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Utada Hikaru: Wild Life
Dec. 8th, 2011 11:06 amLast night, I did something that a lot of people would see as crazy. I woke up, by my own choice, at 2 AM, to watch a concert being streamed live. While it wasn't 2 AM for most of my fellow viewers (honestly, we Californians got the shortest stick in the time difference game) I certainly wasn't alone. On the channel I was watching, there were almost 3,600 people watching with me. And was just the main channel, the one for computers. Who knows how many people were watching from the second channel for iPhones or iPads. And all of those people are in addition of course to not only all the people lucky enough to actually be sitting in the Yokohama Arena last night at 7 PM local time, but all the people sitting in theaters all over Japan watching it streaming onto the big screen.
Who was it, the artist who got us all there, glued to our screens? None other than Utada Hikaru, for the first night of what may be her last two concerts ever, a month before she goes on her indefinite hiatus, the term that every fan dreads, because when a band uses it, it usually means they're trying to find a nice way of not telling you that they're breaking up. Are the chances better that she'll be back, since she's a solo artist and not a band, thus dependent on no one's feelings but her own? As a MAX fan, I'm cautiously optimistic because I believe that those who truly love singing will always come back to it. I just hope that in Hikki's case, it won't take 7 years.
I've watched many streamed concerts since I first sat in my room in my parents house watching a Simple Plan concert streaming courtesy of AOL,and it never ceases to amaze me the way that the room and the time and everything else fades away, leaving only the artist on your screen, and the simple wonder at the fact that you're watching this concert as it happens, along with hundreds of other people all over the world.
I started at my screen, at the almost static image of the waiting stage, and as the announcements began telling everyone to take their seat, to refrain from the use of cameras or recording devices unless they wanted to be escorted out, it was just like I was there with them.
And then, finally, as my clock struck 2 AM, Hikki took the stage, singing 'Goodbye Happiness'.
She sang for two and a half hours, a time which is growing typical for Japanese solo artists, at least from what I've seen of Namie's recent concerts, but never fails to impress me, used to going to see American bands who usually play for around and hour. For the most part, she sounded wonderful, even when she wasn't perfect, although the high notes in 'Ultra Blue' had me open mouthed.
I found myself tearing up not just during the songs I expected like Automatic or First Love, but during seemingly random songs like Traveling. I've always felt like every song from Hikki is a gift, a wonderful bundle of four minutes of love, or pain, or nostalgia or whatever emotion the song evokes. And while it made me sad to think that we might not get any new music from her for years, or ever, the concert really made me thankful for all the songs she's given us in the more than 10 years she's been writing and singing her songs. Each song seemed to take on new meaning hearing it in this context.
One of the new songs she released was a cover of Edith Piaf's 'Hymne a l'amour', which had many people lamenting the sped-up jazz direction she'd gone with the arrangement. Not being very familiar with the original, I never understood it much, but during the concert, she sang a shorter Japanese-only version of her cover, sung just like the original, slow and full of emotion to the accompaniment of a piano, and I finally understood why the song is such a classic. It was absolutely beautiful.
Speaking of the piano, Hikki herself sat down at the piano several times to play a bit while she sang songs like Prisoner of Love, Stay Gold, etc. For the whole show she by turns powerful, soulful, whimsical and playful, evening singing 'Boku ha Kuma' with the audience halfway through, after declaring she needed an energy boost to continue.
When she chatted with the audience, she was utterly herself, genuine and down to earth, warm, laughing, nervous, thankful or seemingly struck by all the love she felt for and from the audience.
During the encore, she sang a version of 'Across the universe', it being the anniversary of John Lennon's death, 'Can't Wait Till Christmas', which had me tearing up again, and ended, fittingly, with the first song she'd ever written (in Japanese), 'Time Will Tell', which she wrote when she was 15 years old.
Finally, a word on the costumes, which were classic Hikki, avante garde and out there. She sang the first half of her set in a dress of palest lavender organdy, like a dream of an 80's prom dress, with its full skirt and one puffed sleeve like a ball of spun sugar, over thigh high purple boots. She looked gorgeous, her hair in a sleek black bob, and I was struck not only by her expressive face, but the creamy paleness of her skin. Hikki isn't sexy but she's sensual. She makes me want to use words like womanly to describe her. Later on, she changed into a tunic of crushed velvet of pale red, the lines of her colllarbone sharp and perfect against the curving neckline and beautifully tailored shoulders of the dress. It had bell sleeves, gathered with elastic around her almost painfully thin wrists, and beneath it she wore black sequinned leggings, which made me smile gleefully, because I have a pair myself. For the encore, she wore a black tour t-shirt and jeans rolled up at the ankles. I'd never seen her dressed so casually before, and without and embellishment or fine tailoring, she looked like a beautiful boy, all sleek straight lines. The most beautiful thing about her was her smile, how huge and joyful it was.
