CDL 11/12 opinions thread

[AyUmIXx]

imo, she didn't use any playback at all, i could hear the off tune in few little parts when she sang November. her vocal in each songs were almost 100% perfect, much much much much better than the previous CDLs.

i enjoyed CDL1112 a lot. and i don't really mind of the HUGE crowd of the dancers haha XD

[BlackSilence]

Originally Posted by ayuuk

Agree that it wasn't as amazing as last year's.

honstly, um I find this years CDL in much better vocal quality than it was last year, she sounded horrible to me on CDL10-11....

Anyway....

While yes the show is very importaint I think the most importaint is the performing itself, if there are good vocals, good representation of the song from artist hersels show doesn't need to be too overwhelming to make you enjoy it.

Personally on this years CDL I really enjoyed her vocals like a lot, I thought the stage was great, some of the performances lacked a bit of creativity but it wasn't all that bad. True, Ayu was sitting around a lot, but it wasn't that much of a problem to me, tho i love seeing her dancing. The back vocals were absolutelly ok too. The only thing I thought was absolutelly out of the place was those three clowny persons running around. I didn't really get the point of them being there, so they kinda annoyed me lol

I can understand the frustration of some fans who were there, tho. When you are seated in one place and the artist just stay in one part of the stage a lot, u can't really see them as much as u would want. Also u always get the view from the same angle so it makes things slightly borring if there's not much going on on stage plot-wise. I think the most of the action was concentrated on the main stage that's why it wasn't more exciting, cuz there's simply no surprises.

also I think comparing CDL with AT is a bit not fair too. Cuz they put much more planning and rehersing into that one than they put into CDL, and they probably start planning months and months before the actual tour even starts...just my thoghts tho....

[jyujiw]

Am I the only one who thinks that the 3 clowns had a meaning in the concert? xD
I mean, I think their roles were to be the manager of the Hotel in the middle and the chambermaids...
It makes sense to me since they prepare the beds for the perfomance of MOON and they were usually walking around the stage to "inspect" all the events that occur in the Hotel

[Kate-chan]

Originally Posted by artcika

honstly, um I find this years CDL in much better vocal quality than it was last year, she sounded horrible to me on CDL10-11....

Anyway....

While yes the show is very importaint I think the most importaint is the performing itself, if there are good vocals, good representation of the song from artist hersels show doesn't need to be too overwhelming to make you enjoy it.

Personally on this years CDL I really enjoyed her vocals like a lot, I thought the stage was great, some of the performances lacked a bit of creativity but it wasn't all that bad. True, Ayu was sitting around a lot, but it wasn't that much of a problem to me, tho i love seeing her dancing. The back vocals were absolutelly ok too. The only thing I thought was absolutelly out of the place was those three clowny persons running around. I didn't really get the point of them being there, so they kinda annoyed me lol

I can understand the frustration of some fans who were there, tho. When you are seated in one place and the artist just stay in one part of the stage a lot, u can't really see them as much as u would want. Also u always get the view from the same angle so it makes things slightly borring if there's not much going on on stage plot-wise. I think the most of the action was concentrated on the main stage that's why it wasn't more exciting, cuz there's simply no surprises.

also I think comparing CDL with AT is a bit not fair too. Cuz they put much more planning and rehersing into that one than they put into CDL, and they probably start planning months and months before the actual tour even starts...just my thoghts tho....

I kinda agree that there is possibility they plan it quite last minute after all the tours in previous months. Some of the team members are also not presence maybe due to exhaustion, injuries or falls ill. Well no doubt I mean it seems that ayu's voice needs some real recovery but despite that she really did her best and I love her singing in cdl though not the best but I giving her credit after all the vocal in 3 consecutive days. Among the whole show, November really captivate me despite all the negative review bout the dancer. I think it does portray the lyrics of "November". I do not know Japanese so, looking at the performance, I roughly know what this music about. I read the translation to double confirm *lol* Anyway, it's a tough song to sing and a big applause to Ayu

[SunshineSlayer]

Ok, just saw the tv broadcast and yeah, it does come across a bit better than being there did. But still, I wouldn't give it a glowing review like so many did here. It still looked like a mess up on stage most of the time.

