09.08.2006
Woah! That was a good concert. It was a Jpop concert and it was pretty damn good. Yes, I just said that.
Since her debut in 2003, Otsuka Ai (大塚愛) has been wildly succesful in Japan. Unlike most pop artists, she writes the songs herself, has a full band instead of taped backup, and she ain't afraid to show it. Her music is also not what would be considered normal Jpop and borderlines rock, ska, cheap & amuzing computer-made music or whatever she feels like when she's writing her stuff.
Yup. A female pop artist making music the old fashioned way. That is, an artist writing her own material, and having an actual band to play the music. Oh, to top it off: It doesn't suck!
However, her main trademark isn't really that she ain't faking it, like most others in the business. Her trademark is the energy and the charm she surronds herself with. That, and the fact that she always seems to smile. These are no bad traits to have if you intend to do a live concert.
And this concert was pretty damn good.
The whole thing opens with 5.09am, followed with a variety covering most of her material, from the early singles to the latest material. Playing everything from calm piano ballads, fuzzed up version of her otherwise more energetic material, orchestrated versions of her more calm songs and ofcourse those songs that just makes you smile instantaneously.
This is from Ramen 3 fun cooking, cheerful as always. Not a very good still shot, but seeing how she was constantly jumping around the entire concert, I had a little trouble finding one of those.
As far as concert DVDs goes (no, I haven't been to Osaka lately), this is about as good as pop concert DVD gets. The concert seemed to be planned for about 70 minutes, but ended up lasting another hour. You could see the band was pretty much touched by the response they got.
And, yeah, they deserved it. This was much more than just playing songs like on the albums infront of a big audience. This pretty much added to the songs you already knew, and made you want to check out the rest. You know, like concerts are supposed to be. Lots of good music, a good show and as always with Otsuka Ai, lots of weirdly contagious smiling.
Again, for those interested in this concert DVD, there is something called "The internet" out there. Or you can just order it from YesAsia. More info on Otsuka Ai can be found at theppn.org.
Thanks Eelco, for semi-coercing me into watching this one!