Now that I have watched all concerts 2007-2010 I can say with confidence this one is my favourite among the 4. Best production. Best setlist. Best costumes. Best Shige. But one thing at a time.
Production. I was very dissatisfied with LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! I don't think I've ever been so dissatisfied with a concert's production before. On the contrary Live Diamond is brilliantly produced. The thing is this whole tour was pretty much produced by the boys themselves, from costumes which were chosen by Shige to setlist and general choreography.
The costumes were much better than in previous concerts. The's only one set that's old-school JE and flashy but that's totally ok. One set was pretty much casual shirts but it was really nice. Also though there were quite a few juniors on stage they only came out at certain points and didn't interrupt the general flow so I didn't really mind.
The Setlist was great. I mean surely I warmed up to many songs but still it was a lot better than the one at LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! The whole scheme seemed pretty complicated with all the solos and duos scattered over the course of the concert but everything seemed to flow nicely and the costumes also matched the songs well. I felt such a great relief at Show Express since at Lx3 it was totally ruined for me. At any rate there were only 2 or 3 songs that I didn't like at all. Out of total 37. I absolutely loved I ZA NA I ZU KI in the concert. To me it's just a really perfect pop song. Smile Maker as well. And theit timing was just right.
The only thing that bugs me is the number of encores. Like, it was nice to see you guys but it's enough, go home already. Stop torturing the poor fans.
MORETo add a pinch of salt the choreography still sucked. To the point where you can't even tell who messes up because everyone's all over the place. But you kinda get used to it after awhile.
I have always liked all sorts of collaborations and this concert had a record number of those. There were 5 solos and 3 duos and I actually liked all of them. Dunno what happened to Love Addiction but I'm kinda glad it wasn't there.
'Why' evoked very mixed feelings. I think it's a nice song but probably not for NEWS. The key is too low or something and everyone apart from Tegoshi fails it so bad. You can't hear Shige at all. The dancing was stupid too. But the setting was interesting and there was some serious chemistry between Shige and Massu. Though I'm not sure their voices go well together.
I also was quite surprised with 'Ginza Rhapsody'. The duo itself seemed really unlikely but somehow it seemed to work. Koayama's moves... I don't even know. Where did he get all that groove? I mean others did some stuff too but not nearly as much. He seemed to get a lot more confident. He really looked like a professional host to me.
Shalala Tambourine was pretty good. I mean I'm not going to say it was awesome but it was still better than all his previous solos. I think it's a fun song and you can tell he tried very hard but it was still more than he could handle. It was kinda pitiful as you watched Tegoshi slide out right after with Ai no Matador... Well, the song itself is kinda ridiculous and so was his outfit. But the little shit can both sing and dance so that seemed just somehow. Superman was cool. I was very unimpressed with the PV but the live performance was good. Massu's a really good dancer and though his voice isn't strong it's stable and it doesn't even waver as he does a fucking back-flip. Well done. YamaPi's solo was just.. YamaPi's solo. Pretentious and boring. Ryo, however, was pretty good, at least a lot better than his previous solo.
But the thing to be considered here is that Ryo and Shige both wrote their own songs, music and lyrics. I think they were also the composers for Share which is pretty good. At least on par with their other songs. I thought it managed to bring out everyone's individuality.
I loved the MC. Koyama was the main speaker accompanied by Shige. Tegomass participated only a little, Pi made a few remarks and Ryo wasn't even shown. I have to say here I honestly don't know what function was Yama Pi taking as a leader at that point. The pre-concert speeches were mostly handled by Tegoshi while Koyama was keeping an eye on everyone even having to remind Yama Pi to sign his boards.Anyway I was absolutely charmed by Shige's speech. All that bitching about uchiwas and the bills was absolutely endearing. He's not a winner like Pi, that much is clear but he's so earnest and warm and human you have to love that. Also Koyama's little Shige promotion campaign was so damn sweet.
In terms of visuals I think everyone looked pretty good. Even Koyama which is a lot coming from me. But for me this concert was all about Shige. I think he's just amazing in this particular time period. I really like his hair but it's rather his general aura, his own unique charm. I can't stop looking at him and can't even comprehend how anyone can fail to like him.
Tegoshi made his cross-dressing debut in Murarisumu. I have no words for the song itself but I definitely think it went a level up with his appearance. But rather than that I was surprised he actually dressed back into the outfit for the encore. He clearly liked the attention it got him. But he did get hit upside the head by Koyama and YamaPi. And it seemed the skirt felt really awkward so he changed into a t-shirt for double encore.
Assorted screens as always: