MikuFes '09

A few days ago, a concert was held somewhere in Japan to commemorate Hatsune Miku’s 2nd birthday anniversary. The concert itself was held in a hall with about 25000 standing room only tickets and all of those tickets managed to sell out. This isn’t her first live performance but I can tell you it’s her most impressive one to date. Why? See for yourself the videos below. Try to bear with the low quality though, they're from the Nico Nico webcast.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

That’s right. They're using near-hologram technology to have a "live" performance by Miku. It's looks almost like she's actual there in person. If I remembering it right, the virtual actress Simone from that Al Pacino movie appeared at concerts using a smokescreen and lights. The same concept is being applied where Miku appears in 3D on three different translucent screens.

I am simply amazed at how far technology's come and how much influence Miku has gained in just two years. To think that a voice synthesizing software managed to a bunch of previously unknown amateur composers and have them perform with an orchestra to put on a sold out show. These composers actually managed to make a living of Miku as there are several albums out on sale with her as the singer. There are also cover versions of some of Miku's sons done by professional performers. I'm especially impressed that someone managed to perform a great cover version of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku.

The most successful of these people would have to be ryo and his group SUPERCELL. With their own singer Nagi, they've started making songs for anime, namely Bakemonogatari and Cencoroll. They're also in charge of the music for the Black Rock Shooter anime coming out next year. Hopefully they'll keep on making new songs for Miku and that they'll also be working on the OST for the Black Rock Shooter anime and not just the OP/ED/insert songs.

The concert itself looks amazing even from these low quality videos. It seems that these videos only cover the last few songs of the concert since the first vid starts off in the middle of kz's remix of Last Night, Good Night. They handed out huge leeks for fans and performers to hold during the performance so those made for awesome souvenirs. The live versions of the songs sound great with the orchestra backing it up. I wonder how long the concert actually lasted since the last six songs took about 40 minutes to finish. I'm hoping that they'll make a concert DVD available for online orders sometime in the future.

Here's a list of all the groups that performed during the concert:

ika＆MOSAIC.WAV
デッドボールP
チームMOER (doriko, OSTER project, 19’s sound factory)
kz (livetune)
SUPERCELL

Here's the list of the songs they played at the concert:

01. みくみくにしてあげる♪
02. 電気の恋人 -I am Programmer’s Song-
03. HATSUNEtive
04. みんなみくみくにしてあげる♪
05. 私は人間じゃないから
06. とある娼婦の恋
07. 牛乳飲め!
08. 木枯らしの朝
09. 筆おろし
10. 既成事実 (MEGA Mix)
11. 恋スルVOCALOID
12. ロミオとシンデレラ
13. 恋色病棟
14. Dear
15. 恋は戦争 Remix
16. ファインダー (kz’s DSLR remix)
17. Far Away
18. Heart Beat
19. Crosslight
20. Packaged (kisk baker’s Yogamix)
21. Last Night, Good Night (kz re:edit)
22. 恋は戦争
23. ワールドイズマイン
24. ブラック★ロックシューター
25. 初めての恋が終わる時
26. メルト