Utada "In the Flesh" Concert @ House of Blues LA
Event: Utada "In the Flesh" Concert
Date: January 19, 2010 (Utada's birthday)
Location: House of Blues LA, Los Angeles, CA
I know, it's late. And there's already tons of people's reports on the concert. Probably much more detailed than mine too. But I still had to write one up of my own. I needed to remember my own experience in history.
Utada's concert at the LA House of Blues was freakin' awesome (It's hard to sum up in words, ok?) :) The details:
We got there around 7:30pm. I was pretty worried because that was the time Ticketmaster said the concert would start. And the line was freakin' long. I thought I would miss the start of the show. Good thing the concert started later after everyone was in. But the concert started a bit too late. After everyone was in, we still had to wait about an hour listening to the DJ Mike Rizzo before it started. He was alright, though his mixes were a bit awkward. The people next to us were pretty funny though and were entertaining to eavesdrop on. One of the guys, when he was starting to get impatient, started yelling out some funny stuff: "Utada! / You're late! / I have work tomorrow! / I still love you though!" Or something like that. It was funny.
Security was a b*tch. They detected everyone down for cameras and all that dangerous stuff. I found this a bit weird. But my friend said that was normal for Japanese concerts. Also, I heard that people who got there earlier weren't scanned. It was only after a certain time that they started it. That sucks. So my friend had to turn in his camera, which cost an extra $5. How lame. I told my friend to sneak it in after they scanned us, but he wouldn't budge. I should've taken it from him! Or borrow my sister's iphone or something 'cause my phone can't do crap. It was our fault for getting there so late anyway.
Exodus Opening: When the lights dimmed down and the opening started playing, everyone's impatience disappeared and was screaming like crazy for Utada to come out.
On and On: What a perfect song to get the crowd started up. It got me pumped. It was a bit funny when everyone went wild over the lines "Honeys if you're gay / Burn it up like a gay parade / Honeys if you're straight / Pump it up, take it all the way." I think that really started the crowd. Great performance.
After this performance, she greeted the audience and mentioned that it was her birthday. Then the audience sang (or attempted to sing) happy birthday to her. She thanked everyone and started her next song.
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI: She sang this pretty well. Can't remember much from this performance since it was exactly like the recording and probably because I always listen to it a lot. I just remember singing along.
Poppin: Never liked this song so much. But hearing it live was surprisingly entertaining and fun, especially during the part "Girls, you know you have it better than the boys." The girls went wild over that part. She says it better live than on the recording too.
This One (Crying Like A Child): My favorite from her "This Is The One" album. She sang it really well with such emotion.
Here she asked the crowd if we wanted to hear some Japanese songs. The crowd gave a loud response, which started the following set of 3 songs:
Passion/Sanctuary: This was the absolute highlight of the concert for me since Passion is my favorite song from her (and it's not only because of the Kingdom Hearts series, though being associated with it is definitely a bonus). She sang the Japanese version of the song, Passion, for the most part, and then mixed in some Sanctuary lyrics in there, particularly the "climb" part of the song. Then she switched back over to the ending lyrics of Passion. She also sang the inverted lines instead of having the background record sing it, which was really cool. I got shivers the whole time I was listening to this song. The arrangement was just perfect.
Here came a pause where the tech guys had to come out and set up a keyboard. This was where I got excited, expecting a piano version of a song. Good thing I was right.
Sakura Drops: An acoustic version on the piano. It was nice to listen to a different version of the song, but it wasn't spectacular, or at least I still found the original recording better. This was probably because she didn't sing the notes exactly how she originally sings it. I don't think she could hit those high notes like how she used to. This could probably be due to her supposedly damaging her voice from her previous concerts, though I don't know if that's true or not. But even before that may have happened, I always thought her voice was shaky, especially when she tries the high notes, which shows in her early songs and performances.
Stay Gold: I love how she played the beginning of the song on the keyboard. It gave me shivers (I'm a sucker for the piano). Then the piano part switched to the recording so she could focus on singing the song, which she did really well.
After the tech guys came back to take the keyboard away, the band started playing the happy birthday tune for Utada. She was confused at first, and then later said "I knew something was gonna happen." A girl also came out with a birthday cake with candles lit and everything and the crowd sang happy birthday to her. It's like she expected that to happen while at the same time was surprised and thankful.
