Namie Amuro Best Fiction tour 2008–2009
Namie Amuro Best Fiction Tour 2008–2009 is the tenth concert tour by Japanese R&B/Pop singer and dancer, Namie Amuro in support of her greatest hits album, Best Fiction. The tour began on October 25, 2008 at Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba, Japan and will end on July 12, 2009 at Shanghai Grand Stage in Shanghai, China. The tour broke attendance records for Japanese solo female artists, playing to 500,000 fans across Japan, China and Taiwan.
Itinerary
The initial tour dates were announced on May 27, 2008 with 25 stops in 15 cities across Japan. An additional 15 dates and an additional city were added on August 18, 2008 before the start of the tour.On October 25, 2008, the tour began in Chiba, Japan at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall and continued through December 21, 2008 at Aoi-mori Arena in Aomori, Japan. Another round of 20 additional dates were added on December 29, 2008, bringing the total amount of dates in Japan to 60. The second leg of the tour began on January 14, 2009 at Sendai Hot House Arena in Miyagi, Japan and played its final show in on 31 May at the Morioka Ice Arena in Iwate, Japan.
On March 22, 2009, it was announced that the tour would be headed towards the Asian continent with four additional shows in Taiwan and China set respectively in June and July. Overall, the tour spanned a total of 10 months, 64 dates, 3 countries, with a total attendance of an estimated 500,000 people.
Set list
The set list for the Best Fiction tour includes 16 of the 17 songs included on the Best Fiction compilation album. Several album songs from her two most recent studio albums, Queen of Hip-Pop and Play were also included. "Luvotomy" and "Black Diamond," originally collaborations with other artists are performed as solo versions. "Say the Word" released in 2001 is the oldest song included on the set list. It is only one of two songs including "Wishing on the Same Star" to be released before her transition to R&B music. This is her first tour to exclude any of her songs released with former producer, Tetsuya Komuro.When the tour began on October 28, 2008, Amuro performed 28 songs. "Wild" and "Dr." were added to the set list prior to the release of their respective single on March 18, 2009.
- Do Me More
- Violet Sauce
- Alarm
- So Crazy
- New Look
- Hello
- Girl Talk
- Shine More
- Full Moon
- Luvotomy
- Put 'Em Up
- It's All About You
- Wishing on the Same Star
- Rock Steady
- Funky Town
- No
- Say the Word
- Dr.
- Wild
- White Light
- Hide & Seek
- Queen of Hip-Pop
- Sexy Girl
- Want Me, Want Me
- Top Secret
- Black Diamond
- What a Feeling
- WoWa / Dancer Introduction
- Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick
- Baby Don't Cry
Tour dates
Concert filming and recording
The show at Yokohama Arena on March 7, 2009 was filmed and photographed for media outlets in print and television. Snippets of performances for "New Look," "Dr.," "Wild," and "Top Secret" were aired on several major entertainment news programs on March 8, 2009. Filming for a home video release of the tour originally took place on April 28 and 29, 2009 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. However, fans reported Amuro being ill. She apologized to fans on her mobile blog for not being able to give them a worthy performance.In an appearance with Sweet magazine, Amuro confirmed the home video release of the tour would instead be of her overseas concerts at the Taipei Arena in Taiwan in June. Her management site formally announced on July 21 the release of "Namie Amuro Best Fiction Tour 2008–2009" on DVD and Blu-ray on September 9, 2009.
Personnel
- Executive producer: Takashi Kasuga, Masato "Max" Matsumoto, Shinji Hayashi, Katsuro Ohshita, Hajime Tanguchi
- Staging producer: Izumi Matsuzawa
- Staging director: Fuyuki Yamamoto
- Sound production: Nao'ymt
- Art director: Hidekazu "Kazoo" Sato
- Public relations: Yukio Takemura, Akira Kobayashi, Masahiro Tashiro, Shintaro Higuchi, Tatsuya Ikeda, Yu Koiguchi
- A&R: Hiromi Amano
- Artist management: Rika Yasumoto
- Dancer management: Yumiko Ochiai
- Merchandising: Kazuo Ueno
Band
- Bass: Tsuyoshi Ishikawa
- Drums: Mitsuru Kurauchi
- Guitar: Shinji Ohmura
- Keyboards: Shigeo Komori
- Dancers: Tetsuharu, Hide, Yusuke, Hossy, Mittan, Nao, Natsumi, Asuka, Hiromi, Manami
Crew
Staging
- Stage set designer: Kazutomo Yamamura
- Stage set coordinator: Naoto Hori
- Chief carpenter: Tadahiro Nakamurara
- Carpenters: Yasushi Shimazaki, Taiki Takeyama, Yasushi Oomori, Katsutoshi Miyazi, Hiroshi Hasegawa, Kentaro Minami, Ryosuke Fukushima, Tetsuya Sunahra, Yoshio Hayashi, Yoshito Amano, Rikiya Nakada, Tatsunori Kazikawa, Ryoutaro Komatsu
- P.A. crew: Keiji Shigeta, Maso Toba, Hideo Sato, Hiroki Kamehama, Nanae Ito, Marie Adachi, Syouji Yuzawa, Kana Doi
- Lighting designer: Hideki Maki
- Lighting coordinator: Osamu Yamaguchi
- Lighting operator: Satoshi Hatakenaka, Minoru Otaki, Hiroko Toya, Takeshi Ogihara, Seiichirou Kishi
- Illumination coordinator: Akihiko Hayashi
- Illumination operator: Nao Kuremura, Nozomi Ito
- Visual art planner & operator: Takeshi Yoshimoto
- Visual operator: Satoru Terao, Hiroyuki Ono, Eiko Iijiri, Keisuke Dohi, Makoto Kurosawa, Yuu Sasaki, Shigemi Todoroki
- Manipulator: Akihisa Murakami
- Manipulator assistant: Yasuo Kitahara, Tatsuya Nagatake
- Instrument coordinator: Shigemi Otake
- Instrument tech: Kenichi Saito, Hideki Nagaoka, Hideki Nagaoka, Kazuya Takahashi
- Special effect coordinator: Takayuki Komine
- Special effect operator: Akiko Mitasaki, Hiroyuki Mochizuki
Costuming
- Hair & Make-up: Satomi Kurihara, Eriko Ishida
- Stylist: Shinichi Mita
- Wardrobe: Rie Yamazaki, Yuri Yamaguchi
Video
- Creative director & planner: Hidekasu "Kazoo" Sato
- Director: Yasuhiko Shimizu, Yuchi Kodama, Yoshiya Okoyama, Sachi Sawada
- Producer: Kentaro Kinoshita
- Production manager: Hideki Harada
- Coordinator: Go Kato
- Camera: Takeshi Hanzawa
- Art: Mamoru Furumoto
- Costume Designer: Hiroko Sogawa
- Hair & Make-up: Asami Nemoto
- Make-up creator: Shoichiro Matsuoka
- Model: Amber Thompson