Miku Expo 2026 North America
- Thread starter sapplerx
- Start date
IT'S REALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! I am GOING, heck yes!
Tip from last time: be ready and logged in on AXS/TicketMaster/whatever before sales open. Get everything you need, like payment method, ready and in reach. Tickets can go fast for some cities. You'll probably have to wait in a virtual queue for your turn to attempt to make the purchase, and will have a limited time to do so.
official press release 
(translated)
Crypton Future Media, Inc. (CEO: Hiroyuki Ito; hereinafter referred to as Crypton) has decided to hold a new overseas concert tour for Hatsune Miku, "HATSUNE MIKU EXPO 2026 North America". Starting with a performance in Chicago on April 13, 2026, the tour will visit 15 cities in North America over a period of approximately 40 days. Tickets for each performance will go on general sale from 10:00 AM local time on October 31, 2025.
Hatsune Miku returns to North America for the first time in two years! The tour theme is "Candy Shop"!
"HATSUNE MIKU EXPO" (commonly known as "MIKU EXPO") is a world tour series for the virtual singer Hatsune Miku. Starting with a performance in Jakarta in 2014, the series has toured various regions, including North America, Europe, and Oceania, and has performed a total of 111 shows in 46 cities around the world to date. The first Asian tour is scheduled for November 2025.
The series will enter its 12th year in the spring of 2026, visiting 15 cities in North America over a 40-day period. The tour's theme is "Candy Shop". Illustrator 4(yon) created a main visual featuring cute, pop candy elements.
Tickets for each performance are scheduled to go on general sale from 10:00 AM local time in each city on October 31, 2025. Please check the official website for further details.
<Reference information>
Overseas, the Hatsune Miku world tour series, "HATSUNE MIKU EXPO," has toured 111 shows in 46 cities to date. The series' first Asia tour is scheduled for November 2025, followed by a North American tour in 2026. In addition to events, a variety of related content is also being developed both domestically and internationally, including collaborations with traditional performing arts and famous artists.
(translated)
Crypton Future Media, Inc. (CEO: Hiroyuki Ito; hereinafter referred to as Crypton) has decided to hold a new overseas concert tour for Hatsune Miku, "HATSUNE MIKU EXPO 2026 North America". Starting with a performance in Chicago on April 13, 2026, the tour will visit 15 cities in North America over a period of approximately 40 days. Tickets for each performance will go on general sale from 10:00 AM local time on October 31, 2025.
Hatsune Miku returns to North America for the first time in two years! The tour theme is "Candy Shop"!
"HATSUNE MIKU EXPO" (commonly known as "MIKU EXPO") is a world tour series for the virtual singer Hatsune Miku. Starting with a performance in Jakarta in 2014, the series has toured various regions, including North America, Europe, and Oceania, and has performed a total of 111 shows in 46 cities around the world to date. The first Asian tour is scheduled for November 2025.
The series will enter its 12th year in the spring of 2026, visiting 15 cities in North America over a 40-day period. The tour's theme is "Candy Shop". Illustrator 4(yon) created a main visual featuring cute, pop candy elements.
Tickets for each performance are scheduled to go on general sale from 10:00 AM local time in each city on October 31, 2025. Please check the official website for further details.
<Reference information>
Overseas, the Hatsune Miku world tour series, "HATSUNE MIKU EXPO," has toured 111 shows in 46 cities to date. The series' first Asia tour is scheduled for November 2025, followed by a North American tour in 2026. In addition to events, a variety of related content is also being developed both domestically and internationally, including collaborations with traditional performing arts and famous artists.
I'll be going to NJ again! I was hoping to go to multiple shows but not enough are close by. If I could figure out how to get to Boston then maybe I'll go there too.
I'm probably going to aim for Denver again, with Chicago as a backup. Since they start sales at 10AM in the time zone of each city, that's basically two "chances" an hour apart. 
I want to go back to the "Akihabara" arcade there lol.
