I was standing in that middle section on the right corner (if you face the stage) of the boxed area where the people handling the sound system were at. Good view, though there was one sound guy that was going in and out, but that wasn’t too big of a deal.

As for the crowd, yeah, they were rude to the DJ who was there before. I think part of that had to do with the fact that it was getting late and people were just getting a bit impatient in waiting for Utada to make an appearance. Without prior experience in these kinds of shows, I thought that the concert would start at about 9pm, and if people thought the same as I did (and that’s a big IF), then I can sympathize somewhat with their impatience if not the resulting behavior.

In terms of the crowd moving along with the music, it’s an interesting observation since I haven’t attended a concert like this that I can make comparisons (nor have I watched videos of other concerts of a similar nature), and though the energy was there, its expression wasn’t blatantly visible. Strange way to put it, I know. Maybe it was because of the people I was standing next to, but while I didn’t see hands waving or body movement in sync with the music, I could see quite a few people quietly singing along with Utada when a song that they were familiar with came up. I don’t know if they were actually singing or just mouthing the lyrics, but in either case, the manifestation of their energy is more… subtle I guess?

So yes, it may be because of the subtleness of that expression as well as the personality of those concertgoers that toned down the level of fan-expression at the concert. Utada Hikaru, in the US at least, tends to attract a certain demographic moreso than in Japan where she has near-universal appeal. I’d hesitate to say that makes up the entirety of the fan-reaction that you saw, but I suspect it’s a large portion of it.

In any case, thanks for your thoughtful comment!

First of all, I’d like to ask where you stood at the concert. I myself was attending (along with two friends), and we were standing in the middle of dance floor closer toward the left side (facing the stage). There are just a few things I’d like to point out about the concert:

While I agree that Utada herself performed greatly, and that I absolutely loved pretty much everything about the concert (considering I myself was unfamiliar with her songs when I attended the concert), I found the crowd’s attitude to be somewhat off-putting. Although you could feel the energy from the crowd (such as when the time when everyone was cheering for an encore), I was extremely surprised and disappointed by the lack of movement from the crowd. At times there were just a few hands up in the air, and many people attending seemed to be content with just standing around. They were also very rude to the DJ that was playing before Utada’s arrival on stage, and I sort of felt like the overall experience would have been better had the crowd set the mood more so than Utada’s voice.

All in all, I loved the concert. But I do think there’s something curious about a supportive crowd that, arguably, may be reluctant to get into the music when not at home. Or, perhaps, the cross-section of Utada fans in the US happens to have an abnormally high number of more introverted otaku (and/or others involved in subculture) that may not be able to express their emotion through their bodies. From what few videos I’ve seen of concerts in Japan, it seemed like there was a sharp difference.

Thanks for the blog.
~Ky

I recall seeing this a while back on ANN and I made a mental note to buy tickets for this… As my reaction shows, all did not go well.

Loved her “Beautiful World” for EVA’s ending.

@Yi
Yup, not a fan, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the few songs of hers that I’ve listened to. And even then, the quality of the songs that she sang live outpaced the songs I’ve heard her on CD recordings.

And yeah, the line was kind of shocking. I knew the concert was sold out, but damn, seeing how packed it was was a real eye-opener. I think her other concerts in the US are also sold out.

@Reltair
Well, you could drive. It’s only 6 hours approximately to get down there! (I kid, of course. Having done my fair share of SoCal – NorCal trips, those can be pretty draining). And yeah, the ticket price was about the amount you’d pay for AX admission. More worthwhile I think since it got me 2 hours of music. Good music at that, so I was quite pleased.

Yeah, I made that mistake once of waiting in AX lines too. Then I went into hardcore planning mode so I could minimize the line-waiting and actually have some fun at the Con.

@bhive
Thanks!

As you mentioned, concerts and live events are completely different from just listening at home due to actually being there in the crowd. I think it’s worth the ticket price just for that. However, the airplane ticket to get down there to LA along with the time needed is a whole another story for me.

Also, I hate waiting in lines. I got almost all the autographs at Anime Expo, and the thing I remember most was just waiting in lines all day. Never again!