VocaSphere Report: HATSUNE MIKU JAPAN TOUR 2023 THUNDERBOLT in Tokyo
Hello, readers! Marumain here, back from a weekend of enjoying the Tokyo stop of the HATSUNE MIKU JAPAN TOUR 2023 THUNDERBOLT! It was such a special experience for me – even more than I initially expected – that I had to write a report about it. Although the concert’s Sapporo show will be available for viewing online this upcoming Saturday, March 25th, 2023 – which we of course highly recommend everyone watch – this report is here for anyone interested in knowing more about my thoughts on the concert before watching it themselves, and for sharing photos from my visits to the the related collaboration café!
※A word of warning: this report contains major spoilers to the THUNDERBOLT setlist! Although the setlist may change for the upcoming Sapporo concert, it is still expected that most songs will be the same, so please refrain from reading the “Concert Experience” section if you do not wish to be spoiled before watching the concert online!
THUNDERBOLT Collaboration Café
In the days leading up to the Tokyo performances, a THUNDERBOLT collaboration café was announced to be held at the PASELABO Tower in Shinjuku from March 7th through March 19th!
At the café would be all sorts of merchandise and menu items that use the official illustrations of the piapro characters supplied by akiakane and matumot.
You can see an overview of the available merchandise and menu on the event’s main webpage here, and continue reading for an overview of my own experience there!
Café Experience
First Visit
I made my first visit to the cafe on Saturday, March 11, a full week before the concert would happen in Tokyo to get myself hyped up for it!
Before stepping into the café area, I needed to first go into the reception area on the first floor of the PASELABO Tower. I tend to arrive at places early and have to wait for a while before reception for my reservation time begins. However, the reception area was playing a lot of VOCALOID music the whole time, making the wait go by quickly! What also helped was how the merchandise shelves were also placed here so that customers could peruse the THUNDERBOLT goods while waiting for their turn.
Once it was finally my turn, I proceeded to the third floor of the café where the walls were adorned with the THUNDERBOLT event main visual, and two television sets were looping the THUNDERBOLT promotional movie and the event song, THUNDERBOLT by jon-YAKITORY! Each floor is pretty small (the café and the tower were more vertical and tall than horizontal and wide/spacious), but definitely sufficient to make one feel surrounded by the THUNDERBOLT atmosphere and mood.
You can see how the reception area and the café floor looked in the video and photos below!
During my first visit the café, I ordered:
- MEIKO’s Sake Kasu Tomato Curry
- MEIKO’s Cranberry Juice
- Luka’s Truffle-Scented Tuna Carpaccio Salad
- Luka’s Strawberry Milk
- KAITO’s Blue Ice Parfait
- KAITO’s Butterfly Lemonade
Luka’s menu items were the first to arrive! Her salad was a nice starter, but what I really loved was the tuna muffin sandwich. It was soft and fluffy, perfect for biting into as a sandwich, and far better than a McMuffin that most may be used to getting. It’s also nice to eat something actually tuna-based for a Luka dish, something that I feel is actually surprisingly rare in collaboration cafes despite her character setting!
Her strawberry milk was quite nice, too. It was topped with plenty of whipped cream and granulated sugar chunks, making it almost like a dessert in and of itself!
Both the food and the drink came with a monaka made into the shape of the THUNDERBOLT logo, too!
Some closeups:
Both the food and the drink came with a Luka character stand, and a random coaster, which is why they are priced so high (￥1,980 JPY for each food dish, and ￥990 JPY for each drink). It felt a little like overkill to get two of the same character stand, especially since they inflate the prices, but that’s what comes with ordering both character menu items. The same would apply to all the other characters in this collaboration café, as well.
MEIKO’s items were next! Her curry definitely screamed “THUNDERBOLT!” the loudest with its rice pattered after an actual thunderbolt. The curry also contained a lot of eggplant, making me think that it was mapo curry at first, but it turned out to be not nearly as spicy as real mapo curry. It still tasted great, though, and was the most filling out of all the dishes!
