Foo Fighters Fans Call Metaverse Concert “A Disaster”

The Foo Fighters performed a Metaverse concert on Horizon Venues after the Superbowl this year but rather than being a tipping point for the Metaverse platform it has left many calling the event “A Disaster“. Mark Romanek directed the show and the performance featured a 180-degree virtual-reality view on a custom made stage. The Foo Fighters founded by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl performed the free concert in partnership with Meta (formerly Facebook).

The concert was due to start at 8 pm but the Lobby of Horizon Venues crashed leaving fans frustrated. Typically for such events, there is a virtual waiting room before the show starts, preventing the overload of the servers with a sudden influx of users. However, Horizon Venues did not use this method and people were only able to join the event at the specified time. Only a quarter of fans made the event with the rest left out in the cold. VP of Horizon, Vivek Sharma, tweeted an apology to fans and said that “demand was unprecedented”. Meta showed reruns of the show for those who were unable to attend.

“Foo Fighters love a challenge… from playing the biggest stages in the world to the tiniest clubs to making movies and miniseries… We’ve pretty much done it all, But we’ve never collaborated with Mark Romanek on a conceptual set of songs (including one being played live for the first time ever) for a worldwide audience.”

Dave Grohl said before the Concert.

It is the latest in a string of concerts by Meta that have featured bands and artists such as Smashing Pumpkins, Billie Eilish, David Getta and the Chainsmokers on the Metaverse. The show was described as a “surreal convergence of physical, fantastical visual elements”. Some fans disagreed, complaining of login connections and the VR photography according to Ken Bye on Twitter.

Before the show fans had been left divided over the merits of the Metaverse Concert. Some felt it was selling out the culture of the band. The Metaverse is a long way from the band’s roots and not all Foo Fighter fans will embrace the technology. Dave Grohl speaking of the Foo fans said “There’s not one particular demographic. It’s just people who dig rock music” he told MTV. There are still legacy fans from Nirvana Dave says so the cross over to alternative, punk rock and grunge music may be a fan base that repudiates centralised Metaverses. Despite the technical glitches, for the people able to attend, the performance itself was a success according to the critics themselves with the Foo Fighters winning them over.

Overall, the @foofighters themselves gave some great performances & I still preferred being immersed with VR over the 2D livestream. There were some pretty magical, audio-reactive post-processing effects that gave the feeling of holograms with very immersive lighting effects.

Kent Bye VoicesOfVR

As the race for the Metaverse evolves we will see continual events associated with each platform. Each Metaverse is seeking popularity and a user base so influencers, performers and celebrities will be courted to support their platform.