To build up excitement for Utada’s In The Flesh Tour across the United States and Europe (even though I’m sure we couldn’t be more excited), I’m reviewing each one of her Japanese tours monthly, starting with Bohemian Summer 2000 and ending in UTADA UNITED 2006, so in January/February I get to review Utada’s In The Flesh concert from Los Angeles!

[OPENING MOVIE]
Addicted To You
タイム・リミット
In My Room
time will tell

The introduction to the tour isn’t very stimulating to kick off the concert if not for the shining logo that begins the DVD after the helicopter scene. Maybe it’s just because I can’t read whatever’s written on the e-mail that is being sent in the video. After the opening movie, A small part of Automatic starts to play and grows into a rock version of the instrumentals, but once it stops, we see Utada coming down to sing Addicted To You. The stage, dancers and Utada’s outfit make the concert look like an average rock concert, but I believe it’s because Utada was still looking for a while to present herself live, since she’s nothing like other J-Pop stars out there. This segment of the show runs very smoothly, composed of two hits from her Distance era (Addicted To You, タイム・リミット) and two from her First Love era (In My Room, time will tell). Her vocals are amazing despite her very young age and you know she’s going to give it all she’s got by the time she ends time will tell. I really like In My Room because it feels like she gets carried away by the song and gives us a stunning performance. I started paying more attention to First Love for this very segment.

Never Let Go
Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
Another Chance
For You

This one is one of my favorite segments from the concert. Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) is more famous for this live than for being an actual b-side, and even though Utada does add in a lot of vibrato to the song, and it affects its fluidity a bit, but it’s still fantastic. Never Let Go and Another Chance are two of my favorite First Love songs because of this tour as well. Before I didn’t pay much attention to them because they sounded a lot like the rest of the album, but seeing how they do have different kinds of energy and how Utada conveys this to the audience made them magic for me. From the first time I watched this concert, I wouldn’t stop listening to these 2 songs.

Automatic
Take On Me

Finally we get some Automatic! She fooled us in the beginning, but it’s here! Hikki comes out with an outfit change to initiate my favorite half of the concert, full of covers and fun. Automatic was amazing as expected, but I really love Take On Me! It shows a bit of Hikki’s musical background and it’s an English song, so it really brings her American background to the table as well. This segments shows off the crowd a little more and it’s a sea of people! I love it!

Give Me A Reason
はやとちり

Give Me A Reason is a regular First Love track, but one of the special Hikki songs that can become very memorable in a tour for the fans. She make a regular album song sound so sweet and single-worthy. She’s truly something special, this Hikki! はやとちり is one of my favorite songs by Hikki and I wasn’t even aware of its existence until I watched Bohemian Summer 2000. Live is so much better and it’s pure magic, you just feel good when you hear it! It’s a short segment, but both songs are really special and sang wonderfully!

I LOVE YOU

I LOVE YOU is a segment of its own because Hikki happens to forget the lyrics of the cover, but once she finally gets it right, she gets it RIGHT. It’s an epic, beautiful performance and it’s so impressive she could pull it off so well at such a young age. She reacted in a really cute manner once she got the lyrics wrong, but the crowd sea of people cheered her on and her good humor made for the stunning performance that followed.

プレイバック・パート2
Movin’ on without you
First Love

I’d never heard of プレイバック・パート2 before, and this presentation caught my attention because of the flair and originality of the song. It sounds like something Hikki’s mother would compose and I love it! Even though I’m not a big fan of Hikki’s mother’s work, it sounds very traditional and has a strong Japanese presence. Movin’ on without you is an epic Hikki song, and there is nothing anyone can do to ruin it. The band did justice to the instrumentals (that are simply amazing) and Hikki did her part with her breath-taking vocals.

I don’t think I even have to get started on First Love . . . but I will! Hikki sings with so much feeling every time she’s performing First Love, that it’s impossible not to feel some nostalgia and get a little emotional. It’s the single song that mostly affected her career and a highlight on her debut album. The arrangement of the instrumentals for this live is very beautiful and goes perfectly with Utada’s voice.

Wait & See ～リスク～

Once again, Hikki sings us a new song from her Distance era, Wait & See ～リスク～, by that time, it wasn’t a classic yet, but the live is incredible. The lights, camera and the action (this wasn’t on purpose, it’s true!) all bring together a beautiful performance that’s very memorable between the others from the tracklisting! The live remix is very fun and perfect for performances. The fireworks ending was also epic and gave me chills!