MEIKO’s cranberry juice tasted pretty standard, and had the same generous helping of whipped cream and sugar chunks as Luka’s drink. Needless to say, it felt like my second dessert already!
Some closeups:
But then came the REAL dessert in the form of KAITO’s parfait! Couple this with his butterfly lemonade with the same mountain of whipped cream and granulated sugar, and you can understand why I was worried about a sugar rush all of a sudden!
There were so many layers to the parfait that closeups are really necessary to see what was in it!
- Whipped cream
- Berries
- Vanilla ice cream
- Blueberry jelly
- More whipped cream
- Soda jelly
- Even more whipped cream
- Finally, corn flakes with dried fruit
That would round out my first visit to the cafe. I was too full (of sugary food) to order anything else, deciding to save the rest for another day. Incidentally, here were all the coasters that I got on my first visit!
Second Visit
My second visit would come on Thursday, March 16th. One thing that I immediately noticed was different was how the café speakers were no longer looping just THUNDERBOLT and the concert trailer, but now playing a wide array of songs. This was a nice change, as the constant looping of the same song from the first visit got a little tiresome pretty quickly.
This time, I ordered:
- Miku’s Leek Baiser Pasta
- Miku’s Melon Soda
- Kagamine Rin & Len’s Rare Cheesecake with Double Sauce
- Len’s Citron Soda
- Rin’s Mango Juice
- MEIKO’s Sake Kasu Tomato Curry (2nd time)
- Luka’s Truffle-Scented Tuna Carpaccio Salad (2nd time)
- Luka’s Strawberry Milk (2nd time)
- MEIKO’s Cranberry Juice (2nd time)
Yes, in addition to ordering the remaining menu items, I also ordered MEIKO and Luka’s food plates and drinks again. This second visit was after a long day of work in which I barely ate anything, and wanted more entrees than just the pasta, especially since everything else was dessert food or drinks. That, and I may have wanted to try for more coasters that I haven’t gotten yet!
Miku’s menu items were both appropriately… green, even the pasta. The dish was also topped with tons of shredded onions. Being a Miku fan and frequenter of Miku collab cafes means that you got to develop a taste for onions, and lots of onions! This café was no different!
Miku’s melon soda also had the same heaping helping of whipped cream as the other drinks, making it feel more like a float than a regular beverage!
Some closeups:
Finally, we get to the Kagamine cheesecake. It was served with cocoa power on it to look like a piano keyboard! Along with MEIKO’s curry, this was the other dish that felt stylized to look like something else! The mixture of both lemon and mango sauce – fruits with Len and Rin’s colors – was especially sweet and fruity. However, the whole cake was sitting on actual lemon slices too, giving the final bites of the dessert a nice sour kick!
Some closeups:
At the end of my second visit, here were also the new coasters that I got!
You can read or jump to the end of this report for the remainder of the café portion!
THUNDERBOLT Concert Experience
Then finally came the big day, March 18th, 2023 when I would at last get to go watch THUNDERBOLT at Zepp DiverCity!
My excitement was almost dampened a little due to the fact that it was pouring rain that day, but wild horses couldn’t keep me away from the concert. I grabbed my poncho and headed to venue, waiting outside in the cold rain with thoughts of seeing Miku and friends soon being what kept me warm and fired up!
When I finally could go inside, the temperature did a complete 180°; suddenly it was super hot and stuffy! This was a sold-out concert, and the venue was underground and probably didn’t have much of a ventilation system. That resulted in a really tight and crowded audience space with hot air being breathed out by perhaps hundreds of people making the room extra sultry.
It also didn’t help that this was an all-standing concert without any seats (at least not on the first floor where I wanted to be). Not having any controlled seating arrangement meant that everyone there would have to keep on their feet for a whole two hours while being crammed like sardines in the concert room! Just a few minutes in, I was already sweating and exhauted! I could barely even reach into my backpack to take out my glowsticks because there no room to maneuver my arms easily!
