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Originally Posted by Tony G
Back from a day hunting down tickets to her second concert in Osaka. Not fun. All we managed to find was overpriced seat tickets 20 minutes before the concert was to start. Doesn't matter, had that one experience and it was amazing enough. So I'm not sure if she changed the encore today.
My first impressions of the show when it started... it was so big. Huge. I was scared I was not going to like it because of this. It didnt feel personal at the start in the slightest. The opening song "Happening Here" was so grand, so many things going on stage that it didn't feel like it mattered who was watching it. After being a fan for 8 or so years, my expectations were sky high. But a few songs in, that all changed. Ayu's level of crowd interaction with a huge arena is nothing short of outstanding. I think everyone there felt like they were part of the show and not just another number or tour stop by the end.
My favourite performances were Return Road and of course HANABI. When she announced she was performing that song the crowd collectively gasped, lol. It was just her on stage, and Yo-chan came up for a portion of it to perform a guitar solo. They changed the arrangement a little bit.
Party Queen was another highlight, loved the "I am a lonely queen" section.
There was only one lowlight for me... Ladies Night. She sang with the awful cutesy voice. Otherwise her vocals were really good, there a few "wow" moments when I realised just how powerful her vocals can be that can only come across when seeing her live in the flesh.
The theme for the show was so well executed.
Had amazing seats in the 8th row on the floor towards the far right side of the stage. Ayu got within 20 or so metres on a few occasions. She was never far away, had a great view of the catwalk and all. Unfortunently I was on the side where Timmy was stationed. An annoying distraction to th overall show and TERRIBLE live vocals. Didnt think it was possible to hate him any more but here we are. The crowd never once cheered for him loudly when he came forward to sing or when Ayu announced him as part of the band. Pretty telling of her Japanese fans attitude towards him.
Not sure what else to say that hasn't already been mentioned. Other than the initial scare at the start, the show met all of my expectations and exceeded them. Even if I never get to see Ayu live again, I'm glad I'll have this one live experience to always look back on. Awesome to sum it up in one word.
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I felt the same way. Ladies night was the only performance that simply felt boring compared to everything else and the song just isn't that much fun live for some reason. Or at least it wasn't fun compared to Shake It!, STEP you, Sparke or SURREAL for instance.
I was also surprised how powerful can Ayu actually sound. Sometimes the DVDs just don't do her justice.