Still not convinced about the safety of in-person concerts? Attend this virtual reality festival instead

If COVID-19 is still too much of a concern for you to attend in-person festivals later this year, Splendour In The Grass has you covered. The Australian music festival unveiled their plans for the world’s first immersive virtual music fest, called Splendour XR. Vaccinated or not, folks can attend right from their couch. The festival returns July 24-25, following its cancellation due to the pandemic last year.

Performing acts include Khalid, CHVRCHES, The Killers, Charli XCX, Grimes Metaverse (Super Beta), Denzel Curry, Phoebe Bridgers, Vance Joy, Little Simz, The Avalanches and more. As a musician and co-ruler of the universe alongside Elon Musk, Grimes will unveil her new Metaverse (Super Beta) experience, whatever that means. Who even knows what kind of technology those two have in their basements, so it should be interesting. The completely virtual music festival be attended on mobile, tablet, browser, desktop and VR devices. The future is truly now we guess.

Ticket holders will make virtual versions of themselves to explore a digital version of the reproduced Splendour Byron Bay grounds, as well as create their own schedules, “travel” from stage to stage to watch artists with options to meet up virtually with friends. This all sounds neat, but how the musicians’ performances will differ from the feel of other live concert series remains to be seen.

Single user tickets available start 1 from $19.99 for a single day, or $34.99 for both days. Splendour XR will operate globally on a single timezone, 2pm to 2am AEST, 14 hours ahead of New York City. All video content will be available as VOD for 7 days after the event for attendees to watch over again.