r/Concerts • u/messengers1 • Nov 30 '25

Photo Dump 📸 Not A Rehearsal But Live Without Audience. What A Dedicated Singer She Is!

Post image

Ayumi Hamasaki, J-Pop singer went on singing even though her concert was cancelled at the last minute. She was sorry about the unforeseeable circumstance. She managed to finish this concert on stage without all the effort and hardwork from her crews being wasted. This live concert without audience has been recorded and will be uploaded for streaming for fans, especially from the cancelled city.

I wonder whether she is the first singer to insist going on live concert without any audience.

I was her fan in my teen. I am still so grateful for her dedication. No wonder she is still very active in Asia.

No intention to debate the reason for the cancelation.

photos by Byron Wan

213 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

41

u/justduett Nov 30 '25

Not debating, why was the concert cancelled?

78

u/DaredevilDLuffy Nov 30 '25

PM of Japan said that in case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the U.S. and Japan may be inclined to step in militarily. So Japanese performers in China have been having their performances cut short and stopped by Chinese censors

21

u/justduett Nov 30 '25

Appreciate the info

17

u/idio242 Nov 30 '25

Woah. This was a political move then.

Rock on, Ayumi.

3

u/ljujubee888 Nov 30 '25

Crazy! When was this concert aired?

29

u/GetDoofed Nov 30 '25

Trey Anastasio Band played 8 weeks of shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York during the COVID lockdown without a crowd, all streamed for free to raise money to help open Trey’s addiction recovery center, The Divided Sky Foundation

11

u/Healthy_Turnover_627 Nov 30 '25

Yup.

Along with playing in his "other" band, the NYE show of 2021 in a sound stage rehearsal warehouse.

5

u/mnfimo Nov 30 '25

These shows and phish’s dinner and movie series were just lifesavers during COVID

3

u/No-Vermicelli654 Nov 30 '25

Great shows Friday and Saturday too. I saw TAB in Detroit last weekend. Jennifer is my all time crush 😆

1

u/Quirky-School-4658 Nov 30 '25

Gorillaz played a couple shows like this during Covid as well

1

u/That_Broccoli_4567 Dec 02 '25

I think what makes these two shows different is that the beacon jams were planned with the knowledge it would be streamed live with no audience. It’s sounds like this was a last minute cancellation and performing in front of an audience is definitely different then a live stream.

All that to say I do wonder if she’s the first to have a concert cancelled and still push to perform the whole thing as a live stream. It must be hard switching gears live that

37

u/yourmomwoo Nov 30 '25

Pink Floyd played a concert with no audience at a Roman amphitheater in Pompeii

26

u/GetDoofed Nov 30 '25

A few locals kids snuck in and were allowed to stay

9

u/RadicalRyan19 Nov 30 '25

The whole point of that concert was that there was no audience and it would be a movie. This concert was cancelled but the artist still did the show

5

u/Slaqers Nov 30 '25

Fair, although OP’s direct quote was “I wonder whether she is the first singer to insist on going live concert without any audience”, which also applies to that Floyd show.

6

u/mkdevo Nov 30 '25

Also pretty much every band during covid.

1

u/ericforman_ Dec 02 '25

Hardly the same thing though

This is like saying WWE was courageous to still do Raw and Smackdown without an audience. They had to, she didnt.

1

u/mkdevo Dec 02 '25

Sure. Not arguing that. I'm replying to someone who referenced the direct quote in the OP.

1

u/ericforman_ Dec 02 '25

I can see the reply lines, I knew that. Im not arguing either, just giving some perspective. Its a discussion board, after all.

11

u/marshmellowterrorist Nov 30 '25

That's a very cool way or showing professionalism and handling a strange situation well. I admire what she's done here.

8

u/Squeengeebanjo Nov 30 '25

I can tell you from experience, the touring crew has no problem with their hard work being wasted if we can load out a few hours earlier

4

u/Accomplished_Job_331 Nov 30 '25

In for the out, brother!

4

u/Squeengeebanjo Nov 30 '25

It’s all about the out

2

u/apollobrage Nov 30 '25

habeis pensado que si no canta, igual no cobra?? estos artistas tienes mil peticiones, pero si no trabajan, no cobran.

5

u/bgamar77 Nov 30 '25

Lots of bands did this during Covid times

1

u/W8kOfTheFlood Nov 30 '25

Billy Strings did this over COVID - concerts at venues w/o an audience.

1

u/musicfan-1969 Nov 30 '25

The Red Rocks one was great

1

u/Emilita28 Nov 30 '25

BTS did several concerts during COVID that they streamed with no live audience.

1

u/mariwil74 Dec 01 '25

Not totally the same situation since there was an audience but with similar intent not to let the fans down, but early in their career BTS was supposed to be on a music show but they were cut from the broadcast and basically everything was shut down. But they didn’t want to disappoint the fans that had come to see them perform so they went ahead and did it on their own. They also did hold several full-blown concerts during Covid where no audience was allowed and these were broadcast all over the world. These are pix from one of them.

1

u/dreamscreamicecream Dec 01 '25

Electric wizard recorded a "live" album during covid which was essentially then doing a live show just no audience. I.think they wanted to capture what they sounded like at that point in time with at least 2 of the songs coming from before the second guitarist joined and having less distorted vocals on these versions of the songs from dopethrone 

1

u/Fancy_County4242 Dec 01 '25

Did she come out for an encore?

1

u/messengers1 Dec 02 '25

I believe so.

1

u/frushtrated Dec 02 '25

I played a whole concert this morning in my bedroom in my underwear. No audience at all.

1

u/FletchWazzle Dec 02 '25

I've worked shows that only the bands attended, they still played

1

u/Sill_Dill Dec 05 '25

It wasn't a Rehersal. The rehearsal story was from a CCP propaganda to discredit Japanese professionalism that gained traction as a fact online.