Even my English is still poor, I'll report my great experience...
I joined "MIKUNOPOLIS(*1)" that was held on July 2nd, in Los Angeles, CA.
At 7 O'clock PM. There were many audience in front of NOKIA theater waiting for the open.Ticket had already sold out. Certainly, the ticket fee($15) was quite cheap... but, this event is a part of "ANIME EXPO 2011(*2)". Audience has to pay extra $50/day as an entrance fee for the main hall.
There was Toyota Carolla with illustration of Miku. I was not sure that whether Miku advertises Toyota Carolla or Toyota advertises Miku. (*3)
...It was just the time to enter.
Great shouts of joy suddenly broke out! Lines are made by audience automatically...
Passing through a metal detector, I showed my ticket to the clerk. "Go upstairs." On the 2nd floor, "Go upstairs." My seat was on the 3rd floor...
(Those seats are reserved in order of check-in. I was too late to check-in because I just joined ANIME EXPO since this morning...)
But, I know. The tale end audience has a different pleasure from the front seats.
(The singer, band, audience... Everything in the theater can be seen in a glance!)
Because of strict inspection(I don't know whether it was true or not), audience couldn't enter the theater smoothly. So, the start of the live also delayed.
Although people are still coming into the hall, Mr. Danny Choo appeared on the stage(*5).
It was the Second day of ANIME EXPO 2011. In the First day, there was the key note by Mr. Itoh, the president of Crypton Future Media Inc. Also, there was a conference by Mr.Sasaki(Crypton Future Media Inc.) and Onyx Kobayashi(*6) in this afternoon. In these two conference, audience has gotten a keyword...
(around 1'40"~ in this movie)
To make sure, I would say that audience comes from Japan in this theater is 44 official tour member and some personal tourists includes me. The ratio would be only 1 to 2 percent of more than 5,000 audience. Almost all people gathered in the theater are American and Canadian. Of course there are Anglo-Saxon, Afro-American, Asian... Everyone call "Miku san maji tenshi!! (Miku san is truly an angel!)" in unison! It's definitely Mune-Atsu! (My heart becomes hot!)
This keyword has become the common knowledge of the both shore of the Pacific Ocean!
Next, "DANCEROID(*8)" started the opening performance. The two girls danced "Luka Luka Night Fever" and 2 to 3 songs.
After their subordinate play, we needed to wait more minutes before main performance. In these waiting time, TV advertisement of Toyota corolla(*9) could seen on the large display.
This theater is a full-scale theater. It also holds opera concert. However, balcony was not used for this live because of the problem of viewing angle. The right side of the first floor is not used, either. Although The capacity of this theater is 7,500, the promoter announced around 5,100 people enjoyed Miku's live in a few days later.
In that idling time, there are some people who started to shake glow stick(or chemical light). This is called "Cyalume" or "Lumica" in Japan. I also snapped green one.
I've brought 7 to 8 sticks from Japan. So, I gave all of them to my neighbors. A girl just behind me almost shouted "Wow!! Thank you so much!". A guy next to me suddenly started to count his bills from his pocket, and asked "I know what it is. But it's first time for me to shake it at the live. Anyway, How much is it?" I didn't receive even 1 cent. Because I was very glad to shake this green light with you!
Some other Japanese seemed to bring lots of glow sticks. Also, it was sold at the lobby. Finally, many audience had shook the luminous sticks.
It was almost 15 minutes later from the schedule...
At first, we could listen to "Project Diva desu."
The second song is "World is Mine"! Unbelievable volume of screaming covers Nokia theater!!
I must mention about the shouts of joy. High-pitched cries were outstanding among the hall. I think that there were many girls. In contrast, guys' cries just like the rumbling of the ground are main in Japan. And, everybody knows many songs well.
The theater has good acoustics. Of course, I know, it is meaningless to compare with a live house. Actually I found slight distortion in high-pitch in latter part of this live... but it didn't matter.
And, I need to talk about glow sticks. First of all, people were actually just shaking. The movement of sticks were not kept together. I suppose that people who has any direct experience to shake glow stick must be only Japanese who share's only 1 to 2 percent of this theater. Others may have some similar experience through movie such as YouTube.
However, the way of shaking in the hall became gradually equally. At last, I found that the American original shaking rhythm were established! It means 5,000 American have learned that how to shake glow stick to the music and dance! That's great!!
All audience in the back half of the first floor had stood up since the opening. The front seat was quiet at first, and gradually shaking rhythm become evenly. Finally they have stood up in the encore part!