[MissElin_]

I thought the concert was good but not her best. It was way tooo messy. I did enjoy MOON/fated (minus the dancers parts), November and NEVER EVER really much. Party Queen will have to grow on me. So far I enjoy the verses and bridge but I'm not too found of the chours. Yet. how beautiful you are is pretty but nothing special to me.

In comparison with CDL's this was good but not her best. I'm still in love with 09-10 so much. And if this is how the AT might look like, it's not gonna beat many of the past AT's either. R'n'RC will be hard to beat I think. As someone else said, in past concerts (and especially R'n'RC) she used alot of dancers, but in a good way. This concert was just overkill. It's like someone exploded dancers on the stage. Sometimes it felt like it was the dancers show and Ayu was just assisting their show with some vocals.

I already miss it when she alone brings out her band and sing it out like in is this LOVE?/Memorial Address/About You performances.

[Nessa]

I'm about to watch it now, and it's my first time hearing "Happening Here" or whatever! I hope it's not as bad as everyone thinks it is, but I haven't even bothered downloading it. I'm a virgin to it! So excited, my birthday is January 2nd, so getting to see CDL every year is an awesome present, and I always look forward to it! >3

[INSPIREme]

Hi all! I'm not a regular poster to the forums but I am a massive ayu fan and felt reasonably incensed to join in the conversation surrounding CDL11-12.

I've watched every arena tour and CDL since AT03-04 and to me she's never done a below-average show before now. In fact, most if not all of her shows have been way above-average. I'll also be the first to admit that I hated CDL10-11 when I saw the Ustream rip, I thought it was very poorly shot, but I was pleasantly surprised by the DVD. This time, I felt the Ustream was far better but the show itself was absolutely terrible.

I saw the set-list first of all and was distinctly unimpressed. Apart from Sparkle and sending mail I wasn't especially looking forward to seeing any of the songs performed, particularly evolution and Humming, which seem to crop up year after year after year after year.

The stage looked cluttered and was designed in such a way that was never going to fit in with some of the themes used later in the show. Despite not being visually pleasing to me, it worked fine with the doom-and-gloom numbers in the first half but seeing performances like Ladies Night with the rainbow-feathers and brightly-coloured lighting against a backdrop of a dark, creepy hotel just didn't gel. I also didn't like the platform the band and chorus were positioned on and the fact it stayed lit the whole time. I thought the chorus in particular looked awkward in the numbers where they weren't used, whereas Princess and PECO quite often used to disappear into the background.

The choreography was shocking. Once we'd seen Shuya flailing and flinging himself around the stage to an ayu power-ballad once we never needed to see it again. Unfortunately we've seen it a thousand times by now and now he appears to be choreographing entire shows, as the other dancers seem to be doing it. Maro for instance has buckets of talent as a dancer, far more than Shuya, but he was reduced to random "expressive" dance with no real direction.

But my main issue with this show was the lack of cohesion with theme. For a start, most CDL shows haven't had a particular theme or narrative at all, just being a simple concert performing a selection of songs. Now all of a sudden we have a CDL show with three or four themes and stories running at once, sometimes more than one on stage at the same time. As I mentioned before, the stage didn't fit in with some of these themes, which made them look awkward. Between the clowns, the chimney sweeps, the neon PJ's and the rainbow feathers it was just total nonsense from beginning to end.

Despite ayu's vocals being very impressive, for me there was absolutely nothing to like about this show and I didn't feel at any point that she was enjoying herself. Sadly, I don't think the properly filmed and engineered DVD is going to do anything to change my mind this time.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

I enjoyed certain parts of the concert, but I REALLY miss just classic ayu performances. NO background singers, just ayu and the band. Smh even the dancers kinda get on my nerves sometimes. They're OK for some upbeat songs

[femtrooper]

I went to CDL this year on December 29th, so I am basing everything off of that concert, not the Ustream one from the 31st. Honestly, it was my first Ayu concert live (and I hope to see more!) and it was REALLY fun. I have seen most of her CDL's and AT's so I was kinda sad that the costumes weren't as elaborate or that there wasn't as much dancing as usual, but honestly, it was awesome! As far as the song choice, I felt there could have been more pop/rock stuff and maybe a few less ballads, but that's just me. She didn't do my favourite songs, but she has a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE discography, so she certainly can't please everyone! The energy in there...WOW! When she did Evolution the crowd went CRAZY!!! It was so fun during the WOAH YEAH! WOAH YEAH! parts. I had great seats and could see her very well and honestly, she looked great too!

