Utada Hikari performed her “Farewell” of sorts last night/early this morning with her final-for-the-time-being concert WILD LIFE. Though it was available streaming, I just couldn't make the late-night marathon to see it, fortunately for me, the complete concert was available from a number of different sources shortly after the concert wrapped, and by as early as 10:00 this morning, I was able to download it and watch it!
This was a special event for me, since this was the first concert I’ve seen from her since falling totally in love with her and her music during her THIS IS THE ONE tour. Up until then, I’d only known her from her songs “First Love” and “Automatic”, and had only owned her debut album FIRST LOVE (as well as a later domestic release EXODUS).
This all changed when Hikaru made Hawaii one of her limited stops during the This Is The One Tour, and that concert BLEW ME AWAY! Watching her in action, it panged me to realize how much terrific songs of hers I’d been missing in the years since First Love! After the Concert, I wasted NO TIME running out and getting EVERY SINGLE Album in her impressive catalog that I’d missed!
DISTANCE, DEEP RIVER, ULTRA BLUE, HEART STATION even her domestic releases, the next few months was spent getting to know these new (for me) Utada tracks, and I was amazed to find that every album track and single was as incredible as the first! Utada’s albums became my “nighttime cruising” music, a space I’d heretofore only saved for the likes of Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush!
Before I knew it, Utada had become one of my favorite j-pop artists, and so it was that when she announced her upcoming hiatus and final concert, it was with both sadness and excitement, sadness because she was leaving me just as I'd gotten to love her, and excitement because I was finally gonna be seeing her in concert through the eyes of a REAL FAN!!!
Hikki-chan started off the concert with her latest single "Goodbye Happiness" (Can't hear that song without imagining muppets singing the background AHAHAHA) then right into "Traveling", and from there, it was no stopping her! She played several songs from all of her albums, giving a real "rounded" effect, though she didn't play anything from Exodus or This Is The One (sadly), but by the time she got around to performing the pounding "Passion/Sanctuary", I was at the edge of my seat reveling in all the Hikaru goodness! I was In. The. Zone!! Only a break in the stream early in the concert and a 10 minute area of the video (around the 50 min mark) where the sound was off-synced marred an otherwise perfect send off!
Like I said, all of Hikaru’s albums were great, but my two FAVORITE albums have to be HEART STATION and ULTRA BLUE, and it was these tracks that really MADE the concert for me- Stay Gold, Take Five, Beautiful World, Prisoner Of Love, a particularly heartfelt Flavor of Life and even a fun take on Boku Wa Kuma and Nijiiro Bus, these all made me realize what a HUGE fan of hers I’ve become since being re-acquainted with her music back in January!
Along with these songs, she ran through those classics which first introduced me to Utada: Automatic, Time Will Tell, and the eternal First Love, and I have to say that no matter how much times I hear that song, the opening piano notes ALWAYS instantly take me back and gives me goosebumps!
Finally, I have to say that an additional nice touch was Utada coming out for her encore performing a sweet acoustic rendition of The Beatles’ “Across The Universe”, for as you all know, John Lennon was taken from us this very day back in 1980. A really touching and moving performance!