Time for a
review --> Aya Hirano - First Concert Riot Tour 2008
It's been out for quite a while, but I finally got my hands on it. I still hate the cover art
I won't do a song by song review, but I'll give you some general impressions and thoughts.
The concert starts out with my favorite Aya song: LOVE★GUN. Sadly, during this song I'm too busy fixing the sound. Just like on Shokotan's DVDs, the vocals are much louder than the actual band. Fortunately, After some tweaking I got a pretty good sound. I guess I'm spoiled with the Ai Otsuka DVDs, which are pretty much flawless. Aya's voice is pretty shaky as well. Like I always said: Live vocal > lip syncing, and I still stand by it. Aya is trying her best and her vocals aren't that bad at all!
The concert moves on to Bouken Desho Desho, also one of my favorites. Her voice is extremely shaky, during this mid-paced song. I think she was beyond nervous for this series of concert, considering she doesn't have much singing and stage experience. One thing I did notice is that she moves and acts much more natural on stage than, for example, Shokotan. Btw, more Shokotan comparisons are inevitable haha.
Next are MonStar and Aimai Scream and you can see Aya getting more into it. Everything is improving, vocals, performance and even the sound is getting better (i.e. the band is getting louder). The audience is amazing throughout the entire show. During Monstar she did some choreography moves, which kinda come across as unnatural.. just be yourself Aya!
Namida, Namida, Namida is next. WTF, I don't know this song?! Guess because it's released after the Riot Girl album. IMO, this song is PERFECT for Morning Musume. Seriously. If they were to release this as a single with a decent pv, it would sell millions.
In the actual concert Aya performed fan favorites God knows and Lost my music, but due to f'ing copyright bs they are not on this dvd
NEOPHILIA and Harmonia vita bring some dark vibes into the concert. I can't help feeling that Harmonia Vita is seriously out of place in this happy genki concert. Due to my metal roots I absolutely dig it, though! And Aya's voice is pretty good here as well. I think there are some ballads next, but I skipped them for now.
Not sure which songs followed next, but absolute highlight of the concert for me is HERO. The crowd sings a long like crazy, Aya's voice is on fire! I guess she needed some time to get her voice warmed up and she must have calmed her nerves as well. Too bad she didn't an hour ago, haha. Riot Girl is next and it's just straight partying from here on.
Some crying later she does the encore which is all good fun as well
Other thoughts:
- Her talking voice always kinda annoyed me. I have mixed feelings about it. During the first MC it was kinda cute and she knows how to keep the crowd hanging on her lips. She IS a voice actress, so I guess she just likes talking in this squeaky voice. During the making of you could hear her talking in her normal voice, which is much lower, of course. If I were Aya, I'd talk in Haruhi voice 24/7, haha.
- I never thought of Aya as a text book pretty girl, but she really is pretty cute and her legs are amazing.
- Even though Shokotan's concert look much more professional, this concert is definitely just as enjoyable as a Shokotan concert. They both have terrible fashion sense imo
- The band uses Orange amps. These are seen quite often lately (i.e. Okamoto Rei, Scandal, etc), so I must check them out!
Good:
- Live vocals
- Live band
- Amazing crowd and interaction
- Aya's stage performance
- Making is included
- Aya's legs
Bad:
- Sound mix in the beginning
- Vocals are shaky in the beginning, possibly due to nerves.
- No God Knows and Lost My Music
- The stage itself is kinda bland
Overall: much better and much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Go Aya!!
Topic: (Artist) Hirano Aya (Read 125937 times)