ASIA TOUR 2021-2022 A ～23rd Monster～

[Ayumi_lover]

The first ticket lottery results are out.
I got tickets to countdown and to the very first show of the tour. Really hope Countdown this year won't get cancelled. It will be the first time for me :p

[//ABEST]

Originally Posted by Ayumi_lover

The first ticket lottery results are out.
I got tickets to countdown and to the very first show of the tour. Really hope Countdown this year won't get cancelled. It will be the first time for me :p

wow congratz! I hope you have fun

[Xianghua]

Congrats on winning ^^ I won both those as well which is interesting, because I thought they would be the most difficult.

Usually I win the 30th and not the 31st, but this time it’s the opposite!

[Aderianu]

Ayu and Masashi Muto finished filming videos for tour

[Aderianu]

Seems ayu damaged her hand





「the show must go on」spirit

No matter what happens, accident or twists and turns, I can overcome it now and in the future, as I have always been.

I'm not alone.

[!Lawi!]

Wow, I feel like it's been ages since she's had filmed interludes! Sounds like it might be a big concert!

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by !Lawi!

Wow, I feel like it's been ages since she's had filmed interludes! Sounds like it might be a big concert!

I hope it has an actual theme as it’s been a long time somehow…

[!Lawi!]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I hope it has an actual theme as it’s been a long time somehow…

That would be nice! What's the last concert that is considered to have had a theme? Would it be Cirque de minuit? Actually wasn't Made in Japan based around seasons?

I always loved the concept behind Hotel love songs, even though the execution wasn't perfect!

What theme would be good? I'd love a 'nature' based concert, divided in quarters between Air, Water, Fire and Earth. The statue at the end of the 23rd Monster PV also made me fancy a Greek mythology theme too!

[//ABEST]

second picture screams "Real me" to me.. i hope she performs it since it's one of my fave songs from her

[Ayumi_lover]

I guess my opinion might not be very popular, but rather than concert having a theme or a concept I would by far prefer to have a live band playing instead of prerecorded back tracks with loud back vocals. :p

[Toniayu123]

^From your mouth to God’s ears. I’d much rather have the band than the atrocious back singers, the gospel choirs, or pointless violins playing over the pre-recorded music on the back lol Not to talk about the unnecessary dancers which are cringy af to watch. Don’t think we’re getting a band this time, but I’m unstanning this woman if she doesn’t bring Yochan to her 25th anniversary.

[Ayumi_lover]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

^From your mouth to God’s ears. I’d much rather have the band than the atrocious back singers, the gospel choirs, or pointless violins playing over the pre-recorded music on the back lol Not to talk about the unnecessary dancers which are cringy af to watch. Don’t think we’re getting a band this time, but I’m unstanning this woman if she doesn’t bring Yochan to her 25th anniversary.

Wow yes, you read my thoughts exactly! If she wants to pay all the countless dancers to be on stage jumping around, I am sure she can afford live band too. And since this time it's not a hall tour she can't use excuse that live band won't fit on stage with all the dancers jumping around xD

[koumori]

There is some speculation that a live band is too much strain on her ears, which might be why she has experimented with performing without them. Namie had some comments about this in the 2010s but I'm not going to go dig for that right now (about her own reasons - she didn't comment on Ayu ).

I'd love to see the return of the live band and I'm pretty sure Ayu would love to always have them there too if they can figure it out. The fact she has included them behind the scenes (such as during last year's Xmas Live rearrangement recordings) says a lot about her want to keep having the band involved. I hope there is a way to let them tour together again while safeguarding her health.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by koumori

There is some speculation that a live band is too much strain on her ears, which might be why she has experimented with performing without them. Namie had some comments about this in the 2010s but I'm not going to go dig for that right now (about her own reasons - she didn't comment on Ayu ).

I'd love to see the return of the live band and I'm pretty sure Ayu would love to always have them there too if they can figure it out. The fact she has included them behind the scenes (such as during last year's Xmas Live rearrangement recordings) says a lot about her want to keep having the band involved. I hope there is a way to let them tour together again while safeguarding her health.

Also they were there for the TROUBLE CDL, so I think she likes having them around.

[summerain]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Also they were there for the TROUBLE CDL, so I think she likes having them around.

They were even on FNS' Ohia no Ki performance, when they're just decorative.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by koumori

There is some speculation that a live band is too much strain on her ears, which might be why she has experimented with performing without them.

