I always dig her live performances. I've seen quite a few of her concert DVDs from Concert Tour 2000, Countdown Live 2000-2001 to misunderstood Arena Tour 2006 through Countdown Live 2006-2007 , & they've never failed to amaze me. With each new one, she just keeps raising the bar & this one's no exception! Overall, its great right from the very beginning; her vocal performance & of the her band & backup dancers were nothing short of amazing & the complementing elaborate Moulin Rouge costume, set & theme were breathtaking. Most of the songs performed are from her 8th album 'Secret', some past i.e the usual & familiar Evolution, UNITE!, Boys & Girls that has been featured in her many concerts before ~ never mind that as those songs are usually arranged & performed differently from concert to concert. In my opinion, the favorite show-stopper from this concert would be Secret ~ powerful & poignant vocal breakout from her in the last chorus verse, capped with introduction of the flying dancers into the scene.... but then again so was kiss o' kill... just as equally moving & powerful... so was part of me with the beautiful prelogue stage visuals & kimono theme & costumes... can't decide... i just like all the songs performed! One interesting to note is that the behind-the-scenes documentary that covers all from rehearsals to final day of tour in a road-movie extravaganza is chopped up into little parts & integrated into the concert after every song or two, instead of the usual DVD#1 - concert & DVD#2 - behind-the-scenes documentary format. The pace is just nice if you're watching it part-by-part, like me... the downside: when watching from beginning to end (113 + 102 minutes), those little documentary parts tend to break up the momentum of the show. Stage stops of her Asian tour encompassed Yokohama, Nagoya & Osaka in Japan, to Taiwan, Shanghai & Hong Kong. I bet, half of the fans that flocked to the sold out stage stops outside Japan had barely-there proficiency of Japanese language.. just like me! Ha, i guess the sound of music is indeed a universal language... =)
*i dream of attending her concert someday; i hope she's not retiring anytime soon... =p *