The following set of 3 songs are from her Exodus album. I found this part of her concert to be really loud, since these songs had a lot of rock parts to it. So it was hard to hear Utada clearly. But I still loved every minute of it.
Devil Inside: She sings this with so much energy. That's all I remember. =\
Kremlin Dusk: I'm glad she didn't change this one up and just sang it like the recording. It's good as it is. She got those high notes too! Kudos to her since it's a difficult song to sing with such a wide vocal range.
You Make Me Want To Be a Man: I really loved the transition from Kremlin Dusk to this one. It blended so well. It made the performance much more memorable and entertaining for me.
The Bitter End (Placebo cover): Everyone around me was like huh? We all knew it wasn't her song, but we all went with it and enjoyed her head banging.
Apples and Cinnamon: Again, she sang it on pitch. Love the little hand motions she made while singing too.
Come Back to Me: Too hazy for me to remember. I guess it's because I found it as an okay performance.
The following 3 songs were probably the highlight of the concert for many, since she sang a few of her most beloved songs.
First Love: This one had the most reaction from the crowd from all the songs. Not really a shocker, since it's probably considered one of her most favorited song and quite possibly her trademark song (maybe for her Japanese music anyway, Simple and Clean is her trademark song in the States). I personally never was really into First Love and hearing it live didn't really change that (oh you could boo me all you want). She didn't get the high part near the end of the song, but again, she probably can't sing live like that anymore. But I did like how she sang with such raw emotion. You could tell that she was in the zone and was probably nostalgic while singing the song.
Can You Keep a Secret?: Again, I can't remember much. Probably because my head was still into First Love. But I do remember people singing "can you keep a secert?" during those parts of the song.
Automatic: Everyone was in the zone when she sang this song. Every time she sang the line "It's automatic" everyone would sing along and stomp on the beats. It was epic.
After singing the set of songs, she say something like: "Wow...can you believe I was 15 when I wrote that?" That's not exact, but she said something like that. This was where I had to give props to her again for having such talent at a young age.
Also, somewhere in between the above three Japanese songs, someone from the crowd asked her to speak in Japanese. From what I've learned in my past classes combined with the reactions of the crowd, I assume that she asked if anyone spoke Japanese. She got a loud response, then asked if anyone flew from Japan. There were a few who did and she thanked them. I'm pretty sure there was more to what she said but that was all I got.
Here she mentions that the next song would be her last. Everyone got all sad and stuff. I was like, "oh no, what about Simple and Clean!?" But I've been to enough concerts to figure out that she saved it for the encore.
Dirty Desire: Like her song Poppin, I'm not a huge fan of this song. But again, it was nice to hear it live. She emphasized the part when she sang "in the flesh." That was interesting enough to note since it's the name of her concert tour.
After she left the stage, everyone cheered and yelled their butts off for Utada to come back. That entertaining group next to us were yelling out encore in Japanese. I joined in. =) After a few minutes, she came back out and thanked the crowd for calling her and the band back out for more.
Simple and Clean: Got the same reaction as First Love. Everyone cheered like crazy and then toned down a bit to start swaying to the song. I really love how she sang this like the original recording. She hit the high notes really well. This was just an absolute crowd pleaser.
This was where I was really hating myself for getting there so late since we were in the back. Utada started throwing signed baseballs with Kuma-chan drawings on them! I so wanted one! I was ready to burst through the crowd to try and grab one. I even considered jumping the people who got one. Only slightly. =) But I held myself back and just stood there with envious thoughts of the lucky people who got one.
Me Muero: I'm super glad she sang this song. I didn't think she would, since it doesn't get the mainstream attention like her other songs. But it's probably because it was her favorite song that she sang it, which I'm thankful that she did because it's one of my fav. too! Those lyrics are so clever.
One of the good things about being in the back was getting out first. The line for valet parking was so long, which we had to go into to get our camera back. But at least we were close to the front. And good thing it was just the camera and not our car we had to get, since we got cheaper parking somewhere else. It took forever for people to get there car.
Sucks that there was no merchandise. They would've made a lot of money and gotten a lot from me if they had some. I also wanted a signing session, but I didn't expect one to come up anyway. They don't usually do that at concerts, but I could always hope.
