[News] ayumi hamasaki 21st anniversary -POWER of A^3 II

[SunshineSlayer]

Yeah, large, large delay. Maybe there were set up problems, but there were obvious problems with her voice. Maybe she was really nervous to come out knowing that her voice was not in good shape? I don't know.

So I'm not quite done with the concert, but I'm mostly through it. There are a lot of great things about this concert and one very large negative:

Pros:

Fantastic, not super ordinary setlist.
Great stage. It looks like more budget went into this than a lot of her recent concerts.
Great outfits except for maybe the one for Startin'/Step You because she looked like she was going to fall out of her dress at any moment.
Ayu looked great.

Con:
The vocals. There's just really no way around this one. You can see her constantly fiddling with her ear monitors, but I'm not sure how much the ears are to blame for this one. It just sounded like her voice simply was not there to come out. The backup singers all sounded and came through just fine, so I don't think it was an audio issue.

Her voice sounds decent on a lot of the verses, but I would say she sounded like she was seriously struggling on just about all choruses of every song. I had such high hopes when she came out for Duty too because the verse sounded pretty good, but then it all went downhill. There were several songs were she just stopped singing at all and let the back track take over because I think she didn't even want to try to hit those notes because she knew she'd miss them.

Really unfortunate because the rest of the concert is awesome. I hope maybe they will go back and edit the vocals when her voice is in better condition (or maybe she sounded better on the first night and they can use that audio instead) because this is a show worth releasing on dvd/bluray.

Originally Posted by pedronekoi

So she was the most commented topic on girlschannel yesterday and a lot of people mentioned how the blue outfit and styling looked like Namie and the Versace looked like Kumi's lately fashion. I have to agree that I felt that, sometimes, she really looked like Namie. I was shocked at times.

I strongly felt this as well, but feel it's a good choice.

[Katsuyuki012]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Really unfortunate because the rest of the concert is awesome. I hope maybe they will go back and edit the vocals when her voice is in better condition (or maybe she sounded better on the first night and they can use that audio instead) because this is a show worth releasing on dvd/bluray.

Agreed!

[Aderianu]

GCDS Orange short jacket closed by logoed zip with refractive wide stripes and logo on the back €435.00

https://www.michelefranzesemoda.com/...m040028-orange



GCDS Fluo Ribbed Tank Top €262.00

https://gcds.it/collections/top/products/fluo-logo-top

[kotora]

Originally Posted by Aderianu

GCDS Orange short jacket closed by logoed zip with refractive wide stripes and logo on the back €435.00

https://www.michelefranzesemoda.com/...m040028-orange



GCDS Fluo Ribbed Tank Top €262.00

https://gcds.it/collections/top/products/fluo-logo-top

construction workers uniform..

[AyuCanada]

Originally Posted by kotora

GCDS Orange short jacket closed by logoed zip with refractive wide stripes and logo on the back €435.00

Well... that's a way to spend a lot of money on very average costumes

[kotora]

Originally Posted by AyuCanada

Well... that's a way to spend a lot of money on very average costumes

Probably...
(1) Designing merch cost > buying luxury shirts
(2) Materialist team agree to spend more money
(3) Ayu wants that

[pedronekoi]

Originally Posted by AyuCanada

Well... that's a way to spend a lot of money on very average costumes

If she had to pay for them... It's obviously a sponsorship as Ayu have posted and used this brand for years now. I don't know if most people is aware of that but Ayu has a HUGE influence with brands that she wears. Once Ayu wear something, all the Japanese fans starts wearing the same brands. It's crazy the amount of people wearing the mirror9 red hoodie - that Ayu often wears on her Instagram - on her concerts.

[njanjayrp]

Just watched the broadcast. There was obviously something wrong with her voice as she couldn't yell nor scream and she is good at that. You can see that she struggled even with songs she generally has no problems with and that she relied on the back-track much more than she ever has before. I don't think it's the ears nor that there were tech issues, her voice was simply strained from either a cold, a night of drinking and singing or something worse. She was really trying her best, but it wasn't coming out the way it was supposed to. To an extent part of Me and HEAVEN benefitted from this as she couldn't scream through the chorus, but she hit none of the high notes during these 2 hours.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Just watched the broadcast. There was obviously something wrong with her voice as she couldn't yell nor scream and she is good at that.

There were definitely many parts where she couldn't scream, especially towards the end, but there still were other parts where she did scream, like bits of Brillante.

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I don't think it's the ears nor that there were tech issues, her voice was simply strained from either a cold, a night of drinking and singing or something worse. She was really trying her best, but it wasn't coming out the way it was supposed to. To an extent part of Me and HEAVEN benefitted from this as she couldn't scream through the chorus.

I agree with your points here.

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I hope maybe they will go back and edit the vocals when her voice is in better condition (or maybe she sounded better on the first night and they can use that audio instead) because this is a show worth releasing on dvd/bluray.

Unfortunately they never do that, no matter how awful she sounds they edit what they've got and don't replace the vocals. I only remember several cases when they fixed wrong lyrics mistakes.

Originally Posted by Aderianu

For me it feels like ayu didn't hear herself

If that were really the case, she would be singing off-beat, which didn't happen.

Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012

it'll probably be drenched in autotune.

Yeah, remember Made in Tokyo CDL? It had similar problems, she sounded like a robot after they fixed it.

