Time - USA (2022-05-09)

28 TIME May 9/May 16, 2022

IF YOU WERE WATCHING THE COACH-

ella YouTube livestream on either of
the festival’s Saturday nights in April,
you might have done a double take as
giant leafy trees and a Godzilla-size
parrot slowly rose above the stage of
the electronic artist Flume. Were they
giant infl atables? Mirages on a 200-ft.-
tall LED screen? Sheer hallucinations
of the mind?
None of the above. This year,
Coachella partnered with Unreal
Engine—Epic Games’ 3D software
development tool—to create what

organizers say is the fi rst livestream to

add augmented reality (AR) tech into

a music festival performance. Unreal

Engine worked with Flume’s artistic

team and other technical collaborators

to create massive psychedelic 3D im-

ages that blended in seamlessly with

his stage design, fl oating around the

artist and into the Indio, Calif., sky.

But nobody at the festival could see

those enormous parrots—only viewers

at home. The result, although it lasted

only a few minutes, serves as a tem-

plate for how live-event planners might

Into the Metaverse

By Andrew R. Chow

STAFF WRITER, CULTURE & TECH

wield metaverse technology going for-

ward to create unique experiences for

at-home viewers. Many metaverse

builders believe live events will be

increasingly hybrid, with both digi-

tal and real-world components—

and that immersive tools might help

make each version of the event distinc-

tive and desirable in its own right. “It

doesn’t make sense to just re-create the

live music experience virtually,” says

Sam Schoonover, the innovation lead

for Coachella. “Instead, you should

give fans something new and diff erent

that they can’t do in real life.”

The giant parrots, which were de-

signed by the artist Jonathan Zawada,

are only the beginning of what might

be created in AR for live concerts.

Future performers could have light-

ing eff ects surrounding their faces at

all times, or sync their dance moves

to those of surrounding avatars.

Schoonover says these AR experiences

will jump another level when AR

glasses are more common. Eventually

you might be able to see the concert in

3D, as if from the festival grounds, sur-

rounded by fl oating birds, plants,

and whatever else artists dream up—

all while still sitting on your couch.

◁

A Coachella livestream

was boosted by

augmented reality

By Philip Elliott

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