COUNTDOWN LIVE 2011-2012 A ~HOTEL Love songs~ information thread

[toniayu]

@SunshineSlayer thank u!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

It definitely doesn't sound as ultra luxurious as the claims of what HOTEL Love songs could've been back when POWER of MUSIC was happening but ehhh... we'll probably see a rather different show once the tour starts up since they had already done costume work and filmed special screens.

Yeah, I certainly hope so at least. When she asked the audience in the encore though, it made it seem like this is the show more or less. Though obviously at least flower garden etc will be removed and stuff like Like a Doll etc., substituted and hopefully one of those substitutions is containing the "big" thing of this tour.

[ExodusUK]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Yeah, I certainly hope so at least. When she asked the audience in the encore though, it made it seem like this is the show more or less. Though obviously at least flower garden etc will be removed and stuff like Like a Doll etc., substituted and hopefully one of those substitutions is containing the "big" thing of this tour.

I hope so...I'm sure Ayu is saving the big stuff for the main tour and the original concert was planned for the circle stage so I guess a lot of the grand stuff couldn't really be carried to the old plain stage she's using for this CDL.

[sanzo2011]

The tracklist looks like a mess to me! hope the concert will turn out better than the review!^^!

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

OMG... what a catastrophe for the setlist... ayu needs to put up some good "forgotten" songs / songs rarely sung by her to fit the HOTEL theme..

[alternarist]

the setlist gave me a "what?" feeling. but i am surprised that November and sending mail made the cut. also happy that its not CDL1011 stage anymore..

Peco gone?!?!?! I dont think she will be gone, she just probably went backstage or what.

[krtman2002]

AAAAh!!! Can't wait to watch it!!

Can somebody tell me if "do it again" is a complete version? I didn't like the performance on CDL 2011... I wanted MORE! haha

[Mai82Go]

Maybe Pecos success from the Mori Mori dance allowed her to move on to better things. Anyway, everything (setlist/stage ect.) sounds so totally boring to me. Does she need more bg singers? Don't think so. Too much dancer action? Please no. Most of the CDL's are not really so good to me anyway but if this is the like the coming AT I really fear for the worst. Seems like a good time to let my Ayu love rest a bit. The thing that saddens me the most is that she doesn't move much and has not that much of energy. People come to see Ayu perform. Not her dancers dance, or her bg singers sing. *sigh*

[Yagami Raito]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Ok, so I'm home now where I can properly type my review. Before I get into this, let me preface this by saying what I love about Ayu's concerts - I love the parts where it is just her on stage or her and her band, and if the dancers are a part of it, I like them to be in the background. Now, unfortunately, this was NOT that concert at all. For those that are more a fan of her performances with her dancers, you will probably love this show. But for me, this was about the 15th time I've seen her live and unfortunately I thought it was the worst time that I have seen one of her shows. I really loved loved loved the Love Songs album and I thought the Rock n' Roll Circus tour was one of her best ever, so I was really looking forward to this but I felt somewhat underwhelmed while watching this show tonight.

I look forward to seeing the opinions of others who went to the show because I have a feeling that this show will really divide people's opinions.

First, what I LIKED about the show:
- No, PECO! lol
- How Beautiful You Are is a really pretty song and it was also the only one of the night that Ayu sang totally solo. People were wondering if the song picks up or not. It's does somewhat, but it firmly remains a ballad, so it doesn't pick up to the point of say Progress or something. Something that might divide some fans I guess though is that Tim's vocal shows up towards the end of this song; I didn't mind it though.
- There was no lip synching
- Her hair and outfits were better overall than last year imo.
- The November performance was really nice and if not for the aforementioned Shuya, would have been amazing. The performance also incorporated the fountains from the My Story tour. That would probably be considered the "wow" moment I guess.
- I'll put this as a positive: If you are a Maro fan this just might be your favorite concert ever. He spends a lot of time on a bed with his shirt off.

ummmm, that's it. Like seriously. haha

What I didn't like:
- To pick up the last point; this concert didn't really feel like it had a wow moment. At least nothing newish. There are the fountains in November and she performs Ladies Night suspended from the ceiling in a chair, but that's all been done before, so I don't think anyone really sat back and was like amazed or anything. I'm not sure how much different the Arena tour will be because Ayu asked the audience in the encore "what did you think of the real love songs?" If this is for the most part going to be it, it really pales in comparison to Rock n' Roll Circus.

-Ayu herself I thought was lacking some energy in this show.

- The setlist doesn't read like it would flow well together and it didn't really.

