Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Aki - Resonant Live -

I was pleasantly surprised by how good this concert was. I tend to be a bit cautious in my praise for the current Morning Musume lineup, but this concert seemed intent on playing up the group's considerable strengths as an ensemble unit. Granted, they'll never offer the wildly disparate personalities that made so many past concerts such a joy (esp. 2002-2004), but this concert certainly proves that these nine girls can band together and put on a dazzling show when they want to. It's a fast paced 108-minute concert, with lots of high-energy dance numbers and 13 costume changes, with some particularly attractive ones among them. The girls look absolutely gorgeous throughout, especially Ai-chan, the group leader. There are 23 songs total, with 16 of them performed by the entire lineup, meaning seven songs done as solos or smaller units. Ai-chan and Aika each get solos. Ai-chan, Risa, and Reina form a trio for one delightful number, "Take Off is Now." Many of the songs were unfamiliar to me, which meant lots of fresh material. And the three old classics added to the show ("Souda, We're Alive," "My Dear Boy," and "Koko ni Iruzee") are well-chosen. The girls all seem to be having a great time and each of them gets their moments to shine. There are no MC's (yaaay!!!) and the only non-MM performers are Koharu's two sidekicks in Milky Way, Sayaka Kitahara and Yuu Kikkawa. The extras consist of three numbers evidently performed in other shows on the tour: a solo by Risa of "Indigo Blue Love" and two additional versions of "Lemon Iro to Milk Tea," one with Eri taking the lead and one with Sayumi. (Reina did the lead in the version seen in the main concert.)