By: Michelle Zhen
On May 8, bars and restaurants near New Jersey’s Prudential Center blasted music featuring virtual idol sensation Hatsune Miku. The next day, a line speckled with Miku cosplayers and other fans decked out in merchandise from small pins to stuffed toys of Miku wrapped around a corner of the music venue, Racket NYC.
Miku Expo hosts official tours outside of Japan featuring Hatsune Miku and some of her fellow Vocaloids, synthesizers of contracted singers’ voices (also known as vocal synths) produced by Yamaha Corporation. This is the 23rd Miku Expo tour event and the sixth in its North American tour series. The fifth-to-last concert of this tour took place in Newark, NJ.
“You go to Miku Expo more for the experience of seeing everybody in the community come together,” said Edmund Huang, an attendee of Miku Expo. “But going to a concert, it’s its own experience, right? When you listen to your favorite artists, you want to be able to support them the best way you possibly can.”
To advertise Miku Expo, music circle FLAVOR FOLEY composed the theme song, “CONNECT:COMMUNE.” Furthermore, indie pop producer nostraightanswer’s “Room for a Fantasy” received the Miku Expo 2026 Song Contest’s Grand Prize, which allows the song to play at every Miku Expo concert. These two songs appeared in every concert’s setlist alongside songs published between 2008, a year after Miku’s release, and 2025.
“I’ve been into [Vocaloid] since 2014, so ‘magnet’ [a song by Takahiro Minato] in that era was in my prime,” said Kite Harrison, an attendee who cosplayed as Luka in her outfit from “magnet” for the first event. “When I was little, [I wanted to] dress up and go to Miku Expo, do a silly dance, and be in the community. So, this is just something that was [in my] bucket list.”
As Miku is not a physical person, she has been displayed on an LED screen since the controversial Miku Expo 2024 North America tour, particularly due to the poor blending of the screen with the black background. In Japan, Miku tours typically utilize a glass screen hologram that portrays Miku clearly at every possible angle, due to the shorter distances they travel and the higher budget available. As Japanese Miku concerts are also moving on to LED screens, this year’s Miku Expo has received praise for improving its screen to imitate the 3D Miku that a glass screen would create.
“I think the best thing that stands out is the fact that [Miku Expo’s creators learn] from their mistakes, and they improve their concert every year,” said Huang. “This year, they definitely learned from [the previous North America tour], made a bigger screen, made her more fluid, and it was just way better. It made her feel like she was actually popping out the screen.”
Similar to K-Pop concerts, fan-made merchandise such as prints, stickers, and a collaboration CD were distributed at both venues, particularly on merchandise lines or by the performers themselves. Attendees took pictures of cosplayers, taking photos with them as well. Vocaloid producers were also seen signing anything from prints to tomato packets. Among official merchandise, pen-shaped lightsticks consistently sell out at Miku Expo, as both concerts encourage fans to wave them in sync while they glow in Miku and other Vocaloids’ signature colors.
“You’re in [Miku concerts] for a big community, a lot more than just [liking] how Miku looks [and wanting to see her] dance,” said Hana Pham, another attendee who cosplayed as Miku’s appearance in the 2026 version of “magnet.” “The fun we’re having right now [before the concert] is doing an interview, meeting [fellow fans, and] taking pictures. I don’t get this community at all where I’m from, so right now I just feel like this is a concert.”
Digital Stars is a supplemental DJ set for Miku Expo featuring various music producers known for songs utilizing vocal synths like Miku. As the expo’s branded club event, New York’s set featured headliner FLAVOR FOLEY alongside nostraightanswer, MonochroMenace, isidore., suzie-P, and Creep-P. MonochroMenace and isidore.’s song “FEEDBACK” featuring Vocaloid Megurine Luka won runner-up for the Miku Expo song contest.
“But this one was special; New York is a place I call home. The club scene here raised me in my early 20s, and to be able to show that off to a community I was such a big part of, and being able to show off so many different artists and genres outside of Vocaloid was something I aimed for, and it was such a huge honor,” Creep-P said to The Vanguard.
This year’s North American tour will have four more concerts, the final one taking place in New Mexico on May 19. Miku will continue to reach her fans on the other side of the globe, and Miku Expo shows no signs of slowing down.
Music producers utilizing vocal synths may hope to perform for Miku Expo or Digital Stars someday. To these types of people, Creep-P offered simple advice: to have fun along the way.
“It sounds cliché, I know, but please know that it only matters to have a good time. People can tell, as I said from experience. Once I started having fun with music again, people immediately caught notice and were captivated. Use your favorite vocal synth, explore genres, but make sure you’re writing things for yourself and not just to see if you can make something go viral.”
For more information about Miku Expo and Digital Stars, visit their websites: https://mikuexpo.com/ and https://digitalstars.club/index_en.html