However, all that discomfort was immediately forgotten once the lights dimmed, the background music got louder, the band members came out on stage, and the green glowsticks started waving. THUNDERBOLT was about to commence!
Once again, remember that this was the March 18, 2023 daytime concert that I attended, so its setlist may be different from other shows that went on.
Also remember that the following is all spoilers for anyone who wants to wait until the final concert in Sapporo is streamed online! Make sure to STOP reading here if you are one of those people!
Song 1: THUNDERBOLT
Right off the bat came a song that I’ve become very familiar with: the concert theme song, THUNDERBOLT! This was the best choice for zapping the audience back to life and set the tone for the whole rest of the show!
It was also then I remembered that it’s okay for the audience to cheer and shout during this concert, thanks to everyone all around me doing so at the top of their lungs. Having gone to so many concerts these past two years where we could only clap and wave glowsticks in silence, I completely forgot what it felt like to cheer with all your might for the performers on stage, and what a big difference it makes. And for me, THUNDERBOLT was that concert experience that brought everything back to the way things were before, making me feel extra grateful to be here!
Song 2: 気まぐれメルシィ / Kimagure Mercy
Next up, Miku did her first outfit swap into the one that she wears in the music video for Kimagure Mercy by HachiojiP, and started singing that very song!
This is a song that I’ve recently rediscovered my love for thanks to its inclusion in Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! feat. Hatsune Miku. This was also my first time seeing it performed live in concert that wasn’t online for me! Suffice to say, my glowstick was waving hard at that moment! (Well, as hard as I could wave it without hitting any of the many people who were squeezing up against me in that crowded room. I imagine that they were all in the same boat with their glowstick-waving.)
Also, it’s worth mentioning that this wouldn’t be the last time that I would listen to Kimagure Mercy that day; taking place later that same evening would be Momoi Airi‘s birthday live concert in Project SEKAI where the song was also performed!
Song 3: アンハッピーリフレイン / Unhappy Refrain
Next came another nostalgic song: wowaka‘s Unhappy Refrain. Miku even busted out a guitar and started jamming on it while singing. Many of the glowsticks in the room even turned white in honor of the late producer.
Of course, that didn’t mean the mood turned somber, quite far from it! With everyone allowed to cheer aloud, it sounded like everyone was louder than ever during this performance, almost as if to get their voices reaching wowaka wherever he is. This may have just been my imagination, of course, but it was a very strong feeling of mine at that moment, especially once I joined in on all the excited cheering!
Miku also then thanked us all for coming, and expressed how happy she was to be able to perform for us like this. She then asked us to enjoy the rest of the show, a request that I was sure that I’d have no trouble fulfilling!
Song 4: Gimme×Gimme
Next was a more recent song, and one that I have seen performed on stage in person before: Gimme×Gimme by HachiojiP and Giga! This was Rin’s first appearance in the show, so I saw a lot of orange glowsticks light up around me, prompting me to also change mine to orange.
I may have seen this song performed before during Magical Mirai 2020, but seeing it on stage again was a nice treat, nonetheless. In fact, if memory serves me right, they even added a part at the very, very end of the song where Miku and Rin suddenly blow kisses at the audience, complete with a smooching sound effect played and their models doing the blow kiss gesture! This was a pretty nice surprise for veteran Miku concert goers to see something new in a familiar song performance!
Song 5: みかぼし / Mikaboshi
Then the lights on stage turned blue, and the glowsticks all followed suit as we knew who would come on next. And as expected, on came KAITO with a guitar to perform Mikaboshi by 3106!
The performance was pretty identical to what I remember from Magical Mirai 2020. While enjoying it again, I also started to wonder how different THUNDERBOLT is supposed to be from Magical Mirai concerts, or perhaps THUNDERBOLT was always meant to be something like Magical Mirai on tour.
Song 6: ANIMAL
However, that thought dissipated when Len appeared on stage for a solo performance of ANIMAL by oQ!
Along with THUNDERBOLT, here was another new concert song for me, and Len sang and danced wonderfully to a sea of yellow glowsticks now! This got me extra excited to watch and enjoy more song performances that would be new to me!