Overall, I was very impressed with the performance and she sang great, I just wish there could have been a little more energy, but other than that, it was awesome! I hope I will be able to see another CDL or perhaps an AT!

[Kazeyomi]

I was quite surprised when I've finished to watch CDL 11/12, because it really wasn't like people said. I was expecting something messy, but.. it turned out really good and enjoyable.
I think they kept some ideas from the original HLS setting though, but they added new things as well that could fits with CDL concert. I mean, something Hotel related but with more parties because of new year's eve.

The only thing that made me cringe was.. those damn clowns. Clowns are cute and funny, but I think she's overusing them. Along with tissue dance. Please Ayu stop it and do something different for once.

So overall: Yes, I liked. A lot!

[Neko★munication]

I honestly thought this was a lot better than the past two CDLS, vocally and performance-wise. Not gonna go super in depth, but the Hotel theme worked really well and definitely came across as well-planned imo. The best performances were, for me, do it again, Happening Here, fated, November, Ladies Night, and Party Queen.

Love song was weird as an ending song and didn't really work, MY ALL was a welcome comeback, and Peco was sorely missed Seriously it didn't feel complete without a high-kick from her

[TeamAyu2004]

It was better than the other three that i have watched so, yes it was pretty good...

It was all over the place, but I think thats because the camera people were stupid... lol

But besides that, it was pretty good... and I don't want to start on the timmy stuff, but still blah... lol

[Tony G]

Please explain to me - Timmy's involvement in Sparkle. He came down, sat on a chair next to Ayu, sang badly and went back to his little podium. I don't understand the purpose of that. Don't really understand why he was there at all - the other male backup singer had far better vocal ability and he added nothing except being an annoying distraction from Ayu.

I still enjoyed the concert. The biggest disappointment for me was that Ayu had so many 'overseer' roles in the performances. Where dancers would take up most of the stage and Ayu just stood (or sat) and sang looking over them. She was hardly involved. It just seemed like the concert was planned without her, she came into rehearsals at the last minute and was 'added'. You can just tell the whole thing is mostly planned without her now.

Hope the Arena Tour doesn't turn out like this. Still, an average CDL and far from her worst.

[femtrooper]

^Yeah, I felt that a little bit too, but overall I did enjoy it. There was just something 'missing' from it, and I think that was energy. She gets soooooooooo into her performances usually and she didn't this time. Oh well!

[Tony G]

Vocally she did very well, there were hardly any cringe-worthy moments. I don't think she lip synced any of it, you could tell it was live as she went off the regular key in many songs. (not always a bad thing)

The staples were really good here too - the crowd went nuts for them.

How cool was the podium/water fountain thing for November? Simple prop by her standard but used so well. Reminded me of AT05. ALL of the love songs tracks were amazing live, especially sending mail. She needs to perform this album in its entirety in the one show. It's too good to split up.

[femtrooper]

^I agree!!! I LOVED Sending Mail! She needs to perform that again either in a tour or another CDL! Such a fun song live!

[krazeyo]

I think everything I thought has been mentioned already.... But was anyone else surprised at how much makeup the male dancers wore? Baahaha I was surprised how most of them wore eyeliner looool.

Oh yeaaah I know there's a bit of Timmy hate going on already...but SERIOUSLLLY what is up with him in this show? O_____o...? I don't get it at alll.

[~StarCatcher~]

It was good but not amazing.

[jewelbox]

It was an OK CDL but I don't love it and Timmy ruined sparkle.