I want to go back to the "Akihabara" arcade there lol.
Considering the amount of shows planned in such a short time between one city and the other, the different venues, and the fact that for the official press release they have chosen the photos with the TV screen, I think the projection screen is kept for domestic concerts, while LED screen is used for overseas for various reasons: better logistics, less staff people that need to calibrate and check the screen (so is better for the local organizing team), in case of some tech issues is easier to find a replacement, much better for any kind of venues (especially with more floors and different viewing angles).
I know the projection screen is more iconic and loved by the fans, but also, I've heard only positive things from everybody that have attended the past events with the LED screen. In detail, they told me that the colors were a lot nice, and the motions too, and there weren't any problems regarding the viewing angles or possible reflections.
The logistics are important too: in Japan for example, for the Japan Tour or the Magical Mirai, there is usually a 2-3weeks difference between one concert venue and the other, and the venues are almost always the same, so they already know how to calibrate and place well the projection screen for best results.
In my opinion, you can always enjoy the concert, no matter the screen type (again, there is still no confirmation, only my guess), just being there and the atmosphere with all the fans and the live music, that makes the difference
As someone who thought the Pepper's Ghost effect was neat even before I knew about Miku...that was my experience with the last Expo. Photos don't do it justice, because camera sensors (especially with automatic exposure settings) simply do not look true to life in environments with atypical lighting. It looks bad on camera, but in person, it's incredibly sharp and vivid, with the screen edges blending into the darkness.
Conversely, I can wave my NeoPixel lightsaber around in front of a phone and you'll see that hot white core in the center, like in the movies, but in person it looks more like a big blue/green/purple/whatever LED.
I never had the opportunity to see an older Miku Expo in person, but the phone videos floating around on YouTube don't look spectacular either, with the projection. They've never been in the same playing field as Magical Mirai, using smaller screens and suffering from less control over the venues they rapidly set up in. (And when you see Magical Mirai recordings, you're seeing a professional videographer with a setup designed for it.)
The panel they used is massive, probably around 10 feet tall, and I'm pretty sure MicroLED (which means no backlight, so every dark pixel is truly dark). In addition to less reflections, you also don't have the overly bright projector beam getting in the way at times.
If they can make the traditional projection work for the tour, that's great. But I also understand the trade offs and won't personally mind if they do something similar again. I still had a lot of fun.
Sorry to double post, but I figured I'd dig up an example of a phone recording from Miku Expo 2016.
You can see the glass much of the time, and glowsticks reflected in it constantly. The illusion gets spoiled often by the lack of control over the venue, to ensure angles and lighting don't get in the way. The MicroLED panel, as seen in the announcement photos, quite often blends nicely. It too can be over-illuminated by the stage lights at times, showing the border, but much of the time it doesn't catch reflections.
This is kind of comparing the opposite way: a phone recording of the glass versus a professionally photographed shot of a concert wit the MicroLED panel, rather than comparing professionally shot Magical Mirai videos to phone recordings of Miku Expo.
There's always something that will not look optimal, with either method, so I just choose to enjoy it and suspend disbelief.
You can see the glass much of the time, and glowsticks reflected in it constantly. The illusion gets spoiled often by the lack of control over the venue, to ensure angles and lighting don't get in the way. The MicroLED panel, as seen in the announcement photos, quite often blends nicely. It too can be over-illuminated by the stage lights at times, showing the border, but much of the time it doesn't catch reflections.
This is kind of comparing the opposite way: a phone recording of the glass versus a professionally photographed shot of a concert wit the MicroLED panel, rather than comparing professionally shot Magical Mirai videos to phone recordings of Miku Expo.
There's always something that will not look optimal, with either method, so I just choose to enjoy it and suspend disbelief.
Still, not disclosing this beforehand last Expo was a shitty move and while they might have improved the setup in later concerts, the first few, which included the one I was going to go to, were very rough and I heard nothing but negativity from people who went.
Last edited: