Enjoyable but poorly thought-out set
by Moofey on 2024-04-07UBC - Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre - VancouverThis is based on me attending the Vancouver show; The first in the tour, having never gone to a show like this before but with knowledge on how previous North American tours have turned out. Me attending a Miku Expo concert was a long time coming given that I'm an OG Miku/VOCALOID follower, and while the concert was fun and enjoyable, the presentation didn't live up to the expectation of many people that went in with expectations with how each of the characters would be portrayed and projected on-stage. Whereas previous concerts would have models of the six featured characters projected onto a glass screen on-stage, those that attended the two shows that have been performed so far on this tour as of this review were presented with an LED screen instead. The screen itself isn't the dealbreaker that many people say it is, as it presents an opportunity for slightly wider viewing angles, crisper images and less interference from other light sources, but what ruined the immersion and the illusion of a CGI character running across the stage was that they made no attempt to blend the screen into the set, mostly by designing a set that indiscriminately shone lights at, behind, or around it, making it feel less like a concert and more like a glorified Hatsune Miku YouTube watch party with live music. The set designers made no attempt to emulate the illusion seen at past concerts, including recent ones overseas that had been run with LED screens itself. The size of the screen becomes an issue, too, as it seems that the screen they are using will be the same size whether it be some of the very small venues this tour will be playing at in Texas, to the full-size NHL arena that they'll be playing in when they reach Jersey. Aside from that, the live renditions of songs from the 15 or so artists that had their music featured in this show were well thought out and the band looked like they were enjoying themselves as well. The show wasn't a write-off all because of the poorly thought-out set; Hearing many popular songs over the years performed live is a draw in itself, but many die-hard Miku/VOCALOID fans are going to be extremely disappointed in just how poorly integrated their favorite characters are within this set.