :O
In short, best countdown live in the history of Ayu countdown lives! Hmm, that's not a fair assessment since I haven't seen them all so -> best countdown live in the history of Ayu countdown lives that I've seen xD;
1.GREEN
This song sounds great live! I'm glad she didn't perform it until now because this kind of performance is what the song deserves
2.Will
Although I saw this being performed differently in my mind, I'm just happy she performed it at all! Part of me really wanted a beautiful fan/umbrella dance to this, I think it would have been very suiting.
3.vogue
I use to think this song was just okay and chose to listen to a remix of it if I felt the need to listen. But after hearing it live I appreciate it much more
I like the outfit she wore with it but a more traditional one would have been cool too? It would have kept with the oriental theme of GREEN/Will.
4.HONEY
"MY HONEY!" I don't like this song but it's fun to see live
She had very good vocals, they weren't as annoying as the recorded version lol.
5.ANGEL'S SONG
I'm going to go against the norm here and say I LOVED it when she messed up that line at the end of the chorus! I'm sorry it was just too funny. I know some may take lip-synching seriously, but I'm not just one of those people. I look at moments like this as carefree and jokingly as I do when she screws up Trauma. It's one thing if it's A Song for XX, Who..., M or tracks that she's famous for and touch the listener's heart. But come on! It's ANGEL'S SONG xD;....
6.End of the World
I think this should go down in the AyuRock Hall of Fame. I never paid this song much attention, I listened to it when I saw the set list and I pretty much had a good feeling she would rock the house with this track. She sure didn't let me down
I personally hope she re-records this song because her current stronger voice makes this song REALLY stand out.
7.Heartplace
This song is perfect after all that awesome we get from End of the World! Back in the day I didn't have much access to Ayu lives, but I remember seeing this song live way back during the RAINBOW era. Out of the two, this performance was much better. SO powerful, she did my hidden love justice!
8.Real me
I think this was the best choreography of the night! It's great to see her really moving along with the song and she looks SO much more natural than she did in the music video! And great vocals on top of that? Age hasn't slowed her down, she's better than ever ^-^b
9.And Then ~ Naturally
And then, Naturally.... I fell in love with these two songs all over again haha. They sound so good together as well
I've never seen these live, so it was a real treat!
10.In The Corner
Great choreography, great outfits, great stage lighting! I think the lighting on the stage played a key role in the atmosphere of the song and performance! She turned what was often called an "album filler" into one of the best performances of the show.
11.POWDER SNOW
I think this was the biggest anticipated performance, right? :O In my opinion, Ayu did not disappoint. Her outfit for this was SPECTACULAR! (I'm sure when my mom sees it she'll fall in love haha). I think it would be interesting to see her mix POWDER SNOW and P.S. II together somehow. Unlike the HANABIs, these two sound very similar, if I'm not mistaken?
12.HOPE or PAIN
Beautiful dress, great vocals! I think someone mentioned they wanted to see Shu-ya fall? Yeah, that would have been great xD; But it would have also ruined the flow of the song. I'm so use to hearing the classical version of this song I was freaking out because I thought they re-arranged it hahahahaha. Boy am I slow lol.
13.Over
"It's over..." yet another lip mistake by our inexperienced lip syncer Ayumi Hamasaki. To be honest, who cares
. I'm not sure why she would want to lip that one part, but I don't quite care either. I love this song, always have and I was thrilled to see it sung live. That little mishap didn't ruin it for me.
14.SCAR
I fell in love with the song way before I found out it was underrated lol. It's one of her album ballads that really stood out to me and she gave such a beautiful performance for it! I love how it came after HOPE or PAIN and Over! It's like a theme, "I wasn't sure if what we had was HOPE or PAIN, but now it's over, I've lost my love, now there's a SCAR in my heart."
15.SIGNAL ~ Hana ~ too late
Since these songs are so old, hearing them again in her voice now I was blown away! To be honest, I think SIGNAL and Hana are truly great songs! I remember when I first got into Ayu, I would dance to these two non-stop (it was of no coincidence that they were on my first purchased CD ayu-mi-x non-stop mega mix hahahaha). I think Ayu's voice added some flavor that the songs desperately needed.
16.UNITE!
As energetic and entertaining as always. Although I noticed Ayu couldn't make a complete fist with her injured hand. She closed it as if she were holding an invisible mic. I was wondering why she constantly held the mic in that hand but I guess it's like a safety net so she doesn't close her hand all the way and it limits the amount of pain.
17.SURREAL~evolution~SURREAL
Great crowd pumping songs! I'm not sure what lip "whoo yo chan" part everyone was talking about... evolution was totally live and her lips totally moved during that part so...
(10th anniversary commemoration video)
I'm not sure what the guy was saying but it was nice seeing all those old clips from Ayu's past concerts! It looks like her concerts were always very extravagant :O
18.Who...
I think this was a better countdown song that last year's RAINBOW. As much as I love that song, something was very off about it as the countdown track...
19.Trauma
Did anyone else notice how HARD Ayu tried to remember the lyrics? xD; I love how everyone in the audience knew it better than her! Also, I'm not saying anything was lipped, but did anyone notice the random "WHOO" NOT coming from Ayu's mouth? Lol, I think maybe the audio/video sync was off again, but she was just walking along and I hear this random "WHOO!!!" and I didn't know where it came from hahaha.
20.independent
Best thing about this performance was the energy of it, I have never seen someone so excited about throwing balls at people in my life lmao. Her vocals were really good as well, you could totally tell it was live. And did anyone see that nice little throw she gave with her injured hand? I was like, "GOOD JOB AYU!!!"
21.everywhere nowhere
I was totally singing along with the song, I don't know why it was never a staple song. It's so lively and energetic! Her vocals were top notch! I noticed a slightly different arrangement during the verses (I don't know music lingo so correct me if I'm wrong)?
22.Mirrorcle World
Hands down, best Mirrorcle World live performance VOCALLY! She looked great in that outfit as well! Yeah, it wasn't as WOAH as some other performances like a-nation. But her vocals were really really really really good. And I totally think it's definitely live because her vocals were never that good for this song hahahaha. Too bad they weren't as great at Kouhaku or the ladies may have had a stronger chance
I really enjoyed this concert thus far and I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can watch THE REST hahahaha Jeez I can't believe I watched all that and it's still not over :O