First show for Fukuoka was great! Setlist was the same as first two Yokohama shows. Show started around 7.15pm and wrapped up a tiny bit after 9pm. Ticket collection for global TA members closed at 5pm... Two hours before the show... A bit early :/
Anyhow, I was seated in tenth row, very close to the stage, unlike the arenas where there is a considerable gap between the front row and the stage, there was almost no gap at Fukuoka Sun Palace Hall.
Alterna was amazing performance, started off with Ayu surrounded by her dancers in a pose while the opening lines of Alterna played through the speakers, Ayu doesn't sing these parts. (The only HEEEY hey hey hey HEEEY parts she sings is at the end of the song) All of Ayus dancers are wearing creepy white masks. The rearrange to sit in a line on the long dinner table and take off their masks midway through the song. Flashes of the Alterna MV are playing on the screens by the way. During Alterna Ayu takes on the role of puppet master as part of the choreography.
Her vocals were just so good, projected so well, no shouting, no off key, I haven't heard her sing this well ever and the first time I. Saw Ayu was 2007 CDL.
Microphone was also a great performance vocally, bits of the MV are also playing on the screens. Choreography for this song was pretty good as usual. Before the final chorus, Ayu runs off stage as the screens part, and as the final chorus starts, she shoots up on the elevated stage to sing the final chorus.
GAME starts, and she actually sings the intro to the song, don't recall her ever doing that. Ayu gets lowered backstage again after this verse, and Timmy appears. Timmy is dressed outrageously the entire show, he has a few costume changes, all different corsets but same boots and stockings. Timmy is background vocals on some songs, and also acts as an MC, for the show... GAME, is a game between heaven and hell with the words heaven and hell intertwined in the screens behind Ayu as she sings. They also use the love heart props for this song.
Dearest and how beautiful you are were great. I love Dearest and finally got to hear Ayu sing it full live!!! Her voice was almost perfect up until the second chorus of Dearest where she strained a tiny bit, but the rest of it was really good, as was how beautiful you are.
After the ballad segment, the dancers choose 4 girls and 1 guy to go up on stage, they go backstage to be briefed I assume, the silver streamers come across the stage and then 1Love starts, good vocals again and fun choreography that's new.
During Shake It, Ayu twerks...... And slaps her butt... And twerks some more... It was interesting haha. Midway through the song, the boy chosen from the audience appears on elevated stage sitting on a chair. Ayu takes her earpiece off and asks for his name and then she introduces him to the crowd and is then walked down on to the stage via the stairs. He gets danced on by Ayus female dancers and then by Ayu herself! He was a very good sport and got into the singing and dancing. During the ONE TWO THREE FOUR bits of the song, Ayu gave him the mic to sing those bits.
Step you comes on, my fave song! This is one of the songs you can tell if she is lipsyncing or not as she has lip synced this song in the past, and given she was delivering consistent vocals tonight I have reason to suspect... But I really think tonight was 100% live!! Midway through the song, the 4girls are escorted out by a female dancers each and are taught on stage a simple choreography to do during the Step you chorus. During the outro Ayu goes up them all and gives them a hug and naturally the freak out, it was very cute.
Kiss o kill and Free & Easy used more Christian symbolism, and mock crucifixions obviously fit with the theme of Sacrifice. Her vocals were once again so controlled and on point, I was just in awe,even my partner who had been watching some live Ayu YouTube videos was preparing for the worst tonight but was pleasantly surprised. During these two songs, videos of churches are played in the background, and Ayu gets up on the cross (lowered down from above) at the start of Free&Easy. She only has one hand on the cross as she has to hold the mic, I reckon a hands-free mic would have worked really well for this performance.
Fly high and Mirrorcle world were fun songs to end the show with, nothing out of the ordinary here.
The time between end of main set and start of encore was fairly quick, like probably five minutes? Sometimes at her arena shows it's 10 minutes or slightly longer... Probably allows for more ppl to go to bathroom I suppose.
WORDS was great live, sounded great again, the lyrics were playing on the screens.
During the MC, I don't understand Japanese, but I could make out she was thanking all the people who came out to the airport that morning to see her, ZIN came out and did a rap for 4 lines which the crowd responded to, went over my head haha. Ayu then drew the winner of the signed Ayu love heart, and then kicked into the final three songs!
I'm going again tonight, can't wait! My highlights were definitely Alterna, microphone, Dearest and Free & Easy. Least enjoyable were Shake It and HBYA for me. Hope tonights show is just as good and I don't walk away with the conclusion she lip syncs the show
