Great Live Music and Community, but...
by Nick on 2024-04-08UBC - Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre - VancouverRating: 4 out of 5I had an overall amazing time enjoying the music as this was the first chance to see Miku in person. However, some management issues have kind of soured parts of the experience.
The main issue for me was the difficulty in acquiring the merch, the preorders were a nightmare as the most sought after item -the penlights were nabbed so quickly that they were sold out before half an hour had passed. This left us with the only option to line up the day of at the merch line to pick one up, while I was early enough to purchase one, I know of many who attended who were not as lucky. With the penlights/glowsticks being such an important souvenir, I think management should have expected the demand and planned accordingly.
The secondary issue for me was that Miku was not a hologram as she was in previous tours from watching previous recorded performances . This time she was on an LED Screen, the quality of the screen was fine and from where I was seated it didn't bother me all that much, but at certain points in the performance the backlighting made it abundantly clear that Miku was in this rectangular screen, which broke immersion. While the visuals of a live performance to me aren't paramount to be, this was still a let-down nonetheless. If they had decided to change the way the visuals were going to be displayed, this should have been clearly communicated with the fans, as it is a major departure from previous events.
Overall, I would still recommend the show to those who really enjoy Hatsune Miku's (and other CFM Vocaloids) music. The setlist was good and live performers did a spectacular job. It was also a great experience seeing everyone come out to enjoy the performance, but I know a fair lot of people who were severely let down by some of the flaws. I believe for the price, those who are upset deserve to voice their dissatisfaction. I'm not entirely sure if I would attend another Miku Expo if those in charge don't properly communicate with all the fans about what happened this year. I wish those who have already bought tickets make the most of their time, it was still a good show.