During the last weekend of October 2018, I made the trip to MIKU WITH YOU 2018 in Shanghai to see what China’s take on the exhibition and concert experience would be like. We’re also sharing our experiences and what we saw. Spoilers ahead, it was a lot of fun!
The Night Before Day 1
On the night of my arrival in Shanghai, I was told I was welcome to attend a fan DJ event at the nearby Shanghai SEGA Joypolis (Yes, there’s one in Shanghai!) hosted by the group over at MikuFans.net, the Chinese Hatsune Miku propagation site. I happily accepted, and we enjoyed the show on the venue’s DJ live stage, which lasted for 2 hours. After that, some newly-made friends took me to a steamed seafood style restaurant. Before we knew it, we had just a few hours to get some sleep before the big event…
Exhibition Day 1 & 2
Unlike the Magical Mirai exhibitions in Japan, the exhibitions for MIKU WITH YOU are limited to concert attendees. So make sure you have a live event ticket if you want to get in! The Shanghai event took place at a venue called “1876”, which is relatively new and has a live-event seating capacity of a modest 800. But it felt much bigger than that on the inside.
There is quite a list of available activities at the event to keep you occupied while you wait for your daytime or evening concert event. For starters, there is a stamp rally on your event guide book, which gives a free gift of a lanyard, a magnet, and a package of post cards. There’s several industry booths showing off the latest mobile games, official event and collaboration goods, more miniature “hologram” tech, a POPPRO live event stage, various arts and crafts, and more!
There were also life-sized statues of Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len on display, which made for fun photos. The display area shows off various figures and other official goods, prototypes, and displays showing the history of Snow Miku and Racing Miku.
The Live Concert Events
Naturally, photos and video recording are not allowed during the live events, but the official Weibo page for MIKU WITH YOU has shared some images. I would also like to applaud the event and venue staff for making the event such an enjoyable experience. The audio experience in particular was better than what Magical Mirai had to offer.
As always, it’s always best to experience an event like this in person! My short visit to Shanghai was jammed with great experiences, and the fans were very friendly and accommodating to overseas visitors. I highly recommend visiting a MIKU WITH YOU event in the future, if they can make another event happen!
About jrharbort
A Hatsune Miku fan since December 2007, jrharbort joined MikuFan as the Head Writer in October 2011. Follow on Twitter at @jrharbort.