Ayumi.

I was at AsiaWorld-Expo on Sunday to watch Ayumi Hamasaki’s concert. The concert itself was a typical Ayu concert – lots of flashy costumes, flashy dances and then of course the encore session which is half as long as the main show itself.

Overall I think the show isn’t too bad, though of course you can’t compare Ayu’s concert to Mayday’s concert. Whatever it is, from the concert you can tell the detailedness of the Japanese over these concerts. It’s like they definitely have made a huge effort in putting the show together. What I appreciate the most was that Ayu did not just have the limelight all to herself, instead she was always more than willing to share it with the entire team of people including the backup singers, the band and the dancers. Basically it wasn’t just Ayu’s show, but it was the show of the entire lot of them. It is something that many Hong Kong artists would not do at all. It’s like, for these so-called Hong Kong artists, such shows and concerts are always about them and them only. You would see Joey Yung singing and dancing on stage, but does anyone even know who the keyboardist is? Or who each and every dancer is? Well, of course perhaps you’d know if you were to read the small prints of the concert DVD, but in Ayu’s case, she is always more than happy to have her sidekicks share the same attention as her. That’s the difference between a real diva and a diva-wannabe. After all, does anyone in Japan even remotely know who Joey Yung is?

And yes, I am very sure that I will not spend a single cent to watch a concert by a Hong Kong artist – paying $480 to sit at the last row for Ayu’s concert is still much better than paying the same price to sit at the first row for, let say, Stephy Tang’s concert.