Saturday, September 10, 2011

Things you could never picture in America - Vocaloid concerts


If you've been following anime or the internet over the last few years, there's no doubt you know what Vocaloid is all about. Computer-generated singing through a special bit of software. It's become absolutely huge in Japan, so much so that concerts are put on. The thing is, the concerts host the virtual Hatsune Miku. That's right, people are attending concerts to listen to J-Pop and watch a virtual performance.

This is the ultimate marriage of anime-style design and technology-based performance. It's very easy to see why anime fans would love this kind of stuff. Hell, even I can admit that I'd love to attend at least one of these concerts, if only to check out what it was like in real life. That said, could you ever imagine something like this happening in the United States?

I think the closest we can get to something like this is performances from The Gorillas. As you may know, the Gorillas is a band that is fronted by 4 cartoon characters. The music is made behind-the-scenes by real-life artists, some of them famous for their work in other bands. The Gorillas came about as a desire to make new and interesting music without having to deal with the face-time that a band has to put in. If you go to a Gorillas concert, you check out live music but don't see the band. Instead you're given a virtual show put on by the cartoon characters.

I guess that's actually kind of close to what the Vocaloid situation is, but I still can't see all aspects of this crossing over to success here. The anime style and musical tastes would have to change quite a bit before something like this would really catch on. Is it something you'd be willing to give a shot?

5 comments:

  1. Miku has already had her first concert in America at this year's Anime Expo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this so much!
    Why are the videos so small on this blog?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, she already had an American concert. I wish I could have gone, as I'm quite the Miku fan. I do have the BluRay of her concert from Japan.

    I also love playing Project Diva 2nd, and Dreamy Theater 2nd. Best rhythm games since Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I should try Vocaloid sometime, I keep on telling myself that I need to do that soon.

    And RMC, there name is Gorillaz, not Gorillas.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why waste the money watching her on screen at a concert hall when you can watch it for free on your own screen :P

    ReplyDelete