Hatsune Miku is as much a character, a J-Pop idol, and a cultural icon, as she is a vocal synthesizer program.
Developed by Crypton Future Media and initially released in 2007, Hatsune Miku quickly became an internet phenomenon as users had at their fingertips a digital singing voice for their music compositions. Throughout the software’s 17 years of existence, Hatsune Miku, alongside her fellow Crypton Future Media Vocaloid friends, have been a part of thousands of songs and have taken the world by storm.
Expanding the Hatsune Miku experience and reach further than your screen, Miku Expo is a tour series that brings the Crypton Future Media characters and their notable selection of songs to you. Despite the tour series kickstarting 10 years ago, this year marks the very first time that Miku Expo has visited Australia.
Taking residence for one night only at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena, the diverse Melbourne attendees spanned generations and were all queued in massive lines to get into the venue to see their favourite digital pop stars. There were many in cosplay, some even in Hatsune Miku Bunnings outfits, while others held leeks in plushie form, lightstick form, or even the real vegetable fresh from the supermarket, and this was only outside the Melbourne venue!
As soon as I stepped inside and headed to my seat, I watched in awe as passionate seated patrons were already waving around their lit up colourful official lightsticks. I noticed in the row seated behind me was 7-year-old Vivian who looked genuinely delighted to be there. With a glow stick in each hand, Vivian was keen for the event and had both a brown teddy bear and her father accompanying her.
I commented on how cool it was that the teddy bear was watching too, which prompted Vivian to explain that the bear didn’t belong to her, but to her class at school. The students took turns to share him, and it turns out he was a lucky bear that night to be attending a concert under Vivian’s care. Appearing super excited to see Hatsune Miku, Vivian enthusiastically shared with me that she found out about Miku through a friend when watching YouTube.
When the lights of John Cain Arena dimmed, each character’s name and their signature colours flashed on the gorgeous stage set up, complete with its impressive lighting, and looked like a futuristic Japanese Torii gate. The cheers grew louder and louder as each character’s name was displayed, roaring by the end when Hatsune Miku’s name flashed on the screens with her signature mint colours. The excited buzz in the room quickly erupted into joyful screams the moment that Hatsune Miku magically appeared.
Performing Anamanaguchi’s ‘Miku’, the energy in the room was infectious, with many blissfully waving their lights up and down in its own special dance to the music. By the (emon(Tes.) song ‘Lucky☆Orb’, the Melbourne venue burst into a rainbow of colours, fans happily singing and dancing in their seats along to the catchy tune. After a couple of songs, the beloved virtual pop star cheerfully addressed the Melbourne audience, “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all for so long!”, before lending the stage to her friends.
Short blonde Kagamine Rin and her twin brother Kagamine Len took turns to sing and dance solo to power ballad Toraboruta-P’s ‘Kokoro’ and the rock inspired absorb’s ‘Fire Flower’ before joining each other for the fast-paced and energetic duet, Giga’s ‘Childish War’. Tall and handsome Kaito, conjured a luminated blue wave the moment he took to the stage to perform wotaku’s ‘Literacy’. This was followed by browed haired and red dressed Meiko’s performance of the upbeat Twinfield’s ‘Red Land Marker’, before the’ pair performed together asicacamosica.‘s ‘Midnight Surf’.
While popular Vocaloid character, pink haired Megurine Luka appeared later in the evening to perform her energetic J-Pop solo samfree’s ‘Luka Luka★Night Fever’, other collaboration stages included Miku and Luka combining their colours and powers to perform the J-rock styled Utsu-P’s ‘vivid’, with Miku also dueting with Rin the catchy rock infused pop tune, Hachioji P’s ‘Gimme×Gimme’.
However, the night belonged to virtual pop sensation, Hatsune Miku. It was really cool that for some songs, Miku even had different outfits to match the song that she was performing. Outstanding tracks of the night included the EDM song, Hachioji P’s ‘Blue Star’ (my favourite) which had Miku literally conjuring stars, CircusP’s ‘Ten Thousand Stars’ complete with mesmerising special effects and choreography, wowaka’s ‘Unknown Mother-Goose’ that saw Miku wield a guitar, the stunning EDM track kz’s ‘Tell Your World’ with its gorgeous piano intro, the rock styled Hatsune Miku classic ryo’s ‘World Is Mine’, and crowd favourite ‘M@GICAL☆CURE! LOVE ♥ SHOT!’ by SAWTOWNE which had the Melbourne audience animated, interactive and vigorously waving their lightsticks in the air in pure happiness.
With the magic of technology, Hatsune Miku and her friends really looked like they were performing live on stage in our city. It is important to note that these characters are not replacements for live music. Instead, they offer up another medium for fans to enjoy a live music setting. Throughout the entire show, the Crypton Future Media characters were accompanied by a live band consisting of Dylan Wood (drums), Sarah Walker (bass), Tobias Witt (keyboard), Ryan Zaydner (guitar), but these musicians are placed on the stage in a way that allows for the Crypton Future Media characters to shine.
Before the encore, fans were screaming at the top of their lungs, loudly chanting “MIKU! MIKU!” and were fiercely stomping the floor in their seats to create a thunderous noise in hopes of bringing the popular virtual idol back on stage. Miku obliged, closing out the night with KIRA’s ‘Highlight’ to a thoroughly satisfied Melbourne crowd.
Hatsune Miku is a fun, vibrant cultural wonder, and it was so great witnessing Australian fans finally involved in the fascinating Miku Expo after all these years. What we experienced at the 2024 Miku Expo Melbourne concert, was an entertaining, immersive and gorgeous global community collaboration. With its signature vibrant fusion of creativity, technology and music, this digital marvel has graced generations, spanning nearly decades – with no intention of stopping.
The MIKU EXPO 2024 New Zealand & Australia tour is proudly presented by Crypton Future Media and Live Nation Australia. The Melbourne show took place on Friday the 22nd of November at John Cain Arena and the tour will have its final concert on Tuesday the 26th of November (tomorrow) at RAC Arena in Perth.
For more information, visit:
https://mikuexpo.com/nzaus2024
Live Nation Hatsune Miku Tickets
Photography by Jonathan White.
Copyright credits: ©CFM/©SEGA