- The set and props in general I thought looked pretty cheap. More so than usual for a CDL and if this is what is being used for the Arena tour, then even more so. I also couldn't really tell what theme they were going for. Often times the costumes and what not for the dancers were just all over the place. It really looked like kind of a mish-mash onstage a lot of times.

-The band members were not highlighted even once. Enrique and Yoshio were in the background off to the side and did not move from their positions the entire show.

- The biggest problem I felt was actually most of the whole first part of the concert. Of the first 7 songs, she is actually sitting for the majority of 4 of them. She sits through most of Moon, Fated, Never Ever, and Sparkle. Yes, Sparkle. She is only up and moving in the last chorus of that song. That imo, is way too many and they were all right around each other in the set list. She then also later sat through a good chunk of Ladies Night. That just seemed odd to me in an Ayu concert and kind of dampened the excitement. She also didn't even touch the catwalk or circular stage until the 10th song in the setlist. I hope I'm not the only one that thought the first half of the concert felt kind of dead.

And this then led to what is imo a problem with the dancers. I really felt like they were highlighted waaay to much. In the first half of the concert I often felt like Ayu was singing backup vocals at a dance performance instead of the other way around like it should be. In Never Ever and Sparkle Ayu is even seated upstage while the dancers are down stage, meaning the audience had a better view of the dancers than Ayu.

Sorry to say, but this was just not my type of show. Hopefully the others that went got more enjoyment from it than me.

I wanted to write a tiny review but..... I already wrote everything I wanted to say. I agree which each point.
For me it was the worst ”Ayu show” I’ve seen.... Not bad but it was as if I wasn't an "Ayu show"...

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I liked Peco.
Much more than Timmy. At least she was only at the concerts, Timmy is now on the actual tracks...

But I can't make any judgments right now. I'm looking forward to the morning of the 31st though

What I can say is that I much prefer background singers and dancers staying in the background. Ayu has elevated them all much higher than needed. I mean, Japanese (male) fans even do the Shu-ya haircut and color and dress up as him at the concerts. Really strange.

[ExodusUK]

Ayu shouldn't have stayed overseas for sooo long, from the reviews it's obvious the dancers had to come up with their own show without Ayu and they've had two/three weeks to add Ayu to it as she was in London the whole time.

[ayumi_ed]

I guess there will be more songs on 31st...and I hope similar to
0304 tour, the arena tour contains a lot more wow stuff!!

[JustLovely]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Ok, so I'm home now where I can properly type my review. Before I get into this, let me preface this by saying what I love about Ayu's concerts - I love the parts where it is just her on stage or her and her band, and if the dancers are a part of it, I like them to be in the background. Now, unfortunately, this was NOT that concert at all. For those that are more a fan of her performances with her dancers, you will probably love this show. But for me, this was about the 15th time I've seen her live and unfortunately I thought it was the worst time that I have seen one of her shows. I really loved loved loved the Love Songs album and I thought the Rock n' Roll Circus tour was one of her best ever, so I was really looking forward to this but I felt somewhat underwhelmed while watching this show tonight.

I look forward to seeing the opinions of others who went to the show because I have a feeling that this show will really divide people's opinions.

First, what I LIKED about the show:
- No, PECO! lol
- How Beautiful You Are is a really pretty song and it was also the only one of the night that Ayu sang totally solo. People were wondering if the song picks up or not. It's does somewhat, but it firmly remains a ballad, so it doesn't pick up to the point of say Progress or something. Something that might divide some fans I guess though is that Tim's vocal shows up towards the end of this song; I didn't mind it though.
- There was no lip synching
- Her hair and outfits were better overall than last year imo.
- The November performance was really nice and if not for the aforementioned Shuya, would have been amazing. The performance also incorporated the fountains from the My Story tour. That would probably be considered the "wow" moment I guess.
- I'll put this as a positive: If you are a Maro fan this just might be your favorite concert ever. He spends a lot of time on a bed with his shirt off.

ummmm, that's it. Like seriously. haha

What I didn't like:
- To pick up the last point; this concert didn't really feel like it had a wow moment. At least nothing newish. There are the fountains in November and she performs Ladies Night suspended from the ceiling in a chair, but that's all been done before, so I don't think anyone really sat back and was like amazed or anything. I'm not sure how much different the Arena tour will be because Ayu asked the audience in the encore "what did you think of the real love songs?" If this is for the most part going to be it, it really pales in comparison to Rock n' Roll Circus.

-Ayu herself I thought was lacking some energy in this show.

- The setlist doesn't read like it would flow well together and it didn't really.

