Utada Hikaru, Live in Concert!
Last night, I went to the UTADA "In The Flesh" 2010 concert in the Sunset Strip House of Blues in Hollywood (part of her U.S. tour). Carpooled with rebel_angel around 4:20pm. We stopped by a Ralphs to pick up a birthday card* (more on this later...), and then were on our way.
The traffic was nearly NON-EXISTENT, which was something that was much like a shock to us because at around 5pm, it's normally really trafficky, but perhaps because of the rain, people weren't out driving as much. Though, it had stopped raining by that point.
We got there, parked down a block in public parking ($10 versus whatever they charge right by the HoB), and then got in line. We ended up about the halfway point on the slope down the side of the HoB. Not bad.
I wrote my message in the birthday card, then passed it to Kaitlin so she could write her message. Then, I brought out my PSP and continued playing in Ven's route.
Closer to 6pm, keep_your_style** joined us in line (I had her ticket)Except... we didn't get in until about 8pm, so we were out in the cold for a while. Once we did get in, it took a while for us to warm up. We staked out the spot by the bar because it had a banister of sorts to lean on, and we were at eye level with the instruments on the stage (didn't have to bend our necks in awkward positions).
My cellphone camera completely sucks with lighting, so Yuu got a couple of pics:
The stage just before she came out
♥!
Bright lights
The tracklist (according to Kaitlin) is nearly the same as the one for Honolulu:
01. On and On
02. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI
03. Poppin'
04. This One (Crying Like a Child)
05. Passion/Sanctuary Mix
06. SAKURA Drops
07. Stay Gold
08. Happy Birthday
09. Devil Inside
10. Kremlin Dusk
11. You Make Me Want To Be A Man
12. The Bitter End (Placebo Cover)
13. Apple & Cinnamon
14. Come Back To Me
15. First Love
16. Can You Keep A Secret?
17. Automatic
18. Dirty Desire
-ENCORE-
19. Simple and Clean
20. Me Muero
I commented to Yuu a lot about the difference in the feeling of the English songs compared to her Japanese songs. The English ones feel so much like they're really trying for a very particular target audience, whereas the Japanese ones are broader.
We also noted that she didn't hit a lot of the high notes in some of her songs where she usually has. Maybe because of the years passing or something changing in how her voice sounds, but instead she sang certain lines with a lower note. It still sounded good though. =)
*Once the concert was over, I was wondering if they had some kind of drop box for cards/gifts/etc. to give to Hikki. But apparently, either they thought a lot of people wouldn't bring anything or know it was her birthday, or they just didn't prepare for it, so we ended up going around asking many of the HoB staff if there was somewhere or someone that we could give the card to. We went outside, and ended up going back in through the exit, and finally ask one of the sound technicians if he could pass it on to someone who could deliver it.
**Sadly, whitelilacs wasn't able to join us due to car troubles.
The traffic was nearly NON-EXISTENT, which was something that was much like a shock to us because at around 5pm, it's normally really trafficky, but perhaps because of the rain, people weren't out driving as much. Though, it had stopped raining by that point.
We got there, parked down a block in public parking ($10 versus whatever they charge right by the HoB), and then got in line. We ended up about the halfway point on the slope down the side of the HoB. Not bad.
I wrote my message in the birthday card, then passed it to Kaitlin so she could write her message. Then, I brought out my PSP and continued playing in Ven's route.
Closer to 6pm, keep_your_style** joined us in line (I had her ticket)Except... we didn't get in until about 8pm, so we were out in the cold for a while. Once we did get in, it took a while for us to warm up. We staked out the spot by the bar because it had a banister of sorts to lean on, and we were at eye level with the instruments on the stage (didn't have to bend our necks in awkward positions).
My cellphone camera completely sucks with lighting, so Yuu got a couple of pics:
The stage just before she came out
♥!
Bright lights
The tracklist (according to Kaitlin) is nearly the same as the one for Honolulu:
01. On and On
02. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI
03. Poppin'
04. This One (Crying Like a Child)
05. Passion/Sanctuary Mix
06. SAKURA Drops
07. Stay Gold
08. Happy Birthday
09. Devil Inside
10. Kremlin Dusk
11. You Make Me Want To Be A Man
12. The Bitter End (Placebo Cover)
13. Apple & Cinnamon
14. Come Back To Me
15. First Love
16. Can You Keep A Secret?
17. Automatic
18. Dirty Desire
-ENCORE-
19. Simple and Clean
20. Me Muero
I commented to Yuu a lot about the difference in the feeling of the English songs compared to her Japanese songs. The English ones feel so much like they're really trying for a very particular target audience, whereas the Japanese ones are broader.
We also noted that she didn't hit a lot of the high notes in some of her songs where she usually has. Maybe because of the years passing or something changing in how her voice sounds, but instead she sang certain lines with a lower note. It still sounded good though. =)
*Once the concert was over, I was wondering if they had some kind of drop box for cards/gifts/etc. to give to Hikki. But apparently, either they thought a lot of people wouldn't bring anything or know it was her birthday, or they just didn't prepare for it, so we ended up going around asking many of the HoB staff if there was somewhere or someone that we could give the card to. We went outside, and ended up going back in through the exit, and finally ask one of the sound technicians if he could pass it on to someone who could deliver it.
**Sadly, whitelilacs wasn't able to join us due to car troubles.