[EndOfTheWorld]

I was going to post a lengthy review of the show but there really isn't much to comment on. But I think this was a good show. It felt more like a normal concert that she would have done before 2017.
I liked the stage and the screens and lights. This show felt like it had a higher production value. The setlist was really great and I actually enjoyed having less classic songs for a change. Her vocals in my opinion were not quite as bad as some others are saying. She definitely was sounding a bit rough and struggled on some parts. I also thought that when she cried towards the end of walking proud it was genuine. The orchestra section was really nice and I loved the poker face tribute. I wish that Ayu would ditch the showgirl aesthetic but she still look great.
Are we all going to pretend that opening/intro didn't happen?
I have to say what the hell was that opening? It felt so out of place, like it didn't belong. I didn't get it at all. It just came across as bizarre and slightly creepy. Was that like Ayu's occult illuminati ritual for the new Reiwa era? They even walked together covering one eye.
Also that part when Timmy came out and was looking for "sexy boys" was so cringe. It made me facepalm. The whole skit. It didn't even feel relevant to the show.
But to end on a positive note, overall this show made me happy and I felt it was better than some previous concerts.

[Norrel]

Originally Posted by EndOfTheWorld

Are we all going to pretend that opening/intro didn't happen?
I have to say what the hell was that opening? It felt so out of place, like it didn't belong. I didn't get it at all. It just came across as bizarre and slightly creepy. Was that like Ayu's occult illuminati ritual for the new Reiwa era? They even walked together covering one eye.

To be honest, had the intro argued into BRILLANTE as the first song it would have made way more sense. I really didn’t understand why they opened with this theme, discarded it for whatever theming Duty and Microphone had, and then came back to it later in the show.

BRILLANTE into Flower would have SLAYED as an opening number, but I guess she really wanted Duty and Microphone to open the show :/

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Chris85

There were definitely many parts where she couldn't scream, especially towards the end, but there still were other parts where she did scream, like bits of Brillante.

I skipped Brilliante as I knew she would have butchered it this time as her voice seemed pretty dead and the song is usually a hit or miss. I remember in 2016 during the first Osaka date she’s done it well, on the 2nd there was more screaming and it was the same last year in Saitama, where during the 2nd date she sang it a lot better than the first.

What I do appreciate is that she tried her best, like a pro and that she had a good attitude throughout the whole show even though she must have felt pretty bad.

[Aderianu]

For me it feels like ayu didn't hear herself, didn't know at what part of song she is now and what words with need to sing. The worst part (for now, I'm at the part of me) is MOWY

[EndOfTheWorld]

Repost from @kyohiiru 【#浜崎あゆみ ／モデルプレス＝4月8日】アーティストの浜崎あゆみが6日と7日にさいたまスーパーアリーナにてコンサー ト「ayumi hamasaki 21st anniversary -POWER of A^3-」を行った。ここでは、7日のファイナル公演のライブレポートを届ける。
↓↓詳しいライブレポはモデルプレスさんへ↓↓
https://mdpr.jp/music/detail/1831970 @modelpress ↑↑↑↑
#エーキューブ
#ayumihamasaki

[Sky High]

I am not in love with her vocals, she is forcing herself too much. They will correct this in re-broadcast version of concert. Costumes and stage look great. When she was in that blue dress she looked like Namie Amuro.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Sky High

I am not in love with her vocals, she is forcing herself too much. They will correct this in re-broadcast version of concert. Costumes and stage look great. When she was in that blue dress she looked like Namie Amuro.

I don’t think there is a lot they can actually repair this time...

[Katsuyuki012]

Unless they recorded first day vocals (but I doubt there'll be a replacement of the voice) and use those, it'll probably be drenched in autotune. I'd still prefer that tbh, I used to think differently about it but when the vocals sound like that..

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I don’t think there is a lot they can actually repair this time...

They could replace it with the audio from the first day. Or maybe they even recorded video of the first day as well. When they did the power of music 2018 broadcast, it looked like they edited two days together (in the Mad World performance in some shots her hair is flat-ironed and in others it's not.)

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

They could replace it with the audio from the first day. Or maybe they even recorded video of the first day as well. When they did the power of music 2018 broadcast, it looked like they edited two days together (in the Mad World performance in some shots her hair is flat-ironed and in others it's not.)

Providing they recorded the first day that’s about the only thing they can do, no amount of auto-tune can fix her not singing over the back-track and trying to shout words when you can barely hear stuff coming out of her mouth XD

The good thing is when she is actually healthy she doesn’t sound like this, so I look at this performance as an exception. She did great back in January in Osaka with all the upbeat songs while she was her usual self with No Way to Say and aeternal which was still a lot better than this!

[AJFmzk]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Providing they recorded the first day that’s about the only thing they can do, no amount of auto-tune can fix her not singing over the back-track and trying to shout words when you can barely hear stuff coming out of her mouth XD

The good thing is when she is actually healthy she doesn’t sound like this, so I look at this performance as an exception. She did great back in January in Osaka with all the upbeat songs while she was her usual self with No Way to Say and aeternal which was still a lot better than this!

Don’t know how big of a thing this is, but I’ve heard of artists re-recording bad shows vocals in post. I don’t know if Ayu ever has or ever will, and hopefully they can salvage this audio