Fantabulous show! I just got home a little bit ago and I'm still energized!

This is my first reply in this forum, but I'm a 'love you long time' fan of Hikki and a long time lurker of this forum. Just wanted to share some thoughts with you fellow hikki fan persons about the show.

I sent out some tweets throughout the show to #utada and #ublog...pretty cool feature! My keitai (cell) was toast afterwards.

I took a cab from work to the House of Blues since I did not want to deal with traffic, parking, etc. Arrived and stood in line at 6:15PM. I knew that I would be standing in line for awhile, so I brought a thick leather jacket and gloves. Thank God it did not rain like yesterday or earlier. Soggy fans can make for unenjoyable show at times.

After dealing with ticket scalpers, displaced persons, security, and standing in relatively cold, damp temperatures for LA (what is that, below 60F?) I was able to enter the House of Blues a little after 8:00PM.

The pit was getting packed and VIP seating was getting roped off. I found a place to stand, stage right, outside of the pit.

DJ Rizzo went on stage around 8:45PM. He was ok but sounded a bit off at times or tried building a climax that fell short at the peak. He played some cover of St. Elmo's Fire that sounded like Hikki but I'm not sure. Can someone please verify, onegai shimasu?

Rizzo's set ended around 9:15PM and the House played some music during setup, The Smiths, a few Cocteau Twins, probably all fave tunage of Hikki. Some fans sang Happy Birthday before Hikki went on stage, which was around 9:30PM, after a couple false starts, (i.e., let's turn off the house music, dim the lights, get the musicians on stage, oh wait....where's Hikki? OK, put Morrissey back on and stand in the dark while we wait for Hikki.)

When Hikki went on, she had my full attention. She had set her phasers to stun and pulled me in with her tractor beam. There was nothing I could do but surrender and stare.

Her vocals seemed a bit strained initially, like she just woke up from a nap and needed to warm up more. This was most apparent in Sakura Drops, where the high notes seemed challenging...but I did not mind one bit...still mesmerized by her presence, by her sound. Kinda reminds me of that early morning show she did last year where it seemed like she just woke up and sang Come Back to Me on the news. I think there may have been some times in the first couple songs where she couldn't hear her vocals either. She was fine once she got to rockin'.

The set list seemed similar to Hawaii with some minor exceptions. She did not do Boku wa Kuma :( and the audience sang Happy BDay for Hikki at least twice. There was also the birthday cake celebration + double happiness. Oh, and there might have been a cover tune in Hawaii that was not done in LA.

I really dug the version of Passion that they did. It totally rocks live and one of my personal faves for the evening.

And hearing First Love live? Man, Hikki had me at Saigo no kisu. Got me waxing all nostalgic and feeling like pudding.

OK, I gotta wrap this up. Rockin' great show! The band was great too (where's darkchild? he rawks!) The fans especially helped make this show special for Hikki on her birthday. I really enjoyed seeing all of the homemade signs, singing out of sync happy birthdays, and hearing all of the birthday wishes. It made the show that much more better funnest.

Glad I was able to be see Hikki sing live, which I didn't think I would ever see, unless I went to the Budokan or something. I thought my last chances of even seeing her was at the This Is The One CD listening party that I was turned away from.

If you can make any show, I highly recommend attending and showing up early. Be prepared to wait in line and chitchat with the fellow fans.

miked1541 out.

p.s. This is the setlist that I was able to figure out. Please verify:

1. Initial Track on Exodus (?)
2. On and On
3. Merry Xmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI
4. Poppin
5. This One (Cryin...)
6. Passion
7. Sakura Drops
8. Stay Gold
8b. Birthday Cake
9. Devil Inside
10. Kremlin Dusk
11. You Make Me Want To Be a Man
12. Unidentified English Song ("See you at...)
13. Apples and Cinnamon
14. Come Back to Me
15. First Love
16. Can You Keep a Secret?
17. Automatic
18. Dirty Desire

Encore:
1. Simple and Clean
2. Me Muero