Utada Hikaru to Tour the United States and London

[fpd]

That setlist makes me a lot more excited for two weeks from now! Nice to hear she did some Japanese stuff, although I donno if she'll do less when not in Hawaii. :/

[fpd]

Well damn, Kim Tae Woo and Son Ho Young from g.o.d are having a concert the following week in Chicago as well. I can't find where to buy tickets for that though. :/

http://www.allkpop.com/2010/01/kim-tae-woo...-america-canada

[fpd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIcC71j_LMk...embedded#at=122

Footage from the LA show. I'm so excited!

[showraniy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGoNRZkcxSI



There's a higher quality video from someone up front. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whatthe:' />

[november]

It is because you'd never see a musical star of such caliber in a tiny venue like House of Blues.

This is not very true, I've seen some huge acts there, a lot of bands don't just tour huge arenas. And even so, Utada is definitely not what I'd call a "high caliber" star in this country, in the regards that she's not someone who would be selling out shows of thousands of people in this country.

Plus, it is rare to impossible for American fans to see their Japanese idols to begin with. That is what inspires the freak out and rush.

This is pretty much what I meant by "don't go to concerts often." If they haven't seen a lot of their favorite artists in person in a small club, they may not know how to handle it. So help me god if I have fangirls screaming out song titles in my ear while Utada's playing her set, I'm going to punch someone.

Wow, been ages since I've been on this board!





But just like Steve said "if they haven't seen a lot of their fav.....etc" - there was one guy tonight that was INSANE. I hope he's not a part of this board lol - black shirt on the balcony - sung all the words(which isn't bad) with SUPER enthusiasm and scary energy/gestures/stabby tendencies. He literally was crazy but some people poked fun at him <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... >/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whatthe:' /> and the crowd got a laugh.





Overall the show rocked.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/super annoying text



I was very pleased and so lucky/happy that I found out about this concert on Friday(2/1) and was able to get tickets. I nearly flipped when I found out she has a concert - First artist I listened to and got me into JPop.









The beginning of the show was a drag with a boring/no-energy DJ playing for an hour? or so. F that - could have done without it



When she finally came to the stage the crowd was pumped(me included and I saw Steve pee his pants). She was wearing a skirt with a sleevless shirt thing and striped shawl - deliciousness.



She played 16+ songs(list soon) and they were all great to hear live - I noticed a lot I could hear the track vocals in the background but for the most part it was her singing - so i'd say a good live performance and it sounded great.



The place was filled with energy until she left after the encore.



I started to compile a song list, i'll get that in a bit for those who are interested.(I know the tour has a pretty set list but some places have some additional songs from what we heard.....bastards).









Hope she tours again!





OH and she's had songs on B96 here in Chicago....how fuckin' awesome!

[AEUGNewtype]

When she finally came to the stage the crowd was pumped(me included and I saw Steve pee his pants).

Hey now, I stopped wetting my pants when I was like 10 <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... >/hmph.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whip:' /> (actually I never started, haha) It was nice to finally have the main act take the stage though, after an hour and a half of standing in place/having at least 50 people try to squeeze through us and move around and having a group of flamboyantly homosexual guys screaming in our ear and hitting on straight guys in the vicinity. I don't have a problem with gay people at all if they can control themselves, but apparently being drunk in an environment with a lot of other people is too much for some to handle. The show got much better once most of these people as well as the people who refused to stop fucking recording videos and taking pictures got kicked out by the staff. I really don't understand why everyone feels they have to record an absolutely horrendous video of a concert with their cell phone when the artist SPECIFICALLY REQUESTS there is no photography.

She played 16+ songs(list soon) and they were all great to hear live - I noticed a lot I could hear the track vocals in the background but for the most part it was her singing - so i'd say a good live performance and it sounded great.

This was interesting too, but its exactly what I figured would happen. There was a backup vocals track for her through most of the show, which isn't really bad, because most of her songs are written with so much vocal layering that it would sound retarded to just have her singing the lead when her backup vocals provide the harmonies in the background. And I'm sure its way too much money and effort to hire a team of backup vocalists to do a small club tour in a foreign country, so having a backup track makes sense.

I started to compile a song list, i'll get that in a bit for those who are interested.(I know the tour has a pretty set list but some places have some additional songs from what we heard.....bastards).

This is kinda lame too, I had seen a list somewhere that she also performed Boku wa Kuma as well as another of my favorite song or two from Exodus, and not to have those on the setlist was kinda disappointing, but oh well. I also thought it was somewhat interesting that there were like 50-60 year old Japanese businessmen going to this concert, I don't think they realized it was mostly going to be her American rock/pop type music and not her Japanese music.

OH and she's had songs on B96 here in Chicago

Yeah, she did mention that Dirty Desire has been on the radio soon and I believe Devil Inside was on the local stations back when Exodus came out. Too bad Dirty Desire sucks ass, except the version at the concert was AMAZING because they added heavy guitars and it made it sound like a completely different song.



Overall I was kinda underwhelmed by the whole thing and some of the people standing near us at the show almost ruined the entire night, but it was definitely worth it to go to such a unique event and hang out with some friends and see one of my favorite Jpop artists.

[showraniy]

Well, speaking as someone who was in the absolute back of the first floor and couldn't see much, I can at least say the people around me were fine. There was a guy next to me who had to tell his friend the name of EVERY song and what album it was on, what significance it had, etc. but at least he was quiet-ish and kept it short.



Utada was adorable and I definitely enjoyed the intimacy of the concert. It was just very different to see her in person singing and everything. I don't know--it's probably like AEUG says: seeing her live after just watching her on screen for so, so many years makes it feel like there's finally flesh and bone to this far-away, almost unreal person. That's probably just my fangirl coming out in me.



All in all, I had a great time. Tried to sneak up to the top floor once, but there was unfortunately a guard to make sure all under-21 people couldn't get up there. :\







UPDATE: 2nd London date announced for February 10th! First post edited with information.

[freezingkiss]

I went to the London gig last night, and it was fantastic, she did like, 5 or 6 Japanese songs, and she talked to the audience heaps, in English and Japanese. This really tall bugger was right in front of me the entire time though, and every time I moved and got a little 'window' he would move his big head in my way again. ;__;