Hikaru Utada hunts bitches on her Wild life tour

With Wild life being Hikaru Utada's final performances before her self exile from music, everything had to be done right. And Hikaru Utada did not dissapoint. From the epic opening cinematic which showed Kuma chan plumetting to earth from outer space, only to be revealed as Hikaru Utada - fans knew they'd be in for a night they wouldn't forget. And if that didn't get the heart of a fan fluttering; she kicked off the gig with "Goodbye happiness". Hikaru's good. She knows what we want. And she certainly gave it with Wild life.

Hikaru's Wild life tour follows the overall feel of her previous tours. Most notably her Utada united tour. Big open stage. Musicisans clearly visible. No backing singers. A frilly ass outfit. Flashing lights. And complete re-arrangements of some of our favourite songs.

Hikaru opening the set with "Goodbye happiness" was a surprise, as I was so sure it'd be the song she'd close with. "Goodbye happiness" has quickly become a Hikaru classic. Not only is it a great song, but it has a ridiculously catchy (soon to be iconic) vocal riff and a bloody good music video. The roar from the crowd as the song started was just a small indication of how much love the song has from fans. Hikaru's debut performance of "Goodbye happiness" sounded seriously shaky to the point where I wondered how she'd make it through the song. But oddly enough, she nailed the middle 8 section, which is where I thought she'd either struggle or rely on a backing track to assist her. The song then mixed into one of my favourite Hikaru songs "Travelling", which she nailed to bitches foreheads. The music video is probably one of Hikaru's only music videos where she exudes a deliberate air of 'sex' about her. And at certain points in the performance, she was every part the seductress. Beckoning with her finger and strutting around the stage - holding the audience in the palm of her hand. Both songs were made better by not only featuring the original karaoke's, but the band overlaying it with instrumentations and wonderfully arranged orchestrations.

The setlist was great. Featuring all of the songs you know and love, as well as some surprises. Heart station's "Take 5" was a complete surprise. I was hoping for "Fight the blues" too, but nope. Oddly there were no songs from Distance. But the set list didn't feel as though it had holes in it as a result. "Can you keep a secret" would have been nice though.

Of all the performances, "Colors" and "Letters" were the ones that struck me. The songs were completely stripped down to just live violins and cello's. They were stunning to the point they left me cold and almost had tears well in my eyes. The arrangements were f**king amazing.

And for fans of "Passion", if you thought you couldn't love the song anymore; wait until you hear the Wild life version of it. The live arrangements kicked ass! The same goes for you fellow "Beautiful world" fans. Because the Wild life version rocked so good, that I can no longer listen to the Heart station version.

The brilliant thing about Wild life was that you could tell Hikaru set about ensuring fans got everything from her on that stage. She made herself accessible and both vulnerable by opting for a circular central stage. Such a simple decision and setup made you realize how fearless a performer Hikaru Utada is. She managed to mix subtle stage spectacles with a real sense of intimacy and rawness. Her stripped down performances which punctuated the early stages of the gig were spectacular and really moving. I can't stress how amazing her performance of "Colors" and "Letters" were, and her acoustic cover of John Lennon's "Across the Universe" was really something.

Vocally Hikaru sounded great. There were moments her vocals strained. But the great thing about Hikaru Utada is that these moments occur on her studio recordings and are not edited or omitted. It adds a real sense of grounding to her songs. So when it happens live, you tend not to flinch or think Oh shit, bitch f**ked up a note. It's nothing. No big deal. Hikaru writes and arranges songs which are vocally challenging for her to do live, but she does them anyway. Not once did she duck out of singing a particular note or re-arrange a song in a different key to make notes easier for her to hit. She just ploughed through. "Blue" was tipping the edge slightly and had Hikaru hits a couple of notes I can only describe as f**king awful. But it was a small blip on an otherwise spot on gig.

I always love hearing Hikaru perform songs from First love, because she sounds so much stronger vocally now than she did back then. Many of First love's songs seemed a bit vocally premature for her at the time, because she sounds pretty awful on most of that album. So it's great to hear "First love", "Automatic" and "Time will tell" sound so aurally pleasing now that Hikaru's vocals are at a level where she can do the songs the upmost justice.

Hikaru's Wild life tour was the perfect way to go with a bang. Everything was on point. The set list, the outfits, the set and Hikaru's interactions with the audience. It was emotional at times watching Hikaru perform, because you really got this feeling that it was going to be her last time. Her performance of "Time will tell" was especially moving, as you could see by the end of the song she was almost fighting back tears. Hopefully we will get a DVD of this tour as it was a joy to watch. I'd also love a Wild life 2010 album. Because so many of the songs took on a completely different form to their studio recorded counterparts and sounded better for it.