Miku Expo is a series of world tours organized by Crypton Future Media starring the virtual singing software character Hatsune Miku. The performances include notable user-created Vocaloid songs and digital choreography of Miku dancing, projected onto glass screens. [1]
Miku Expo 2014 was held in Jakarta, Indonesia and the United States, specifically in Los Angeles and New York City. The theme song for the tour was "Sharing The World", produced by Bighead. [2]
Miku Expo 2015 was held on June 26–27 in Shanghai, China. [3]
Miku Expo 2016 was held in Japan on March 23-April 10, North America on April 23-June 5, Taiwan on June 25 and 26, and in China on December 3 and 4 in Shanghai, and 10 and 11 in Beijing. [4] [5] [6] Anamanaguchi was the opening act for the North American tour. [1]
Miku Expo 2017 was held on December 16 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [7] [8]
Miku Expo 2018 was held from June 29 until July 19 in the United States and Mexico, and on December 1 until 8 in Paris, France, Cologne, Germany, and London, England. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Miku Expo 2019 was held on May 11 in Taiwan and on July 27 in Hong Kong. [13]
Miku Expo 2020 took place in Europe in January 11–28, in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Barcelona. A USA & Canada tour was originally scheduled to take place in April and May, but it was postponed to the following year after initially rescheduling to September–October, and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [14] [15]
In October 2020, a virtual livestream performance online was announced and funded by a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that ran for 2 months starting on November 12, 2020, and raised over ¥60,000,000, more than double its intended target of ¥25,000,000 [16] and took place on June 6, 2021.
Miku Expo Rewind was held on June 5, 2022. Unlike previous years, this event consisted of a specially-curated compilation of performances of songs that were recorded at past HATSUNE MIKU EXPO concerts, many of which had not been released beforehand. In addition, a variety of online sub-events, exhibitions, and workshops were also held in conjunction with the event. A second online event, "Miku Expo Rewind+" was also held on November 6 of the same year.
Miku Expo VR took place on November 12, 2023.
In September 2023, it was announced that Miku Expo 2024 will celebrate their 10th anniversary with a tour across North America, with tour dates scheduled to take place from April to May. [17] In March of the following year, it was also announced that there would also be a tour in Europe, scheduled in October and November. [18] The 2024 expo was heavily criticized online, due to the fact that Miku was displayed on a large LED screen, rather than a hologram from previous years. [19]
Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group in Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. The software was ultimately developed into the commercial product "Vocaloid" that was released in 2004.
In entertainment, a virtual band is a band or music group whose depicted members are not people, but animated characters or virtual avatars. The music is recorded by real musicians and producers, while any media related to the virtual band, including albums, video clips and the visual component of stage performances, feature the animated line-up; in many cases the virtual band members have been credited as the writers and performers of the songs. Live performances can become rather complex, requiring perfect synchronization between the visual and audio components of the show.
Makuhari Messe (幕張メッセ) is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba City, in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. Makuhari is the name of the area, and Messe is a German language word meaning "trade fair".
The Hammerstein Ballroom is a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,500 people for theatrical productions and musical performances, and several thousand for events held within a central ring. The floor of the ballroom is flat. The two main balconies – which are unusually close to the ground and gently sloped – seat a total of 1,200. The third balcony has been stripped of seats and is not used.
Hatsune Miku, officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol, and has performed at live virtual concerts onstage as an animated projection.
7th Dragon is a role-playing video game for Nintendo DS developed by imageepoch and published by Sega in Japan on March 5, 2009. The game has not been published in other territories. However, an English fan translation was completed in 2014.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA is a series of rhythm games created by Sega and Crypton Future Media. The series currently consists of 6 main titles, released on various PlayStation consoles, the Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, and in arcades, the 2 Project Mirai games for the Nintendo 3DS, and 4 spin-offs for mobile and VR platforms. The series primarily makes use of Vocaloids, a series of singing synthesizer software developed by the Yamaha Corporation, and the songs created using these Vocaloids, most notably the virtual-diva Vocaloid Hatsune Miku.
Crypton Future Media, Inc., or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and FX and BGM libraries. The company also provides services of online shopping, online community, and mobile content.
