Umamusume Concert Cancelled: Why the LA Shows Fell Through and What Fans Get Back

The Umamusume concert in Los Angeles was cancelled because the 17 voice actresses could not get U.S. visas in time. Cygames called off both shows of Umamusume: Pretty Derby – 7th EVENT WORLD TOUR: THE STAGE in LOS ANGELES, planned for October 22 and 23, 2026 at the Peacock Theater, on the night of Monday, October 19 (Los Angeles time). On October 21 it said it will also repay fans' travel and hotel costs. Here's what happened, what fans can get back, and why U.S. visas have become one of the biggest problems for Japanese performers.

Why Was the Umamusume Concert Cancelled?

The visas needed for the performers to enter and work in the United States were not approved before the show dates. On Sunday, October 18, the Umamusume staff said they had been working with U.S. lawyers and promoters on the visas for more than six months, that approval still hadn't come, and that they would make a final call by 10:00 p.m. PDT on Monday, October 19. That evening they cancelled both nights, saying they had "explored every possible option" but "were unable to obtain the necessary visas for entry into the US."

Cygames has not said whether the applications were refused or simply still pending, or whether every visa was missing or only some of them. Either way, the cast could not be replaced. The singers are the voice actresses of the horse girls themselves, from Machico (Tokai Teio) and Tomoyo Takayanagi (Oguri Cap) to Yukina Shutō (Haru Urara) and Hinaki Yano (Kitasan Black). SoraNews24 also points out that production was credited to Bandai Namco Music Live, a company with plenty of experience sending talent abroad, which makes a simple paperwork mistake unlikely. The next question for most fans is money.

Umamusume Concert Refunds: Tickets, Flights and Hotels

Ticket refunds are automatic for anyone who bought through AXS, and Cygames will also cover travel costs. Here is what has been announced so far:

To claim travel or hotel costs, Cygames will ask for proof of payment and receipts. It has not opened the claim process yet and says details will follow on the official tour site, so keep every booking confirmation and receipt now. Covering flights and hotels is unusual, since organizers normally refund only the ticket. Those costs only exist because a visa never arrived, which leads to the bigger question: why is this so hard?

Why Do Japanese Performers Need a U.S. Visa?

Japanese citizens can visit the U.S. as tourists with a quick online ESTA approval, but ESTA does not allow paid performances. A performer who is paid to appear on stage needs a work visa, usually an O-1 (individuals with "extraordinary ability") or a P visa (P-1 for internationally recognized entertainment groups, P-3 for culturally unique performers). Cygames hasn't said which category it applied for.

Getting one has two steps:

• The petition: a U.S. employer or agent files Form I-129 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). NPR describes these petitions as hundreds of pages of press clippings, awards, letters, contracts and tour itineraries.
• The visa itself: once USCIS approves the petition, each performer still needs an interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate in their home country.

For a show with 17 performers plus their staff, every one of those people has to clear both steps before the flight. Each step has gotten slower, as the numbers show.

How Long Does a U.S. Artist Visa Take in 2026?

Much longer than a year ago. According to an NPR report from July 14, 2026, the average review time for a P visa petition is 11 and a half months, and an O-1 petition for an individual artist now takes a little over a year. Artists and attorneys told NPR that the same process used to take about two to four months. USCIS told NPR the new procedures are due to "increasing threats to public safety and national security."

Some coverage of the Umamusume cancellation said entertainer petitions can't be filed more than six months before an event. That's out of date. USCIS's own O-1 page says the employer or agent can file up to one year before the work starts. The real trap is that a one-year window and a processing time of a year or more leave almost no margin. The only reliable shortcut is premium processing, which NPR puts at $2,965 per petition, and even that only speeds up the USCIS step, not the embassy interview.

Umamusume is not the first act caught by this. NPR's report describes Swedish folk group Kongero paying for premium processing and still getting only two months of permitted entry instead of the year they asked for, which forced them to cancel the rest of their planned 2026 U.S. dates. So what happens to the tour now?

Is the Umamusume World Tour Still On?

Yes, outside the U.S. The 7th EVENT World Tour opened in Tokyo on June 20 and 21, 2026, and still lists stops in London, Seoul and a finale in Yokohama. None of those shows have dates or venues yet. No replacement U.S. show has been announced, and if a new petition has to be filed, the processing times above suggest it could take a year or more.

The cancellation hurts more because the U.S. is a fast-growing market for the franchise. The Umamusume: Pretty Derby game only launched in English on June 26, 2025, and it won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2025. These were the franchise's first concerts in America, and they were stopped by paperwork, not by demand. Here's how I see it.

Kairo's Take

Honestly, it's just a massive bummer all around. If you're a fan, cancelling three days before the show is the absolute worst-case scenario: people cleared their work schedules, booked flights, reserved hotels and got hyped to see the voice cast live for what was supposed to be a major U.S. milestone for the franchise. Even with Cygames stepping up to cover travel and lodging, you can't refund someone's wasted PTO or the excitement they had for the weekend. On the operational side, it shows how much of a nightmare U.S. visa bureaucracy is for foreign performers right now. Starting more than six months in advance, with U.S. lawyers and local promoters handling the paperwork, should be plenty of time, but backlogs and processing delays are killing live events left and right. We've seen it happen to international touring acts and indie musicians over the last couple of years, and now it has hit anime too.

For more on the business side of anime, read why anime studios are going bankrupt during a boom and how much of anime Sony now owns, or browse the latest anime news.

Sources: Anime News Network on the visa warning, the cancellation and the travel reimbursement, SoraNews24, L.A. LIVE (AXS refunds), official tour site, NPR (visa processing times and fees), USCIS (O-1 filing window). Cover photo: the Peacock Theater, photographed in 2022 under its former name, Microsoft Theater, by Benoît Prieur, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0, cropped.