immels Arena Tour 2006 Review.

[immel]

From the performances at 22/4 and 23/4 at the Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo.

Don't read what follows unless you want parts of the DVD spoiled, I haven't told EVERYTHING because I do not want to spoil too much.

I will add some more pictures when I get back from school, mainly from outside the arena because I didn't have the chance to take much inside. Nothing of Ayu.

EDIT:
I remembered just now that someone I know actually took pictures of Ayu during the performance, I will probably be able to get my hands on them in a few days when he returns from the US.

<Lights goes out and the crowd starts cheering>

1. Are You Wake Up? thunders out over the arena. My first thought was Cool, this is loud. I had no idea about what was to come.

<Everything goes quiet>

2. The intro chorous of Born To Be... is played and then everything goes BOOM. The sound level is just insane, I have tried to explain it to friends and family but there just ain't words to describe the explosion. I could barely make anything out of the noise at the first concert when I was so close to the stage. On the second one I could hear the song better, I was very far back, but it was still LOUD. Nothing negative with that, it's just that I never realised it would be this loud.

3. Born To Be... tunes out and AUDIENCE starts almost immediately. Yay, we get to do some serious clapping!

4. The guitar starts rolling out the intro of evolution. It's the 'newer' version, like in the MY STORY tour. Seeing the whole blue sea in the arena waving sure is something to remember. Wow. Wow Yeah! is all I can say.

5. STEP you is played. I like the song a lot, but there wasn't anything in particular to this performance. Apart from it being sung by Ayu live, at an insane sound level, with 7000~ people cheering her on .

-The lights goes out for a second and when it's turned on again the whole crowd goes like OOOH. I won't say what happens, you'll have to wait for the DVD or ask someone else.

6. Ladies Night is played. It's the song I looked forward to the most. The performance was amazing to say the least. Aaaaaaaah Haaaaaa!

7. alterna. Hey, we all love it, don't we? And yes, they still used the bubble that Ayu is hanging from after the accident during the second Saitama performance. I think someone mentioned that it looked like she was not chained to any safety wire during this performance, she was now though.

-Yochan goes solo and the crowd goes crazy .

-The rest of the band join in the solo for a short time and Yoshio starts playing on is this LOVE?. This sequence is just insane, completely wicked, can't find more words to describe it.

8. is this LOVE?. Ayu tried to kill my ears in this song when she was screaming WOAH, WOAH, YEAH, YEAH.

9. (miss)understood. I love this song, and seeing it live... What can I say?

10. tasking

11. Pride. Ayu is dressed in some dress that doesn't compliment her, that's all there is to this performance really.

12. Rainy Day. A soft shower of water is falling infront of the stage during the entire performance of this song, very effectful.

13. Startin'. I love the song, so I love that Ayu chose to perform it. There was nothing special to the performance of it that I can remember right now though.

14. UNITE! Yay, we got to do some moves !

15. Bold & Delicious. Performed without the chorous, I liked this version a lot better than the original, and I like the original a lot too.

-Everything goes dark for quite some time, then the AyuReady? song starts. It just went on and on. I love the song. It was played for roughly the double time it was played on the MY STORY dvd. This applied to both performances, Ayu must have had a lot to do backstage.

Encore:

-After running onto the stage, accompanied by the insane cheering from the crowd, and some YOYOGI GENKI KA yelling, Ayu tells everyone to be quiet and listen because the band is going acoustic.

16. HEAVEN. Ayus voice in this song... She's so good! One of her strongest performances during this concert in my opinion. [acoustic]

17. teens. This song is wonderful, and so was seeing it live. [acoustic]

-MC-
Both performances had different MCs, my Japanese is no good so I couldn't make out very much of what was said. One of the persons who sent in a question was in the crowd at the first performance. When her question was read up she yelled KOKO NI IRU! and she got some time on the big screen. At the second performance MC there were a special guest, the dog that has been present in some other concerts aswell.

-Ayu quickly tells everyone what to do during Humming 7/4, letting us do the moves a few times. Quite like in the MY STORY tour but much less of it.

18. Humming 7/4. Always funny to jump and scream .

19. Boys & Girls. Performed just like in the MY STORY tour.

20. Beautiful Day.

The songs are exactly the same as has been reported before, from the first performances at the Saitama Arena.

At the first concert my seat was at the front row of block B1, very much to the left. At the second it was in the centre of block D4, straight infront of the stage, which Im happy for. I could see the entire light show from a perfect angle. The crowd in the first concert was quite boring, not as much jumping/screaming/singing/waving as there should be. At the second one the crowd was completely crazy and Ayu seemed a LOT more touched. The tears was not far away during Beautiful Day.