C3AFA, also known as Anime Festival Asia (AFA), is a series of anime conventions held in the Southeast Asian region, with a core annual convention held in Singapore. The main convention is traditionally held over a weekend in late November to early December. It was held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 2008 to 2011, but was moved to the Singapore Expo MAX Pavilion in 2012 due to renovation works at Suntec Convention Centre that year. The convention returned to Suntec Convention Centre in 2013 and is being held there till now.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade is a 2010 arcade rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media for arcade machines. The game is a port of the 2009 video game, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA, with updated visuals and was released on June 23, 2010 in Japan with limited international release in countries such as Singapore. Like the original the game primarily makes use of Vocaloids, a series of singing synthesizer software, and the songs created using these Vocaloids, most notably, the virtual diva Hatsune Miku.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend is a 2011 rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media for the PlayStation Portable. The game is an expansion to the 2010 video game, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd, and was first released on November 10, 2011 in Japan with no international release. Like the original, the game primarily makes use of Vocaloids, a series of singing synthesizer software, and the songs created using these Vocaloids, most notably the virtual diva Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Rock band Gacharic Spin served as motion capture models.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f is a 2012 rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. It was released on the PlayStation Vita in Japan on August 30, 2012 as the fifth entry in the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series.
A virtual concert, also called V-concert or virtual live, refers to a performance in which the performers are represented by virtual avatars. Virtual concerts can take place in real life, where digital representations of the performers are projected in on stage, or within fully digital virtual worlds. Real life concerts are popular in South Korea, where performances by groups such as Girls' Generation have attracted thousands of fans. Performers in virtual concerts may represent real individuals, but can also be entirely fictitious characters like Hatsune Miku.
Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and illustrator who began releasing Vocaloid music under the stage name Hachi (ハチ) in 2009. In 2012, he debuted under his real name, releasing music with his own voice. He has sold at least 4.2 million physical copies and more than 7 million digital copies in Japan.
Vocaloid 2 is a singing voice synthesizer and the successor to the Vocaloid voice synthesizer application by Yamaha. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its output on vocal samples, rather than voice analysis. The synthesis engine and the user interface were completely revamped, with Japanese Vocaloids possessing a Japanese interface, as opposed to the previous version, which used English for both versions. It is noteworthy for introducing the popular character Hatsune Miku. It was succeeded by Vocaloid 3.
The Peacock Theater, formerly Nokia Theatre and Microsoft Theater, is a music and theater venue in downtown Los Angeles, California at L.A. Live. The theater auditorium seats 7,100 and holds one of the largest indoor stages in the United States.
Wowaka, also known as Genjitsutouhi-P (現実逃避P), was a Japanese musician. Considered to be a pioneer in the Vocaloid industry, wowaka was internationally acclaimed for his musical work over a career spanning a decade.
The We're F'N' Back! Tour was a concert tour by hard rock band Guns N' Roses spanning from July 31, 2021 to December 10, 2022.
Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! is a rhythm game developed by Colorful Palette and published by Sega. The game is a spin-off from Sega's Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series, and features 6 Virtual Singers of Crypton Future Media, Hatsune Miku (初音ミク), Megurine Luka (巡音ルカ), Kagamine Rin and Len (鏡音リン・レン), MEIKO (メイコ), and KAITO (カイト), alongside the cast of 20 original human characters that are split into five themed units. Set in the real world where Virtual Singers only exist as fiction, the characters come across another dimension called "SEKAI," where various "true feelings" are projected.
Akihiko Kondo is a Japanese man who is known for symbolically marrying the fictional Vocaloid character Hatsune Miku in 2018 during a formal wedding ceremony. In high school, Kondo had an interest in real women, but he was rejected by them; soon after, he decided he would not marry one. Later, Kondo was bullied at work and he took sick leave due to depression. During his leave, in 2007, Kondo discovered Hatsune Miku; this helped Kondo to return to the workplace. In 2017, he purchased a Gatebox device that allowed people to interact with holograms, including Hatsune Miku. This device further helped Kondo's decision to hold a wedding with the character. The marriage, which was unofficial, elicited mixed reactions from people.
