Just got back from the show! It was wonderful of course! I have to say the 3 hours of waiting in the freezing cold was worth it!Im gonna keep this short so I can go get some sleep but the main good points of the show were:

Utada looked amazing!She wore a cute black dress with purple leggings and black boots. She also wore a really cute black star necklace..

She seems to really love SF..She talked about how she could live here someday..

She also was very friendly with the crowd and was making everyone laugh..she seeems so down to earth..

during the opening of "You make me want to be a man" her mic's cord came undone and she got all embarassed..she even made a little comment afterwards stating that this of course proves she doesn't lip sync

She threw out some kuma baseballs too after "Me Meruo"! I didn't get one sadly =(

overall Hikki was perfect and I am soo happy to have seen her live...Ill post a more detailed msg later and hopefully Ill upload some pics too!

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good to hear you had fun!

and of course, we all know she doesn't lip sync!
can't wait to see photos!

the show was amazing; great energy from utada and the crowd!
she talked about taking a walk at the pier area at the embarcadero and moving here someday (wonder if she needs a roomate ).
one downer was the "no camera" policy of this show. the fillmore staff was on gestapo duty all night to all peeps taking pictures with their cameras, iphones, etc. one of the doods said that utada's management that pushed for it (LAME YO!)
but all in all it was a great show! hopefully she does a tour again soon.

Got back from the show a little while ago. Just wanted to jot down a few of my thoughts along with everyone else.

Utada was amazing. I don't think I have enough mastery of the English language to even express how wonderful she was. Her vocals were top-notch, and she's the most darling thing ever. She wore a black, kind of crafty t-shirt with Susan Sontag sprawled across it, and a black asymmetrical, ruffled skirt with purple tights. She was gorgeous! And I definitely feel she was going for the rocker look, being at the Filmore and all.

Surprisingly I don't think the crowd went that crazy when she sang the gay line from On & On. There was a gay couple standing right in front of me too; they didn't erupt in hollers or anything.

But yeah, just wanted to drop with a few lines before heading to bed!

Utada and her band were just too good...

I'm still getting off my high from seeing her in person. It's a treat being able to see her in a small venue like that rather than watching her on TV and in some big stadium. The intimacy is great although I can do without the less-than-awesome Fillmore security.

The line that formed at the Fillmore was wrapping around the block. Even though I was near the end I still ended up towards the middle of the Fillmore's dance floor and I didn't' even have to push my way through or anything which was awesome.

When she came out she looked so pretty. I like what she's done with her hair, making it sort of poofy. It's cute.

Her voice is amazing, she sounds exactly like how it would be on her CDs. She sang mostly her English songs from This Is One which was cool, I wouldn't have mind if she sang some of her older Japanese hits though, that would have finished my night off with a bang.

I'm not use to her speaking in English but it's simply cute when she did her MC segments. Talking about walking around in the rain. Going to the pier and stopping at Cafe Plant (sp) to get a smoothie.

SMOOTHIE!

I love how she points out that she wouldn't mind living in San Francisco and how comfortable she feels being in the City. How cool would it be to just one day walk somewhere in SF and you see Utada just casually walking about? Super cool, that's how cool it would be.

I'm glad to have seen her tonight, I would have missed out on something special if I didn't go. Although she's been performing most of her career in Japanese stadiums like Budokan, I feel that small venues like the Fillmore really make it much more amazing. The intimacy of it is just outstanding.

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As expeted lol, but how crazy is that? equal to an atomic bomb?

WOW....AMAZING...SURREAL....adjectives cannot explain how great this utada concert was. Is it a dream-did i really see utada in concert? I was in the 2nd row too!! On one hand, DJ Rizzo was not as bad as i expected--i expected worse from hearing on other states but no one boo'd and ppl did seem semi interested. yes, the music was very clubby and pop charts galore but who cares? just a good way to pump up the crowd before hikki made her presence.

I will do a quick re-cap on my impressions of the songs she sang.

1) Opening intro--from her Exodus album. she doesn't want to cross from genre to genre? too late lol--she experiments with rock, r&b, pop, ballads, japanese, english. This was straight from the CD quality.

2) This is the one album songs: Simply Amazing. Right from the beginning, i can already tell her voice was in top condition. every word was concise and on par. Loved all her versions, especially towards the end when she adds extra tunes (ad-lib?) to her songs. it makes it so original as if its a new song different from the CD. Hikki excels in this througout. Especially loved FYI and Come back to me, and crowd pleaser was dirty desire.