I wanna go to the Las Vegas concert. I should probably start driving soon. =\
Whew, this report was longer than I expected to write. I totally killed a few hours of my time writing this up. But it'll be worth it in the future when I have a super bad memory. =)
Date: January 19, 2010 (Utada's birthday)
Location: House of Blues LA, Los Angeles, CA
I know, it's late. And there's already tons of people's reports on the concert. Probably much more detailed than mine too. But I still had to write one up of my own. I needed to remember my own experience in history.
Utada's concert at the LA House of Blues was freakin' awesome (It's hard to sum up in words, ok?) :) The details:
We got there around 7:30pm. I was pretty worried because that was the time Ticketmaster said the concert would start. And the line was freakin' long. I thought I would miss the start of the show. Good thing the concert started later after everyone was in. But the concert started a bit too late. After everyone was in, we still had to wait about an hour listening to the DJ Mike Rizzo before it started. He was alright, though his mixes were a bit awkward. The people next to us were pretty funny though and were entertaining to eavesdrop on. One of the guys, when he was starting to get impatient, started yelling out some funny stuff: "Utada! / You're late! / I have work tomorrow! / I still love you though!" Or something like that. It was funny.
Security was a b*tch. They detected everyone down for cameras and all that dangerous stuff. I found this a bit weird. But my friend said that was normal for Japanese concerts. Also, I heard that people who got there earlier weren't scanned. It was only after a certain time that they started it. That sucks. So my friend had to turn in his camera, which cost an extra $5. How lame. I told my friend to sneak it in after they scanned us, but he wouldn't budge. I should've taken it from him! Or borrow my sister's iphone or something 'cause my phone can't do crap. It was our fault for getting there so late anyway.
Exodus Opening: When the lights dimmed down and the opening started playing, everyone's impatience disappeared and was screaming like crazy for Utada to come out.
On and On: What a perfect song to get the crowd started up. It got me pumped. It was a bit funny when everyone went wild over the lines "Honeys if you're gay / Burn it up like a gay parade / Honeys if you're straight / Pump it up, take it all the way." I think that really started the crowd. Great performance.
After this performance, she greeted the audience and mentioned that it was her birthday. Then the audience sang (or attempted to sing) happy birthday to her. She thanked everyone and started her next song.
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI: She sang this pretty well. Can't remember much from this performance since it was exactly like the recording and probably because I always listen to it a lot. I just remember singing along.
Poppin: Never liked this song so much. But hearing it live was surprisingly entertaining and fun, especially during the part "Girls, you know you have it better than the boys." The girls went wild over that part. She says it better live than on the recording too.
This One (Crying Like A Child): My favorite from her "This Is The One" album. She sang it really well with such emotion.
Here she asked the crowd if we wanted to hear some Japanese songs. The crowd gave a loud response, which started the following set of 3 songs:
Passion/Sanctuary: This was the absolute highlight of the concert for me since Passion is my favorite song from her (and it's not only because of the Kingdom Hearts series, though being associated with it is definitely a bonus). She sang the Japanese version of the song, Passion, for the most part, and then mixed in some Sanctuary lyrics in there, particularly the "climb" part of the song. Then she switched back over to the ending lyrics of Passion. She also sang the inverted lines instead of having the background record sing it, which was really cool. I got shivers the whole time I was listening to this song. The arrangement was just perfect.
Here came a pause where the tech guys had to come out and set up a keyboard. This was where I got excited, expecting a piano version of a song. Good thing I was right.
Sakura Drops: An acoustic version on the piano. It was nice to listen to a different version of the song, but it wasn't spectacular, or at least I still found the original recording better. This was probably because she didn't sing the notes exactly how she originally sings it. I don't think she could hit those high notes like how she used to. This could probably be due to her supposedly damaging her voice from her previous concerts, though I don't know if that's true or not. But even before that may have happened, I always thought her voice was shaky, especially when she tries the high notes, which shows in her early songs and performances.
Stay Gold: I love how she played the beginning of the song on the keyboard. It gave me shivers (I'm a sucker for the piano). Then the piano part switched to the recording so she could focus on singing the song, which she did really well.
After the tech guys came back to take the keyboard away, the band started playing the happy birthday tune for Utada. She was confused at first, and then later said "I knew something was gonna happen." A girl also came out with a birthday cake with candles lit and everything and the crowd sang happy birthday to her. It's like she expected that to happen while at the same time was surprised and thankful.
