Would You Go to a Concert to Watch a Hologram?

Have you ever seen a piece of cool piece of tech that seemed to serve no real purpose? Here’s one example of something I think fits the bill… a hologram concert. No, it’s not music being presented in Klingon, but rather something that Japan – no surprise – is leading the trail on. There’s been a couple of videos floating around the Web for the past few months, and they are as unique as they are catchy.

I first stumbled on this when my friend linked me to this video of a concert held a earlier this fall. The “artist” is Hatsune Miku, an anime-styled female that sings pop music at a higher pitch. The music is not for everyone, but the concert as a whole is interesting, and I’m curious to see whether it catches on.

The point here is that there is no real singer up on the stage, but rather a “hologram” (multiple super-bright projectors are used along with other trickery). In the video, you can see a massive crowd jumping and dancing to the music, treating the concert pretty much like any other. While cool, this is something I have a hard time wrapping my head around. Is this what these concert-goers want, or are they simply appreciative of the cool-factor?

I don’t think I could take a concert using holograms in lieu of actual musicians all too seriously. It works with a show like this, or even the Gorillaz, but whether or not I’m in the minority, I don’t know. What do you guys think?