3) First Love Album: Obviously, she sang first love. crowd went crazy and believed many of them (including me) sang the song together with her. Sounded like her unplug version. she needs to release this song again but with her vocals now. And-another crowd favorite--Automatic. Got emotional on this one as this song bought me waaaaay back (10 years) to why i love her! haha. Sounded like the UH 2006 (dare i say, even better!)

4) Distance Album: My personal favorite--Can you Keep a secret? Excellent version.

5) Deep River: I play the piano so when she started playing piano for sakura drops, i lost it. hikki + piano = instant win ha ha. i saw on youtube on other states that she altered the higher pitch parts so i was concerned. But NOPE--she actually sang how it orignally sounded and was pitch perfect! Hikki sometimes can struggle with higher pitches live but omg, she nailed it! 5 stars!

6) Ultra Blue/Heart Station album: Stay gold on piano--instant win but also backed up by the band so it turned out to have some rock flare to it. excellent! Another crowd favorite was Sanctuary/Passion. Showed her bilingual capabilites singing japanese/english. totally loved her bridge part where she even reverses the lines-genius! And, she even added the ending part that starts with "zutto..."

7) Exodus Album: Wow, some really good songs. Devil inside, you make me wanna be a man, kremlim dusk all done VERY well. YES,even better than UH 2006(hard to rival)

8) Encore-Simple and clean(beautiful) and Me Muero. CD wise wasnt a fan of me muero but her live version changed my view of it-jazzy and sultry.

All in all, lost my voice from screaming so much but Utada had greaaat stage presence and knew how to work the crowd. My basis was that she definately sang better than the UH 2006 Concert (very hard to do) How can such a humble artist be so good? Hope everyone enjoyed the concert as much as I did! I truly hope Hikki knows that she has fans in the US ready to support her!! Ganbatte ne!!

*yawns* I think I have an Utada hangover..

and now that the concert's well over I am not afraid to admit that I brought my fiance...who isnt a Hikki fan! But he said he had soo much fun last night and that her presence on stage is quite entertaining! He also took note of how human she seemed on stage...He thought it was adorable how she seemed somewhat awkward and shy when she would talk to her fans...I explained to him that that's kind of her charm..I really love the fact that a lot of her songs had a rock element to it...She managed to transform her TITO songs into rock songs and too be honest...I prefer it that way over the original R&B feel! Id love to get an mp3 of these songs (especially Apple and Cinnamon and Dirty Desire)...My fav song of the night had to be "Kremlin Dusk"..She hit all those high notes perfectly and the ending was just powerful! Also, in case some of you were wondering, the cover she sang was Placebo's "The Bitter End"...I dont think a lot of people knew what song she was singing...Sang it amazingly though!
The line to get in was also insane! I kept having people walk by and ask me what the line was for..Id reply "A concert at The Fillmore" and they'd look at me shocked.."Really?! For who?!"
Me: " Utada" *confused look* "She's a famous Japanese artist"..thought it was funny that people were shocked at such a long line (was around 3 blocks long) but had no idea who she was...However...playing at all these sold out shows I hope shows her how big her US base is getting and maybe she'll do more tours here!!! She did say "It feels damn good to be on stage"!!

Ok so on to the bad parts of the show...the sound check was terrible..Unfortunately Hikki's voice kept getting lost behind the sound of the band...Then they'd adjust it and she'd get too loud...at one point the guitarist's sound got soo loud that Hikki gave him a look and he immediately took his hands off his guitar...It sounded like a guitar solo even though Hikki was singing! That was during "Dirty Desire"...Also during one of her songs (cant recall which) a loud humming noise was coming from one of the speakers and you could tell she was kinda distracted by it....
And yes, security was ridiculously tight with the cameras...There were two guys on a balcony with flashlights lighting people up who were using cameras and guiding security to them...One a good note....it looks like 1/3 of the people there managed to sneak cameras in (GOOD JOB!!) I managed to get lots of camera phone pics but I am hoping (and begging) that someone will upload some nice pics so I can get em for a keepsake...Oh and when she threw the Kuma balls the one that landed by me landed on the floor and everyone dove for it! I was expecting a small cat fight for it but us Utada fans kept it civil..

anyways..for all you who haven't gone yet...get ready to wait in long lines but be completely blown away in the end! Its totally worth it!!

Someone have pic?

I can't find it :(