The following set of 3 songs are from her Exodus album. I found this part of her concert to be really loud, since these songs had a lot of rock parts to it. So it was hard to hear Utada clearly. But I still loved every minute of it.
Devil Inside: She sings this with so much energy. That's all I remember. =\
Kremlin Dusk: I'm glad she didn't change this one up and just sang it like the recording. It's good as it is. She got those high notes too! Kudos to her since it's a difficult song to sing with such a wide vocal range.
You Make Me Want To Be a Man: I really loved the transition from Kremlin Dusk to this one. It blended so well. It made the performance much more memorable and entertaining for me.
The Bitter End (Placebo cover): Everyone around me was like huh? We all knew it wasn't her song, but we all went with it and enjoyed her head banging.
Apples and Cinnamon: Again, she sang it on pitch. Love the little hand motions she made while singing too.
Come Back to Me: Too hazy for me to remember. I guess it's because I found it as an okay performance.
The following 3 songs were probably the highlight of the concert for many, since she sang a few of her most beloved songs.
First Love: This one had the most reaction from the crowd from all the songs. Not really a shocker, since it's probably considered one of her most favorited song and quite possibly her trademark song (maybe for her Japanese music anyway, Simple and Clean is her trademark song in the States). I personally never was really into First Love and hearing it live didn't really change that (oh you could boo me all you want). She didn't get the high part near the end of the song, but again, she probably can't sing live like that anymore. But I did like how she sang with such raw emotion. You could tell that she was in the zone and was probably nostalgic while singing the song.
Can You Keep a Secret?: Again, I can't remember much. Probably because my head was still into First Love. But I do remember people singing "can you keep a secert?" during those parts of the song.
Automatic: Everyone was in the zone when she sang this song. Every time she sang the line "It's automatic" everyone would sing along and stomp on the beats. It was epic.
After singing the set of songs, she say something like: "Wow...can you believe I was 15 when I wrote that?" That's not exact, but she said something like that. This was where I had to give props to her again for having such talent at a young age.
Also, somewhere in between the above three Japanese songs, someone from the crowd asked her to speak in Japanese. From what I've learned in my past classes combined with the reactions of the crowd, I assume that she asked if anyone spoke Japanese. She got a loud response, then asked if anyone flew from Japan. There were a few who did and she thanked them. I'm pretty sure there was more to what she said but that was all I got.
Here she mentions that the next song would be her last. Everyone got all sad and stuff. I was like, "oh no, what about Simple and Clean!?" But I've been to enough concerts to figure out that she saved it for the encore.
Dirty Desire: Like her song Poppin, I'm not a huge fan of this song. But again, it was nice to hear it live. She emphasized the part when she sang "in the flesh." That was interesting enough to note since it's the name of her concert tour.
After she left the stage, everyone cheered and yelled their butts off for Utada to come back. That entertaining group next to us were yelling out encore in Japanese. I joined in. =) After a few minutes, she came back out and thanked the crowd for calling her and the band back out for more.
Simple and Clean: Got the same reaction as First Love. Everyone cheered like crazy and then toned down a bit to start swaying to the song. I really love how she sang this like the original recording. She hit the high notes really well. This was just an absolute crowd pleaser.
This was where I was really hating myself for getting there so late since we were in the back. Utada started throwing signed baseballs with Kuma-chan drawings on them! I so wanted one! I was ready to burst through the crowd to try and grab one. I even considered jumping the people who got one. Only slightly. =) But I held myself back and just stood there with envious thoughts of the lucky people who got one.
Me Muero: I'm super glad she sang this song. I didn't think she would, since it doesn't get the mainstream attention like her other songs. But it's probably because it was her favorite song that she sang it, which I'm thankful that she did because it's one of my fav. too! Those lyrics are so clever.
One of the good things about being in the back was getting out first. The line for valet parking was so long, which we had to go into to get our camera back. But at least we were close to the front. And good thing it was just the camera and not our car we had to get, since we got cheaper parking somewhere else. It took forever for people to get there car.
Sucks that there was no merchandise. They would've made a lot of money and gotten a lot from me if they had some. I also wanted a signing session, but I didn't expect one to come up anyway. They don't usually do that at concerts, but I could always hope.
I wanna go to the Las Vegas concert. I should probably start driving soon. =\
Whew, this report was longer than I expected to write. I totally killed a few hours of my time writing this up. But it'll be worth it in the future when I have a super bad memory. =)