Namie Amuro Best Fiction Tour 2008–2009 was the tenth concert tour by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro in support of her greatest hits album, Best Fiction (2008). The tour began on October 25, 2008 at Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba, Japan and ended on July 12, 2009 at the Shanghai Grand Stage in Shanghai, China. The tour broke attendance records for Japanese solo female artists, playing to almost 500,000 fans across Japan, China and Taiwan.[1][2]
The initial tour dates were announced on May 27, 2008 with 25 stops in 15 cities across Japan. An additional 15 dates and an additional city were added on August 18, 2008 before the start of the tour.
On October 25, 2008, the tour began in Chiba, Japan at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall and continued through December 21, 2008 at Aoi-mori Arena in Aomori, Japan. Another round of 20 additional dates were added on December 29, 2008, bringing the total amount of dates in Japan to 60. The second leg of the tour began on January 14, 2009 at Sendai Hot House Arena in Miyagi, Japan and played its final show in on 31 May at the Morioka Ice Arena in Iwate, Japan.
On March 22, 2009, it was announced that the tour would be headed towards the Asian continent with four additional shows in Taiwan and China set respectively in June and July. Overall, the tour spanned a total of 10 months, 64 dates, 3 countries, with a total attendance of an estimated 500,000 people.
Set list
The set list for the Best Fiction tour includes 16 of the 17 songs included on the Best Fiction compilation album. Several album songs from her two most recent studio albums, Queen of Hip-Pop (2005) and Play (2007) were also included. "Luvotomy" and "Black Diamond," originally collaborations with other artists are performed as solo versions. "Say the Word" released in 2001 is the oldest song included on the set list. It is only one of two songs including "Wishing on the Same Star" to be released before her transition to R&B music. This is her first tour to exclude any of her songs released with former producer, Tetsuya Komuro.
When the tour began on October 28, 2008, Amuro performed 28 songs. "Wild" and "Dr." were added to the set list prior to the release of their respective single on March 18, 2009.
The live music video of the tour was released on September 9, 2009. The video captures her dates in June at the Taipei Arena in Taiwan. It was her first overseas concert to have been filmed for commercial release.[4] In the first week of the release, the live video sold about 155,000 copies on DVD format and 14,000 copies on Blu-ray format, making her the first artist to top both charts at the same time in Japanese Oricon charts history.[5] As of 2010[update] it has sold about 260,510 copies on DVD format.
It was released as a DVD and Blu-ray on September 9, 2009. The DVD version is a limited edition and is exclusively packaged in a digipak with a slipcover.[6] It will be sold until September 30, 2009.[7] It is currently not known if a regular edition of the DVD will be printed afterward.