甘いワナ ～Paint It, Black
Living On My Own

Hikki leaves briefly and comes back with a new outfit to end the concert and sings yet another highlight from her debut album, 甘いワナ ～Paint It, Black. Her lives for this song are always incredible and it’s a very original composition. The energy is very contagious and her chemistry onstage is so awesome! After that, there’s yet another English cover, Living On My Own. It’s just as fun as the first one and the cover songs for this concert grab my attention in the best way! She rocks ‘em out far better than anyone else!

B&C
First Love – John Luongo Remix

B&C is a sweet song, very upbeat and nostalgic. Once again, the arrangement of the song for this concert is very amazing and is a great concert closer because of the energy it brings to the crowd, which is always clapping along, besides, Hikki looks amazing and very excited to be there!

The last song shows footage of the making of the concert and is more of a complementary song to end the concert in a nostalgic, yet promising way as for everyone to leave with high spirits. At the end, there’s a fireworks special, and it’s a very unique way to end her first true concert, I’m sure everybody who got to see it live loved it!

Bohemian Summer 2000 is a very memorable concert! The tracklisting consists mainly of her First Love and Distance eras, and she pulled through fantastically, even at such a young age! I think that even though it had many little surprises (like the fireworks), it lacked a real theme, since the dancers weren’t all that attention-grabbing and the stage wasn’t very neat, it looked very a-nation-like, but it was just her trying to find her place in Japanese pop music and figuring out how to convey her image in a live stage!

It’s still fantastic and I love it!

89 / B+

[Flickr/Random J]

[Insert Heavy Sarcasm] Good job, Daisy – Hikaru Utada, your J-pop music idol for the past 10 years, is on a rare U.S. tour and you completely missed the boat on getting tickets for the SF concert (on 1/24/09 at the Fillmore). What the heck is wrong with you! With millions and millions of fans around the world, did you really think that this wouldn’t sell out?

Yea, I admit it. I didn’t think it would (given that her recent albums haven’t been as hot as her previous stuff). So here I am, 4 freakin days after the tickets go on sale, without a ticket.

The concert isn’t for another two months, so all hope is not lost. However, I ain’t going to pay an outrageous finder’s fee to a scapler either….to be continued….

In the meantime, here’s her latest English single, “Come Back to Me” – this song has definitely grown on me, so I’m giving it a Daisy Stamp of Approval…Ha!

Worldwide pop icon Utada, who holds the record for the past decade as the top-selling Japanese-American female pop artist of all-time, has scheduled an 8-city U.S. tour in support of THIS IS THE ONE, her most recent album on Island Records, featuring the Top 5 Billboard Dance track, “Come Back to Me.”

01/15 Honolulu, HI – Pipeline Café
01/19 Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues
01/21 Seattle, WA – Showbox
01/24 San Francisco, CA – Fillmore
01/30 Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
02/02 Chicago, IL – House of Blues
02/05 Boston, MA – Paradise
02/08 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
02/12 London, Eng. – Islington Academy

Now many have known for weeks about this, but everyone kept very, very quiet until they had their tickets on Friday.  UTADA is touring the US and UK early next year.  Tickets went on sale for her London gig at the Islington Academy for February 12th and sold out within hours (considering it’s only a 800 capacity venue and it’s her only European date, it’s not surprising however).  To be honest, I would have expected a slightly larger venue, but it’s a good venue at least, and even if it’s sold out you’ll still probably be able to get a good view, unlike the Camden Underworld, where I saw, or rather didn’t see, abingdon boys school play last Thursday.

I’m very curious on what the set list will be.  I’m a little bitter over the whole situation, as I can’t go for various reasons beyond my control, but I’m convincing myself I’m not too bothered as I expect she’ll mainly be performing from her US albums, which, as you may have previously read, aren’t my favourite things she’s done recently.  I’ve also read that the tour is to promote the single “Dirty Desire” from her album “This is the one“.  Okay, the album was a grower, but if I had one opportunity to see Hikki, I’d much rather see her perform her J-Pop style songs, which, I’m expecting will be few and far between, if any, at the concert.

End the bitterness, I hope everyone who goes has an amazing time.  Oh and if anyone wants to pick me up a t-shirt or any other kind of merchandise, feel free to! 

hikaru utada

Hikaru Utada’s official website has announced that the singer will launch a monthlong tour of the U.S. The dates are as follows:

Called In the Flesh, the tour is largely to promote Utada’s latest English language album, This is the One. It’s her second album released in English.

