Japanese music has always had a dedicated and passionate following globally. However, it isn’t common for Japanese artists to tour internationally, let alone outside of Asia, as there are enough listeners in Japan alone to keep their market self-contained.
Yet still, there are some who’ve been brave enough to take the leap and have conquered the global stage. This is including but not limited to Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi, iconic rock band ONE OK ROCK, kawaii metal group BABYMETAL, all-female metalcore band HANABIE, alternate indie rock band Radwimps, and global girl group XG, all of which have recently visited Australia in the last few years. Ado has followed this path and is currently on her 2025 WORLD TOUR “Hibana”, recently bringing her unique and creative flair to our city.
Ado is similar to vocaloids like Hatsune Miku, and virtual avatar performers such as the members from Hololive, or South Korean virtual boy band Plave. The common ground is that it is more about the music than the appearance of the artist themselves. There’s a separation that allows room for the creator to compose, promote and perform their music, all whilst maintaining their anonymity and privacy.
Stepping further apart from the virtual shtick, Ado is present at all her concerts. Her presence is showcased within a transparent box (also screens) where you can see and hear her sing live, just appearing as a silhouette, allowing for the Japanese singer to sustain her secret identity. While Ado is up high in her box, her four-piece band are below at the forefront on their instruments, also appearing as silhouettes due to the lighting on stage. After all, it’s all about the music.
The volume of the Melbourne arena venue intensified from the very moment that Ado’s figure came into view. Kicking off with her debut tune, ‘Usseewa’, it’s hard to believe that someone of such a small stature would have such a big and powerful voice. Ado’s music style is an eclectic mix of different music genres including J-Pop, J-Rock, Jazz, Funk, Kawaii Metal and even Europop, proving the Japanese star’s versatility, she can sing almost anything.
What you couldn’t see of Ado and her band, the stage production more than made up for it with the vibrant, flashy, and colourful visuals that filled the venue, appearing to shift, change and pulsate along to Ado’s music. It was an aesthetically thrilling spectacle for all in the sold-out Rod Laver Arena and occasionally became a little overstimulating. I often found myself looking away from Ado’s box to the animations on the big screen, but I suppose that was the point.
Rod Laver Arena was also consistently illuminated by colourful lightsticks from dedicated Melbourne fans, appearing to move in a unified dance, swiftly switching colours and smoothly moving along to the tempo of Ado’s songs. It didn’t matter what song Ado would sing, the Melbourne audience always reacted with wholesome enthusiasm, and it was fun seeing how excited patrons were when waving their lightsticks to the beat.
Crowd favourites of the evening included the fun and upbeat ‘Show’, party anthem ‘Odo’, a cover of DECO*27’s ‘Hibana’, the catchy ‘Kura Kura’ from Spy × Family, the funky ‘Gira Gira’, dance styled ‘Stay Gold’ from Beyblade X, ‘ROCKSTAR’ which Ado encouraged fans to sing along to, plus ‘Blacklight’ and ‘New Genesis’, two of her many contributions to ONE PIECE FILM RED.
The interactions between Ado and her Melbourne audience were few and far between. Although the screens did show some translations, it was more paraphrasing, inaccurate, and a lot of what Ado shared was unfortunately lost in translation. This dedicated interactive moment was thoughtfully placed at the final part of her Melbourne concert, where Ado explained the meaning behind her tour ‘Hibana’ as ‘spark’, hoping to ignite inspiration for those who are quiet, introverted, creative and awkward, just like her. Ado openly expressed a humble yet proud sentiment on her journey thus far, where she not long ago used to sing loudly alone in her cupboard at home, and now she’s on tour.
My favourite song of the evening was the gorgeous, slow yet strong track ‘Elf’ with Ado’s fantastic falsetto, accompanied with stunning visuals of peacock feathers that appeared to surround Ado’s dark lit box.
However, by far the highlight of the evening was when Ado performed a cover of Australian singer-songwriter Sia’s ‘Chandelier’. Creating a raspier, raw and incredibly impressive J-Rock power-ballad style version, Ado fiercely blew the Melbourne audience away with her emotive and powerful performance. I was so moved by this, I even became quite teary during this song. It made complete sense that Ado admires Sia, as she too hid her face when she performed at a certain point of her career, with the very same creative thought process.
Japan’s faceless singing prodigy has proven in the most beautiful way, that your looks shouldn’t and don’t really matter when it comes to the art of expression and the enjoyment of music. I watched in awe as Melbourne’s sold-out Rod Laver Arena blissfully filled with supportive cheers and dancing lights, welcoming the Japanese artist with opens arms and not at caring at all that they couldn’t see what she looked like. After all, it was always about the music.
My only criticism is how anxiously strict the rules were with photography, filming and strangely, the possession of binoculars. The venue had security staff constantly walking around and checking on attendees, as if we were all a part of some exclusive film preview screening, or prison.
Chinese music and K-Pop have adapted to the global stage, understanding that the content captured by patrons is for their own enjoyment. Many fans were dressed up for the occasion, wearing their best Ado inspired outfits, some even cosplaying Ado’s outfits from her music videos, and many were upset to not even be able to take photos of themselves from their seats, let alone before, after and during the concert.
Stellar performance by Ado aside, if Japanese music artists desire to embrace the same international market cohesively, these rules need to be reconsidered to allow for paying patrons to fully enjoy a concert, without the stress of restrictions.
Proudly presented by Frontier Touring and AEG Presents, and powered by Crunchyroll, Ado’s ADO WORLD TOUR 2025 “HIBANA” was performed to a sold-out Rod Laver Arena audience in Melbourne on May 27th, 2025. This was the final stop of Ado’s two-city Australian visit.
For more information, visit:
https://www.frontiertouring.com/ado
https://www.universal-music.co.jp/ado
https://www.instagram.com/ado_staff_official
https://www.youtube.com/@Ado1024
Photography by Viola Kam.