Song 7: ぼかろころしあむ / Vocalo Coliseum
Then Rin came back on stage for a surprise performance of DIVELA‘s Vocalo Coliseum!
On top of being a song I’ve never personally seen performed on stage before, it had quite a different mood to it compared to the rest of the set list so far. I was certainly ready for more surprises!
Song 8: 私の恋はヘルファイア / Watashi no Koi wa Hellfire
Next, it was MEIKO’s turn as she came on and sang a firey rendition of Watashi no Koi wa Hellfire by SLAVE.V-V-R!
I heard this song not only at Magical Mirai last year, but also recently at Yomiuriland where it was played a lot during the Hatsune Miku 16th Anniversary collaboration. But you know, it’s such a good MEIKO song that I never tire of it, and was still super pumped to see and enjoy it again at THUNDERBOLT!
Song 9: 独りんぼエンヴィー / Hitorinbo Envy
Right as the intro to the next song began, I knew exactly what was coming: Hitorinbo Envy by koyori!
To say that I’ve listened to this song “a lot” would be a total understatement, thanks to how much I play Project SEKAI and how much it gets spammed in Multi-Lives. But listening to it performed in a real live concert (as opposed to an in-game Virtual Live) was still really exciting for me, and my familiarity with the song just made it that much easier to wave my glowstick properly to the tune of the song!
Song 10: on the rocks
KaiMei got real at THUNDERBOLT when OSTER project‘s on the rocks was performed! I actually saw this song performed on stage recently during the MIKUEC 2022 fanmade concert, but this being my first time seeing the official performance in-person still made it really enjoyable for me!
It’s also interesting that both songs featuring MEIKO at THUNDERBOLT fall into the jazz/swing-like genre. Whoever arranges Crypton concerts seems to believe that this genre fits MEIKO really well, and thus we see her performing so many of such songs!
Song 11: 秘密警察 / Himitsu Keisatsu
Then police sirens started wailing at the THUNDERBOLT venue, and it soon became clear which song was on next: Himitsu Keisatsu by ぶりるP / BuriruP!
Although this wasn’t my first time watching the song performed live in person, it was my first time watching it at a concert where the audience could yell and cheer. This means I actually joined in at the parts where Miku – and everyone present – sings “Asa kara ban made omae o miru!” something that I’ve always wanted to do ever since seeing online clips of people do that with live performances of this song! I’m so glad that THUNDERBOLT finally gave me that chance!
Song 12: 聖槍爆裂ボーイ / Seisou Bakuretsu Boy
Len returned to the stage for another high-octane performance with Seisou Bakuretsu Boy by れるりり / Rerulili!
For me, Len has actually been stealing the show in many official concerts with his solo performances. I remember his performance of 心がどっか寂しいんだ / Kokoro ga Dokka Sabishiinda from Magical Mirai 2022 as the one that moved me the most that year, and I’d say his performance of Seisou Bakuretsu Boy is the song that did that for me at THUNDERBOLT! I’ve become such a Len fan thanks to that!
Song 13: 完全性コンプレックス / Kanzensei Complex
Finally, Luka gets the chance to sing at THUNDERBOLT!
She performed Kanzensei Complex by やみくろ / Yamichrome as her only song, just like at Magical Mirai 2020. It must have been a well-received performance back then to warrant bringing it back for THUNDERBOLT to represent Luka. This time around, however, she didn’t turn all pink and disappear in flower petals like I remember from Magical Mirai, so that stage production was at least changed slightly.
Song 14: 命に嫌われている。/ Inochi ni Kirawareteiru.
The Magical Mirai flashbacks continued when Miku returned to the stage to sing another familiar tune: カンザキイオリ / Kanzaki Iori’s Inochi ni Kirawareteiru! The sight and sounds of the sea of green and white glowsticks waving to Miku’s powerful singing of this emotional song that resonates with so many people was every as it was in Magical Mirai, making it easy to see why it was also brought back for THUNDERBOLT.
