Virtual Gigs

System Of A Down’s lead singer, Serj Tankian, has an idea. Instead of physically going to different venues to play gigs; Why not use a holographic images?

From Reuters.

“I’ve had an idea for a long time, which might sound a little crazy, but I really want to look into holographic touring,” Tankian told Billboard.

“I think we could reduce our need to travel if we could project ourselves into meetings and concerts. We have the technology, and we’re not using it right now.”

He suggested that he could broadcast a show in real time from his home studio, and he could interact with fans as if they were in the same room.

“After all, it’s not like the audience can touch me, anyway,” he said with a laugh.

“It would open up a whole new world for touring — shows wouldn’t have to be limited to bars or clubs. There would be no travel costs, so bands with very little money could play shows, and tickets would cost less.”

REUTERS PHOTO/Michael Dalder

It would be very environmentally friendly, think of all the hundreds of thousands of air travel miles that could be eliminated for a show like say, Live Earth, for instance.

Here’s the thing about this, when I first read through this, I thought that Tankian was off his nut. But, when I started to actually think about it, he’s at least partially onto something. As a musician, I love the idea of not having to load up and set up all the gear for a one-nighter. Also, if the performance was actually taking place in a controlled environment, I wouldn’t have some wobbly drunk, electrician accosting me after every set saying; “Play ‘Blue On Black’, I know you can do it, maaaannn“, like I did the other night at the pub. Of course, a lot of younger musicians who are using the gig as their primary source of social interactivity, would probably prefer to keep things as they are.

If you were to do a series of shows that originated from the same studio, you could achieve a consistent mix from night to night. This would be a big advantage however, the downside is that the sound at the venue would be in the hands of someone else. Unless, you sent your own guy out to each venue which would be inconsistent with the main purpose.

As far as interacting with the crowd from a remote location goes, I think that an accomplished performer would have little trouble.

But, all of that being said, the key to whether “holographic touring” would work or not would be, the audience. Would this be something that the audience would get used to and embrace? It seems to me that even though ” the audience can’t touch” the performer as Serj says, there is a desire, on the part of the audience, to be in the same room with the performer.

Let me put it this way; Would you pay hard earned dollars to see hologram’s perform?

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Tags: holographic touring, Live Earth, maaaannn, serj tankian, System Of A Down