Tickets for most venues went on sale last week.

(Schedule courtesy Anime News Network)

After a bit of rumors Utada’s first tour outside of Asia has been confirmed by Utada.com. Here are the confirmed shows…

Honolulu, HI @ Pipeline Cafe / 01.15.2010 @ 8PM
Seattle, WA @ The Showbox / 01.21.2010 @ 8PM
San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore / 01.24.2010 @ 8PM
Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues / 01.30.2010 @ 8PM
Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues / 02.02.2010 @ 8PM
Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club / 02.05.2010 @ 7PM
New York City, NY @ Irving Plaza / 02.08.2010 @ 8PM
London, England @ O2 Academy Islington / 02.12.2010 @ 7PM

In addition to these dates, there are some new rumors of a new Japanese Single entitled “Show Me Love”. Utada is reported to be working with a sound mixer named Goetz B. who has also worked with her on Keep Tryin’ and BLUE. Exciting news  indeed.

image from Utada's facebook

What a wonderful surprise. Utada is performing in the United States in early 2010.

Utada updates on facebook have listed The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on Jan 24th, 2010. Tickets on sale Nov 15th through livenation.

Utada is also performing in New York City on Feb 8th, 2010. Tickets go on sale 11/13th.

Also listed is a Las Vegas, NV date Jan 30th 2010. Tickets go on sale on 11/14/2010.

She also has a date planned in London as well.

UPDATED LIST: see livenation list HERE added Boston, Chicago and Seattle.

I hope things go well enough that she adds more U.S. dates. I’d love to see her here in N.C. I would definately buy tickets!

A song that I have listened and loved for quite a few years and always seems to never sound old and tired is called Beautiful World by Utada Hikaru. This song was also selected to be a theme song for one of the new Neon Genesis Evangelion movies titled “Evangelion: 1.0 You are (not) alone” others also know it by The Rebuild of Evangelion.

The song is sang mostly in Japanese where the last couple of lines is in English and a lot of Japanese artists seem to love doing that these days which is awesome as they are appealing to wider audiences. the message of the song is that the singer being a female is singing about loving this boy and that she wants to be near him no matter the cost and it’s just really really relaxing to listen to. There are very few songs that I listen to so much that it tops my iTunes most played with a few hundred listens. Even though it’s just the typical love song about wanting someone quite bad its how she portrays the fact that she really means it through he style of singing its a neo-jazz feeling where she loves to use a fair amount of vibrato on her voice and at the same time can control it so well that she can pull it off and keep the listener intrigued and hooked. In this song she puts so much emotion in to it that she does a build up of feeling as the song progresses, even though the song begins with the chorus as a hook and then down in to the 1st verse with loads of harmonies laid on top of her main vocals which is real nice touch considering there isn’t a lot of instruments which is why the producer was able to put so much more emphasis on her voice to fill the void and make it stand out at the same time. The only instruments are just drums, strings, piano and a bass- not even an acoustic guitar. Personally I think that is a nice touch, although I play guitar I feel that it’s the most overrated instrument there is I mean like 90% of people on my uni course plays guitar! So after a day of guitar listening to that really refreshes my mind and thinks songs can be made the old way without a guitar and still have such a massive effect.

Have a listen to it, if you’re interested by the lyrics then google them and read along and find some translations if you’re unsure.

Utada Hikaru is one of Japan’s most popular singers and songwriters, with multiple albums achieving number 1 status and awards.

She has the most beautiful voice and has done songs in both English as well as Japanese.

Utada Hikaru – Letters

I start walking on the warm sand
On a seaside where none of my bad souvenirs can reach
No matter how much you hrut me, the sun is gonna rise
A new day begins
I’m gonna enjoy it
Though I’m not sure where this will lead
Me who is so lasy at work everyday

In the sky tht I hold in my hands, I can see a storm
You and me is over
And all there is left on this seashore
is a letter beeing washed away by the waves

In my dreams, or even just on the phone
I wanna hear your voice
You who always ran away from conversation
Left me a letter that’s beeing washed away by the waves

Tell me that you’ll never ever leave me
Then you go ahead and leave me
What the hell is going on
Tell me that you really really love me
Then you go ahead and leave me
How the hell do I go on..

JDM music

Hello again. ~

It looks like Utada is getting back into business again! She’ll be going on tour early next year and will start with Hawaii around mid-January. She’ll be going around 10 cities and will end in London February 12th. It looks like she’ll be in Europe for another concert on February 14th at the 0² Academy Islington in U.K, London.