- The set and props in general I thought looked pretty cheap. More so than usual for a CDL and if this is what is being used for the Arena tour, then even more so. I also couldn't really tell what theme they were going for. Often times the costumes and what not for the dancers were just all over the place. It really looked like kind of a mish-mash onstage a lot of times.

-The band members were not highlighted even once. Enrique and Yoshio were in the background off to the side and did not move from their positions the entire show.

- The biggest problem I felt was actually most of the whole first part of the concert. Of the first 7 songs, she is actually sitting for the majority of 4 of them. She sits through most of Moon, Fated, Never Ever, and Sparkle. Yes, Sparkle. She is only up and moving in the last chorus of that song. That imo, is way too many and they were all right around each other in the set list. She then also later sat through a good chunk of Ladies Night. That just seemed odd to me in an Ayu concert and kind of dampened the excitement. She also didn't even touch the catwalk or circular stage until the 10th song in the setlist. I hope I'm not the only one that thought the first half of the concert felt kind of dead.

And this then led to what is imo a problem with the dancers. I really felt like they were highlighted waaay to much. In the first half of the concert I often felt like Ayu was singing backup vocals at a dance performance instead of the other way around like it should be. In Never Ever and Sparkle Ayu is even seated upstage while the dancers are down stage, meaning the audience had a better view of the dancers than Ayu.

Sorry to say, but this was just not my type of show. Hopefully the others that went got more enjoyment from it than me.

This being my first Ayu concert ever, I had to love it and I did. I really did not want to admit the faults of it though and you really pointed out all of it. Most of all, the sitting down part of the majority of the first part of the show...I wasn't sure if it was just me or what it was...but I was wondering why she was not even moving during songs like Sparkle and just moving to the beat...in her CHAIR. @_@. That was quite a let-down but I tried to not let that get to me and enjoy what I could anyways regardless.

I wasn't impressed with the outfits either. I guess I expected more than what we saw tonight. Hmmm. Going to try to go again tomorrow anyway though. Haha.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by JustLovely

This being my first Ayu concert ever, I had to love it and I did. I really did not want to admit the faults of it though and you really pointed out all of it. Most of all, the sitting down part of the majority of the first part of the show...I wasn't sure if it was just me or what it was...but I was wondering why she was not even moving during songs like Sparkle and just moving to the beat...in her CHAIR. @_@. That was quite a let-down but I tried to not let that get to me and enjoy what I could anyways regardless.

I wasn't impressed with the outfits either. I guess I expected more than what we saw tonight. Hmmm. Going to try to go again tomorrow anyway though. Haha.

I'm sorry that this had to be your first Ayu concert. I am happy to know though that I am not crazy and that other people actually noticed this stuff too!

[HilaryDuffFanboy]

Just got back, pretty sure me and my bf were sitting in front of Sunshine Slayer.
What a show, don't know what to think at times, some bits were good, some were just bad.

The stage was BRAND NEW and pretty great, defo arena tour 2012 stage coz it wasn't too cheap.

01. do it again
They played last years perf of DIA, and then rewinded it, and it was made to look choppy or the film had been scratched for effect, but it was an epic opening video.

Ayu came down from the roof on a balcony with a gold outfit with a mask on and 4 dancers behind her singing do it again
The performance was OK, there was TOO much happening, 4 dancers behind her and 12 others on the stage, tried to be epic but failed, no where near as epic as Last Angel opening from last year.
Her vocals were OK, not bad, but not the greatest.

02. Happening Here
Big surprise, but it would always be for me. It was good, Timmy did the rap part, he wasn't featured tooooo much in the show. The song itself is quite the same as the mp3 we've heard. I enjoyed it.

03. insomnia
04. Interlude
05. MOON
Ayu is the 3rd person in a relationship I think, and a topless Maro has sex on 2 beds (props) with Ayu and then goes back to the other chick but Ayu tries to plead but Maro turns Ayu down.
Good performance again, nothing amazing. I was a bit upset to hear MOON after she sang it last year so much and she would do more of Love songs.
The two beds come out on a conveyor belt and are side by side.

06. fated
Interesting song choice, pretty OK vocals here, more pining for Maro.

07. Interlude
08. NEVER EVER
Thought it was ASFXX when the music started playing, it was a bit more rockified, maybe, or my memory is poor. She sat down for most of it, it was a pretty good performance, not bad vocally. But not her best.

09. sending mail
Thank the lord she did this song. For me one of the best perfs of the night because its such an epic song. She sang it well, but others might not think so. She sang the verses well, bridges superbly (I anticipated she would have trouble with the brudge but she probably rehearsed it a lot) and she sang more than she should have with the chorus IMO, but the guitars were REALLY loud in the chorus and you could barely hear her sometimes.

