Hololive’s Mori Calliope Gives Dead Beats a ‘Taste of Death’ During Her “GriMoire” Concert

Mori Calliope, the first member of hololive English -Myth-, performed a special, one-night second solo concert in front of a sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Palladium. This marks both her first ever solo performance in the US and hololive’s first soloist event held outside of Japan. Although the company previously held “hololive STAGE World Tour ’24 -Soar!-“ at Anime NYC and “hololive English 2nd Concert -Breaking Dimensions-” in 2024, they continued to spare no expense for Mori’s production. No stranger to live performances, the virtual YouTuber showed off her usual bravado without breaking a sweat.

Selling out a 4,000-capacity venue is an accomplishment by itself, but maintaining one’s stamina for a two-hour performance is another. Although Mori is a VTuber, utilizing a digital model to entertain audiences online and in-person, the creator behind the stage must still perform in real-time, with a team of staffers ensuring optimal performance. With a crowd online and in person cheering her on—including fellow holoEN members providing support from their own livestream watch alongs—Mori was ready to take on the special, one-night crowd.

The stage setup featured a high-definition ceiling-to-floor screen alongside a live band, and two high-definition screens that showed off moving camera angles. Even though it wasn’t a hologram production ( though hopefully that can be a possibility in the future) the stage was amplified by high quality renderings, coordinated lighting, lasers, and fog machines. As an artist signed to Universal Music Japan, the production felt on the same level as a pop-punk concert. One element that’s untransferable from a livestream is the energy of the crowd, well timed light effects, and the overall stage environment that brings out the inherent desire to cheer.

Dead Beats filled the ground floor standing areas to the brim, all with their special light sticks to hype up the crowd both on stream and in the venue. Interestingly, the audience was largely comprised of Millennials and men, which could easily be seen when the camera occasionally pans to the crowd after the 33:00 minute mark during the free portion of the stream. Nevertheless, the theater was in an uproar as the instrumental for “Go-Getters” played through the speakers.

Starting off the setlist with “MERA MERA,” Mori set the fiery tone for the rest of the show. Joined by four skeleton back-up dancers for “Miraijima ~future island~” and “Yona Yona Journey,” she continued to show her vocal control during the songs more demanding melodies as well as her rapping expertise. Taking the time to talk, Mori worked up the crowd with her confident stage presence.

“This is the first time we’re doing a solo live in America! Ah, there they go. USA! USA!” Before continuing, she gave a shout out to her band, whom all came from Japan: Ishii Yuya (drums)—who also worked as LiSA’s live drummer—Igo (bass), KOSEI (keyboard), and Bakki (guitar). She mentioned that she “plays a little bit of bass too,” which foreshadowed the appearance of a specially rendered scythe shaped bass guitar with a skeleton mic stand later in the setlist.

Although a tough song to sell, “SNEAKING – revenge” brought out the cheers as Mori and her band made it work. As a nice surprise, she debuted a new outfit for “DONMAI” and later laughed that “the jacket comes off” and “you couldn’t see that in 2021!”

Taking a well-deserved reprieve from her back-to-back songs, she took a moment to give a shoutout to “the girls” (her fellow hololive EN livers) and the hololive JP livers, who were giving their support on stream. “Don’t underestimate EN! This solo live is the first step in the US for many more successful shows.”

Since her debut five years ago, she reflected and voiced her sentimental thoughts. “My lyrics are who I am, and you guys understand. I sometimes get too into my head. But now, it’s time to decide if I’m going to write more English songs or go into Japanese.” After a brief pause, she explained how one audience will stop listening if they hear a language they don’t understand and will turn it off. “So, I made my decision to do both! I don’t care about any of that! I don’t need to appeal to anyone; look at all these people here!”

“I realized something,” she continued. “I’m kind of a bold person and it requires bravery and stupidity. When I put myself out there, I wasn’t thinking about how silly any of it seemed. My stupidity might be bigger than my bravery or vice versa.” Mori told the crowd she bid farewell to the “(her) who only rapped in the past.” Even though she’s still within her, Mori is moving forward on her new journey.

Before turning the final page on her grimoire, the background iron gates lit up in pink. “For a bunch of skeletons you sound like monkeys sometimes,” she said, before barking and hollering back at the crowd. Dedicating her last two encore songs to the person she was and the person she is, she thanked her agency, her friends, and her fans for their support.

“Thanks to hololive, I can be an idol forever. I went from a sad, shitty underground artist with no confidence to someone who is now able to do something. I aim for somewhere like Madison Square Garden. Thanks to the girls for always supporting me. And you guys! You crazy skeletons.”

Thank you to COVER Corporation for inviting us to the concert. Receiving access to this concert has not altered the opinions expressed in this article.

Article Editor: Bill Curtis