I hadn't stood up through the live. Because a girl had been seated behind me. In reality, there were not many standing audience.
Personally I thought that the image of Miku was better than "39's giving" held in Tokyo, Mar. 2010. At that time, my impression of the image was "Wow! It's very stereoscopic...". Of course, I thought that it was great.
However, this image of Miku was just like a dancing plastic figure in an aquarium or a glass case. I could get a feel of material of plastic from the stereoscopic image. It was not a movie any more... that was substantial! Also, the motion of Miku has become more smoothly.
(Here are some photos of Miku.)
After the third song "Electric Angel", Miku made a greeting for us.
「はじめまして～ 初音ミクで～す」
... means "Happy to meet you, I'm Hatsune Miku!" As same as usual, her speaking voice was a little bit foolish (sorry!)... But, the speaking was well trained (or optimized).
The next group of songs are "Koi suru VOC@LOID", "Clover Club" and "PoPiPo".
Especially, the second lyrics of "Popipo" was English version! At first, audience actually had been confused in a second, but immediately the hall came alive.
And, the next song was "Romeo and Cinderella". Costume also changes one after another, of course instantly!
(After I came back to Japan, I remembered it. In "Romeo and Cinderella", Miku definitely had a microphone stand that was of course a part of image. However I had naturally understood that was a microphone stand... The latest stereoscopic movie successfully tricked me!)
And then, "Ura Omote Lovers", "Puzzle", "VOiCE" and "1/6" were medleyed. After "Ura Omote Lovers", Miku introduced each members of the band. In that section, Miku spoke English! I was not sure that American could get her English or not...
Also, "moon" and "Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu (Disappearance of Hatsune Miku)" were played. When "Shoushitsu", Miku was in completely different costume from the "39's Giving" last year.
Then Miku really disappeared, and Kagamine Rin & Len appeared. Audience cried out again! In that shout, they sang "Migikata no Chou". And then Rin remained the stage and played "Roshin Yuukai (Meltdown)". Personally, I thought that playing the song was brave choice.
Next, Luka appeared on the stage, sang "Just be Friends". Of course, high pitch shout wrapped the theater again! During this song, audience shook their glow sticks to Luka's arm. That was amazing...
Then, Miku came back to the stage again. And She and Luka sang "World's End Dance Hall". Surprisingly, that was an English version! Needless to say, that's the first play! Unfortunately, I couldn't catch most of all lyrics... XD
Only Miku stayed on the stage and "from Y to Y" was played. Next song "Saihate" was sung by her in mourning suits. The next was "Finder". The last one was "SPiCa". Disappointedly, it well known as "SPiCa cannon(*11)" wasn't fired.
(Later, I heard the sequel about it from @nakanohito_1go on Twitter. Because of equipments and budget, the staff couldn't launch "SPiCa cannon".)
The band member left from the stage here. Although the calling of encore were not united, gradually "Miku! Miku!" call became majority.
A few minutes later, the band member came back to the stage. Miku also came back! "Ai Kotoba" and "StargazeR" were sung. Then she talk about anything in English, but I couldn't catch it.
The last song was "Hajimete no Oto". That was specially arranged for this live! This song pierced me to the heart. She attracted 5,000 audience, and
「世界のどこでも わたしは歌う それぞれのハジメテノオトを♪」
"Whenever in the World, I sing the first sound each."
While it's her first footprint on the United States, it's also the declare of her decision to go and sing whenever in the World. I felt as if I were in a dream. That's definitely "Mune-Atsu", too!
Played song list is here.
Oh, The official summarized movie of the live was out!
Some TV crew was interviewing for the audience in front of the theater after the live.
There was Japanese TV crew, too.
I had a few mug of beer and tipped a friendly waiter handsomely at the bar near the hotel I stayed. When I put my body on my bed with pretty good mood, I remembered many things at once.
... It was 4 years ago. When I listened to her demo song "01_ballade" first and was astonished, when I watched the leek shaking movie many times everyday and insisted "I'm not addicted!", when I made a fuss with TBS program and Google image search...
"Miku is my wife." is very common expression. On the other hands, many fan who have followed her since her debut also think that "Miku is our daughter." We could have seen that our daughter has grew up and has been active all over the World... Grabbing the glow stick, I couldn't help my tear.
It was very nice... one of the best event of this year for me to join the live. At the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean, only 44 member of official tour, some personal tourists and me could capture this pleasure. I'm sure that I'm the luckiest fan!
(*6) The composer or "Saihate"
(*11) around 3'00~ of this movie
