The arena is situated about half way round Tokyo bay in a prefecture called Chiba. A lot of Chiba is made from reclaimed land and suffered quite badly from liquefaction during the main quake and aftershocks. This is evident in abundance when walking around the streets as lots of pavements are different heights and hasty repairs have been made with tarmac.
We grabbed some lunch and joined the queue outside the stadium. As fair as the Japanese seem to be they were calling out entry to the standing area in ticket number block, so the people who bought their tickets first had the choice of running to the front and claiming some space. Despite the fact that our ticket number wasn't too low we managed to grab a decent plot about 5 people from the front. Result!
The venue wasn't as big as the O2 so seemed a little more intimate than I'm used to and it was great to be so close to the stage.
The support acts were a couple of exceptionally rubbish DJs, a stupid woman who never smiled but wore a rubbish outfit and an over the top guy who aspired to be a Hip Hop DJ but failed miserably. We named him 'DJ Technical Trouble' as the music stopped a couple of times and he blamed it on technical trouble!
Not long after 6 the temperature was soaring, the rubbish DJs had left and the technical crew had set the stage, the lights dimmed and it was time for the main show!
After the usual build up from the on screen visuals, building of the music and the dancers entering and twirling round a bit, two angels entered the stage to introduce Kylie as she rose up on a giant gold shell to the title track 'Aphrodite'
I can't remember the exact running order or exactly what she played but she did a well balanced mix of older and newer songs. Spinning around, confide in me, on a night like this, two hearts, can't get you out of my head, get outa my way, wow, i believe in you, what do i have to do, slow, better the devil you know etc. The girl has a good back catalogue to choose from and she also sang the Eurthmics classic, There must be and Angel!
There was a section which just seemed to be about the male form, lots of stunning visuals and the dancers almost performing a gymnastics routine! All I can say is she knows her target market well!
We were treated to some of the very old Kylie tracks including 'I should be so lucky' which went down very well!
The gig ended in a massive crescendo with Kylie disappearing into the stage surrounded by all her semi naked dancers to All The Lovers after the glitters cannons had exploded all over the stage and audience! Perfect! Loved it, massive emotional high!
All of our group were amazed with the show and we went to the pub to break it down and comment, plus the fact we were parched and needed a nice cold beer :)
Location:Tokyo
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