Features
Wireless Festival Goes Virtual With MelodyVR
Lorne Thomson/Redferns – Wireless Festival London
One of the latest events that had to cancel due to the government-imposed ban on public life.
The promoters of Wireless Festival are going to offer fans 360-degree virtual content on the days the popular London event would have taken place, July 3-5.
Unseen performances, exclusive footage, as well as pre-recorded performances will be available in 360-degree virtual reality via the MelodyVR app. Content will also be streamed on the Wireless Festival Facebook page.
Melvin Benn, managing director of promoter Festival Republic, explained, “We’ll be filming artists in MelodyVR’s amazing studio space in LA, built just for this purpose and in the historic theatre at Ally Pally, which MelodyVR will turn into Wireless Connect.”
The partnership between Wireless Festival and MelodyVR began last year, when fans, who couldn’t make it on site, were given the opportunity to catch performances through their VR goggles.
A$AP Rocky, Skepta, Meek Mill had been announced as headliners for Wireless Festival 2020. The lineup for the virtual content has yet to be announced.
Lloyd Winters – The theatre of Alexandra Palace
Pollstar reached out to Lucy Fenner, the commercial director of Alexandra Palace. The historic venue usually hosts 240 events per year, attracting more than a million visitors. It is run as a charity, and its forced closure has had a huge financial impact.
The venue’s team has worked with the people at Melody VR in the past to create several virtual reality concerts, including Bullet for my Valentine, Rudimental, The Chainsmokers & the Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes show earlier in the year, as Fenner explained.
“We have a continuing partnership with Melody and a number of artists will record live performance in Ally Pally Theatre. Wireless Connect is in addition to this, we’re so excited to support the delivery of the Festival,” she continued, adding, “The theatre is stunning in its own right, the arrested decay look and feel has been described as architectural poetry and is the perfect setting and atmosphere for any artist to perform in.”