Once the song ended, the band member introductions began! They are:
- Sasaki Yuta on guitar
- Shirai Akito on keyboard
- Asakura Takaaki on bass
- Eno Masafumi on drums
Each band member played their respective instrument marvelously and perfectly reproduced all these familiar songs we know and love in live concert form!
Song 15: いいねってYEAH! / Ii ne tte YEAH!
The show then continued with Len and Rin singing Ii ne tte YEAH! by じーざすP / JesusP!
Despite being a pretty new song (not even a year old yet), being the theme song for Two You★☆ made it a very important and familiar song for all Kagamine fans, and everyone at THUNDERBOLT knew exactly when to call out “HAI! HAI! HAI! HAI! HAI! HAI!” and other chants! As someone who missed attending Two You★☆ last year, I was so glad to get the chance to hear this song at THUNDERBOLT!
Song 16: 魔法みたいなミュージック! / Mahou Mitai na Music!
Then Miku was back for another pleasantly surprise song pick: Mahou Mitai na Music! by OSTER Project!
This song’s recently inclusion in COLORFUL STAGE means that I also rediscovered my love for it, and have been wanting to see it performed at a live concert again someday. Little did I know that “someday” would come so soon thanks to THUNDERBOLT, complete with Miku in her seldom-seen black, white and pink dress and large odango hairstyle! Hearing a MIKU EXPO theme song at THUNDERBOLT made this concert feel more like a mixture of past event hits instead of something like a Magical Mirai lookback.
Song 17: 好き!雪!本気マジック / Suki! Yuki! Maji Magic!
And the next song, Suki! Yuki! Maji Magic! by Mitchie M, added to that feeling even more!
Now we were getting a past Snow Miku theme song in THUNDERBOLT! Even though it had just turned to spring, I suddenly found myself wishing for snow, especially when I turned my glowstick blue to match Miku’s adorable snow witch outfit on stage. Getting to experience live concert performances of so many songs that I previously only watched online was the best thing about THUNDERBOLT for me.
Song 18: ワールドイズマイン / World is Mine
Then came one of those staple songs of a Miku concert: World is Mine by ryo!
The THUNDERBOLT stage setting may have been less flashy than Magical Mirai performances of this song (no high-production background effects or anything, and the stage is smaller than ones from Magical Mirai venues), but that made this song no less enjoyable. In fact, getting to see a more modest production of a classic song brought back memories of the past and how the song’s performance used to look, which was nostalgic and enjoyable in its own way. After all, even high-end productions can get old if reused all the time, but good songs and simple, pure stage productions are timeless!
Song 19: 千本桜 / Senbonzakura
And then came another staple Miku song, Senbonakura by 黒うさP / KurousaP, as the concert venue turned into a beautiful sea of green and pink!
Is it a song that has been played to death at Miku concerts, events, collabs and more? Yes, perhaps so.
Was I feeling bored or dejected when I heard it come on, then? Heck no!
I’ve seen this song performed online a million times at many concerts, especially at Cho Kabuki every year, and the audience interaction and chanting looked like the most fun out of any established Miku concert song! The way the audience knows when to chant lyrics like “Ma ni Ma ni!” and go “ooooh, hey!” in unison afterwards, despite not being part of the song melody, is something that can only catch on for a song after it has been performed and enjoyed many, many times in live concertform, established by the biggest Miku fans who attend said concerts and agree on the fan-created chant.
And let’s always remember that Miku’s world is one that is created and shaped by fans and fan creations. And I felt more strongly than ever at that moment in THUNDERBOLT that song chants are another form of fan-created works and celebrations of Miku, especially ones that are agreed-upon and performed by so many different people across concerts in different parts of the world! That’s the amazing thing about the Senbonzakura chant, and I for one am so happy that I finally, finally got to perform it myself alongside other Miku-lovers at THUNDERBOLT!
Song 20: 桜ノ雨 / Sakura no Ame
I was about to change the color of my pink glowstick, but then left it the same as I heard which song would be next: Sakura no Ame by halyosy.