Oh dios, si esto se confirma y es oficial, me voy reservando un billete para londres para ir a verla en concierto.  (L)

Utada comenzará el tour a principios de 2010 en Hawaii, para luego hacer 10 conciertos en USA y dirigirse en último lugar a Londres (para ser mas concretos, el 12 de febrero).

Los precios de las entradas al concierto de utada serán a partir de las 20 libras.

This story is just too good and exciting to pass up. Basically there is a rumor going around that Utada will be touring in 2010, maybe as early as January. She is speculated to have a full band backing her so hopefully this will be an official big exciting tour. If this turns out to be true then you can bet I will be the first one with tickets

UPDATE:

It’s been reported that Utada will indeed be having a US/UK Tour. The tour is reported to start in Hawaii and then 9 other US dates. The tour is said to end with a date for the UK.

De acordo com o DJ Mike Rizzo, que está fazendo remixes para o novo single da Utada, “Dirty Desire” deverá ser o próximo single de Hikki e deve ser lançado no início de 2010.

Ele disse também, que estará em turnê junto de Utada em Janeiro. Ainda não se sabe de que tipo de turnê ele está se referindo e nem qual será a magnitude da mesma.

Alguns meses atrás, surgiram rumores de que o próximo single seria “This One (Crying Like A Child)/Dirty Desire”, mas nada foi dito desde então.

Island Def Jam não se pronunciou sobre nenhum desses assuntos.

De acordo com o site 365Artists, Goetz B está/esteve mixando algumas faixas para Utada.

De acordo com o site:

Goetz já terminou de produzir e mixar faixas para o último álbum de Skye com Alexis Smith, e deve começar a mixar faixas para Hikaru Utada (EMI).

Não diz especificamente se é para um álbum ou single, mas é mais provável que seja para o próximo álbum japonês. Goetz mixou o single “Keep Tryin’ ” e algumas faixas do “ULTRA BLUE”.

A página foi atualizada em Maio de 2009, na época que Utada foi diagnosticada com peritonsillitis e cancelou a promoção do álbum This Is The One. Então deduz-se que desde então ela vem trabalhando em seu álbum japonês.

Em um post de seu blog, Hikki disse que estava colocando um pouco de “mágica germânica” em sua música, sendo que Goetz é um nome gêrmanico.

Fonte: UtadaNET

Material Used:
Utada Hikaru -WINGS (SAMurai DIStortion REmix)
Koda Kumi – Lies (Hidden Truths Remix)
Aaliyah – Rock The Boat (SAMurai DIStortion REmix)
Utada Hikaru – Flavor of Life (Mystic Storm Remix)
Namie Amuro – Full Moon (Lovely Evening Remix)
Kingdom Hearts – Dearly Beloved (My Passion ‘DIStorted SAMurai’ Instrumental Remix)
Bjork – Earth Intruders (Battlefield Arrival Dub)
Koda Kumi – Lies (Hidden Truths Remix)
Kingdom Hearts – Dearly Beloved (My Passion ‘DIStorted SAMurai’ Instrumental Remix) [ENDING]

This looks like I’m posting just an hour or so after the previous one, but as my father pointed out, I meant a.m. Whatever. It’s my blog. I can mess up the time stamp if I want.

What made Molly’s day? you might come here wondering. Well, friendly reader, I’ll tell you what!

Tegan and Sara. I received the entire discography in the mail today. And now I’m listening to So Jealous. The Con is in my car. Because it’s one of my Favorite Albums Eva, so I think I’ll like having it on hand.

I’m just glad that I have physical CDs because I’m already getting tired of the ones I brought with me from Ohio. As much as I love Utada, I can only listen to Ultra Blue so many times before even Passion gets old. Plus, it’s the worst when you wear out songs you love.

Luckily, that hasn’t happened to Tegan and Sara yet. Plus, they’re funny in interviews and I’ve come to realize I like people based on how funny they are. OR, how nice they are. Because people who aren’t funny can be super nice and sweet.

But, if you’re not funny and not exceptionally nice, I just don’t feel like you have much to offer me. Not that I hate those people. I just gravitate towards those two types. So, if you’re wondering why I spit on you every time you see me, it’s probably because you don’t make me laugh and are only moderately kind.

I’m sure if you’re reading this, though, you are a lovely person who I hold dearly to my heart.

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