Live Tour 2008: Kingdom, is Koda Kumi's eighth concert video. It reached No. 2 on Oricon Live charts and charted for twenty-five weeks, selling 88,505 copies during 2008. First press edition came with a sleeve case.
Information
Live Tour 2008 ~Kingdom~ is Japanese singer-songwriter Kumi Koda's ninth DVD and fifth concert tour DVD release. While it charted at No. 1 on the Oricon Live charts upon its debut, it dropped to take the No. 2 spot for the weekly ranking; however, it still charted for twenty-five weeks. The DVD was released as both a single and a 2DVD combo. The latter was of a limited edition and included special bonus footage. The footage featured the behind-the-scenes making of the tour, along with a tour digest and a special encore, in which fans had to find Kumi. First press editions came with a slip cover with differing cover art than those released without. The concert tour performed for the live DVD was done on 17 May 2008 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, which is located in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, Japan.
Post controversy and apprehension
Between the release of Koda Kumi's studio albumKingdom and the first day of the concert, Koda Kumi had fear and anxiety over performing on stage after her statement on All Night Nippon on 31 January of that year. On that date, she had made a lighthearted comment after being asked by the radio host her opinion on her manager getting married and the prospect of having children. Kumi had responded, "When women turn 35, their amniotic fluid goes rotten, so I hope they have a child before then." The comment caused immediate backlash due to the low pregnancy rates in Japan and the sensitivity of the subject among Japanese women. Due to this, upon Kumi request, all promotions for the album had been pulled on 2 February and a letter of apology was posted on Kumi's official sitein lieu of the normal content. Kumi had made a public apology on FNN Supernews, saying how she deeply regretted hurting thousands of Japanese women and mothers. In Kumi's self-published biography, KODA REKI, she admitted how she had cancelled several rehearsals for the tour due to the severe anxiety she would get when she believed that she would walk out onto the stage to perform, only to have an empty arena.