10. Interlude
11. Sparkle
Disgusting outfit omg wanted to puke. It was a fun performance, got the crowd involved. Didn't sing it that well in my opinion, lots of shouting.

12. Humming 7/4
13. evolution
14. flower garden
I dont mind Humming, but HATE IT when its in the main set, what a waste of a song for the main set.
These 3 songs were just all like what we've seen, nothing different.

15. Interlude
16. RAINBOW
Was clutching my pearls when this started playing. I heard her sing it at CDL0708 live, and was JUST as happy when I heard it this year. Wow, it was amazing, except it was a bit tacky as her dancers just had white sheets over them with their Sparkle outfits (which were glow in the dark/neon) underneath them which was annoying...
Pretty sure this will be the countdown song!

17. November
Amazing. Sang it well. Could do better. Was very good perf with the water effects on the catwalk. Shuya was featured in this perf. Just so glad she did this song.

18. Interlude
19. LADIES NIGHT
Ladies Night pretty good, she descended from the roof again, didnt dance, her vocals werent that bad but she still sucked at the rap (she rapped in happening here fine). Really random choice. Ayu put on her cute voice to the max here.

19. Party queen
OMG WTF WAS GOING ON HERE. It sounds like a party song for sure, a bit of dubstep maybe, or just some big bass in some parts, tacky lyrics in English, it sounded like a grower, but definitely NOTHING like she has ever done before.....

20. Happening Here -Reprise-
21. Love song
OMG WTF. I have listened to this song over 1000 times, love it to death. But she performed it as if it was a Vegas show. I was stunned. In all honesty. She had all her dancers on stage running around. I was unpleasantly shocked.

ENCORE
22. How beautiful you are
Really good song, a grower, all piano until 2nd chorus when band kicks in, but still maintains the light mood.
MC was kept to like, 2 minutes, and then thats it.

23. Trauma~AUDIENCE
24. Boys & Girls
25. MY ALL
Same stuff as usual. Got to do the MY ALL dance, yay!

So overall, it was very random and interesting. Just reallly random. I enjoyed last years more. Disappointed with this years due to some bad setlist choices and randomess of dancers and lack of flow.... When Humming came on during main set I could have cried of sadness, same when flower garden came during main set...
But the things that SAVED it from being a disaster: RAINBOW, sending mail, November, do it again continuance

[Mai82Go]

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

I liked Peco.
Much more than Timmy. At least she was only at the concerts, Timmy is now on the actual tracks...

But I can't make any judgments right now. I'm looking forward to the morning of the 31st though

What I can say is that I much prefer background singers and dancers staying in the background. Ayu has elevated them all much higher than needed. I mean, Japanese (male) fans even do the Shu-ya haircut and color and dress up as him at the concerts. Really strange.

Why does Ayu feel the need to promote these people all the time, push them in the spotlight, feature them so heavely? It's been bugging me for years. And the thing with Timmy...I also agree on this. Sometimes it's hard to write what you really think at AHS because a lot of people seem to see Timmy as Ayu's saviour inspiration-wise and you know he is sooo nice and bla.... He's the next Shu-ya it seems. (And involved in the music, too) That reminds me of the thread in which we discussed about Shu-ya doing a duet with Ayu. *cough*

[SunshineSlayer]

^ lol. Yes, I guess that was you sitting very close to me. How strange that we randomly ended up in the same section. I wasn't sure it was you though, so I didn't say anything. (hitting myself now) I saw some of your boyfriends expressions as the songs came up and when Humming came on he had the best OMG THIS AGAIN expression on his face, lol.

I agree with most of what you said in your review. Especially about the opening - like it was trying to be epic but failed somehow and then right after that a series of songs where she is mostly sitting imo that kinda messed up the mood of the concert right from the beginning and it kinda struggled to get back on track.

I also agree with you sooo much about Love Song. I wanted to hit someone when that came on in that section of the concert.

Her vocals I thought were acceptable for her. Not bad but not really great either. The only performance where her vocals bothered me, actually 2 performances (I wasn't too crazy about the babyish voice she used in Ladies Night) but the only one that really bothered me was Rainbow. That's one of my favorite songs of all time, but to me, I thought she used her "power" voice way too much when the song should have been sung softly. Also, as you said, the dancers all looked incredibly tacky during this.

There was virtually no MC. I kinda like that though. MC's usually bore me.

[brener]

sending mail *--*
but the whole setlist is kinda lol

[LacusClyne]

how many costumes change she had?

[ExodusUK]

Her dancers really are the worst >.<