Of course, the mood changed completely. It’s graduation season in Japan, and on that day all across the nation, people are listening to this song being sung in celebration of changes and new beginnings, including at the Zepp DiverCity concert venue. Whenever I watch this song sung online – by Miku or otherwise – the people in the venue are always left in tears, and I wondered if the same was going to happen at THUNDERBOLT.
And as the song ended, I got my answer in the form of emotional cheers of “MIKU!” from the audience, called in a way that you can tell the people are choked up. I, too, felt a lump in my throat and dampness on my cheeks at that moment as I finally understand now what effect this song has on people who listen to it performed live and in-person. It was an experience I have seen others experience online many times, but experiencing it for myself at THUNDERBOLT is something that I will never forget.
Song 21: ラッキー☆オーブ / Lucky☆Orb
Once Sakura no Ame ended, the lights stayed off for a long time, suggesting that the concert was over. But of course, we couldn’t end a Miku concert with everyone in tears. I’m sure everyone believed it was over for a full 1 second, because now everyone was calling for an encore!
It took a long time and a lot of hand clapping to the point of sore palms, but the band did finally return to stage, and they were followed by Miku in her Lucky☆Orb outfit, ready to sing the titular MIKU EXPO 5th Anniversary theme song by emon(Tes.)!
Once again, getting the relive a MIKU EXPO performance at THUNDERBOLT reaffirmed my impression of the concert tour as a true lookback at Miku’s biggest and brightest moments in concert over the past sixteen years, including ones from overseas. MIKU EXPO 5th Anniversary was, in fact, one of the very first Miku concerts I ever attended in person, traveling to great lengths to watch in the actual venue, so seeing Lucky☆Orb performed at THUNDERBOLT was like a wave of nostalgia for me!
Song 22: Tell Your World
Then came what is probably Miku’s trademark song, one that everyone should know: Tell Your World by kz!
It’s another one of those songs that has a decided-on chant that many fans in attendance know, singing the parts where Miku goes “koto ga” and shaking your glowstick especially high during those parts! This song has been performed so much that even I have experience doing this in concert, but it just never gets old, and I was having just a big of a blast at THUNDERBOLT!
Then Miku appeared on stage again and thanked us for the encore! That’s also when she told us that the next song is the real, real last song, and expressed how much fun she had, and how it would mean the world to her if we continue supporting her and her friends, and if we can meet again in future concerts very soon.
Song 23: ノヴァ / Nova
And with that came the final song of the daytime THUNDERBOLT concert in Tokyo: Nova by *Luna!
And what a surprise choice for final song! The event that it was made for, GALAXY LIVE 2021, was an entirely online concert held on the virtual live platform, INSPIX WORLD, complete with very elaborate stage productions that you can only do on an entirely virtual space. Being performed on a real stage was not something that it was written for, but Miku’s voice and choreography were so spectacular that it didn’t matter!
At that moment, it felt like THUNDERBOLT not only brought back Miku’s great concert performances from across Japan and overseas, but even from the virtual world and made them real! Sure, this stage performance of Nova didn’t have that super awesome scene of Miku landing on a previously desolate world and bringing it back to life after an epic story told in live concert form (again, this was all originally on a virtual platform), but who knows? Maybe someday, we can see such breathtaking virtual concerts on an actual live stage. Bringing Nova into the realm of a real stage could be the first step in that goal!
Conclusion
And thus, THUNDERBOLT came to a close for me. And when it did, my first sensation was…
OUCH!
After being snapped back to reality, I finally realized how much my legs were sore from standing for over two straight hours, and very stiffly in that jampacked concert venue. What’s more, I was positively drenched in sweat from head to toe from the super hot air, even hotter now after the concert from everyone’s cheering.
During THUNDERBOLT, it was impossible to realize all this because of the excitement from seeing Miku. But once it was all over, my body condition caught up with me, and I had to practically limp slowly out of Zepp DiverCity!
