Voice Box: Ado, Live in Los Angeles
Voice Box: Ado, Live in Los Angeles
A live report of the singer's show on March 29 at the Peacock Theater
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This Side of Japan is currently taking a break, but I still wanted to blog about my time seeing Ado live last week. Here is my unofficial live report from the Ado show on March 29 in L.A. There was no video or photography allowed, so please excuse the lack of photos.
They called it the Ado Box.
If you’ve caught the identity-concealing singer perform on TV within the past year, you’ve seen the cage-like contraption that presents her as a silhouette to the viewers. For her world tour, her crew also rigged it around so she can sing while veiled in front of a live audience, but not without an advance warning that they’ll cut off access to the box if any photo- or video-taking was spotted in the crowd. The security measure taken at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles for this no-recording rule was one I don’t think I’ll see replicated by anyone else: attendees had to stash their Smartphones in a magnet-locked pouch given by the venue that could only be opened by the staff.
Though I was a little curious to see how the performance would have been had we’ve been cut access to the box, Ado thankfully remained visible during the entirety of the hour-and-a-half show. Her shadow twirled to the jazzy funk numbers and writhed at the maudlin rock cuts that had her wringing the most from her voice. She fell down to her knees in a dramatic fashion on multiple occasions, continuing to howl while lying on her back. And, yes, she did the TikTok dance during the chorus of “Show,” with a few people around me participating too.
As it looked as though she was going to just sing the hits and bow out, Ado briefly indulged in a conversation with the crowd about three-quarters into the set list. While her introduction went well, her English got the best of her as she shared about her time hanging out in L.A.
“So… I went to Santa Monica, and… And I… AHHHHHHHHH.”
Ado performing “Show” at Budokan in 2023
Ado’s expressive voice can make lyrics seem secondary. Where others may labor over the perfect phrase to get at the very feeling, her bellowed vocals communicate plenty enough as a mode of language. I find it fitting that in one of my early favorites from the singer, words actually prove to be too fickle to define the exact sensation felt in her heart. “What’s the reason behind this illness that waters my eyes? / What’s the name to this feeling?” She shouts to the void in “Kokoro To Iu Na No Fukakai” over a slashing rock riff. Lyrics at best can help her voice begin taking shape, or often the case, shapes: before that final cathartic scream in “Kokoro To Iu…,” she sighs in resignation, snarls in frustration and sobs from helplessness — the many different waves of confusion all observed in a single chorus.
That said, her most popular singles to date have the singer granted with the exact, needed words at her disposal. After all, this very marriage of lyrics and voice was what granted her notoriety with the titular hook of “Ussewa” leaving parents shaken in fear from the idea of their children singing it back with glee. Likewise, her brooding voice serves as a fine instrument to express the yearning behind the titular lyrics of “Aishite Aishite Aishite,” a cover of Vocaloid producer Kikuo. While she strikes a fearsome desperation in its refrain of “love me, love me, love me,” her take on the song also emphasizes lyrics as more a starting point for how to express herself: the lyrics in the chorus becomes a subject of extreme manipulation, the singer warping it into countless iterations until they’re no longer recognizable.
With a singer so ready to devour a song and spit it back out into a whole new form, it takes songwriters of a caliber like the ones enlisted for the One Piece Film Red project to match her in strength. (Also telling of the film’s impact to see many attendees at the L.A. date in One Piece gear, including jackets of Uta, the character in the movie whose songs Ado provided the voice for.) She handled their contributions in reverence, and yet the real thrill lies in Ado absorbing the best traits of the paired songwriter to weaponize it into something more ferocious — I’m you, but stronger, she seemed to say to her fellow collaborators like Vaundy as well as Motoki Oomori of Mrs. Green Apple.
Watching the singer perform these songs from the Ado box confirmed to me that all of these powerful expressions indeed come from a human being. She proudly showed off her skills as well as her identity as an utaite, covering the Vocaloid classic “Senbonzakura” to specifically celebrate her roots. But seeing an actual person at the center of the songs let the glorious, life-affirming lyrics like that in “New Genesis” to come across as genuine words, full of humanity. “I can see the new era, on the other side / so let’s go, new world,” Ado triumphantly sings as Uta in that anthem. And when you witness the real-and-true figure sing those words out loud, her larger-than-life voice make those hyperbolic words feel truly believable.
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