The So Crazy Tour (officially the So Crazy Tour featuring Best Singles 2003-2004) was the fifth concert tour by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro, in support of her sixth studio album Style (2003). The tour began on November 29, 2003 at the Nagarakawa International Convention Center in Gifu, Japan, and ended on May 15, 2004, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea. While Amuro had previously held a one-off concert in Hawaii during the Genius 2000 Tour, the So Crazy Tour marked her first proper international tour, and several of her following tours would include shows in Asia. This was also her first and only time to tour South Korea.
Background Amuro's popularity and record sales plunged in 2002. After being told by her staff that an arena tour would not be viable, she decided to "climb back up from scratch" and perform in concert halls. In October 2003, alongside the release of her double A-side single "So Crazy/Come", the So Crazy Tour was announced to begin the following month. Media outlets reported that all of the concerts in Japan were sold-out immediately, therefore additional concerts were added.
The tour was billed as a "best singles" tour, and it included all of Amuro's solo singles up to that point, as well as one of the Suite Chic tracks. Due to this, only the singles from Style were performed during the show. In August 2004, Amuro would embark on a fan club tour entitled Fan Space '04 during which she performed album tracks from Style.
International performances In addition to 34 dates in Japan, she made her first-ever solo tour dates in Taiwan, which became a regular stop for her later international tours, and South Korea, in her only visit to the country. The Taipei concerts were promoted as So Crazy in Taipei and the Seoul concerts were promoted as So Crazy Tour in Seoul 2004. The international concerts were broadcast in their respective countries on national television, in which Amuro closed out her concerts with "Never End" partially sung in their local languages.
Amuro's performances in Seoul coincided with the lift of the import ban on Japanese pop culture products in South Korea in 2004. Her concerts were highly anticipated and received enthusiastic comments from local media. On the last date of the concert on May 15, Rain and F-iV joined Amuro as her opening acts. Part of the concert's profits were donated to the Korea National Council on Social Welfare, a foundation dedicated to saving children with pediatric cancer and leukemia. She was also recognized by the Asia Cultural Industry Exchange Foundation for her contributions to Japan-Korea cultural exchange.
Set list
"Put 'Em Up" "Shine More" "Respect the Power of Love" "I Have Never Seen" Medley: "Something 'Bout the Kiss" / "No More Tears" / "Dreaming I Was Dreaming" "Please Smile Again" "I Will" "Uh Uh,,,,,," "Toi et Moi" "Wishing on the Same Star" Medley: "Love 2000" / "How to Be a Girl" / "Chase the Chance" "Think of Me" "Sweet 19 Blues" "So Crazy" Band Introduction "Body Feels Exit" Dancer Introduction "You're My Sunshine" "A Walk in the Park" "Say the Word" Encore "Can You Celebrate?" "Don't Wanna Cry" "Never End"
Notes
Starting with the Maebashi concert on March 19, "Alarm" was added to the setlist.
Tour dates +Tour dates Date City Country Venue AttendanceNovember 29, 2003GifuJapanNagaragawa Convention Center120,000November 30, 2003MieMie Cultural HallDecember 7, 2003UtsunomiyaUtsunomiya Cultural HallDecember 11, 2003TokyoTokyo International ForumDecember 12, 2003December 14, 2003SendaiSendai Sun PlazaDecember 19, 2003NaganoNagano Civic Cultural HallJanuary 9, 2004NagoyaNagoya Century HallJanuary 10, 2004January 12, 2004HamamatsuAct City HamamatsuJanuary 15, 2004TokyoTokyo International ForumJanuary 16, 2004January 24, 2004KobeKobe International HallJanuary 25, 2004January 30, 2004AkitaAkita City Culture HallFebruary 1, 2004MoriokaMorioka Civic Cultural HallFebruary 8, 2004IshikawaIshikawa Welfare Pension HallFebruary 13, 2004KamakuraKamakura Civic HallFebruary 14, 2004HiroshimaHiroshima Welfare Pension HallFebruary 22, 2004SapporoHokkaido Welfare Pension HallFebruary 27, 2004KagoshimaKagoshima Civic Cultural HallFebruary 29, 2004NagasakiNagasaki Brick HallMarch 4, 2004OsakaGrand Cube OsakaMarch 5, 2004March 7, 2004NagoyaAichi Prefectural Art TheaterMarch 13, 2004NiigataNiigata Civic HallMarch 19, 2004MaebashiGunma Civic HallMarch 21, 2004SendaiSendai Sun PlazaMarch 24, 2004KumamotoKumamoto Civic HallMarch 26, 2004FukuokaFukuoka Sun PalaceMarch 27, 2004April 3, 2004OsakaOsaka Festival Hall—April 4, 2004April 11, 2004TokyoTokyo International Forum—May 1, 2004New Taipei CityTaiwanXinzhuang Gymnasium12,000May 2, 2004May 13, 2004SeoulSouth KoreaOlympic Gymnastics Arena25,000May 14, 2004May 15, 2004Total157,000 Live recordings and broadcast
The concert video, titled So Crazy Tour featuring Best Singles 2003–2004, was released on DVD on September 23, 2004. It peaked at number ten on the Oricon DVD chart, remaining on the chart for 66 weeks and selling 71,000 copies. In addition to the Taiwan and Korean broadcasts, a 2-hour special chronicling her January 16 concert at the Tokyo International Forum was aired by NHK BS2 on May 17, 2004.
Personnel Performer Namie Amuro Choreographer Warner Band Ken Kawamura (keyboards) Ken Kimura (guitar) Kenji Sano (bass) Mitsuru Kurauchi (drums) Dancers Mayumi Megumi Nazuki Rika Ryo Shige Subaru Tetsuharu
Charts Chart Peakposition Japan Weekly DVD Chart (Oricon) 10
References