But it was an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I’ve been to many Miku concerts before, but the setlist, the atmosphere and the overall purpose of THUNDERBOLT as a Japan-wide concert tour made it feel special. And I for one can’t wait to see if ther will be more THUNDERBOLT concerts! We may have just seen the start of another new Miku event tradition like Magical Mirai, MIKU EXPO or Miku With You!
Back to the THUNDERBOLT Cafe
Third Visit
While still high on THUNDERBOLT fever and not wanting to end just yet, I made a last-minute decision in the afternoon of March 18th, 2023 to visit the collaboration café one last time. And so I hopped on their reservation site and reserved a spot for their very last time slot that day!
Once back at the café, I ordered:
- Luka’s Truffle-Scented Tuna Carpaccio Salad (3rd time)
- MEIKO’s Sake Kasu Tomato Curry (3rd time)
- Miku’s Leek Baiser Poasta (2nd time)
- Kagamine Rin & Len’s Rare Cheesecake with Double Sauce (2nd time)
- KAITO’s Butterfly Lemonade (2nd time)
This gave me at least one menu item for each of the THUNDERBOLT performers! I even took photos of each dish and drink with their stands and even coasters in cases when I had them all together!
After finishing my very large piapro character meal and heading home, I took a look at my final coaster count, including duplicates. Have a look for yourself! (Yes, that’s a LOT of KAITOs!)
And… if you’re interested in knowing how many times I ordered a character item into to try and get all those coasters, as well as take pictures of them all together, then here’s also a look at all the character stands I got with them. Looking at them all here, I don’t know if I should feel proud or a little embarrassed!
Final Thoughts
The THUNDERBOLT experience – a combined experience of both café and concert – was an absolutely fantastic time!
With the café, the food and drinks were all scrumptious, which isn’t something that you can say with every collab cafe where some food may only be mediocre. That was part of why I didn’t mind ordering items multiple times in hopes of getting all the coasters. That said, cafes in which the food and drink items all come with an extra character stand and a random coaster tend to have inflated prices, and this was the case with the THUNDERBOLT cafe. But the food was so good that I may visit the café again just to sample their other menu items. In short, they may have won over a new customer!
And with the concert, I experienced so many “firsts” with it. It was the first official Miku concert since I formally moved to Japan two years ago in which the audience could shout and cheer. The joy from being able to do so again made this feel like the first “real” concert experience I’ve had since my move across the word, which alone is a very special feeling.
On top of that, THUNDERBOLT brought back live concert performances of so many classic songs that I previously only watched online. Being able to finally enjoy them in live concert form is something that I wouldn’t get as much from a Magical Mirai performance focusing on more new songs. Ones like Senbonzakura with its intricate cheering style, and Sakura no Ame with its raw emotion being on a whole different scale when experienced in a live venue with so many others feeling moved too, are the songs that I’m especially grateful to the THUNDERBOLT organizers for giving me the chance to enjoy firsthand.
Couple all that with the choice of concluding the concert with Nova, and it felt like THUNDERBOLT is aiming to give us a concert tour and experience with a setlist that wasn’t previously possible! Even if only a few parts of the setlist seem truly special to readers while the rest feel like retread ground, the was the whole of the experience put together that made THUNDERBOLT feel truly, truly special. This makes me very, very excited for the future of THUNDERBOLT, and the future of Miku concerts. I hope reading this gave everyone a taste of what it was like, and get all readers excited for the future, too!
Watch THUNDERBOLT Online!
And remember! You can watch the official livestream of the THUNDERBOLT concert in Sapporo on Saturday, March 25th at 18:00 JST! So make sure to watch online, too! Even I’m watching the Sapporo performance in hopes of reliving a portion of the experience. It’s just THAT good!
Watch and get tickets on:
LIVE VIEWING JAPAN: https://liveviewing.jp/overseas/hatsunemikujapantour2023-gc-eng/
ABEMA: https://abema.tv/channels/payperview-5/slots/9ZxgXJzFoD4aVD