Very weird theory considering that a performer can decide themself what kind of audio track is playing in their in-ear monitors. You can customize it so that it includes only some of the instruments or has things that the public doesn't hear like that thing that counts the rhytm.

[barisuta53]

Originally Posted by Chris85

Very weird theory considering that a performer can decide themself what kind of audio track is playing in their in-ear monitors. You can customize it so that it includes only some of the instruments or has things that the public doesn't hear like that thing that counts the rhytm.

I don’t think people realise that being on the stage, whilst wearing ear monitors, is actually pretty quiet. Especially the way stages are designed so that they project the sound outwards rather than towards the stage.

The ear monitors aren’t necessarily designed to prevent sound protection (though they do), they’re designed so the musician can hear what they need to hear. That could be the rhythm section, the melody, a backing track, their own vocals, or any combination.

Floor Jansen from Nightwish talked about them recently on her YouTube channel.

[AyuCanada]

Originally Posted by Chris85

Very weird theory considering that a performer can decide themself what kind of audio track is playing in their in-ear monitors. You can customize it so that it includes only some of the instruments or has things that the public doesn't hear like that thing that counts the rhythm.

but if you only have one ear stuff with a monitor, it may limit you on what you hear. I don't think none of us have enough knowledge to give in-depth analysis on the matter, but her live singing seems to have been improving since she is using the pre-recorded audio tracks.

[hidekirby]

Originally Posted by koumori

There is some speculation that a live band is too much strain on her ears, which might be why she has experimented with performing without them.

I also thought about that but I have no information or knowledge about this particular point.
I also wish she would bring them back. But if this is the actual reason the band is not there, I'm perfectly fine not seeing them anymore, even if it's quite sad.

Originally Posted by RealLight

Omg, yes, this a thousand times! I thought I always the only one who felt like this. To me, they're a miss mostly of the times. Like, the violins, they ruined (m)u's performance on MFL x-x

I swear most of the time I can't even hear them. Sometimes I even feel they are just here to decorate and aren't even recorded, just to make up for the band.

[AJFmzk]

Originally Posted by koumori

There is some speculation that a live band is too much strain on her ears, which might be why she has experimented with performing without them. Namie had some comments about this in the 2010s but I'm not going to go dig for that right now (about her own reasons - she didn't comment on Ayu ).

I remember Namie commenting on this. It was something about her voice wearing out because she was constantly screaming in order to hear herself over the band...which partially makes sense because as far I can tell from the live dvd's she didn't use monitors regularly until around mid 2000's, like around 2004 or 2005 or 2006, something like that, so her voice and her ears would definitely take a lot of strain from it. This definitely could have been fixed with proper ear monitor levels, but we'll probably never hear the whole story and it always bothered me that she ditched the band since the problem she mentioned could have been solved. But Ayu used monitors pretty much from the beginning I think.

Originally Posted by Chris85

Very weird theory considering that a performer can decide themself what kind of audio track is playing in their in-ear monitors. You can customize it so that it includes only some of the instruments or has things that the public doesn't hear like that thing that counts the rhytm.

This is very true. They certainly can be adjusted to anything she wants, provided the mixer board has enough output channels for everyone, which I'm positive even if they didn't she would still get one for herself. Just to share an interesting anecdote on this. A professional mix engineer once told me that monitor engineers are supposed to build monitor mixes starting with the singer and then slowly brings the rest of the band up after that. That is to make sure that the singer hears themselves first before the instruments are too loud and thus prevents them from having to scream to hear themselves. However, according to this engineer (so probably take it with a grain of salt, but it could have a lot of truth in it), a lot of mix engineers tend to do the reverse, bringing the band way too loud before bringing the vocals in last, and at that point the singers always ask to be turned UP instead of for everything else to be turned DOWN in their monitor mix ears. After a while of this, ears have adjusted to a mix that is way too hot for continuous touring and will have bad effects over long term. And it contributes to pitchiness and not hearing some instruments correctly if everything is super loud and the vocalist is constantly asking for things to be turned up. Anyway, just my two cents as it was mentioned to me by a mix engineer.

I certainly hope Ayu brings the live band back eventually. It really downgrades the quality of the shows for me and I don't watch or enjoy them as much her shows that had the band there.