ayumi hamasaki ARENA TOUR 2018 ～POWER of MUSIC 20th Anniversary ～ [II]

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by hidekirby

This tour get me so excited !!

What about the orchestra ???
Is it as present as in POM? Please say YES !!

I love seeing BRILLANTE in the setlist... What an incredible song really...
ever free is an awesome surprise also !!! Can't wait to hear it. It was about time.

I'm sure the costume will drastically change by the end of the tour. : )
I hope she will focus on her vocals from now on...

Orchestra not that present. They are hidden up behind the band and it’s just like 6 people on strings.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by hidekirby

This tour get me so excited !!

What about the orchestra ???
Is it as present as in POM? Please say YES !!

No, not at all.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

If I'm speaking honestly, she's Ayumi Hamasaki. The best selling solo female artist in Japan. We should be getting fully thought out and developed tours. Her costumes should be new. I personally don't think this is expecting much...but we all have our own views.

[Xianghua]

Idk I liked the show. The arrangements were nice and her vocals were good. It didn't feel like the high energy that her shows usually have but I just assumed it was because of the orchestra arrangements. I think tomorrow the audience will be a lot more energetic!

[Marcelo]

Originally Posted by Gorgonia

All I read are complaints about cosmetic stuff. I couldn’t care less about the outfits. The song choice could be better? Yes... but do you go to her shows for her music or for her dresses?

Hamasaki Ayumi show should be a well rounded body of work as a whole, given her name and magnitude

That said, it still sounded like I would enjoy the show myself, granted I've only been to CdM tour. But I'm interested to know what were the things that people didn't like. Someone said it not being as fun as some of the past ones, in what way ? Also what I read about someone attending the first time and feeling kinda "it was okay, but...", sounds so sad to me In this case, first time should always be amazing!

I kinda feel like personally, given to how "big" she was in the past, and her meaning in my life, it's always kinda disappointing in a way to hear she doesn't live up to that anymore. I feel that's an issue many of people here have as well. And I'm not talking about her sales wise, just the overall aura of how well things are executed and managed. And you can make well rounded work with a cheap budget as well, so it shouldn't be about that, in my opinion.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Marcelo

Hamasaki Ayumi show should be a well rounded body of work as a whole, given her name and magnitude

That said, it still sounded like I would enjoy the show myself, granted I've only been to CdM tour. But I'm interested to know what were the things that people didn't like. Someone said it not being as fun as some of the past ones, in what way ? Also what I read about someone attending the first time and feeling kinda "it was okay, but...", sounds so sad to me In this case, first time should always be amazing!

I kinda feel like personally, given to how "big" she was in the past, and her meaning in my life, it's always kinda disappointing in a way to hear she doesn't live up to that anymore. I feel that's an issue many of people here have as well. And I'm not talking about her sales wise, just the overall aura of how well things are executed and managed. And you can make well rounded work with a cheap budget as well, so it shouldn't be about that, in my opinion.

When i said fun that is mostly referred to the choice of songs. I love her ballads, but this show simply lacked the stuff that gets you hyped up. Like her summer or more upbeat songs. There were like 4 while last year during chapter 1 for instance there were a lot more jumpy rock songs that get your blood pumping. She shines brightest during her staple songs and I expected more of the 20th anniversary. Been to 5 of her tours and this is by far the least intersting show of hers I have seen.

Also, usually, Timmy doesn’t irritate me, but this time he was beyond lame. I understand it’s what she wants from him, but it’s just not cool.

This is JTB Chapter 4 nothing else.

[Katsuyuki012]

^there's a new thread already.

[Sky High]

This setlist is really good. She sang ever free <3

[Evan Odinson]

I was expecting a bigger show, longer setlist, more explosive songs, I really wanted Reminds Me and Song 4 U to be played, and kinda hoped she could bring back the flying ship from AT10 lol

[adrtwb]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

When i said fun that is mostly referred to the choice of songs. I love her ballads, but this show simply lacked the stuff that gets you hyped up. Like her summer or more upbeat songs. There were like 4 while last year during chapter 1 for instance there were a lot more jumpy rock songs that get your blood pumping. She shines brightest during her staple songs and I expected more of the 20th anniversary. Been to 5 of her tours and this is by far the least intersting show of hers I have seen.

Also, usually, Timmy doesn’t irritate me, but this time he was beyond lame. I understand it’s what she wants from him, but it’s just not cool.

This is JTB Chapter 4 nothing else.

This is my least favourite tour too. I don’t see effort.

[Katsuyuki012]

^^AT08 you mean and why do you all keep posting in the old thread?

[JackieRos]

What the hell why is she getting so much hate lately? The heck is going on?
Maybe she didn’t want to do anything too big for her 20th, chill out people.
I may not like her recent stuff too much but I haven’t seen this much negativity like now.

[Party_King]

Short review:

Intro: Was a prerecorded one which included the original "Welcome to the power of music" line from 2011.

01. forgiveness
- She tried to copy that feeling from 2011 but get into the song over the time

02. evolution
- felt like a nice surprise here - vocals were really good
- classic intro until the first wow yeah... (like 2007)

Band Introduction

03. A Song for xx
- I first thought how nice to hear, but she didn't grab the feeling here - sadly

04. Mad World
- Her voice was on top here and because it was without her dances, it felt more honest to me

05. ever free
- it was a mix of the AOV and rockish arrangement - really touching, honest and well sung
- i think she struggled for a secend with the lyrics

Catcher in the light (from MY STORY Classical)

06. SEASONS
- Didn't expect this song. She looked stunning and her voice was pretty good

07. TO BE
- nice conclusion to SEASONS, but she screamed a lot here ( not as bad as last years CDTV)

08. how beautiful you are
- definitely one highlight of the show - her voice was on point!

09. BRILLIANTE
- remake from 2012s evoLLANTE without evolution - Vocals were fine

Diary (sung by Miccie and Yungon(?) (the new Korean backup singer)

Bold & Delicious - "Dance teaching for "yaya...gaga...dada...wowow..." parts
- this was actually really funny

10. Bold & Delicious
- Her Vocals were better than in the rehearsal videos

11. Born To Be...
- As Bold & Delicious her voice was really good

12. NEXT LEVEL
- The new arrangement was absolut perfection! I'm not a fan of her re-arranged songs but for this they went all out! A huuuge highlight!

Encore (no mc)

12. Curtain call
- was good sung with nice additions from BGVs

14. SURREAL
- a big surprise as a standalone! She struggled a bit during the Lala-Lalai parts...

15. Boys & Girls
- the same procedure than every year
- she started to sing second verse during first ones time

16. a song is born
- also a big surprise here, really beautiful and the audience did some magic to it while singing the chorus


+ Songs: Mad World, ever free, how beautiful you are, NEXT LEVEL
- Songs: forgiveness, A Song for xx, TO BE

Yes, the setlist looks pretty short, but the concert felt normal length-like
I think this setlist is really nice and with the addition of 2-3 Songs could be perfect

I loved that the focused on the music and not on the dancers...
BTW: there was a treadmill on the catwalk which was used during A Song for xx and Catcher in the Light

[RealLight]

^ How did the new arrangement for NL sound like? And how was evolution and SURREAL's arragements?