Ever wondered what a VIRTUAL MUSIC FESTIVAL might look like? Check this out

I am thirsty – THIRSTY! – for live music these days, and I know I’m not the only one. You can only quaran-stream so much music before you’re like… OK I’d like to see a real human in real time. Especially if you live in Halifax, or any other place that has usually has a great local music scene.

While we wait out the pandemic, I had to poke around a bit online to see what might satisfy my need and I found something. Instagram Live is cool, but this is cooler:

Porter Robinson is a popular American DJ, and one of my favourite artists. He’s one of those guys who’s always pushing the limits of what can be done with music and technology. He threw his first-ever virtual festival earlier this month called “Secret Sky,” and you could join as a participant from your own computer - and even navigate your way around the festival with other participants.

Check out the first few minutes of this YouTube to see what it was like to be a fan at the virtual show:

[The little beams of light are other concertgoers from around the world. Cool eh?]

This video is just an example of one person’s experience – the actual festival had hundreds of thousands of viewers tuned in.

Could this be the future of live music? Hopefully not - I still want to be around real people. I think there’s room for both. It’ll be great to see in-person live music make a full comeback, but imagine having the option to join in remotely (especially for all those festivals that you totally want to see but it’s too expensive to travel to… how cool would that be if you could buy a specially-priced virtual ticket to Coachella?) I’d be into it.

If you’re a real EDM fan, here’s Porter’s full set: