A hologram is selling out venues across America

Hatsune Miku, a Japanese singing synthesiser (or vocaloid) embodied by a hologram of a Sailor Moon-esque 16-year-old girl, last weekend completed the US leg of her first headlining tour of North America with two sold-out shows at the 2,200-capacity Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan.

Since late April Miku (pictured) has, backed by Brookyln chiptune act Anamanaguchi, played the WaMu Theater in Seattle (cap. 7,200), two shows at The Warfield in San Francisco (cap. 2,300), the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles (cap. 7,100), The Bomb Factory in Dallas (cap. 4,300), the NRG Arena in Houston (cap. 8,000), the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto (cap. 3,200) and The Chicago Theatre (cap. 3,880), culminating with an afternoon and an evening performance at the Hammerstein on Saturday.

She will continue on to Mexico, sans Anamanaguchi, on Wednesday for a show at the 8,000-capacity Auditorio Banamex, and wrap up the tour on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June with four concerts at the 1,900-capacity El Plaza Condesa in Mexico City.

“I like the idea that it’s a hologram. A lot of people judge you for the fact that it’s not a real person, but I feel like that’s the coolest part”

Miku’s repertoire is entirely crowdsourced: her songs are created by her fans using Crypton Future Media’s Piapro software, and if a song becomes popular enough among Miku’s fanbase it can become part of her onstage act.

“I like the idea that it’s a hologram, and a lot of people judge you for the fact that it’s not a real person — but I feel like that’s the coolest part,” Eunice, an 18-year-old woman who was at the Hammerstein, told Women’s Wear Daily. “I’m a tech fan so I feel like I’m seeing what’s going to be new for the future.

“All the songs playing are made by normal people who bought the software and got famous online because they’re talented. For the most part you don’t know what they look like or who they are — anyone can do it. [Miku] is the manifestation of a whole community rather than just one person’s work.”

Watch Miku in action below: