If you want to go to a concert, but can’t be due to COVID restrictions, consider attending a virtual one. Recently, virtual concerts have become incredibly popular since all in-person concerts have been cancelled.
You can support your favorite small artists by attending their virtual concerts. Many virtual concerts are completely free of charge, all they require is an internet connection and a device.
Grade 11 Riverside student, Simon Duong went to Keshi’s alternative R&B virtual concert on October 23rd. Duong enjoyed the concert since he was fully immersed in the music, and there was no crowd to block his view of the artist. Duong found out about the concert from an Instagram post made by Keshi. It wasn’t perfect though, the quality of the video was lacking, which disrupted his experience with the online concert.
Artists like Travis Scott, Young Thug, and TheWeeknd have already held virtual concerts before. Grade 11 Riverside student, Adam Merbah attended the Travis Scott virtual concert. “It was great, had good vibes, a lot of colours and animations.” When asked what could be improved, Merbah pointed out that the concert was lacking in length, and that future concerts should have more songs performed.
Mainstream artists will most likely abandon the idea of virtual concerts when social distancing regulations are lifted. So, it is likely fans will see their favorite artists in an actual concert soon. In the future, virtual concerts will probably be exclusive to the more Indie genres since they are easier and cheaper to organize, with occasional virtual concerts from mainstream artists.
Virtual concerts tend to have a high attendance rate. On April 23rd to 25th Travis Scott held a virtual concert in the game Fortnite; he drew in an impressive 12 million people and performed a single a day before releasing it on streaming services. During the concert, a large Travis Scott model was rendered into the game, and the audience could freely move around the part of the map while listening to the performance.
Virtual concerts have proved to be a good way for the artist to communicate with their audience, and for fans to communicate with other fans using a live chat feature, which is on most streaming services. Small musicians and bands can get live feedback and song requests directly from their fans in real time.
Fans can keep track of what virtual concerts to attend by either following the artist on their social media or using a website such as Bandsintown to keep track of any and all up-coming virtual concerts.
