I had never had too many interactions when it came to hololive or VTubers. My first times experiencing their fandoms came during conventions like Anime NYC, where I witnessed crowds of people swinging glowing sticks while staring upwards at a screen. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, besides maybe an internal quip about the novelty of a performance like that. I, like millions of other people, had seen the countless memes about VTuber concerts, from people expressing confusion at the concept to poking fun at fans’ reactions to their idols on screens. I never imagined that I would find myself at one of those concerts.
hololive’s All for One was the first VTuber concert I’ve attended but the third English concert for its performers, and it changed everything about how I see the industry, the technology behind it, it’s performers, and, with emphasis, it’s fans. If I had to pick one word to describe the feelings around the event, it would be energy. The energy in Radio City Music Hall on night two of the two night concert was unimaginable. Walking to the venue, I instantly felt the atmosphere shift as I got closer. The crowds dominating the sidewalks, not uncommon in a place like New York City, shifted to fans adorned in merch and attendees still wearing their cosplay from Anime NYC just hours prior. Those dressed as hololive members were stopping for photos, to the joy and mirth of those around them. Fandoms with a common favorite and common themed outfits were gathered together, creating little fandom pockets as people made their way into the theater. Before I even stepped inside I could tell the 6000-seat theater was going to be packed; the line to enter was wrapped around the block. The crowds were tight, but the emotion people wore on their faces was excitement at the concert to come.
Inside the venue, as the time for the concert to begin approached, attendees started making their way to their seats. Then, the cheers started. For the 20 minutes prior to the concert’s start, references to different hololive members were shouted and echoed across the venue. It felt like the VTuber equivalent of baseball stadium style chants; a rendition of “Everywhere we go” was started and dutifully continued by hundreds of people screaming “We are the hololive fandom” and immediately waiting for the next person to start a chant or a cheer.
Then, large screens lit up as the livestream for the concert started up before the music did. Immediately, like a tidal wave, hundreds if not thousands of people began standing up and readying their glow sticks. Someone stood on their chair from the upper section and shouted, “Stand! Support your oshi!” and half of those still seated joined those who rose from their chairs. I sensed nothing but wholehearted adoration from the crowd and it felt infectious.
As the music started, the screams were deafening. The concert opened with the saxophone-filled and thundering “START AGAIN,” the early groovy section of the song accompanied with a veritable light show as lasers offered a visual accompaniment to the VTubers on singing and dancing on a virtual stage. Glow sticks were shaken in time with the beat (impressively on time, I might add) with different motions for the introduction, bridge, and chorus of the song. Attendees would change the color of the sticks to whatever color most suited the performer singing at the time. At the first chorus, the sheer amount of motion from people waving their arms and moving in their seats was enough to shake the upper level of Radio City Music Hall and give me some thoughts about its structural integrity.
This was it, this was the moment I was converted. The combination of the bright, bustling chorus, the screams and cheers from the crowd, the movement of the audience, and the bevvy of flashing lights was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. I instantly found myself thinking about the sheer level of coordination that must have gone into the event. hololive makes use of some of the most advanced motion capture technology in the world, giving singers access to a full range of motion that is captured and shown on a virtual stage via their avatars. This meant that the experience was fundamentally different from the webcam-style floating heads I often saw at anime conventions. This was, in no uncertain terms, a concert amongst concerts. And that’s without even speaking on the music itself, which combined strong production and vocals. Every part of the performance was done well.
As the concert continued, different performers would leave the stage by transforming into their emblems, only to be replaced by the performers of the next song popping into place with cheers as the audience eagerly awaited what song was going to play. Cheers as performers like Hakos Baelz, performing a live version of “La Roja,” added incredible dancing to their performances, and the cheers for songs like “III” featuring Gigi Murin and Nerissa Ravencroft made me instantly regret not bringing any form of ear protection. I was aware of how popular hololive was in general, with thousands attending even the earliest concert and tens of thousands tuning into livestreams, but I never could have imagined what the experience was like in person. The non-Japanese audience is still growing too, assisted in part by the live streams of concerts like this one and the collective tens of millions of YouTube subscribers the English speaking performers alone have. And for good reason, all of them are incredibly good at working with an audience. Even during a brief technical mishap (hololive English is cursed with such happenings, apparently) they handled things perfectly and kept bantering with the crowd without missing a beat.
The energy even continued as the concert concluded, with all of the singers returning to the stage for an encore performance at the insistence of the crowd. After the show, as thousands slowly made their way out of the Music Hall, the fandom pockets returned and I saw plenty of socializing amongst attendees. There was a clear mutual appreciation for the shared experience we’d all had and how amazing it really was.
Ultimately, the hololive All for One concert felt like a celebration of the human experience and is something I’d more than recommend you experience for yourself. Even if you’re someone like myself with less than a superfan’s level of familiarity with the music and fandom, you’ll enjoy yourself, that much is certain. This is a unique kind of concert you’re unlikely to witness anywhere else, that much is for sure.
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