BoA LIVE TOUR 2010 ~IDENTITY~ @ 東京国際フォーラム (2010.4.15)
Took the day off on Thursday to refresh myself and go see BoA's concert! Although she's not necessarily one of my favorite artists, BoA definitely helped me get into Japanese music, and I still enjoy her songs every so often. After seeing her perform with m-flo in November of last year, she seemed like a really energetic performer, so I decided to go see her concert.
SET LIST
1. This Is Who I Am
2. EASY
3. Energetic
4. make a secret
5. IZM
6. LAZER
7. is this love
8. DO THE MOTION
9. まもりたい～White Wishes～
10. ネコラブ
(☆ Medley)
☆11. Smile again
☆12. Every Heart-ミンナノキモチ-
☆13. JEWEL SONG
14. THE END そして and...
15. Possibility duet with 三浦大知
16. 永遠
17. Fallin'
18. Joyful Smile
19. LOSE YOUR MIND
20. BUMP BUMP!
(Encore)
21. Eat You Up
22. Before you said goodbye to me
23. my all
To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much for this concert! I tried listening to the tour's title album "IDENTITY" but at first found myself sorely disappointed. There was only one song on the album that I really appreciated - "Possibility" - and then I kinda enjoyed "BUMP BUMP" and "まもりたい～White Wishes～". And all 3 of those songs were the singles. The thought that most of the set list would be coming from this album didn't really appeal to me.
But...I found myself very pleasantly surprised! Not only did she do some songs that I didn't expect to get to hear live ("DO THE MOTION," "make a secret," "Every Heart," and "永遠"), I actually found that I liked more of her album "IDENTITY" than I originally thought I did!
The dancing/performance for "IZM" and "ネコラブ" were really cool...and the arrangement for "Is this love" was slightly more upbeat than the recorded version.
The best dance and my new favorite track from the album was by far "LAZER"! Really upbeat and the dance was seriously BOSS. I was lucky to find it on youtube - it's not a single so I didn't expect a video to exist for it...but even better, it's a performance from the tour! My favorite part of the dance is when BoA and the dancers reflect the laser lights off of their wrists - you can't tell so much from the video, but it reflects a LOT in person and looks really neat.
I wish I could dance!
Click to viewI was constantly playing the song "永遠" earlier this year so I was really happy to get to hear it live! Although I was slightly disappointed that she didn't dance at all during it. The dance she does in the music video is so sassy and hot <3 Other awesome dances were "BUMP BUMP!" and "Eat You Up". Her English has really improved from her old stuff :D
Other random things I thought during the concert - BoA's fans are pretty diverse! Lots of younger people, lots of people who looked about the same age as me (a lot of people in their suits looked like they rushed straight to the concert from work), and even moms/dads and grandmas/grandpas! The couple sitting in front of me definitely looked like they were at least my parents' age (mid-50s) if not older, but that didn't stop them from hopping all over the place during the concert.
BoA...is surprisingly ditzy?! She's fluent in Japanese, and her music is generally happy and upbeat, so I expected her to be fairly talkative and what not. Not to mention, she's been in the business for about 10 years now, so I figured she'd be used to it...but wow her MCs were filled with awkward pauses and abrupt endings. Maybe she is actually quite shy and got nervous? I think one of her MCs was like "Uhh...let me introduce the tour goods! We made stuff that would be useful on a daily basis...T-shirts, penlights, eco tote bags -be nice to the earth! err what else is there? Oh yeah! Mug cups! (long awkward silence) Ooooookay moving on to the next song."
Overall, a really awesome concert! BoA's vocals are surprisingly on the mark, and combined with a well-choreographed dancing makes for a very fun performance. BoA mentioned that this year is her 10th year anniversary...hopefully she will have an anniversary live?! If she does, I'd really like to go see her again <3