Detailed report from one fan who attended Day 1 at Osaka, from the TeamAyu forum at Spoilers BBS

Credits to truehappiness @ AHS for this find!!

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Author: Ichigo-tan
Written 29/5/2011 22:14:53

There are no words to describe the intense 「GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」 screams that went up when the show start bell rang and the arena went dark.

During the opening, 3 dancers came onto the centre stage respectively, each holding a cream-coloured ball-shaped object.

I’ve read spoilers written by others before attending the show, so I knew that these balls represent messages that ayu-chan wishes to send out to everyone, especially those in the affected regions.

They probably represent things like 「love」, 「hope」 and 「courage」, but that’s just what I personally think, I don’t know what they really represent, but they definitely contain ayu-chan’s feelings.

And then, the red curtain surrounding the centre stage rose, and standing in the centre, with her face pointed up and her arms outstretched, was ayu-chan. Then, led by the dancers, the audience cheers got louder.

1. forgiveness

I don’t know much English, but ayu-chan sang a small verse of the song a cappella in English, at the start. From this, I could feel the strength of ayu-chan’s voice.

It was a beautiful voice that stretched out.

As she sang, the dancers moved around the outer rim of the round stage while holding the balls. ayu-chan faced the orchestra and sang with a kind face, while directing the orchestra like a conductor.

After this song, the min-MC session began, but before that, one English word appeared on the screens.

「Relax」

These words were meant to tell of the contents of the show, and during the next 2 hours, the following words came on screen.

「Pain」, 「Imagine」, 「Sorrow」, 「Smile」, 「Change」, 「Joy」, 「To be free」, 「Remember」

During the mini-MC session, ayu greeted the audience with 「Ehhhhhh~~~! Everyone at Osaka, welcome to POWER of MUSIC today!」, followed by 「This may seem a little early on, but let’s have a talk, ok? Ever since this tour began, this is the first time I’m speaking to everyone like this. Osaka just feels right」

After speaking to us about the theme of this concert, she said 「I wanted to grow my hair a little longer for this show, but I went to cut it with Kazuma in the end…」

At this, many in the crowd shouted 「It’s cute!」, which caused ayu to ask 「It’s cute?」 and everyone to reply 「It’s cute!」 ayu then replied 「You’re talking about me?」

Next, in response to Peco-san’s tweet, ayu called out 「Peco-san’s mother is here」 and everyone clapped.

ayu-chan then said 「This is a great opportunity. Peco-san, say something」 and Peco-san replied with 「Thank you for giving birth to me!」 Hearing that, ayu-chan added 「Peco-san’s mum, we will sing with all our mights today, so please watch over us」

After that, it was time to sing some mini-songs. ayu-chan said 「I’ve been singing nostalgic songs all this time, so I want to sing something new now…」 At this, the audience grew very excited, expecting to hear a completely new song, but ayu added 「But I won’t sing the new song! I can’t reveal it like that (laugh)」 and everyone laughed.

ayu-chan then said 「The three of us will be singing a chorus from MOON」, and everyone was really excited to hear it. And while the 3 of them were preparing, it was Yo-chan’s turn to come on!

Though it was his turn to come on, he appeared, still drinking from his water bottle and looking really surprised, making everyone laugh

With preparations complete, the singing began, and though it was good at first, ayu-chan messed up the lyrics halfway through, as if she wasn’t really focusing on singing

♪Hey, I’ll give you a gentle song
So that you can believe in eternity, for eternity
So don’t have sad eyes anymore
Don’t ask me with a quavering voice
“Do you love me?”♪

After singing that, ayu-chan confessed 「I was really sweating!」

Next, ayu-chan called 「From now on, here’s some rearranged songs which will make everyone 「YAY!」」, and with that, she performed BLUE BIRD, blossom, monochrome and fairyland.

By the way, during BLUE BIRD, she sat on the lowest tier of the 3-step centre stage and sang with a really kind expression.

For monochrome, she again conducted the orchestra while singing.

For fairyland, the dancers performed as in the original PV.

And though most of ayu-chan’s songs are masterpieces, I cried while listening to BLUE BIRD, and because I always watched monochrome on the Stadium Tour 2002 DVD, hearing it live for the first time was quite nerve-wracking.

And since fairyland is mostly a cute song, it teased out ayu-chan’s cute personality

「Pain」

6. A Song for XX

Yo-chan had his guitar solo here, accompanied by drums. The dancers then came out one by one with solo dancers, while the screens showed their names.

The sequence of appearance was ZIN, Maro, EMI, EKKO, Midoring, AKI, SHU-YA, Kazuma, Go-Mi, KO. SHU-YA popularity still remains high, with loud cheers following his appearance.

And then, ayu-chan came on!

She had taken off her long dress, as well as the flower on her head.

She performed A Song for XX, and the strong appeal and charm of her singing made me forget to wave my penlight.

7. M

It started with a quite piano solo by Tomonari-san, and became rock halfway through. With ayu-chan’s improved voice, this song was powerful.

8. NEVER EVER

Though she performed the chorus of this song 2 years ago during an MC session, this was the first time I heard it live.

During the song, I was so overwhelmed that my hand waving was out of synch with everyone else.

For the last chorus, as she sang

♪If I can have
Just one wish fulfilled♪

The force of her singing was so great that she threw her previously crossed legs out.

That left an impression on me, and her feelings definitely reached out to everyone.

「Imagine」

Maro had a solo dance here.

Normally, solo dances are accompanied by backing music from the band. This time, the orchestra provided the backing music, and so the dance became very musical and was really nice.

9. walking proud

This was the first time I’ve heard this song live as well. For this show, the song started out soft, with only the orchestra playing.

This concert relies much on the orchestra and band. During this song, the trombone’s playing was beautiful, and pulled me into the song.

10. part of Me

As I’ve mentioned previously, this is the second time this song is being performed live, after Asia Tour in 2007.

This is a song that left a very deep impression on me during its release, and this performance felt like ayu-chan was personally addressing me with this song.

Halfway through, ayu-chan started crying. This touched me, and I cried while listening to her.

11. Moments

For this song, the dancers performed as per the PV, together with feather fans.

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(To be continued…)