The second performance had some extra content, apart from the special guest. At the end Ayu picked up a water gun and sprayed down her Team Message members. Later when she was running around alone on the stage, yelling DOUMO ARIGAROU, Yoshio came back on the stage with the gun and sprayed down Ayu.

She ended both performances by putting down her mic, waiting for everyone to be quiet and then yelling DOUMO ARIGATOU.

My goal for 2007 is definately to collect money for going to Arena Tour 2007. I already miss Tokyo very much.


There is a lot more I could tell about the performance of every song, but I won't. Wait for the DVD or go there yourself!

By the way, I started looking through my cams of the performance, I got some work to do with them like ripping the sound from the first movies that only got a black screen.The sound is of the first 25 minutes of the concert and then another 15 minutes later on I think. I'll work more with it this afternoon after school. In the videos you can barely see anything, I caught quite a lot of the light show during evolution though. I recorded Born To Be... (mainly black screen) a bit of AUDIENCE, evolution (you can see the most in this one, but only of the light show, from far back and people in the way) and STEP you. I was like NOOOOO when Ladies Night started and my camera said Memory Card Full.

What I spent most of my money on in Tokyo.

Download Links

How to go to Tokyo, seeing Ayu and getting back in one piece!.

Enjoy!
Martin

[MeMeMeChant]

Awesome! You bought a lot of stuff!! :] You're lucky.

[[AHS]MortalSex]

wow coooool amazing experience once again I´m planning on going there 2008 hope she still goes live then =) thanks for sharing this wonderful story with us

[Qt Mashi]

wow! i wanna see the part where people said "OHHHH" and "AHHH HAAAA"~

thanks for the review you are soo lucky!! >_<"

[immel]

Originally Posted by Qt Mashi

wow! i wanna see the part where people said "OHHHH" and "AHHH HAAAA"~

thanks for the review you are soo lucky!! >_<"

The aaah haaaa~ was just referring to the lyrics of Ladies Night.

[Qt Mashi]

Originally Posted by immel

The aaah haaaa~ was just referring to the lyrics of Ladies Night.

lol darn, i thought there was going to be a surprise or something, the way i sing that part from ladies night is like "laaa laaaa"

[alternarist]

wow wonderful review!! thanks!! i am suffering from withdrawal symptoms!!

[micster]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY you recorded STEP you ^_____________________^

[SheFliesHigher]

I can totally relate to the LOUD part....I almost went deaf at the concert I went to!

[Axel_Grease]

Thanks for your review! How funny that Ayu got shot by the water gun. xD

EDIT: Wow, you even got a little Gozilla Ayu cut-out thingy.

[sexysaucestar]

Wow, you sure bought a lot of things at the concert. o_o;;

You also had pretty good seats--how did you get the tickets? My friend and I had pretty good seats in the arena on the 4/22 show...I have to agree though, the crowd didn't seem so psyched up last Saturday -_-;; I think I was probably the only one in my section who was going crazy/yelling/screaming! The couple in front of us was...just standing there, not seeming excited at all to be at the concert. o_O; Odd.

[Mirai Noah]

Cool! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[immel]

Originally Posted by Axel_Grease

Thanks for your review! How funny that Ayu got shot by the water gun. xD

EDIT: Wow, you even got a little Gozilla Ayu cut-out thingy.

Yep, I stole it in a store in Akihabara .

Originally Posted by SheFliesHigher

I can totally relate to the LOUD part....I almost went deaf at the concert I went to!

Cool ! Where was your seats?

Originally Posted by soysaucestar

Wow, you sure bought a lot of things at the concert. o_o;;

You also had pretty good seats--how did you get the tickets? My friend and I had pretty good seats in the arena on the 4/22 show...I have to agree though, the crowd didn't seem so psyched up last Saturday -_-;; I think I was probably the only one in my section who was going crazy/yelling/screaming! The couple in front of us was...just standing there, not seeming excited at all to be at the concert. o_O; Odd.

The crowd was a lot better at the Sunday performance, you should have went to both

I wrote a little guide answearing questions like yours on the AHO forum. I'll copy that post to here:

Originally Posted by kakkoii_Ben

omg!!!thanks for the report!!You rock!wow,i'm really envy by the "MANY ayu's stuffs you had brought"!!pls gimme me some of its~hehex~k just kidding~ :lol:

btw i have some questions to ask you:
1)What age is ayu's fan you have seen mostly around?are there a lot of teenagers?(like 16-19 years old)
2)How do you buy the tickets?cuz i wanna go to japan to see her live next year!
3)Can you tell me how much you spent on her concert's tickets and goods in your country currency?

1:
All ages, I really mean all. Pensionares, families with their youngest children, teenagers, middle aged couples/single persons, people going alone and big groups of friends. There were a lot of people at about my age (18~). It was an even mix of both sexes. Quite impressive .

