On Utada Hikaru's last tour, 2006's Utada United tour in Japan, the average audience size per venue varied from 20,000 to 50,000 attendees nightly. On Feb. 5, the singer responsible for the highest-selling album in Japanese history was about to play to a tiny club of about 300 people in Boston, a few of whom were only vaguely familiar with the music she was to perform. As is the case with so many culturally significant, internationally celebrated pop stars from across the world, America's perception of Utada remains limited. While the 27-year-old singer has made two major attempts to break into the American market, her visibility has continued to float below the radar aside from two successful theme songs she lent to the popular videogame series Kingdom Hearts.

Nonetheless, the In The Flesh Tour was dedicated to those who've followed Utada's remarkably successful career for the past 10 years in both Japan and America, providing an up-close-and-personal celebration of her full catalog of music.

When I got to the venue around 5 p.m., there were already about 50 people waiting outside the door. As I later learned, the first people in line had been waiting there since 9:30 that morning.

The general makeup of the crowd was predictable, including nerds, anime lovers, gays and nerdy, anime-loving gays. Far and away, though, the makeup of the audience was largely Japanese. That fact would be later confirmed when Utada prompted the crowd three songs in with Nihongo no uta? (basically, "How about a Japanese song?"), which was met with a deafening cry of approval.

After waiting outside for roughly an hour and a half in 20-degree weather, the audience was finally corralled into the Paradise Rock Lounge while being subjected to a fairly rigorous, unusually high security pseudo-strip search and interrogation process. Cameras of any kind were confiscated, and cell phones were required to be off at all times while the show was in session.

While I still don't understand the logic behind limiting the audience's interaction with the performance, I must admit that being forced to concentrate on the show rather than the viewfinder of my camera did enhance the experience. It was, as old people refer to it, the "real way" to experience a concert.

While the crowd began to thaw, DJ Mike Rizzo stepped on stage to warm things up with some of his latest mixes from Ke$ha, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. Even though I took to dancing around on the side of the stage, no one else seemed to join in, even when the DJ spun a mix of Utada's "Dirty Desire."

A few minutes after 8 p.m., the band slowly filed onstage as the sweeping sound of Exodus' "Opening" greeted the suddenly dimming lights. To the screeching delight of the crowd, Utada appeared from backstage, sporting a fierce pair of spiked pumps, pink leggings and an off-the-shoulder velvet lavender top, all complimented with a shock of sexed-up, messed-up bedhead hair. Standing at 5' 2" (sans the stilettos), Utada was a walking sex bomb.

As the singer grabbed hold of the mic, the band started in on a rockier, rowdy rendition of "On and On," the lead track off of her latest album This Is the One. Almost immediately, you could tell that her voice was in top-notch condition and, if possible, had only grown stronger over time. Whether it was the smaller venue size or simply her own maturation as an artist, there was plenty more control and confidence in the superstar's voice as evidenced by the many throaty shouts and vocal riffs that would have been all too ambitious for the Utada of yesteryear.

Utada managed to create a warm environment by alternating between languages as the show carried on in its unusual English-to-Japanese-and-back-again pace. Ikimasu, she said dutifully before sitting down at her keyboard. "That means 'I'm going' or 'I'm about to play,'" she offered to the English-speaking fans before playing the first few chords of "Sakura Drops" on the piano.

The night included a very generous sampling of her English and Japanese discography as well as a fair share of moments from her past tours, including my personal highlight of the night: Halfway though the show, the lights dimmed to a murderous red as Utada launched into the threefold power punch of "Devil Inside," "Kremlin Dusk" and "You Make Me Want to Be A Man," as performed on Utada United 2006. Not more than an arm's reach away, Utada raged across the stage, howling and yelping during the monumental, explosive breakdown of the final song just as she did four years ago on the massive arena stages in Japan.

The Japanese songs carried a large degree of nostalgia for me-and evidently the crowd, as well-as I watched dozens of people shriek with delight each time the opening notes of some of her bestselling classics began to play, including "First Love," the title track off of her first Japanese album. As soon as the first chords began to pluck at the piano, the entire audience all but lost their minds, including both myself and the small Japanese girl next to me, who began spasming, seizing and flailing against the banister in what I could only describe as a sort of J-Pop-induced exorcism. Between Utada's tender crooning and the crowd's loud singing, I'll admit that by the end I was a little teary-eyed from watching it all happen in front of me.

Aesthetically speaking, it was easy to see why the In the Flesh tour was chosen as the name of this showcase. Aside from two small picture projections on either side of the stage displaying the album cover of the song being played, there was next to nothing visual carrying the show aside from the singer herself.

While I may never be able to see Utada Hikaru live again (at least not in this hemisphere), the experience was a gift that most of her fans would never ordinarily experience. Unlike the audience members seated at her stadium-sized venues in Japan, I was no more than 10 feet away from one of my most personally influential and inspiring musical idols in the flesh for the entire night, and that is something I'll never forget.

With no grand theatrics or onstage scenery to veil any technical or musical shortcomings, this was the most raw, intimate showcase I'd ever witnessed from an artist (let alone one of such superstar proportions), and probably one of my greatest concert experiences thus far. It was the kind of show that I imagine Utada has always intended to perform; one without much fuss or frivolous distractions, which made the results nothing less than gold.