Horse girls get stuck in the starting gate ahead of what would have been the franchise’s first-ever concerts in America.
October 22 and 23 were supposed to be big days for the Umamusume franchise. Coming roughly a year and a half since the launch of the Umamusume: Pretty Derby mobile game, concerts featuring the franchise’s vocal cast were planned for back-to-back days at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, marking the first-ever Umamusume concerts in America.
Unfortunately, while the venue, costuming, and choreography were all ostensibly good to go, visas to enter the U.S. were not, and both concerts have now been cancelled, just days before they were scheduled to take place.
As we previously reported, on the night of October 18 (Los Angeles time), the official Umamusume website and social media channels made the sudden announcement that the concerts were in jeopardy as a result of the necessary visas still not having been approved, despite organizers “working with lawyers and promoters in the U.S. to secure the visas necessary to enter the US since over six months ago.” With time running out to travel to Los Angeles and carry out on-site prep work, the organizers said a decision would need to be made by the following night, and the one they’ve made is to cancel the shows, announcing:
“It is with heavy hearts that we must announce the cancellation of the Umamusume: Pretty Derby–7th Event: The Stage in Los Angeles concerts planned for Oct 22–23, 2026. Although we have coordinated repeatedly with all parties concerned and explored every possible option in our efforts to make this event happen, we were unable to obtain the necessary visas for entry into the US, so we have come to the painful conclusion that holding the concerts is no longer possible.”
The statement goes on to “sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern this causes, and for announcing this so close to the event date,” and that last part makes this an especially aggravating turn of events. The two Los Angeles dates were the only scheduled stops in the U.S. for the Umamusume world tour, so there are definitely fans who made travel reservations in order to see the shows. Even though the cancellation statement says that refunds will be issued for tickets that were purchased (either to see the concerts in-person or to watch the planned live-streams), recouping the costs of things like airline, hotels, and rental car reservations is going to be something fans are going to have to do on their own, and full refunds for those are probably going to be hard to come by on such short notice. There’s also the fact that, with the concerts having been scheduled for Thursday and Friday, many fans also likely took time off from work in order to attend the now-cancelled event.
The organizers do seem sympathetic to the fact that Trainers (as Umamusume fans are called within the fandom) may have grievances greater than just the cost of their concert tickets, and the statement says “[We are] looking into possible responses to Trainers who were planning to attend the concert in person. This will take some time, so we ask for your patience.”
As for where the blame lies, it’s hard to say without more details, and that information probably won’t be publicly disclosed. It’s generally pretty easy for Japanese nationals to obtain visas to enter the U.S. as tourists. They do have to complete the U.S. government’s ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) form and pay a fee, but those can be done entirely online and the process can be completed in just a few days’ time.
The U.S. government has never been known for speediness in processing work/professional activity visas, though, and needing more than six months for everything to be finalized wouldn’t be a record for complex or sensitive projects. The number of visas the concert organizers needed to obtain could also have been a complicating factor. 17 voice actresses were slated to take the stage, and they’d be traveling with administrative and support staff too. It hasn’t been disclosed if none of the potentially dozens of visa applications were approved in time, or if the concert cancellations are a result of certain key visas not being ready. It’s also worth noting that the organizers haven’t explicitly stated that the visa applications were rejected, so it’s possible that they’re still pending, but no longer had any chance of being ready in time to travel/prepare for the concerts.
On the other hand, while Umamusume rights-holder Cygames, Inc. is listed as the concerts’ organizer, production is credited to Bandai Namco Music Live Inc., a division of Bandai Namco, the biggest anime promoter/merchandiser in the industry. Sending talent overseas for promotional appearances isn’t something Bandai Namco is just now trying out for the first time, so you’d expect them to apply their experience and start the necessary visa applications with ample time to be approved, which suggests that the process was egregiously slow for the Umamusume concerts.
The next scheduled city on the Umamusume world tour is London, followed by Seoul, and then a return to Japan for a finale in Yokohama. None of those concerts have announced dates or venues yet, though, so it’s possible that replacement concerts could be organized for the U.S., but the chain of events that lead to the cancellation of the L.A. shows suggests that they wouldn’t be possible until, at the very least, more than six months from now.
Source: Umamusume official website, Umamusume 7th Event World Tour: The Stage official website (1, 2)
Images: Umamusume 7th Event World Tour: The Stage official website
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