There's no one out there like Hikki, both in terms of her presence and her music, and I for one, will miss her dreadfully. Thanks for everything, Hikki. It's been an amazing 12 years. I hope you find what you're looking for, and come back with new songs to sing for us. You're one in a million.
Who was it, the artist who got us all there, glued to our screens? None other than Utada Hikaru, for the first night of what may be her last two concerts ever, a month before she goes on her indefinite hiatus, the term that every fan dreads, because when a band uses it, it usually means they're trying to find a nice way of not telling you that they're breaking up. Are the chances better that she'll be back, since she's a solo artist and not a band, thus dependent on no one's feelings but her own? As a MAX fan, I'm cautiously optimistic because I believe that those who truly love singing will always come back to it. I just hope that in Hikki's case, it won't take 7 years.
I've watched many streamed concerts since I first sat in my room in my parents house watching a Simple Plan concert streaming courtesy of AOL,and it never ceases to amaze me the way that the room and the time and everything else fades away, leaving only the artist on your screen, and the simple wonder at the fact that you're watching this concert as it happens, along with hundreds of other people all over the world.
I started at my screen, at the almost static image of the waiting stage, and as the announcements began telling everyone to take their seat, to refrain from the use of cameras or recording devices unless they wanted to be escorted out, it was just like I was there with them.
And then, finally, as my clock struck 2 AM, Hikki took the stage, singing 'Goodbye Happiness'.
She sang for two and a half hours, a time which is growing typical for Japanese solo artists, at least from what I've seen of Namie's recent concerts, but never fails to impress me, used to going to see American bands who usually play for around and hour. For the most part, she sounded wonderful, even when she wasn't perfect, although the high notes in 'Ultra Blue' had me open mouthed.
I found myself tearing up not just during the songs I expected like Automatic or First Love, but during seemingly random songs like Traveling. I've always felt like every song from Hikki is a gift, a wonderful bundle of four minutes of love, or pain, or nostalgia or whatever emotion the song evokes. And while it made me sad to think that we might not get any new music from her for years, or ever, the concert really made me thankful for all the songs she's given us in the more than 10 years she's been writing and singing her songs. Each song seemed to take on new meaning hearing it in this context.
One of the new songs she released was a cover of Edith Piaf's 'Hymne a l'amour', which had many people lamenting the sped-up jazz direction she'd gone with the arrangement. Not being very familiar with the original, I never understood it much, but during the concert, she sang a shorter Japanese-only version of her cover, sung just like the original, slow and full of emotion to the accompaniment of a piano, and I finally understood why the song is such a classic. It was absolutely beautiful.
Speaking of the piano, Hikki herself sat down at the piano several times to play a bit while she sang songs like Prisoner of Love, Stay Gold, etc. For the whole show she by turns powerful, soulful, whimsical and playful, evening singing 'Boku ha Kuma' with the audience halfway through, after declaring she needed an energy boost to continue.
When she chatted with the audience, she was utterly herself, genuine and down to earth, warm, laughing, nervous, thankful or seemingly struck by all the love she felt for and from the audience.
During the encore, she sang a version of 'Across the universe', it being the anniversary of John Lennon's death, 'Can't Wait Till Christmas', which had me tearing up again, and ended, fittingly, with the first song she'd ever written (in Japanese), 'Time Will Tell', which she wrote when she was 15 years old.
Finally, a word on the costumes, which were classic Hikki, avante garde and out there. She sang the first half of her set in a dress of palest lavender organdy, like a dream of an 80's prom dress, with its full skirt and one puffed sleeve like a ball of spun sugar, over thigh high purple boots. She looked gorgeous, her hair in a sleek black bob, and I was struck not only by her expressive face, but the creamy paleness of her skin. Hikki isn't sexy but she's sensual. She makes me want to use words like womanly to describe her. Later on, she changed into a tunic of crushed velvet of pale red, the lines of her colllarbone sharp and perfect against the curving neckline and beautifully tailored shoulders of the dress. It had bell sleeves, gathered with elastic around her almost painfully thin wrists, and beneath it she wore black sequinned leggings, which made me smile gleefully, because I have a pair myself. For the encore, she wore a black tour t-shirt and jeans rolled up at the ankles. I'd never seen her dressed so casually before, and without and embellishment or fine tailoring, she looked like a beautiful boy, all sleek straight lines. The most beautiful thing about her was her smile, how huge and joyful it was.
There's no one out there like Hikki, both in terms of her presence and her music, and I for one, will miss her dreadfully. Thanks for everything, Hikki. It's been an amazing 12 years. I hope you find what you're looking for, and come back with new songs to sing for us. You're one in a million.