2:
You buy them when you get there, from ticket reseller stores. I knew the location of one before I went to Tokyo, I found 4 other while I was there. You are more or less GUARANTEED to get a ticket, even if you buy them the same day as the concert is. I arrived 2 weeks before the concert and bought the tickets a few days before them. You can use FDJP if you want the tickets in your hand before you go there. But trust me, get them when you are there, it's the cheapest and you can choose between a lot of different tickets.

3:
Use www.xe.com to translate it into the currency you like.

Concert tickets, front row of block B1: 26000 yen. I bought those before I went to Tokyo. I regret that because I had to pay the extra 30% that FDJP charges. Yes, that means I paid 35000 yen for the ticket. For 35000 yen you can get quite good A-block seats. I belive front row of A-block tickets go for around 50-60000 yen each. I didn't see any A-block tickets while in Tokyo though, either they were all sold out or the reseller stores could not get their hands on any.

Concert tickets, middle of block D4: 10000 yen. (Centre of the arena, almost as far back as you can get).

If you want really good tickets, look for them with seats in block B4 or B5. They are encircling the stage in the middle of the arena, where Ayu run to now and then. That is the closest possible you can get to her during a performance. I had the chance to get B5 tickets at the same price as the B1 ones, not front row. I didn't take it because I thought B1 front row would be better.

Tour Goods:
I spent roughly 80000 yen at buying stuff at the arena (That includes the cost for all the albums aswell). 50000 for the tour goods and 30000 for the CDs/DVDs, I don't remember exactly.

[AyuGAME]

thanks for sharing your experience...
i really want to she her live...but its really need very MUCH of money

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by immel

Yep, I stole it in a store in Akihabara .



Cool ! Where was your seats?



The crowd was a lot better at the Sunday performance, you should have went to both

I wrote a little guide answearing questions like yours on the AHO forum. I'll copy that post to here:

1:
All ages, I really mean all. Pensionares, families with their youngest children, teenagers, middle aged couples/single persons, people going alone and big groups of friends. There were a lot of people at about my age (18~). It was an even mix of both sexes. Quite impressive .

2:
You buy them when you get there, from ticket reseller stores. I knew the location of one before I went to Tokyo, I found 4 other while I was there. You are more or less GUARANTEED to get a ticket, even if you buy them the same day as the concert is. I arrived 2 weeks before the concert and bought the tickets a few days before them. You can use FDJP if you want the tickets in your hand before you go there. But trust me, get them when you are there, it's the cheapest and you can choose between a lot of different tickets.

3:
Use www.xe.com to translate it into the currency you like.

Concert tickets, front row of block B1: 26000 yen. I bought those before I went to Tokyo. I regret that because I had to pay the extra 30% that FDJP charges. Yes, that means I paid 35000 yen for the ticket. For 35000 yen you can get quite good A-block seats. I belive front row of A-block tickets go for around 50-60000 yen each. I didn't see any A-block tickets while in Tokyo though, either they were all sold out or the reseller stores could not get their hands on any.

Concert tickets, middle of block D4: 10000 yen. (Centre of the arena, almost as far back as you can get).

If you want really good tickets, look for them with seats in block B4 or B5. They are encircling the stage in the middle of the arena, where Ayu run to now and then. That is the closest possible you can get to her during a performance. I had the chance to get B5 tickets at the same price as the B1 ones, not front row. I didn't take it because I thought B1 front row would be better.

Tour Goods:
I spent roughly 80000 yen at buying stuff at the arena (That includes the cost for all the albums aswell). 50000 for the tour goods and 30000 for the CDs/DVDs, I don't remember exactly.

Thanks for the approximate prices! I am 95% likely to go the year after next but I think If I try hard enough I could possibly go next and I wanted to know how much money I had to save up because when I finally do go to see Ayu I am gonna pay whatever it takes to get the best seats in the house and am not going to hold back on the tour goods and the CDs/DVDs!

[Syphex]

Are you willing to sell the glowing fan or glow stick? =P *wants badly*

Anyway, all the "B1" "A1" etc. seating is confusing me, do you have some sort of diagram of the concert seating? I'm quite curious on where some people here were seated..

[Axel_Grease]

Originally Posted by immel

Yep, I stole it in a store in Akihabara .

I'm pretty sure it just slipped into your pocket instead! xD

[BanFan]

I'd really like to go to the 2007. Graduation gift?
I've always wanted to see Ayu or some J-pop singer.
hitomi and Every Little Thing would be #2 choices. ^_^'

[truehappiness]

LOL.

We should all pitch in and all of SoCal AHS should go~

Huhuhu.

[BanFan]

First sora needs to find out which part of CA he's in.