(Ado’s identity is unknown but on the official website of universal-music-jp they refer to Ado as a she so that’s what I'm going to refer to her as in this text)
This is my (not so) short review of the Ado concert in Brussels. I have created multiple categories of my experience and scored all of them from 1-10 and a final score at the end. Before you read it, remember that this is at the end of the day my opinion and you may or may not agree with everything you’ll read, you may also cringe at my poor attempts at comedy and that's okay.
Merchandise Line: 7/10
I was there 2.5 hours before they opened and there were already around twenty people in line for the merchandise, so not that many. Where the merchandise was going to be sold was a bit unclear in the beginning until our knight in shining… Santa hat? helped us. We were also fortunate since only like 20 minutes after we got in line, it grew longer than the great wall of China. But I did manage to get everything I wanted, and only had to wait around for like 30 minutes, although some cut in line and some were very pushy to say the least.
Merchandise Price & Quality: 9/10
I was not able to buy everything, so I can't comment on every item, but the things I bought were very good. Maybe not Nokia 3310 quality but still good, i especially liked the glitter poster. That said, I've only had the items for a little over a week now but so far so good. The VIP pin also had good quality but I feel it was a bit lazy since we paid more for something that was basically a redesign of an already existing item but I like it more than the “original”.
Concert Line: 7/10
I got there 3.5 hours before the concert started and 1.5 hours before the door would open. The general line was even longer than “Oppenheimer”, not only that it was a bit chilly and it started to lightly rain, so you know it could be worse. There was also some confusion as to which line was for which ticket and some even confused the bathroom line for the entrance line. It could be because there was very little staff there, but fortunately I bought a VIP ticket so the line wasn't as long for me as it would be for the poor non VIP commoners. (Just kidding.)
Staff/Security: 7/10
Good, somewhat helpful and polite, although some did not speak English. Not a requirement, but would have been helpful, not much more to say about it.
ING Arena: 8/10
When entering there was this big area with merchandise, boba tea and snacks. The entrance didn't feel that full. Maybe that's because VIPs got in earlier than others, but even after everyone got in it was more than enough space if you knew where to look. The concert area itself was very big and fit everyone with room to spare, with the stage at the front and seats at the back and along the sides with a big standing area in the middle.
The Concert: 10/10
When the concert started my soul was immediately blessed by an instrumental version of
“All Night Radio" along with multiple other songs. After that Ado immediately kick started it
by singing “New Genesis”, followed by “Usseewa”, “Lucky Bruto”, “Readymade”, ”Rebellion”, Fleeting Lullaby”, “Motherland”, “Gira Gira”, “Tot Musica”, “Aishite Aishite Aishite”, “I’m Invincible”, “Ashura-Chan”, “Kura Kura”, “Yoru No Pierrot (TeddyLoid Remix)”, “KokoroToluNaNoFukakai”, “Stay With Me” nonstop with everyone singing along. After that we had a little pause where Ado talked about her being nervous but also happy about being
abroad and thanked everyone for coming to her first tour outside of Japan. Everyone was shouting and clapping their hands after every sentence she said. After that she was going to say something but she forgot how to speak English, which everyone thought was funny. She also asked if we had been to Japan before, with mixed answers but the majority saying no. She talked a bit more about being outside of Japan and thanked us for coming followed by a couple of sentences in Japanese. I only understood half the things she said since I’m not fluent in Japanese. The “last” song of the night was… “Show” and was immediately followed by “Backlight”, “FREEDOM” and “Senbonzakura”. Then she held a little speech in the unknown anime language but fortunately it was subtitled. The next song was going to be the last song of the concert... for real this time. Then she said something about Belgium and that we are amazing!, followed by everyone chanting ADO! ADO! ADO! ADO! She finished the concert with a bang or should I say a straight up K.O. to our very souls since the last song was… “Oda”. The concert was amazing, words cannot describe everyone's pure hype and energy. I still feel it in my very bones, my ADOration for her and her music is bigger than… Well I can't think of anything, so just think of anything bigger than like a star or something. My top 5 songs of the concert were probably, "Ashura-Can", “Usseewa”, "Backlight", "Senbonzakura" and “Show”. But enough fancy words, I like her music and I recommend that you give it a try. Who knows, maybe you’ll like it. (If you don't like it well you're wrong but I respect your opinion/bad taste in music)
Audience/Fans: 7/10
Most people there were very respectful and helpful. Someone even helped me take a photo by holding my phone at the Ado photo wall thing near the merchandise. I believe everyone had a good time singing along and waving their hands to the vibes and feeling extremely happy. But some negative parts of this review were that a few people cut in line and I even noticed some people pushing others at the concert to get closer to the stage. Also many people were filming despite clear rules against it. But let’s not focus on the 1% after all, like some philosophical wise old person from long ago said: One bitter almond in an entire almond pie is not enough to poison you nor ruin its taste.
Overall grade/score: 1 000 000/10 (Totally true, not biased at all)
Fun Fact: Ironically I didn't find any brussels sprouts in Brussels so I had to go to like every supermarket in Stockholm and on Gotland to find it.
If you're interested in reading about Ado herself and her story you can read about it in the physical version of this magazine. The article is called “Ado: Dreams come True.”
Text: Mingus Madestrand.
Bilder: Mingus Madestrand.
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