It’s that time of the year again baby, where no matter what I do I can’t escape the flow of news and drama streaming out from Coachella. Apparently it ran for two weekends, but the news I’m referencing today came up after the first weekend. You see, Hatsune Miku found herself on the artist lineup. Coachella really offers music from all around the world these days and I would guess tries to have a little something for everything, including us weebs out there in the audience. However, Miku’s performance received a ton of backlash. Thankfully Miku is immune to having her feelings hurt. But why was her stage hated? Were her vocals off that night? Afraid not. The drama revolves around Miku being presented in 2D.
Now we love our 2D girls around here, why is that so bad? When I say 2D, I mean they literally rolled out a big TV on stage and put Miku on it. At Coachella, one of the biggest (and most assuredly most expensive) music festivals in the entire world. In case you’ve never seen a typical Miku concert, usually higher tech is utilized to provide a 3D hologram of Miku singing and dancing. It’s a marvel to look at because it brings her to life and shows off some technology that the average Joe doesn’t get to witness very often. This was pretty much the standard expectation until this year. To clarify, Coachella was merely one stop of Miku’s virtual tour this year called Hatsune Miku Expo 2024 North America. The tour started on April 4th with Miku heading to Vancouver. And what were fans greeted with? You guessed it, a TV screen.
Powered by Crunchy? Now it makes sense.
Fans immediately blasted the organizers on social media for going the TV route, but it wasn’t until Coachella that the large-scale backlash appeared since it was a much bigger stop on the tour. According to some reports you could find “hologram” mentioned a few times on the event pages, however after the first tour stop that was removed. Overall fans felt like the experience was a step-down from prior Miku concerts and essentially a waste of money to pay that much to look at her on a flat screen… something they can do at home any day of the week. Considering Miku’s unique situation as a virtual artist I completely understand their plight. It’s not like you’re showing up to hear her amazing live vocals. You’re there to see some cool ass futuristic holograms while the live band enhances the music as you hangout with a bunch of fellow Vocaloid enjoyers. Remove the first element and the high cost of tickets really starts to consume the forefront of your mind.
Perhaps a different tone could have saved the show baby.
Despite the backlash, I would imagine the rest of the tour to proceed ahead with the TV screen strategy. I mean if they pulled it out for Coachella, I don’t see any of the regular city events left receiving the higher quality hologram treatment. With the tour already underway and scheduled to wrap up near the end of May, what we’ve seen is most likely what all concert goers will get for the rest of this expo. Have you ever been to a Vocaloid concert? Was ditching the hologram a shitty move? Would you still go to a Miku concert if you knew beforehand she’d be on a big TV? Pay a ton of money, travel across the country, and watch TV with fellow Miku fans in the comments below!
